Well, we have a very similar setup, so here goes:

For the record what i’m using is:
TV: Sony 55 A9G
Video: Panasonic ub820 and the ATV 4K
Soundbar: Sony htz9f (eARC)

I have the Panny and Apple TV connected directly to the A9G, and have the soundbar connect to the eArc input (which has worked flawlessly so far). Everything works smoothly, no complaints.

With the Panasonic, I’d suggest changing the resolution to 1080p when playing back a BD(1080p source) for the best possible picture. The A9G upscales 1080p to 4K a bit better than the Panny 820. While the upscaling on the Panasonic is fine, it’s a noticeably softer picture than what you get when you let the A9G handle it.

As for the Apple TV 4K: you’ll want to go with 4K SDR 60p, and Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate both turned on. And make sure to switch on/enable Atmos in the Audio settings if you’re using an Atmos soundbar .

I’ve had my A9G for a couple of months now and will get it calibrated by the holidays, so in the meantime for picture settings i’m using the Custom preset with both SDR and HDR and have it set at the default values except for Brightness, which i set at 15-30 for SDR. 15 for a dark room, and in a dim room i’ll go as high as 30. But that’s really all up to you and your viewing environment. Also, turn off Reality Creation and Smooth Gradation for anything but maybe cable or DVD’s. With things like the ub820 and ATV4K they do more harm than good.

Good advice there. The only part i disagree with is the notion that BD’s would look better on a Kuro. HD cable? Most definitely. But i’ve found that BD’s look fantastic on the A9G. I used a Samsung plasma myself, and it really is no contest with standard Blu Ray discs. Even HD steaming looks better on the A9G. But sometimes it’s what we’re used to seeing, our eyes are funny that way.

Gosh, if I were you, after owning a 75” size, it would be difficult; at least for me to go down in size to a 65”. We do have a 65” A9F at a vacation home and enjoy it very much watching movies, but when we get back to our main home we appreciated the extra 10”.

Thanks Bob for your positive input. I have always wanted to get an OLED but I wound up getting the Z9D because the price at the time was hard to pass up compared to what the 77" OLED was selling for. Now the prices have come down considerably even on Sony's latest A9G. My main concern is the family room where this TV is going is not a dark room, but not overly bright either. .

My wife who is an interior designer is not thrilled about putting the 75" Z9D in our bedroom. As I explained to her it actually it not any bigger than the Pioneer plasma that's there now as that model had the speakers on the side, although the 65" would be more appropriate for that space.

Holy cow, I would not even have to turn the set on to realize I made a big mistake.

Well in the larger size you have one choice now, QN75Q90R. That is the best LED in 75" at this point which many feel is not as good as OLED.....Sure LED will be better in a bright room.......not that much better, not night and day better.....
That makes sense to me brother....lol. Its amazing you are getting teamed up on when your logic is sound.......

Thanks, pbz06! Some follow up questions:

1) Just want to double check that connecting external devices like the UB820 and Apple TV to sound bar rather than A9G won’t negatively affect picture quality?

4) I have the standard PS4 (not PS4 Pro) so do I enable Enhanced Format for HDMI Signal Format on A9G or leave on Standard Format?

For UB820, I know to change HDR TV Type to OLED. Should I turn HDR Optimizer on? Any other recommendations?

The Q80R sound bar is Atmos so I’m curious what settings should I set on A9G / UB820 / ATV for Atmos to work?

I am not so sure about that. I had problems with Bravia sync on(set randomly turning off). Problem was solved by turning Bravia sync off. eARC still works between A9G and Mac MX122. Unless I am missing something about eARC.

My understanding is that the MX122 does not have eARC, but that the MX123 does. Are you sure you have the 122 and not the 123?

Good advice there. The only part i disagree with is the notion that BD’s would look better on a Kuro. HD cable? Most definitely. But i’ve found that BD’s look fantastic on the A9G. I used a Samsung plasma myself, and it really is no contest with standard Blu Ray discs. Even HD steaming looks better on the A9G. But sometimes it’s what we’re used to seeing, our eyes are funny that way.

Starting to like my a9g more lately. Disabling DV was the first step but I still thought my HDR 10 movies looked a bit washed out in scenes with fog, daylight streaming through window/trees, etc. Scenes that should look a little hazy but in my opinion these scenes just looked bad compared to my other oled.

I ended up changing my gamma from 0 to -2 and now it looks as good as my B7A (with the improvements the sony brings like better motion). My set was calibrated so I don't know how much this might be throwing my calibration off but things look so much better in my light controlled dark room. The washed out look is gone.

Todays the big day, I get my A9G so naturally I went to the YouTube app and wound up watching on YouTube Vincent's London Blind Shootout of 4 TV's and the A9G didn't fair to well, actually the LG C9 won. At least the sony came in 3rd beating out the Samsung.

Did you try turning on the Advanced Contrast Enhancer to Low for DV? This should make it look correct. Anything else you are doing is fine but giving you an artificial picture. DV is a Dark PM and that's just the way it is.

....and in the US shootout (Value Electronics 2019 TV Shootout), which was evaluated and voted by industry professionals and calibrators, the A9G won and the C9 came up at second place.

https://www.soundandvision.com/conte...-2019-shootout

I definitely have the 122 I don’t think the 123 is shipping yet. As I said, maybe I don’t understand eARC. ARC is working between TV and 122.

I have not decided if I want to upgrade to the 123. Not sure it has any features I really want.

Starting to like my a9g more lately. Disabling DV was the first step but I still thought my HDR 10 movies looked a bit washed out in scenes with fog, daylight streaming through window/trees, etc. Scenes that should look a little hazy but in my opinion these scenes just looked bad compared to my other oled.

I ended up changing my gamma from 0 to -2 and now it looks as good as my B7A (with the improvements the sony brings like better motion). My set was calibrated so I don't know how much this might be throwing my calibration off but things look so much better in my light controlled dark room. The washed out look is gone.

Yes, spending that much $ is not something one takes lightly unless big benefit. Just wanted you to know the 122 does not have the ARC, which by itself is not necessarily a huge benefit for all TVs and people as the benefits vary from TV to TV.

Todays the big day, I get my A9G so naturally I went to the YouTube app and wound up watching on YouTube Vincent's London Blind Shootout of 4 TV's and the A9G didn't fair to well, actually the LG C9 won. At least the sony came in 3rd beating out the Samsung.

Starting to like my a9g more lately. Disabling DV was the first step but I still thought my HDR 10 movies looked a bit washed out in scenes with fog, daylight streaming through window/trees, etc. Scenes that should look a little hazy but in my opinion these scenes just looked bad compared to my other oled.

I ended up changing my gamma from 0 to -2 and now it looks as good as my B7A (with the improvements the sony brings like better motion). My set was calibrated so I don't know how much this might be throwing my calibration off but things look so much better in my light controlled dark room. The washed out look is gone.

Todays the big day, I get my A9G so naturally I went to the YouTube app and wound up watching on YouTube Vincent's London Blind Shootout of 4 TV's and the A9G didn't fair to well, actually the LG C9 won. At least the sony came in 3rd beating out the Samsung.

....and in the US shootout (Value Electronics 2019 TV Shootout), which was evaluated and voted by industry professionals and calibrators, the A9G won and the C9 came up at second place.

https://www.soundandvision.com/conte...-2019-shootout

I hope that you enjoy your new A9G as much as we do ours. I wouldn’t worry about Vincent’s review. Just enjoy

Hey, i originally bought the C9 this summer, ended up getting the A9G and returning the C9. I’m coming from a 900E, which i liked, but coming off a plasma set i was never completely satisfied with it; i was alway tinkering with the picture settings. When i got the C9, the improvement over the 900E was obvious with 4k HDR material, but the motion was a bit worse, and color looked a bit off out of the box.

What really made me go for the A9G was how poor the 4K upscaling looked to me on the C9. I just couldn’t get over the fact that my old 900E seemed to upscale BD’s, streaming, and cable much better to my eyes. That alone made the A9G worth the extra cash. It’s upscaling is phenomenal in my opinion; it really does make a good 1080p source look like 4K. I wasn’t getting that with the C9.



And of course motion is smoother, color looks natural/pleasing out of the box; it just produces a more pleasing image. The C9 seemed like a good TV, but the A9G is a great TV and finally made me forget about my old plasma set. I really believe that if reviewers didn’t place so much importance on gaming (HDMI 2.1) and the C9 wasn’t priced so low, it wouldn’t be the critical darling it seems to be.

Just to be clear. I am not sure what eARC adds over ARC. I am pretty sure it has ARC as I have connected the TV ARC to the 122 ARC and video/audio are sent from TV to 122.

If you connect your devices to the sound bar and let it switch inputs, then eARC would add nothing. If you connect devices directly to the TV for some reason (maybe the soundbar doesn't pass DV or something through that the TV supports), then eARC allows you to pass DTS-MA, multichannel PCM (not just stereo), and Dolby TrueHD, while ARC can only do DD, DD+, DTS and stereo PCM.

But that's about it.

Just to be clear. I am not sure what eARC adds over ARC. I am pretty sure it has ARC as I have connected the TV ARC to the 122 ARC and video/audio are sent from TV to 122.