Official Sony KDL-55W900A Owners Thread - Page 2

At the end of the day if the w900a delivers picture quality it should and the newly designed menu system(it needed it!) then ill consider it. But it will be late in the game when the price drops and perhaps the Apple iTv will be announced. I believe that even if Apple iTV offers similar pq to competitors it will blow them out simply due to it being an apple product... Its crazy but i was in my class of 300 the other day and of all who had laptops, 95% were macbooks... Macbooks are great but we all know they overpriced for the performance you get but suckers like me and tons of university students buy their stuff anyway. Apple fanboy here. But i also love what sony DID with the quality of their tvs. Only time will tell. At least the screen is glossy like the monolithic design

I don't think Apple will ever release a TV set. Tv's cost too much, have little profit, and the upgrade cycles for people are long. It will be hard to sell a billion devices. I want an apple TV set too.... but it will never happen. They key is the box and letting that box take over the control of the TV you already own. But i stray off topic.

Sony did a great job on the monolithic design... I am not sure why they strayed from it.
We also haven't seen this set in person, so it may be a different story when we see it.

You sure did! Blu-ray.com.........

I'm also curious about the W900A .... Wish it came in 46" ... But I plan on either getting this one when the price drops or picking up a 850... Depending on how the prices swing & how long I'm willing to wait that is... But I was reading on something that seem to have reviewed the W900A already & after reading their review of it. For the ones that posted about it being better than the 850 in this forum... From what the reviewer says... He says the very same thing about it being better than the 850... Here is the review for anyone that wants to read it. They are calling it the W9.... Enjoy & good luck on whatever one set you decide on.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-w9-tv-first-look_TV_review

Pics of the new 2013 sony tvs... Looks very nice


http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs/1297372/sony-uk-confirms-2013-tv-line-up-flagship-55in-w9-due-in-may

Has anyone confirmed whether this will have the matte screen or the glossy screen?

As a general note, I am sick to death of companies stretching their little imaginations to the breaking point just so they can have something different and "set themselves apart from the competition". There have been plenty of chassis/stand/facing-glass/bezel/whathaveyou designs that work great and look even better, but they go out of their way to discard this and shoot themselves in the foot. I'm a little tired of seeing companies take major step backwards like Samsung did with two 2013 horror-shows that do not need naming.

Pics appear to show glossy.

This model is at the top of my list. If the reviews are good I'll pull the trigger. I've waited 7 years to up grenade from my Sharp 37 D90U. Can't wait to see the reviews.

Thanks! I will skip this one out. I returned a 850 for this one reason. 0 flashlighting, no issues. Paid $1600 for a like new used unit from Amazon. But the picture quality was not to my expectations. Off center viewing angle was poor. Looking to see what 2013 offers.

The viewing angle will probably be poor on the w900a as well, going by convention. LCDs by definition don't have great viewing angles, even the HX950 is pretty bad in this regard. I doubt sony is going to try to do anything when it comes to this.

The w802 series and below use passive 3D and come in 47 and 55" sizes, which likely indicates that they're using LG IPS panels in them. If you want good wide angle viewing then something with IPS would be preferable, but the trade-off is generally lower contrast, higher black levels, and a less successful ability to hide flaws in uniformity compared to the VA variant panels.

Viewing Angles...when the wife and I looked @ the 950 in store I mentioned they were talking about viewing angles and we checked in the store. Looked pretty decent to our eyes. And now having it at home it really is a no problem IMO.

I own a HX850 and to me, this is one of the best LED/LCD out there regarding view angle. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But All LCD have view angle issue (it's part of their nature), even IPS panels that are better at this. The HX850, for a none IPS panel is doing really great in that regard. I've shopped for 3 years for LCD/LED and this one (I think it's the same panel that was used in Sony's HX929 of last year) does a really good job considering it's a VA panel.

As fatuglyguy, you might get a little better on an IPS panel (mostly LG and panasonic) but you will sacrifice blacks and contrast. To me, the HX850 was a great compromised. Great blacks and contrast, great view angle (for a LCD/LED).

I doubt anything will change regarding view angle this year as a LCD/LED remains the same tech.

If view angle is a major issue for you, you should consider going with a plasma which as zero view angle issue (but comes with it's own issues).

In the end, buying a TV means deciding with which flaw are you mostly confortable to live with.

Your lucky to have gotten an HX850. I wish they still sold them. The w900a will probably be great but no gorilla glass sucks!

The irony is that I could still go and buy one right now, they seem to be pretty available here in canada. I could walk in a store and buy one tonight with a few units in store. Even last week, I went to my local eletronic store (called futureshop), I took a peak at their warehouse and saw 5 55HX850 in box brand new.

As for the Gorrila glass, we still don't know for sure if they are still using one. It doesn't mean that if they abandonned the monolith style that there isn't a glass in front of the panel and that panel could very well be made by corning.

Anyway, Gorilla is all nice and help with big scratches but what are the chances that you will go and scratch your screen? Unless you like moving around your TV or have very young kids (I do), having a TV with a gorrila glass doesn't mean much. Regarding picture quality, it doesn't make your picture better looking than another type of glass.

Yes, after more than a month with my HX850 I think I'm happy with it but it wasn't like that from the go. I went through 5 different unit because of flashlighting in bottom corners. I settle for a unit with still flashlighting but had it less bad than the others. My TV is not perfect but I'm more and more getting used to it and kind of forget most of the time I have flashlighting. I'd even say that with time, possible as the panel get warmed up through my usage, that the flashlighting is improving (or actually, I should say becoming less and less visible while still being there). I can now raise my backlit to 3 or 4 without actually seeing it even on black bars. I've also added some biais lighting (you can see pics in the HX850 thread) which I think helps making the issue less visible.

No TV is perfect unfortunately. Manufacturer are more concerns with flashy marketing terms, slim design than actually quality.
Edited by Guibs - 2/26/13 at 1:57pm

I called the Sony store in Manhatten (I work a mile away). They expect the new 900 in a few weeks.
The saleman said he was curious about the new TV as well, mentioning the edge lit or full array. He said the
ultra HD 55 inch should go for $5000. : O. He saw one and said it looked amazing. It shares most of the components with the 900. He also said they have 950s in a should continue to sell them after the 900s arrive.

I hope they have it in the Sony store in Orlando when I'm in Florida in 2 weeks. I will be drooling hopefully.

So the W900a is going to cost $3000 and the 55x900v2 only $5000?

The W900a is waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy overpriced if the 4K set in the same size is only $2000 more, let alone the full array local dimming 55HX950 being only $3200.

That price on the 55X900V2 does not seem possible.

I think the price on the w900a will fall quickly after release

Don't count on it. When have prices dropped quickly on any recent Sony set. HX950 still the same price as when it debuted.

Sony has UPP no way they will be dropping prices.

The hx850 went from 2599 to 1798 at Black Friday... This is not going to be the hx950, it's another edge lit set... Can't be compared

Also if you have been following Sony tvs for any recent time you'll remember the Sony nx720 went from 3k all the way down to 1499...

Still you see the occasional 950 selling for 15-18% below the 3200 threshold. Will be interesting to see what happens if the legitimate reviews are lukewarm followed by sluggish sales.

Danediz, the HX850 was released in the Spring. When you said "will fall quickly after release" I didn't think you meant 9 months later.

I'm sure once Sony announces their rumored replacement for the HX950 or at least the XBR line in the fall, the HX950 prices will finally come down as well.... but we aren't talking about Samsung here where they are literally slashing prices by almost 50%.

You have to be quick though..... Amazon recently had both the 55 and 65 for $3000 and $5000 respectively since Sony online was running a promotion where you get 3D glasses enabling authorized retailers to temporarily drop the price instead of free glasses, but no sooner than a few days later did the price go back up to the $3200 and $5200 marks.

Other considerations: The 3d glasses will probably be disappointing. Most testing showed that the PS3 3D glasses were the best for Sony TV's at a fraction of the price... but I bet this TV gets BR750s bundled with it. Yet the price of the TV has been adjusted from the HX850 so we are paying for our 'free' 3D glasses that we'd do better selling on ebay.

Also... triliminous microdots. Sounds cool. Rec.2020 color, blah blah blah. Bottom line. Untested technology. These things may not calibrate well, have good long term lifespans of saturation or intensity and colors may fade at different rates (see also, early OLED displays).

Really, we know nothing and first gen of any technology always sucks to own.

Edit: What troubles me more is that the W900 is supposed to be a replacement for the HX850 and yet the pre-order price of the W900 is currently a couple hundred more than the HX950 of the same size.

Either they are going to have to knock the heck out of the price at launch or discontinue the 950 immediately (contrary to what they originally said).
Edited by DoctorM - 3/1/13 at 7:44am

Do we know if the active 3D will remain IR or has it been switched to RF?

Agreed! If the w900a doesnt hit a home run and reviews are mediocre i will attempt to get a 950 if there are any left.