Sony XBR-HX950 Owners' Thread (XBR-55HX9​50 and XBR-65HX95​0) - Page 4

If we read about Chad or Katzmaier wrote in their reviews, there is no coherence to it here. Someone is lying in this story.

You read and I seen. There is nothing poor shadows. I've had several plasmas tops to have some parameter of comparison. My last was a VT20.

LOL!! That was funny! It must have been on the 4 or 5 hour freeway!

I hate 3D glasses that are open on the sides...won't that allow light to seep through?

Does anyone else think the stand is ugly?

Also I really wonder if the PQ is worth the extra 2k over the samsung 65".. Could get a really nice sound system for that much.

Personally i dont think the stand is ugly, but IMHO the chrome is definitely distracting if your into aesthetics and desire a dark colored stand sitting on a black glass display.

I still have the only full array local dimming Samsung a950 they produced that is relatively on par with the Sony xbr8 & i have yet to see any of the Samsung edge-lit units to this day comparable. I also am very interested in the new Sony 65" 950 but will probably pass since a 10" larger screen that may only be a minor improvement PQ wise to the past flagship Sony 55" XBR8 & Samsung 55" a950 is not worth the cost when im only interested in 2D viewing on small displays. Any 3D material i have is viewed with the Epson 5010/1080p & a 120" screen.

Your in the same boat as myself & alot of other folks when considering spending your hard earned money in a justifiable manner.

Good Luck whatever your decision,

Yeah.. I wish it was brushed alum.. not shiny chrome.but I may just wall mount it anyways... I have a really old 46Z4500 that I'm looking to upgrade... I might pull the trigger but wait till January and see if the price drops at all..

I currently own a 40 inch bravia 60 mhz LCD Sony Bravia 1080p. I have been watching the 55" XBR 929 for almost two months now to get ready to pull the trigger. About a week ago, the XBR 950 came out at the same price. I went with the 950 primarily becuase it was the same cost and it had to be better than the 929, correct? It sure seems at least the 3d would be better. I really looked hard at the 929 and it was my favorite choice of 55 inch TVs out there. Some of the comments on this thread are making me wonder if the 929 could be superior to the 950, but I can't imagine Sony would launch a new Top Tier XBR without besting their previous model, correct? Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you in advance.

I think flicker in active 3D is a symptom of LCD tech. When I tried 3D in BestBuy stores, the Samsung and Sony LCDs has a lot more flicker in 3D than the Panasonic plasma for some strange reason. I tried 3D on the 64" Sammy plasma I had for a while, and the 3D was flicker-free, with almost no crosstalk, but it was very dim (plasma's fault there, Panny was also dim). The ironic thing is, I see flicker in 2D with plasmas on bright images! The Sammy glasses also had an ugly thick border around the lenses, and were not rechargeable. Yuck.

Now, after reading the Amazon reviews, it sounds like the model of Sony glasses you tried are the most prone to flicker. The new Titaniums AND the Playstation 3D glasses are both supposed to flicker less than the BR250, and the Playstation one is supposed to eliminate crosstalk issues when you move your head. So, I've ordered both to see which one will be better when my TV comes in.

Unfortunately passive 3D is a no go for me on current 1080p TVs, as I can see ALL the blank scanlines and it drives me nuts. 3D is a big deal for me because I'm both a gamer AND a movie buff.

Did you order the 65 from sony's website? If so, did they email you to give a better estimated ship date? Amazon says the 17th, Sony store says the 26th, and abt doesn't say anything on estimated ship date.

I currently have the ES8000 but am returning and I gotta say, the 3D is one of that TV's strong points. In home experience with it, I experienced very little or no flicker at all. The depth of it is great and the clarity is phenomenal. No issues with tilting the head, in fact, I could lay sideways on my sofa with my head slightly tilted up and not lose any depth. If Sony can bring that type of 3D to the playing field, throw in the 2D quality that I hear they have, and correct uniformity issues then I will be pulling out my wallet with the quickness. Take my money, please!

A solid date on the 65" would nice to see.

"only full array local dimming Samsung a950"

your forgetting about the 8500 as well...

This is bad news for someone like me who was looking to move to LCD. I was hoping the zone count would be near what the Elite has and if it is the same as the 929, I will be waiting on the next Elite or Sharp 944 if they ever come out. Very deflated now

It has been confirmed (here by 2 independent owners) that the 950 has the same number of zones as the 929. Furthermore, Sony gives the same specs for both models. Unless I am missing something, the 950 appears to be a repackaging for 2012 of last year 929
Edited by mike50 - 9/22/12 at 4:34pm

Don´t have.

Hopefully Sony worked out the 929 65" kinks Banding, DSE .

Very nice! Congrats. Enjoy!

Damn! That's a good looking tv... The set-up looks great, man. Congrats. I wish that 65 was ready to go. My credit card is burnin a hole in my wallet! Haha

Wow koffas, I can already tell from pic 1 that it kicks the crap out of my Samsung 52" A650 CCFL set in terms of contrast and dark blacks.

isupes, I did order from the Sony Store site with a corporate discount as I work for a Sony partner, which got me 10% off. But then I had to pay over 9% sales tax. I don't have any other ETA on my set other than what's listed on the Sony.com site.

Can you tell me why you are returning the ES8000? That was my second choice set in 65" besides the 65HX950. The only reason I don't have it already is because it is out of stock for the past month in a number of places, including my favorite Crutchfield.com (best return policies EVER). It's almost like Samsung realized that have a problem though and halted manufacturing.

You make me anxious raving about the ES8000 3D, because I really wanted good 3D, and that's the main thing that makes me nervous about the HX950. Wish someone would do a pro review on this and compare 3D to something like ES8000.

I really don't think its JUST a rebranded 929. I think there are improvements to 3D, and obviously firmware and apps if nothing else.

As for the guy waiting for a Sharp 944, GOOD LUCK. That set is a pipe dream right now. Canceled. Maybe this time next year.

Also, does anyone know if this TV supports 1080p60Hz Frame Packed 3D? Or only 30Hz or less?
Edited by Flavius - 9/22/12 at 11:39pm

Yeah, I've been checking review sites twice a day just hoping one of them got an early review unit. I would like to see a detailed review on this pup. The reason I'm returning the ES8000 is because I am beyond frustrated with it, having gone through 3 exchanges. The first tv a very bad flashlighting that wouldn't go away, even with turning the backlighting down to the lowest viewable setting. The second had terrible banding and these weird grid-like lines that ran horizontally across the screen. I refused the 3rd tv because of dead pixels. And this this last one has heavy banding and some of the worst clouding I've ever seen on a tv. So, extremely frustrated, I gave up. There are some people who have had better luck than me, but when buying the 65 in that model, you're gonna need luck. I think CNET's ranking of this tv got it about right. The picture quality is excellent. Blacks do well, but could be better. But, you should know, there is no type of LED dimming on the set other than CE dimming which dims the whole panel on dark scenes (I hate that feature and so do a lot of people and you can't turn it off). They use that Micro Dimming Ultimate feature on that set, but all it really does, I believe, is saturates the picture and adds contrast. MDU (the main marketing feature) is available in all modes but movie, cal-day, and cal-night. Of course, these are you most configurable modes, but lack the TV's "main feature." Sorry for the long post, I just feel that if you are considering the es8000 you should know the facts about its features and not the marketing hype. Unlike me, who fell for the hype. If you have any more questions about it feel free to ask, I will try to keep it unbiased. Since this is the HX950 thread I will throw this into the post: I WANT THE 65HX950 NOW NOW NOW!!!

Yes, these full array local dimming Sony sets have much better contrast and black levels than any traditional LCD with CCFLs.

This is my first experience with 3D at home, so I may not be 100% correct with the terminology, but I think it supports 1080p60 frame packed 3D. I know that I can play a 3D movie on my HTPC and switch the refresh rate to 60Hz, and it still shows it in 3D. Actually, it is somewhat annoying that TMT5 automatically switches me to 60Hz refresh rate when I start playing a 3D movie, and I have to switch it back to 24Hz after playback has started. I may be more sensitive to flicker than some. I found the flicker of my XBR8 at 24Hz noticeable, but not annoying. As I briefly had a Panny VT50 plasma, its flicker drove me crazy at any refresh rate. As I watched a couple of more 3D movies yesterday on the HX950, I got used to it, but whenever the movies transitioned to a very bright scene, the flicker became obvious again. I may try the Sony Titanium 3D glasses. The 3D effect is neat, but the vast majority of my media is 2D.

The Sony 750 glasses are the best for Sony 3D minimal flicker + their super lite and USB rechargeable Amazon $70. a pair.
Edited by IMRIZZO - 9/23/12 at 7:33am

First off thank you to the guys who started this and shared so much information!

So i have finally got mine up and running as well, only had about 20 min of watching time so far. Havent set up receiver or calibrated or tested zones yet.

My biggest complaint so far is how reflective the screen is.

Also if anyone is interested I bought the profoma stand with mount. So far for $400 it looks nice and seems to be well built, plus it was really easy to assemble (30 minutes).

here is a pic of the mounted stand tv and unfortunately u can see how reflective the screen is(sorry for the low res pic)


Edited by sfb1 - 9/23/12 at 7:46am

55'' HX929 and 55'' HX950 have 105 dimming zones.

the 65'' HX929 has close to 115 dimming zones, the 65'' 950 should have 196 dimming zones (could be a sony lie

Same amount of dimming zones in the 55'' tells us that there is probably minor improvement in overall performance when compared to the 55'' HX929.

I don't know where the claim of higher zones originated because Sony NEVER discloses that info (highly guarded secret). A trusted source I've known for a long time denied increased zones.

Don´t waste your time.

This guy wants to shove down our throats their theory.

No, you cannot play mkv videos via the USB port.
On a tangent, it does not recognize NTFS formatted drives in the USB port; after I reformatted a USB flash drive to FAT32 it recognized the flash drive.
I did play a mp4 file after I renamed the extension from m4v to mp4. The on-screen help lists the various formats it supports, but it does not list mkv. I usually transcode my ATSC recorded shows to mkv with Handbrake before archiving them, and it does not play it.

Not trying to disparage anyone, I'm actually hoping for the best with this set. I'm always ready for an upgrade........

Just noticed that Amazon has lowered the pre-order price to $4998 on their site.

Same on Sony styleStyle site http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666483159#specifications