Sony introduces high-end ZD9 TV series with HDR

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Yeah there seems to be a difference between the Home and Pro cinema modes concerning constrast. Although one member had the exact same picture settings for both Home and Pro, switched between them but couldn't tell the difference. I've also noticed that the Advanced Contrast Enhancer setting keeps getting praised, besides adding just that more pop to the picture, it also actually prevented clipping in one instance? I usually leave these kinds of settings off but I tried it on my XD94 anyway and I certainly wouldn't use it on the highest setting there.

I've bookmarked the page with member 10K's calibration settings, those seem like a good starting point to begin with. I hope there will be a feature firmware fix for being able to keep the picture settings of different presets and picture modes independently of each other, something that is possible on my old 2011 Sony HX929 but not on my 2016 Sony XD94 and now apparently the Z9D. The XD94 does have a separate HDR mode when playing HDR content, the Z9D does not. On a side note I wish the XD94 would also go into a separate 3D mode so you could tweak the picture settings independently from 2D. I even emailed Sony customer service about this and they acknowledged it and said it may be fixed sometime with a firmware update but I'm not counting on it. I guess the new generation Sony TVs are not that calibration friendly.

I've read The Z9D's smooth color gradation function works but apparently produces artifacts according to some members so they leave it at off. Shame though as I use it on my old HX929, on the XD94 this feature is absent.

Anyway my 65Z9D will be delivered tomorrow along with the X800 so that means lots of testing and playing around with the settings. Even though I haven't read much about DSE, smearing or any uniformity issues, I still keep my fingers crossed. I was very, very lucky with my XD94 considering it can be a very problematic panel as evident when reading the XD94 threads on both AVS and AVforums. Hope the Z9D will also be without any problems!

You could tell the difference with test patterns. It's very clear and plus it was discussed by the Sony guy and a technical article about the x1 chip that the Z uses.

The ACE works better than the typical dynamic contrast. It's more intelligent and object based. It's a personal preference but try it out. I haven't seen any shortcomings with it yet.

Smooth Gradation works very well on Low with no added artifacts. On a higher setting you can notice some minor scrubbing of fine detail.

I think you will be happy

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Geoff D]

Ugh. Y'all are gonna make me wade through that thread, aren't you? Is there at least some sort of keyword that I can search for to make it slightly less of an arseache to find the relevant posts?

When I got the 55X9005A it was me and AustinJerry who were the go-to guys in that thread at AVS, I've paid my dues but now I'm just a schmoe like everybody else.

[DJR662]

I used Jerry's calibration settings for the XD94 when I first had it, still have his calibration report somewhere. He was very enthusiastic about the XD94 at first but had many problems later on (including fireflies in his TV) so he switched to an LG I think. I don't know him personally but I've been following the AVforums XD94 topic for a full year now.

Sorry, Geoff. I honestly wouldn't know on what pages they were talking about it. Maybe pbz06 can help you out with that? However it's not too late to catch up with the Z9D calibration thread though, it's only at 10 pages now I think.

So me and my girl finally finished wall mounting the Z9D, we had our work cut out for especially while taking the old 65HX929 down first. Man, that thing is effing heavy!! I have to admit though, the Z9D's physical appearance is not as classy as the HX920.

I just had a quick look before dinner and the calibration settings done by the ISF certified dealer looked similar to those I have seen online (minus the whitebalance settings). He left gamma at "0" however and from what I understand, on a Sony TV you need to set it to "-2" to get 2.4, will that mess up the calibration in a big way if I change it to "-2"? I rather have it at 2.4 like my XD94, I like the look of that. These settings are for 1080p 2D only, will have to change them for 3D and UHD. Gonna compare the settings later on to those of Steve Withers from AVforums. On my XD94 I am currently using his calibration settings except for RC (I have it at off) and Motionflow and filmmode (both off on my set). Will not be using them on the Z9D either. After doing a firmware update first I will begin testing of 2D and 3D Blu-rays and ofcourse UHD discs. For UHD I am gonna compare Steve Wither's and AVSforum member 10K's settings and then see which ones I will use.

This will probably keep me occupied for the rest of the evening. Btw that X800 is one fine sturdy piece of equipment, I wasn't expecting that. Now my Sony S790 is looking like a cheap piece of plastic next to the X800.

[Geoff D]

I leave film mode on Auto, it properly detects the cadences for content that way.

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Ugh. Y'all are gonna make me wade through that thread, aren't you? Is there at least some sort of keyword that I can search for to make it slightly less of an arseache to find the relevant posts?

When I got the 55X9005A it was me and AustinJerry who were the go-to guys in that thread at AVS, I've paid my dues but now I'm just a schmoe like everybody else.

I tried searching but this Tapatalk app I guess has a broad search engine and gave me too many results.
There was a podcast between Withers and Sony guy, but I don't remember if they covered it in detail there. I think it was also 10k who posted a technical in depth review of another TV with the X1 chip, and it mentioned how on the Z the Cinema Home has a tone map while on Cinema Pro it has a more aggressive roll off or cliff so and they call it "pro-sumer".

All the info online is otherwise generic and ambiguous like "Home for day time and Pro for night time" but the presets in general are just containers, except for the tone mapping in Home.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Geoff D]

Thanks pbz. I've had a look at the last few pages of the AVS thread and it's funny to me - currently marooned in SDR conversion land, though it's not an unpleasant place to be - that they're still going on about clipped highlights and whatnot, even with this badboy TV.

[Geoff D]

Found the interview with Phil Jones, there's some decent stuff in there but a good chunk of it is basically marketing spiel. Hmmm. Basically I just wanna know how the set reacts to 4000 nit and 10000 nit content, it's not the peak brightness (which everyone continually focuses on in the AVS thread) that I'm concerned about but the mapping specifically, people mention clipping even with Cinema Home but don't seem to provide specifics. Ryan Masciola's test patterns include ramps for exactly this purpose.

[gkolb]

I think my Z9D got a firmware update, there was a message in one of the folders about new firmware 5 - 2017. I went to try a manual FW update, it said I'm already on most current version.

One of the details in the message was that HLG was added !!! Part of details was list of TV's affected, was ALL the 2017 TV's were included, even 900E. So that is more than the ones to get a future DV update.

Also mentioned some settings may revert after update, I checked the enhanced status on my HDMI ports 2 & 3, it reset to standard (or whatever the default name is.)
I changed them back to enhanced and saved the change. I haven't noticed if anything else got changed.

Sony owners, be on the lookout !

[EDIT: ps. While we're on the update topic, someone in another thread predicted HLG update and HDMI 2.0b would go hand-in-hand.
Any truth to that? by a knowledgeable contributor... No mention of HDMI change in the Sony message.

Hardware guys, you out there?? /EDIT.]

[Geoff D]

Sure, because HLG is easier to implement on a broader spectrum of technology, even my 2016 Panny UHD player can now play HLG clips.

And bear in mind that DV won't just magically come out of the ether for the respective Sony TVs, they will all have to go to Dolby to have their performance analysed and recorded so that it can be compiled into a specific Dolby processing engine for each TV.

[ray0414]

Originally Posted by gkolb

I think my Z9D got a firmware update, there was a message in one of the folders about new firmware 5 - 2017. I went to try a manual FW update, it said I'm already on most current version.

One of the details in the message was that HLG was added !!! Part of details was list of TV's affected, was ALL the 2017 TV's were included, even 900E. So that is more than the ones to get a future DV update.

Also mentioned some settings may revert after update, I checked the enhanced status on my HDMI ports 2 & 3, it reset to standard (or whatever the default name is.)
I changed them back to enhanced and saved the change. I haven't noticed if anything else got changed.

Sony owners, be on the lookout !

[EDIT: ps. While we're on the update topic, someone in another thread predicted HLG update and HDMI 2.0b would go hand-in-hand.
Any truth to that? by a knowledgeable contributor... No mention of HDMI change in the Sony message.

Hardware guys, you out there?? /EDIT.]

I've been told this is a coming soon firmware, not installed yet.

[gkolb]

Ray, Thanks.

[gkolb]

Well I got the HLG update on the 65" Sony Z9D, the details say it will now work over HDMI. discussed in post #309. other stuff got updated too, like Smart TV apps, and the Android OS I think. Added picture in picture app feature.

Not sure if this was a warm-up for the Dolby update.

Does HLG over HDMI mean the HDMI ports were updated to 2.0b now???

[mutelight]

Originally Posted by gkolb

Does HLG over HDMI mean the HDMI ports were updated to 2.0b now???

That is my understanding that it did indeed get updated to HDMI 2.0B.

So far Android 7.0 seems snappier. I wanted to give it some time to "settle in" since whenever I reboot my TV it is faster but even after having the update a few days, using RVU, and changing a bunch of picture settings, the performance still seems to be good. Fingers crossed.

[Geoff D]

65ZD9 playing the HLG HDR10 demo clip 'NASA' via a X800 player. None more black...

[singhcr]

That's an LCD TV? Damn.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

65ZD9 playing the HLG demo clip 'NASA' via a X800 player. None more black...

Are you playing it off a USB stick? LG Cymatic Jazz and Travelxp are also available in HLG.

Btw how are you liking the ZD9 so far and are you using 10K's Cinema Pro settings or do you have it calibrated?

[JohnAV]

Saw this today
Android 7.0 will roll out to Sony TVs starting May 31 - FlatpanelsHD - May 31st

Sony will release Android 7.0 (Nougat) for its Android TVs starting Wednesday, May 31. The new software includes features such as Picture-in-Picture, Google Cast 4K, support for HLG HDR, and the option to use multiple Google accounts.

Some owners in the US have already received the new software but Sony says that the official roll-out starts on May 31.

Android 7.0 (Nougat) on Sony TVs
When: May 31st
Affected devices:
2016 Sony's Android TVs (XD 70, 75, 80, 83 and ZD9 / Z9D)
2017 Sony's Android TVs (XE 80, 83, 85, 90, 93, 94 and A1 OLED)
Unique features:
Picture-in-Picture, Half-screen and Task-switching (recent apps) functionality
Multiple Google accounts support for your TV
Opera browser voice search support
Bluetooth support for headphones (XE85, XE90 + XE93/94)
Google Cast 4K support and HLG content support, as well as other improvements

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Are you playing it off a USB stick? LG Cymatic Jazz and Travelxp are also available in HLG.

Btw how are you liking the ZD9 so far and are you using 10K's Cinema Pro settings or do you have it calibrated?

It's off a hard drive into the X800 player, yes, and it activates the TV's HDR mode so I dunno what it's doing but I like it. ([edit] Oops, it's not HLG at all.) Incidentally the travelXP one doesn't trigger HDR on the TV, haven't tried the Jazz one yet but I've got it somewhere. I've used 10K's settings as a base but I don't like how much content is being clipped with contrast at 95, the PQ EOTF still tracks very nicely with gamma at +2 and contrast at 90 in HDR. Will wait until I can profile my meter with a spectro before going all-out on the calibration.

Loving the TV, it's got its quirks like they all do but when it's on song it's a stunning picture.

Originally Posted by singhcr

That's an LCD TV? Damn.

Yes. Yes it is.

[gkolb]

^^^ This is the update my Z9D got in mid-May.
HDMI ports get updated to 2.0b also.

[HeatEquation]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

65ZD9 playing the HLG demo clip 'NASA' via a X800 player. None more black...

What clip is that and where did you download it from? I've been searching for more HLG content, but other than the Jazz, TravelXP, and the YouTube ones, I haven't found any. The only HLG NASA one I know of is this one:

NASA HLG - YouTube