Sony XBR-HX950 Owners' Thread (XBR-55HX9​50 and XBR-65HX95​0) - Page 98

Ken what happened to your Elite ?

Will probably pull the trigger to buy a 55" 950 to replace my SXRD (Optical block issue that I'm going to get rebuilt sometime soon) tonight or tomorrow.

Anyway, on the subject of availability, I read on cnet back in January (link below) that the 950s will stay a part of the 2013 lineup at the same price point, between the new W900 series and the 4K X900s. Plans could have changed since then, I suppose, but I haven't read anywhere that they have.

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/sony-kdl-55w900a/4505-6482_7-35561946.html

Nope, not a word. I returned the 3 pairs of glasses. I'll look into a few 3rd party glasses. Their service lets me down at every turn. Starting to think their service model and company slogan "make believe" are one and the same.

Trust me, Samsung is even worse customer service wise. Look at all those poor folks whose plasmas internally cracked only to have Samsung claim it was user damage when asked to submit photos.

Last tv was a Sammy. Haven't bought another after the set failed inside 3 years for the top model and called them. Offered to buy another if they would cut me a deal. They were jerks about it and I don't care how good the panel, I won't buy from them. Also had my parents and sister's TVs from them fail because of bad capacitors in them. Also a known issue. They don't care. Friend who used to work at BB said Sammy's are the most returned TVs by at least a margin of 2 to 1.

Still loving it Riz. We're moving in April and I'm planning to put the Elite in the bedroom. That means I need a display for the den. Since the last production run of the 70" Elite was pretty bad, that means I need to look at other displays. I've been very impressed with the 65" 950, not as much with the new Samsung F8000 (which may not have been adjusted properly) and, the Samsung F8500 which I haven't yet seen and hasn't yet been released.

950 is great..little dse effect when playing games because local dimming is off but that is no longer a issue for me..if this set is the last f/a backlight set then you guys should jump on..this is the perfect set for another six/seven years until 4k/oled is a reasonable price.

could someone tell me how you to punch in settings for netflix..i think someone said youtube?

Sony service has been stellar for me, replaced 2 sets out of warranty with minimal hassle. First set took about 5 emails to replace a projection set, second set replaced was a 55 inch 810 , took 1 phone call and 1 email for them to replace. I ended up dealing with someone whose email address said Office of the President so don't know if that helped.
Edited by digmor crusher - 3/8/13 at 9:01pm

Not sure, but everyone gets different mileage. I just think with two 5k tvs and all the 3d glasses I have, that they would have done more than give me the run around. But that's why there are other choices. Sharp and LG are hit and miss. So who knows what the market will be like when it comes upgrade time again. Hopefully these sets give years of usage and don't need any work to be performed.

Set a video playing on YouTube and select full screen, then change picture settings.

The Sony video app settings are universal so they will change the netflix app settings.

Aaron

A word of caution.....beware of banding problems and some DOA pixels, good luck BTW will you be going to Robert's this year ?

How common is the banding issue & dead pixels Rizz?

Yeah, I hope to get there this year. Should be a good one! When I last spoke to Robert about this, he wasn't sure if it would be at his store or whether he'd rent a space in the City for it.

Ken, every single 65HX950 I have seen in person has minor vertical banding to some degree with one primary light band in the center above the Sony logo. But suffice to say, the worst banding on a 65HX950 would still be light years better than the least amount of banding on the 65ES8000. Dead pixels is on par with every other manufacturer... ie luck of the draw. Per our previous chat, banding is still evident on sports like hockey and soccer, but for the most part a non issue with regular tv shows and movies. Ironically the worst banding you will see is on the "no input" home screen which is grey. I wish Sony let you choose a wallpaper because seeing the banding on the no input screen is more annoying than any banding you will see with normal viewing conditions with the exception of perhaps hockey and soccer.

Thanks cmay, I hear ya. Interestingly the reviews thus far on the 55" F8000 say very little about what we can expect from the 65" F8000. We may see entirely different reviews and issues for that matter. I'm sure it will be better than the E8000 was, but it too will probably have less pop. The difference in 'pop' between the Sony 950 and the 55" F8000 I saw, was considerable.

Ken, the problem I ran into with the 65ES8000 is that almost every review for the set was recycling the 55ES8000 review for the 65, so no where was there any mention of the banding. Ironically, flashlighting from what I read was actually less severe on 65s than the 60 and 55. The 65 I had only exhibited flashlighting primarily with 3D and that was before the magic update that is referred to in the threads, I had no clue about how severe the banding was on the 65 until I read the ES8000 thread, so it may actually come down to our fellow peers reviews in May when it is expected to be in stores if all the traditional review sites recycle the 55F8000 review for each size.

Robert has a new facility I'm anxious to see it.

It's very nice & a really nice 'upgrade' from the old location. More spacious & inviting. The only issue he has is light, lots of it! But he's got ideas if he holds the shootout there, so it shouldn't be much of a concern.

Ordered a 55HX950 tonight. Hopefully will deliver by the end of the week.

Congratulations. You will enjoy the set. I've had mine a few weeks.

HuskerTornado congrats. You will love it. Great set.

I don't know what it is but I've had my set a few weeks and it seems it gets better everyday

I have now gone through three 55" 950's ( and three 929's, but that is another story if you look at my other posts). The first two had moderate dead pixels issues( the first 950 even had a "burn" through the gorilla glass) around 5 or 6 each. The most recent set , which was delivered end of January by Best Buy has been fine so far in regards to dead pixels( there seems to be only one which has been playing "peekaboo" )which is great. Yet this new set( 12/12 build date) also has a more pronounced DSE ( dirty screen effect ) which is more evident near the top left corner of the screen . While the right side has a more "smooth" DSE the top left projects 2 areas of darker water like spots which are more well defined in lighter scenes. Otherwise this set has fewer dead pixels than the previous sets yet the previous set had much less DSE. To me, this is still not acceptable, quite amazingly my 32XBR2 which is now six years old has zero dead pixels and a "pure white" screen with no discernible DSE. I know that quality control on these panels has been an issue, but that a good balanced 55"XBR's are out there! I am at a quandary with this set. I really don't want to have another set delivered yet the DSE bothers me and I find myself trying to look away when a light scene appears.... Is there a way to minimize the DSE? Thanks all !!!
Edited by Garloo57 - 3/11/13 at 8:00am

I purchased my 55" 3-4 weeks ago from Best Buy Jan. 2013 build date. Very happy with set. No dead pixels, DSE or banding

Garloo, I agree that you should not keep a set with dead pixels, but how severe is the dse or vertical banding you are seeing? I know you have posted about the issues previously, so all of this should not be new to you.

If it is just with panning scenes on certain backgrounds, I can tell you, you are most likely NEVER going to get a set completely free of one of the other with an LED. Even tvs in which the owners claim they have no DSE or banding, I can always point it out to them especially if I put up grey scale slides. Problem with the HX950 is that the "no input" home screen is grey and perhaps exposes the banding more than any other time one uses the tv which in turn magnifies the issue to where people focus on it too much. If your tv exhibits DSE or banding on just occasional pans or with hockey/soccer, then the odds you get one with less are minimal. As I posted previously, the worst DSE/banding on an HX950 is light years better than the least affected Samsung ES8000s, D8000s, C8000s, etc.

Your comment in regards to your previous tv is one of the most common complaints that their old one didn't do that. Well, that's because they aren't the same technology especially if it was a ccfl LCD.

With all this being said.... I would never tell anyone to keep a tv that they are not happy with and I certainly exchanged my fair share recently for dead pixels, defective 3D processors, and horrendous banding. So if you are noticing DSE/banding at all times when watching not just sports but movies, tv shows, etc on panning as well as static solid image background at all times, then you should seek exchange or replacement.

But the problem many have is they see in these forums of people saying they have zero banding and zero DSE. It's just not true. What they have is zero noticeable banding or zero noticeable DSE to them (which is all that really matters). Some people are overly sensitive to it while others just don't perceive it even if it is staring them right in the face.

With me, plasma buzz I was susceptible to. Regardless of how minimal it was, I could hear it where others couldn't. Knowing that there is no such thing as a plasma that doesn't buzz to some degree, I bought an led.

Vice versa, with led, some are more susceptible to DSE/banding and perhaps led Is not right for them as just like there is no such thing as a completely buzz free plasma, there are no LEDs DSE/banding free. It'd all about tolerance or one's noticeability if the issue.

Yeah, my "no input" screen looks horrible. I also noticed some clouding on the right side when there was a totally black screen when the local dimming was off in 3-D mode.

My 55" does have a tiny bit of DSE I can detect if I stare at the ice during fast pans in hockey. If I watch the players and the puck like a normal person it’s good, and it’s many times better than the DSE on my Pioneer. I have checked out skylines and solid colors when there are panning shot in movies and regular TV shows and I have yet to see any anomalies during anything else. The picture is so fantastic I haven’t even thought of trying another one out to try and get the elusive perfect set.

Totally agree and thanks to cmay91472 for given a very good explanation on our concerns.

cmay is very good at explaining things when it comes to tv's. He sure opened my eyes thats for sure.

For sure , I was about to panic and rush back for another set after these issues given the price I paid for this set.

I'd agree and take it one step further. Both my Fujitsu and Pioneer Kuro plasmas both suffered from DSE. I think some are just not sensitive to it. They're lucky.

On a brighter note, I'm on a business trip and stopped in to a BB. They too had the F8000 on display and, for whatever reason, I was much more impressed with it this time. This one was not in the Magnolia section, but the lighting was fairly dim. I dialed in some of my own 'eyeball' settings and saw no anomalies this time. I had it on a CBS soap for a few minutes (all that was allowed, since they must have it on the BB loop with the rest of the panels on the wall).

I would have preferred both darker ambient lighting as well as darker material, but it did look very good.