Sony XBR65X900B Ultra HD Television Review

[gadgtfreek]

http://hometheaterhifi.com/hdtv/hdtv-reviews/sony-xbr65x900b-ultra-hd-television-review.html

Clearly there’s little to complain about with Sony’s XBR65X900B. The picture quality was decent out-of-the-box and even better when calibrated. The only stumble is it takes a lot of fiddling with the enhancement options to realize the very best performance. Native contrast isn’t too bad but to get any better you have to spend almost double the money to put a 65X950B on your wall.

The real star here is Sony’s unmatched upscaling ability. We’re going to be watching 1080p content for quite some time; at least another year or two in my opinion. If you want to buy an Ultra HD display now, it needs to do a stellar job at that up-conversion. Sony easily outpaces the competition in this category.

Fortunately the 65X900B also has excellent color, grayscale and gamma accuracy. Even uncalibrated, if you select one of the cinema modes, you’ll see decent performance. But definitely calibrate the set to see the very best picture quality.

Negatives are minor, and they start with the dizzying array of image enhancement options. You really need to experiment with them to get the most out of this TV. With just average native contrast, it really needs the assistance of zone dimming and the other contrast-enhancing features. And don’t forget the Auto (24p Sync) mode in the Scene Select menu! 24p just doesn’t look good without it.

I have to say though, when you’re watching native 4K content, it’s difficult to take your eyes off the screen. At an eight-foot seating distance the image is truly compelling and addictive. There’s no question in my mind that Ultra HD is here to stay and in a year or two, we’ll have the content to go with our shiny new hi-res televisions.

 

[dfergie]

Have one of these on back order ...

 

[dangue]

I am not a fan of the front facing speakers on the sides. That said, I very well may end up with one of these as the current no name living room LCD TV is starting have issues. I can't imagine it's long for this world. Which is unfortunate since I was hoping to put off getting a new TV until the fall to see where the new 2015 models end up in terms of price. In an ideal world, I would be able to wait until the 2016 models have been announced if not released. Sadly, chances of that happening are now close to zero.

 

[dfergie]

I was thinking this or the Samsung 8550, those are very scarce, this model is getting there also, will mostly use a receiver with 5.1 or 7.1 sound with in the living room.