Sony Z9F TV

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by DJR662

I'm looking forward in what the future will bring...

I'm also BUT my bank account isn't


.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

http://www.areadvd.de/tests/ifa-2018...-ultra-hd-tvs/

"http://www.areadvd.de/tests/ifa-2018-erste-eindruecke-von-den-sony-master-series-zf9-und-af9-ultra-hd-tvs/"

Somehow mine came up in English.

Displays colors quite impressive. Even viewed from a smartphone

[Agent Kay]

CLED, boys, CLED.

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

And I predict the A9F will be the big favorite. Because it's an OLED, and from the looks of it has the potential to be Sony's Panasonic-beater.

Nobody beats panafonics for OLED

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by JimShaw

I'm also BUT my bank account isn't


.

10-4 on that good buddy. Bandit out.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Robert Zohn.

Lovely. Awesome.

I've never been there. 3000 miles flight for me.
But extremely happy I can still obtained a Sony Z from you with QC, Proper Breakend, and Pro-calibration. Even wood crate shipping.

Excited awaiting/see your ShootOut results.
Especially Z9F.

Exciting seeing your store albeit youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXAy...ature=youtu.be

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Robert Zohn

Did you received email entitled...

"Confirming Email with Robert Zohn to allow Ordering new TV"

sent on
Sept 13 4:22 PST

It was sent to rzohn@valueelectronics.com

Have not received your email reply.
We know you are very busy with your ShootOut Event prep.
So may have missed that email.

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by E6AtmosVuduDV

Robert Zohn

Did you received email entitled...

"Confirming Email with Robert Zohn to allow Ordering new TV"

sent on
Sept 13 4:22 PST

It was sent to rzohn@valueelectronics.com

Have not received your email reply.
We know you are very busy with your ShootOut Event prep.
So may have missed that email.

I would call. You will probably talk to Wendy, Robert's wife



.

[alexanderg823]

Images and impressions from 65 inch owners are starting to come in. 65 inch not looking so hot with some pretty bad blooming and black levels as a result of the 104 zone count. I'm afraid that while it may be a nice tv, there were indeed some compromises that have been made by the powers that be at Sony for whatever reasons.

Quite unfortunate. Maybe that means we'll see massive price drops quick.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

Images and impressions from 65 inch owners are starting to come in. 65 inch not looking so hot with some pretty bad blooming and black levels as a result of the 104 zone count. I'm afraid that while it may be a nice tv, there were indeed some compromises that have been made by the powers that be at Sony for whatever reasons.

Quite unfortunate. Maybe that means we'll see massive price drops quick.

While it doesn't look too good, it's still tricky to rely on photographs as they can give an inaccurated picture of what is really being seen. Photos can overemphasize things. But on the other hand, comments from the owners also speak for themselves I think. And then there were the first impressions shared by multiple people at the Sony event last month. Perhaps Sony will be able to fix this with a firmware update? But I am also still of the opinion Sony had to cut corners somewhere with these prices.

The OP of the Z9F owners thread is raving about his 75" unit, seems he is pretty satisfied with it. Yet he also admitted there is some light bleed into the black bars at times with HDR content, but didn't think it was that bad and it could actually be reduced by lowering contrast. Perhaps it very well could be the 75" model is indeed the better one.

One thing that is absolute certain, is that we need pro reviews to really know what's up with these sets. Preferably set up against their 65" and 75" Z9D counterparts. I'm not counting on miracles, but I am still very curious of the outcome.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by DJR662

While it doesn't look too good, it's still tricky to rely on photographs as they can give an inaccurated picture of what is really being seen. Photos can overemphasize things. But on the other hand, comments from the owners also speak for themselves I think. And then there were the first impressions shared by multiple people at the Sony event last month. Perhaps Sony will be able to fix this with a firmware update? But I am also still of the opinion Sony had to cut corners somewhere with these prices.

The OP of the Z9F owners thread is raving about his 75" unit, seems he is pretty satisfied with it. Yet he also admitted there is some light bleed into the black bars at times with HDR content, but didn't think it was that bad and it could actually be reduced by lowering contrast. Perhaps it very well could be the 75" model is indeed the better one.

One thing that is absolute certain, is that we need pro reviews to really know what's up with these sets. Preferably set up against their 65" and 75" Z9D counterparts. I'm not counting on miracles, but I am still very curious of the outcome.

Of course it's overexposed to show the effect, but if you're familiar with falds, that blooming is precisely the type of effect I would expect out of a 100 zone tv.

Lots of people are too drunk on the Sony kool aid. They make great TV's, but they don't bend the laws of physics. I feel like it's the same discussion every year unfortunately.

One thing to keep in mind is the owner of the 75 is upgrading from a 128 zone Vizio with 600 nits of brightness - which in real world was much much less due to the dimming algorithm. It's all about perspective.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

Of course it's overexposed to show the effect, but if you're familiar with falds, that blooming is precisely the type of effect I would expect out of a 100 zone tv.

Lots of people are too drunk on the Sony kool aid. They make great TV's, but they don't bend the laws of physics. I feel like it's the same discussion every year unfortunately.

One thing to keep in mind is the owner of the 75 is upgrading from a 128 zone Vizio with 600 nits of brightness - which in real world was much much less due to the dimming algorithm. It's all about perspective.

Yeah, the owner also has a totally different perspective on what a TV should be when compared to myself, which is absolutely fine ofcourse. Each person has different needs. He seems to be totally satisfied with an allround TV for multiple purposes, while I am looking for the next Sony premium high end model with specs that surpasses the Z9D (black level, LD, peak brightness and overall HDR performance in particular) and which I will be using strictly as a monitor.

I get what you're saying about the overexposure and I agree. Yet it would be interesting to hear what pro reviewers will have to say on it when they get their hands on it.

As for that Sony kool aid, I am still tipsy from it ever since I got my Z9Ds...

[flyingdutchman]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

Word is no 3D for Z9F. If so then I'm sticking with the Z9D for now.

3D is dead and all I can say is GOOD. Hated it.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by DJR662

I get what you're saying about the overexposure and I agree. Yet it would be interesting to hear what pro reviewers will have to say on it when they get their hands on it.

We've heard from at least one pro reviewer so far, the german one, who referred to it as a 930e successor, not a real Z series successor - And the german reviewer has been 100% on point in the past. Combine that with preliminary "previews" that commented on poor black levels in a politically correct fashion and I think the truth is already out there.

The avsforum thread is quite entertaining to read, though. The stages of grief are absolutely present. Somewhere between denial and anger now, with the responses of "that set is definitely defective" to "there's no way sony would do this!" It's 104 zones on the 65 inch. As I just said, Sony's not bending the laws of physics. There's really only so much you can do with 104 zones when you've got roughly EIGTHY THOUSAND pixels to illuminate in each zone. With local dimming you've got a choice of one of the following:

1) Use the brightest pixel(s) in each zone and cause blooming, which is worse for HDR because it's naturally brighter.

2) Dim the brightest pixel so it's not accurate or as bright as it should be and hide blooming

3) Brighten adjacent zones to smooth out the blooming, thus raising the overall black level of the image.

Really that's all you can do with FALD, and in every situation the only way to increase efficiency and effectiveness of each scenario is to increase zone counts, not zone size. All an algorithm does is help better decide when each scenario would be more effective over another. But there's a limit to how much that actually works when the zone sizes are so big that none of them are particularly effective to begin with.

It's going to be a great unit with some excellent processing, for sure. Is it the successor to the legendary Z9D everyone wanted? Doesn't look like it. If you have a Z9D is it worth "upgrading"? Unless you have a particular need for wide angles, doesn't seem so. For whatever reason, this is the direction Sony decided to take the Z series in.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

It's going to be a great unit with some excellent processing, for sure. Is it the successor to the legendary Z9D everyone wanted? Doesn't look like it. If you have a Z9D is it worth "upgrading"? Unless you have a particular need for wide angles, doesn't seem so. For whatever reason, this is the direction Sony decided to take the Z series in.

Well I guess this sums it up pretty good...

[Geoff D]

Vincent did try to warn us not to get our hopes too high. For Sony I think the ship has sailed in regards to pushing current LCD tech to the limit, the ZD9 was ridiculously over-engineered in certain aspects which is why it's still one of the best HDR TVs on the market even in its third year of existence (which is a VERY long time for mass-market consumer electronics, it's practically geriatric ).

But now that they've got into OLED they don't need to do any more heroics with LCD to try and create an OLED-killer, and if these mini/micro/mungo LED solutions take off then they may well refocus their energies on that to deliver a truly reference non-OLED set.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Vincent did try to warn us not to get our hopes too high. For Sony I think the ship has sailed in regards to pushing current LCD tech to the limit, the ZD9 was ridiculously over-engineered in certain aspects which is why it's still one of the best HDR TVs on the market even in its third year of existence. But now that they've got into OLED they don't need to create an OLED-killer, and if these mini/micro/mungo LED solutions take off then they may well refocus their energies on that to deliver a truly reference non-OLED set.

CLED in 5 years I bet.
They spent less with OLED, they buy them in add the filters and processors and the sound tandem they are off to the races.
Still a niche market tho.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Vincent did try to warn us not to get our hopes too high. For Sony I think the ship has sailed in regards to pushing current LCD tech to the limit, the ZD9 was ridiculously over-engineered in certain aspects which is why it's still one of the best HDR TVs on the market even in its third year of existence. But now that they've got into OLED they don't need to create an OLED-killer, and if these mini/micro/mungo LED solutions take off then they may well refocus their energies on that to deliver a truly reference non-OLED set.

I've heard this before. Could this really be the reason as to why the Z9F seems deliberately "less" than its predecessor? I find that a real shame. Surely Sony must know there are lost of enthusiasts who prefer a premium high end LCD over any OLED, or doesn't it work that way? Perhaps I'm just looking at it too much from my own point of view, I'm not a "business oriented" person at all.

As I have said before, I just wish Sony would have gone all out yet more time with an LCD to end all other LCDs (Z9D included) that will last us until their first Mini LED arrives...

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Vincent did try to warn us not to get our hopes too high. For Sony I think the ship has sailed in regards to pushing current LCD tech to the limit, the ZD9 was ridiculously over-engineered in certain aspects which is why it's still one of the best HDR TVs on the market even in its third year of existence. But now that they've got into OLED they don't need to create an OLED-killer, and if these mini/micro/mungo LED solutions take off then they may well refocus their energies on that to deliver a truly reference non-OLED set.

Yep. Seems no point, although I'm not quite sure where the ZF9 fits in their product line, at least the 65 size.

Low end - all the 700s/800 models. < $2,000
Mid Range - X900F - $1,999
Z9F - $3,499
A8F - $3,799
A9F - $4,499

I would expect the Z9F is positioned now to snuggle in nicely between the X900F and the A8F, although the A8F seems priced a little to ohigh at $3,799.

It would make more sense if Z9F was at $2,499, A8F was at $2999, with the A9F remaining at $4,499 as the premier flagship 65" with all the bells and whistles representing the pinnacle of current technology at that size.

But even then, with the X900F at $1,999 and A8F at $2,999 the $2499 price point seems like something that doesn't really need to be filled. If anything, the Z9F may be better suited to just replace the X900F at $1,999 to compete with the Vizio PQ series once the X900F falls to <$1,500.

Based on its performance, the 65 inch Z9F almost seems like a product that doesn't really even need to exist. The harsh reality is this unit is going to be competing with the Vizio PQ, and will certainly lose in many scenarios to it (double the zone count and higher brightness) - and that tv costs $1500!!!!!

The 75 inch Z9F, on the other hand represents a great price/performance value as OLED isn't there yet at that size.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Agent Kay

CLED in 5 years I bet.
.

That would still be enough for a "true" Z9D follow up to fill that gap IMO.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by DJR662

That would still be enough for a "true" Z9D follow up to fill that gap IMO.

I don't see it, this was their Veyron moment.