Sony XBR-HX950 Owners' Thread (XBR-55HX9​50 and XBR-65HX95​0) - Page 82

There is a major difference between returning panels due to slight cosmetic blemishes and minor clouding compared to dead pixels and excessive vertical banding. If you paid $5000 for a 65hx950, let's see how you would feel about dead pixels and banding compared to the less expensive 55. I think those that have returned multiple 65s have every right to expect a defect free panel at the premium cost Sony charges.

Not to bust your bubble but I also own a panasonic that is over 6000 that has a dead pixel and I still own it!!! The point I was making that you fail to grasp is that every tv has some type of issue regardless of price that you paid for it. My 55 has branding and I still own it. Not as bad as others have reported but I still own it.

See what you fail to understand it that you think because you paid a high price for a tv that it should be free and clear of any issues, If you think that is the case than you are living in a dream.

Defect free tv does not equal premium cost!!! As you can see there are several examples of this all over these boards regardless of price you pay or by what company.

I agree that people do have the right to return a tv that they are not happy with but also company's have that exact right to not do business with you on mulply returns. It goes both ways!!
Edited by m2845 - 1/25/13 at 4:46pm

Looking for suggestions on the best wall mount for the 55 HX950. Preferably Low Profile with tilt. Thanks in advance.

check monoprice.com great pricing and products not overpriced

I'm not too worried about it. I wouldn't lose any sleep if Sony decided to just give me my $5000 back. They however had not offered that yet, they just offer to replace the panel.

You can't resolve a dead pixel nor should you have to live with it. If I bought a new car and a cylinder was dead I would definitely want to return/exchange it.

If the banding was slight it would be easy to live with. The transparency of each vertical band varies. Every panel I've had, has 3 or more significant bars including DSE throughout the entire picture.

If you can buy a 55" HX950 with no banding, but then make a 65" model with banding and DSE, does that really justify a $2000 price increase? That is really up to the buyer. A premium in price in the market usually goes hand in hand with quality. Can you imagine if Apple released a TV with banding? People would go nuts. Apple would never release a product with a major problem like that though. They would figure out how to piece the panel together correctly before releasing it.

Hi Mbart11,

You make some valid points and I do agree with a lot of things that you state but a couple of things to point out.

Compairing a dead pixl to a dead cyclinder is not even close when compairing apples to apples.

As I mentioned plenty of times with TV's, premium cost does not equate to flawless TV's. Never has and never will. No matter what brand tv you buy or what price you pay there will be some issues with that set. Most TV''s are made in Chinese/ Philippines warehouse were quality control falls somewhere after cheap labor, cheap internal parts, production and cost control. Sad but this is a fact!!! CBS News Sunday last year had a segment about this very same issue.

Also I am sure you don't know this but 3 dead pixels or less is quality control standards across all tv manufacturing. What does that tell you about standards!!!

Seeing how Apple TV will be produced in the same warehouse plant that produces Sharp TV panels I can assure you that they too will also have issues with their set. You have seem to forgotton all the issues with Apple Iphone antennenna, Ipad overheating issues, there map issues, ect... Let's not act as if Apple is the pentical of quality control.
Edited by m2845 - 1/26/13 at 4:37pm

A brand new anything shouldn't have a dead anything period. It will never nor should it ever be accepted. Companies that think like that dont last very long. Sony has actually been very easy to deal with thus far so I have no issues on that front. They know its a problem and they're trying to make it right.

In regards to apple, whenever they have an issue they admit it and fix it. Theres an excellence motto they seem to conduct business by. Big difference than just throwing your hands in the air and saying lets set standards for our products to contain at most X amount of varying flaws.

I thought this was the Defective Panel Support Group....I think youre looking for the Pro-Substandard Manufacturing Practices Group down the hall.



...but seriously. Never say never. There will be flawless TVs someday. For now though if you don't point out issues to the manufacturers they'll never fix them. If my girlfriend, who doesn't notice the difference between standard def and HD, can see a problem in a panel....it should definitely be addressed.

Forgive my ignorance but is there any way to beam or stream content that's processed on the computer to HX950 via wifi? DLNA doesn't play well with .mkv files and the only way I know of doing something like that is to use PLEX or some software that transcodes the files before streaming.
While that is an option, I'd like to bypass transcoding degradation. Thus, are there any native support for wifi/ethernet to make the TV act like a computer monitor and just extend the desktop and thus bypassing the need to transcode.


Closest thing I've seen that does this effectively costs anywhere from 100 to 200 dollars and comes in the way of wifi HDMI adapters.

For example, the Plair
http://plair.com/#

In the perfect world you would be right again, but in reality you are wrong. Your comment about companies that think like that dont last long???? Go tell that to Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and the rest of tv manuufactures. They ALL have set standards of 3 dead pixels or less. That is an industry standard that has never changed or will it. Politics, money, regulations (lack off), ect...you get where I am going with this.

If they were trying to make it right as you claim why do they allow 3 dead pixels or less on TV's that are produced and sold? Why not just make no dead pixels period when they are produced? To go even futher why not have any clouding, or banding while we are at it?? I know the answer but am curious to yours?

Getting back to Apple. With Sharp making their panels enough said..

The fact is all these manufactures know what there issue are (they are not deaf,blind or dumb to our critisim) but you really think there will be a flawless tv? Must be some new technolgy other than the current standardrs that we are currently using that man has not invented yet.
Edited by m2845 - 1/26/13 at 11:34pm

Samsung has a zero dead pixel policy (has to be dead on all colors for them to replace under warranty).

Most Samsungs and Sony's of the larger sizes 60 and up are manufactured in Mexico. Sharp manufacturers in Poland....as do some of the other companies for their European versions. I know a few European forum members posted their panels were manufactured in Slovakia.

Why do you tell Danediz in the 850 forum that you think it's good to return tvs if the buyer is unhappy, yet you lecture in here that people who return tvs for manufacturer defects are bring unrealistic and should keep the TV even if they are unhappy with it?

Back to Sharp.... Both Samsung and Sony use Sharp made panels in certain models... so it's not just Apple who outsources the panels.

I understand what you are saying, but it is still wrong to criticize others for feeling that if they pay a premium price for a TV that they should be getting a defect free TV. I returned 7 panels with dead pixels (5) and/or banding. I then bought a 65HX950 that has zero dead pixels, zero noticeable banding, zero noticeable DSE and am glad I didn't settle for one if the previous tvs I returned for a manufacturer defect.

These sets are ASSEMBLED (not manufactured) in these outside countries, with parts supplied by the various manufacturers. Mexico does not manufacture or produce LED or LCD or Plasma panels, they only install them into the sets

Samsung may have a dead pixel poilcy but the facts remains they send out tv's with dead pixels. This is a fact!!! I am sure you have read these boards to validate.

As stated previously, I know for a fact that Sony and Samsung have manufacturing plants in China. I travel there twice a year for business and have driven past there plants. IMRIZZO has already corrected you on Mexico!!

Please tell me specifically who I told they they should keep there tv's if they are not happy with them? You can't!!!

You are missing my point!!!

Let's try this again! People who spend there hard earned cash are entitled to buy or return their tv if they are not satisfied. The point that I was making is that all tv manaufactures have bad quality control issues and that there is no perfect tv. Depending on the issues with your tv will determine if you can live with those issues are not.

As far as you returning 7 panels you have the right but as stated earlier they also have that right not to do business with you. It goes both ways!! BB or the Sony store here in Florida would have gave you back your money and told you to walk. I believe I am not talking out of school that alot of stores would have done that to you.
Edited by m2845 - 1/27/13 at 7:13am

Yes.... then technically when a television set like a 65HX950 says on the back "Oct. 2012 - Made in Mexico" it really should say "Oct. 2012 - assembled in Mexico with parts manufactured from all over the world." Yes, I'm well aware that the "LED panel" itself that is part of the TV is manufactured outside of Mexico.... point is that M2845 said that "most TVs are made in a Chinese/Phillipines warehouses." I was trying to point out that this is not the case and many TVs are "made" in other parts of the world such as Mexico and Slovakia. Truth is majority of the general public has no clue where a product actually comes from. Take the auto industry for example..... Ford (an American company) makes most of their cars outside the US, while Toyota (a Japanese company) makes most of their cars in the US.

Also... not all companies even bother to differentiate. On the back of the Samsung ES8000s, unlike the Sony which says "Made in Mexico," the Samsungs clearly say "Manufactured" when the "panel" itself from what is posted in the ES8000 thread for the 60 inch model comes from Sharp, and the "panel" in the 65 inch model comes from Samsungs plant in China.

K, now we are talking semantics. LOL!!

cmay91472, getting back to the main issue if tv's were made correctly with better quality control before they were sent out to the general public to be sold than everyone would be happy and there would be no issues. The reality is that it is not

BTW, After going through 7 panels I am glad that you finally found one that works for you. I just brought a 55 950hx last week that has some clouding but I can live with it.

m2845.... I 100% agree with you. Unfortunately, it costs these manufacturers far less in losses on defective TVs than the money they save on lowering quality control. We just are on opposite ends of the opinion spectrum which is fine. I feel someone shouldn't accept defects, where as you feel there should be some leeway. There is no right or wrong, rather each individual needs to make their own decision based off of their own expectations and info available. I knew full well that I may have to go through a number of panels, but I was prepared to where as others are not as concerned.

On a side note, I was indeed given the 90 day ban at BB. On the 7th return, I received the notice that it was my last exchange for three months, so they refunded my money. They asked if I wanted to exchange rather than refund and said that if there was a problem, they make the return using either a family member or friends drivers license or the GM just over rides it if no one is with you. I declined and they refunded the money and also gave me a $100 gift card to say they were sorry for the 90 day ban which was very nice of them to do so, so with BB, it definitely is YMMV in terms of the latitude each individual store may have.

I think a dead pixel can happen anywhere down the line, can’t it? Even if they check every TV for perfection before boxing them up I’m sure the delivery companies and forklift drivers at Best Buy also account for their fair share of dead pixels. I was calibrating my speakers last night and a blue screen revealed my Pioneer got a dead pixel somewhere over the last few years by sitting on it’s stand.

To be honest, the talk of banding and dead pixels in this thread has given me a long pause before ordering. No one wants to return several sets after spending this amount of cash, but I don’t see an alternative. Someone much earlier in this thread recommended a VT-50 as a problem free set. I clicked on that thread and the last several posts were talking about IR, bad pixels and wondering why Panasonic QC would send out this garbage. With 4K sets there are going to be many more chances of having 1 pixel in a million fail, so I'm afraid the perfect TV is going to remain elusive. You'd think spending over $3000 would ensure quality, but I'll just have to hope it doesn't have anything wrong with it I can see from my seated position.

Dave A,

Trust me brother, we all share in your frustration. We are spending 3000-5000 and we expect that these tv's would be perfect. I paid 3400 last week just to find some clouding on my set. I have not chosen to look for any dead pixels because I am happy with my set as it stands and can live with it. I know some people on these boards would not and I can respect that. It's their money and are free to spend as they choose.

It's a crap shoot!

I forgot to mention due to the current conversation about quality control.... the HX950 set is awesome!!!!! So glad I gave up on Samsung and made the switch:)

@cmay...$100 gift card from Best Buy I'd say that's pretty excellent service especially them being just the middleman. I've never had a problem with BB. Members on this board is always ripping them. So it makes me wonder when they go up,to the customer service desk with a attitude they may be treated differently. I've been up to their CS counter and some guy was just ripping this employee apart. I basically told him to shut up. Maybe that's there problem.

It really is a panel lottery so to speak. Regardless of brand, make or model.... We are all subjected to it.
Edited by cmay91472 - 1/27/13 at 7:48am

Definitely. I do a lot of price matching and price adjustments so know the CS people well. Never complained about making the exchanges, just said I hope this next one is the one. But very generous of them to give me the $100 gift card.

Side note, the gift card was mailed to me by corporate. The CS at BB said she felt bad and said she would put in the request and it did indeed arrive in the mail a few days later.

Amen Brother!

Me too!

When owner X says my tv is perfect! No banding, DSE, etc. Owner Y would look at his tv and point out missed flaws. They all have some defects. Accept it or go by a tube tv.

And that's why a key term is "noticeable" for many of these defects. For instance, Banding is inherent on any led panel 65' or larger. It may not be noticeable during normal viewing, but will show up whether obscenely bad or faintly visible using grey scale slides. Or in my instance, I lucked out with no dead pixels, noticeable banding or noticeable DSE, but I do have some minor scratches on the gorilla glass. Does it annoy me, you bet.... But I'm not going to exchange over minor cosmetic issues knowing that performance wise I probably can't get better, but if there were dead pixels or noticeable banding that can be seen during normal viewing, then i would send it back in a heartbeat.

The companies don't last long with me. I'm also willing to spend $5k on a TV. Ninety some percent of people are not willing to do that. I'm part of their small market so my opinion should matter to them. They're making it right by exchanging panel after panel until an acceptable one walks through the door. I've met no resistance from Sony. If I did then I would demand a refund or let a judge decide.

Nobody is looking for a mass produced flawless set today. You think because we don't find severe vertical banding an acceptable thing to deal with then we must be way too picky or ignorant of what is realistically out there. I said someday there will be "flawless" TVs. It would be stupid to not think that. In 200 years we went from riding horses to riding a rocket to the moon. Short of a global catastrophe technology will keep moving on.

Apple creates and helps create new manufacturing techniques, i.e. bending glass. If Apple released a set that had banding like my HX950 has the media would eat them alive and the masses would look like Roddy Piper in They Live as they stand front of their sets and start seeing the vertical lines magically appearing before them. People are way to critical of them for them to do it and hope nobody notices like other TV manufacturers. Maybe that's why they haven't released a TV yet, I don't know.

I know you say you are cool with the banding on your 55 set and you that live with it. But deep down inside it's eating you alive every time that camera pans or a bright sky or green grass flash on the screen. You wouldn't be on this board if it wasn't. You're just like us. You just gave up fighting. Ha! I'm just playing.

I know you say you are cool with the banding on your 55 set and you that live with it. But deep down inside it's eating you alive every time that camera pans or a bright sky or green grass flash on the screen. You wouldn't be on this board if it wasn't. You're just like us. You just gave up fighting. Ha! I'm just playing.[/quote]

HA! You are funny!

I am really just on these board just to find some nice calibration settings!

Mind sharing yours?

Being in the mid 50's and being on these boards for 10yrs I have learned not to take anything personal. Glad to see that you and others don't either. Every now and than it's good to stir things up and debate. Give a different viewpoint and stand behind them as we do.There is no wrong or right in the end just opinions!

HA! You are funny!

I am really just on these board just to find some nice calibration settings!

Mind sharing yours?

Being in the mid 50's and being on these boards for 10yrs I have learned not to take anything personal. Glad to see that you and others don't either. Every now and than it's good to stir things up and debate. Give a different viewpoint and stand behind them as we do.There is no wrong or right in the end just opinions! [/quote]

I personally want to just get a decent set and move on with my life, ha!

You're going to hate my settings probably. My friends freak out because they're all film purists, but I absolutely love the so called SOE. The closer they can get to making the image and motion look like I'm looking out a window the better. I think because of the manipulation of time that it creates, it really exposes bad acting, lighting, storytelling. Because of this, it turns off a lot of people. Me, I can't wait for everything to be shot at 120 fps, ha! The best films and TV shows really hold up. A good story is a good story, but since good content is much more difficult to come by these days its always nice to marvel at a pretty picture to distract me from the fact I'm watching Twilight with my niece.

I pretty much just use Flavius's settings and jack up all the motion controls (Auto 1, Smooth, Manual DRC)

WIth the XBR 55X900A and the 65X900A due in Spring, have anyone thought about delaying their HX950 purchase or thought about switching to the new reasonably sized 4K TVs? Without a doubt, the HX950 would have a better picture but its almost like buying a expiring technology item considering little has changed in the last 3 years from the HX909 to the HX929 and now the HX950. I didn't have a problem picking up a TV that has changed very little over the last several years but gosh, I'd hate to have it be the norm where 4K TV's from all manufacturers be sold for ~$3000 dollars in the next couple years. Its kind of like, buying the best SD cathode ray tube TV on the market the year HD flat panels came out.

I've got no love for the X900A's speaker designs but do you guys think its worth another look?

http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-4K-TV-Ultra-HD/en/p/XBR55X900A

55" Class (54.6" diag) 4K Ultra HD TV
Model number: XBR-55X900A
Model Features: 4K Ultra HD, 4K X-Reality™ PRO Picture Engine with upscaling to 4K, two 65W front-facing speakers, TRILUMINOS display, Dynamic Edge LED backlight, Motionflow™ XR 960, wireless smartphone mirroring technology

TRILUMINOS LED was Sony's lighting used in the XBR8's there were red, 2green, and blue LED lights full array, but now as edgelit source, not sure how effective that will be.