Commonly listed con by whom? Reviewers? Owners? Non-Owners? Sony haters?
And why is it listed as a con when the vast majority of edge-lit LCD TVs also do not have this feature in the first place?
How exactly does the lack of local dimming adversely affect the Sony's picture quality or performance?
And how can it be local dimming if all the LEDs are located around the edges and not actually behind the panel like they are on a FALD TV?
For instance, my W800B does not have local dimming but the picture quality is very good. What would local dimming do to improve my PQ?
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I see you are doing your level best to defend Sony but yes, 'local dimming' makes a huge difference. My 8550 and 9000 had inky blacks that added much more 'depth' than on my 850B. The "Smart LED" set to 'high' darkens the screen by probably 30-40% and the Sony's darkest was lighter than set to "off".....That is substantial for PQ. Not to mention, it completely ruins dark scenes and you lose any immersion seeing bright lights shining through your blacks........ I could see the Sony's gray blacks even during daytime viewing. Letterbox bars on the Sony were gray, not black. The Samsungs looked like the pixels were shut off..... I'll take, as I'm sure many others would, deep black over slightly better color. Samsung has very vibrant color that pops off the screen, not as accurate as Sony and a little over-saturated but deep, bright and vivid. There is no way I could notice a difference without a side-by-side. Regarding the black levels, no side-by-side is necessary. The difference is night and day.
Take a look for yourself at a full "black" screen on the 850B below. I don't have pics of the Samsung's but trust me, and any owner will tell you there is no comparison. Right now I am auditioning a Vizio 70" P and the FALD is ridiculous, darker than my Samsung Plasma. Night scenes and black textures like suits, dresses, hats etc. etc. are absolutely gorgeous. The only improvement would be OLED. You would not even believe you are watching an LCD. The 4k rendition is very detailed and has the same "wow" factor as the U9000. Much better than the 850B. To get even anywhere close to the 8550 black levels without dimming, you would have to receive a near perfect panel with 0 issues like flash-lighting/clouding and light bleed. An effectively impossible task. Even then the panel just cannot produce as deep of blacks. At any rate, the Samsung's are closer to the Vizio than the Sony.
