Sony Z9F TV

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

https://www.homecinemamagazine.nl/20...tra-hd-lcd-tv/


======> 9.5

3 Page review.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

I won’t touch OLED. I game an awful lot and cant risk retention or burn over time. I also dont care for Sasmsung or Vizio blowing past the HDR curve. The Sony line is what it comes down to for me as a result, and my choice boiled down to this or the 900F.

The Vizio doesn't blow past the HDR curve in HDR10, additionally it supports DV where it's not up to them anyways.

Samsung changed the EOTF curve to track properly now.

Why not grab a discounted 65 z9d at $2999 ($500 less than the z9f) if you must have a sony? It's arguably the best LCD ever made - STILL. That's what I would do after seeing the z9f reports.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

The Vizio doesn't blow past the HDR curve in HDR10, additionally it supports DV where it's not up to them anyways.

Samsung changed the EOTF curve to track properly now.

Why not grab a discounted 65 z9d at $2999 ($500 less than the z9f) if you must have a sony? It's arguably the best LCD ever made - STILL. That's what I would do after seeing the z9f reports.

It seems to have some DV quirks and its motion handling seems iffy to me.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

It seems to have some DV quirks and its motion handling seems iffy to me.

The Z9D? What precisely are you referring to?

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

The Z9D? What precisely are you referring to?

Ive seen reports of DV having a little lag in changing brightness when a shot or scene changes, and the Z9D didnt really score well in motion handling in general. I game so Id like something a bit better in that respect.

Also, I also read Sasmung corrected that HDR curve business but is there a link for a source on that? And also how are they still handling black levels? Ive seen people say that issue is fixed but others say, ‘nope, still not ideal’.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

Ive seen reports of DV having a little lag in changing brightness when a shot or scene changes, and the Z9D didnt really score well in motion handling in general. I game so Id like something a bit better in that respect.

Also, I also read Sasmung corrected that HDR curve business but is there a link for a source on that? And also how are they still handling black levels? Ive seen people say that issue is fixed but others say, ‘nope, still not ideal’.

From my time with the Z9D gaming on alot of different content, I didn't think the motion was bad IMO. 940E was much worse in that respect. I thought it was perfectly acceptable to be honest.

Vincent Teoh's review 2 days ago on the Q8F reported the fixed HDR curve stuff for Samsung. Black levels are generally fine IMO, early firmwares dimmed too much but most of the crush is gone at this point from the over aggressive dimming.

I would take a q9F over a z9F any day of the week TBH. 5 times as many zones makes a huge difference and if you're worried about black levels, a 100 zone tv is going to bother you with the blooming and/or crushing - because that's what you do to hide blooming, and if you're going to hide blooming with 100 zones you're going to crush often or raise black levels alot. that's just the reality of the sacrifice that will have to be made with 100 zones.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

From my time with the Z9D gaming on alot of different content, I didn't think the motion was bad IMO. 940E was much worse in that respect. I thought it was perfectly acceptable to be honest.

Vincent Teoh's review 2 days ago on the Q8F reported the fixed HDR curve stuff for Samsung. Black levels are generally fine IMO, early firmwares dimmed too much but most of the crush is gone at this point from the over aggressive dimming.

I would take a q9F over a z9F any day of the week TBH. 5 times as many zones makes a huge difference and if you're worried about black levels, a 100 zone tv is going to bother you with the blooming and/or crushing - because that's what you do to hide blooming, and if you're going to hide blooming with 100 zones you're going to crush often or raise black levels alot. that's just the reality of the sacrifice that will have to be made with 100 zones.

Ill have to see for myself. I get blooming on my current Vizio. That set also has less zones than the Z9F and the Z9F will most assuredly have a better algorithm. There may be better out there in regards to handling blooming but my primary pet peeve is DSE. The Z9F seems to be the safest purchase.

Also if Samsung fixed the curve on the Q8FN, do we safely assume they did the same for the Q9FN?

I got burned by a samsung television a couple years ago and their support was totally worthless, so Im hesitant to give them money anyway.

[mzupeman]

My Z9F indeed arrived at my local store. Scheduled for the 27th to deliver.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

elvetica bold*
07:08 AM Liked: 544

post #1356 of 1373

Today | Posts: 1,635

Joined: Oct 2004

The Dutch review gave it a 9.5. Said the Z9F can see detail in white shades up to 5000 nits even tho it tops out close to 2000 nits.
“For HDR, the ZF9 claims the crown of the clearest television”. This along with excellent motion and low lag in game mode just about seals the deal for me.*

With local dimming it achieves 40,000:1. “Sony controls the screen perfectly, and in the vast majority of your content there is no mention of halos.” Similar performance Thomas reported on his 75” but this applies to the 65”

Interesting.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

I wonder if Vincent of HDTVtest read the Dutch conclusion for the 65 inch ZF9:

Sony KD-65ZF9 - Conclusion
With the KD-65ZF9, Sony hopes to have a worthy successor to the ZD9 at home. However, the smaller number of dimming zones immediately falls (104 vs the approximately 700 of the ZD9), and that is also evident in the picture, albeit especially in extreme examples. Where the ZD9 had hardly or no problems with halos, this is sometimes the case on the ZF9.

But the ZF9 remains a pleasure to watch. It delivers an extremely clear image, with excellent contrast, top black detail, very good calibration, and excellent color reproduction. For HDR, the ZF9 claims the crown of the clearest television, combined again with a near perfect*calibration.Sport*and action? No problem, the movement sharpness is excellent. And the new X-Wide Angle technology gives this LCD TV a very wide viewing angle. The Android Oreo user interface is smooth and makes your content a lot more accessible than the previous version. Finally, the price. That is obviously high, but compared to the introductory price of the ZD9 we are pleasantly surprised.

Negatives
Smaller number of zones than the ZD9Moderate sound qualityNo HDR via YouTubePros
Image processingExcellent contrast and good local dimming (104 zones)Wide viewing angleVery good motion sharpnessFantastic HDR resultHomecinema Magazine*
Assessment 9.5

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Note the TWO Contrast Ratio's for the Z9D.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/pict...contrast-ratio

We await results from Rtings for the Z9F.

Interesting the Dutch review said 40,000:1 with local dimming.
Thats twice the amount found on the SamSung QF9N.

However, the QF9N has native contrast ratio 6055:1 and Z9F had 2000:1(some dispute here???)

What it is:*Brightness difference between white and black. This is the main component of picture quality.

When it matters:*Always, but especially when watching dark scenes.

Score components:75%*Native Contrast 25%*Contrast with local dimming

The contrast ratio is the best indicator of how good a picture can look, as an image will generally look better if the blacks are really dark and the whites are really bright - if you are watching a dark movie, you don't want the image to look like a washed-out gray instead of being black. Because TVs can mostly achieve the same brightness of white, the contrast ratio really represents how dark black will be, and a higher number will mean darker blacks.

Keep in mind that having the deep, dark blacks you get from good contrast is mostly a benefit when you watch TV in a dark room. In brighter rooms, reflected ambient light will reduce the perceivable difference you might get with darker blacks, and so higher contrasts won’t look so different. Good contrast is also more noticeable with dark, shadowy scenes - it probably won’t make a big difference while watching something like football, or a bright and colorful cartoon.

The native contrast ratio is great on the Z9D. At around 4300:1, this is enough to make dark scenes with deep blacks look very good. This is also important for people who watch TVs in a dark room, as a lower contrast ratio would make blacks look grayer than what they really are.

It is when local dimming is turned on that you really see where the Z9D outperforms other LED TVs, as the contrast ratio is almost doubled on our checkerboard pattern to reach an amazing 7976:1 ratio. This shows how remarkable the local dimming is on the Sony Z9D.

Owners of Z9F on the forums should post some pictures from HDR Movies like Arrival, Thor Ragnanrok, etc. taken in a dim TV room during night hours.

Do we gasp at Z9F?____ "Interesting the Dutch review said 40,000:1 with local dimming."

Vincent Teoh please help!

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

Ive seen reports of DV having a little lag in changing brightness when a shot or scene changes, and the Z9D didnt really score well in motion handling in general. I game so Id like something a bit better in that respect.

Also, I also read Sasmung corrected that HDR curve business but is there a link for a source on that? And also how are they still handling black levels? Ive seen people say that issue is fixed but others say, ‘nope, still not ideal’.

I've never encountered a lag in changing brightness when watching DV (although it's amusing when fast-forwarding thru something in DV as it leaves a kind of 'imprint' of the previous scene on the screen, possibly from the dynamic metadata being caught in situ), it's the "DV grey bars" problem rearing its head that's winding me up. So disappointing nobody at Sony or Dolby thought to make sure that this wouldn't be carried over into their build of DV, but it's there alright.

[RalphoR]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

My Z9F indeed arrived at my local store. Scheduled for the 27th to deliver.

Can you go and pick it up yourself? Sitting a week in a store is a long time to wait!

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I've never encountered a lag in changing brightness when watching DV (although it's amusing when fast-forwarding thru something in DV as it leaves a kind of 'imprint' of the previous scene on the screen, possibly from the dynamic metadata being caught in situ), it's the "DV grey bars" problem rearing its head that's winding me up. So disappointing nobody at Sony or Dolby thought to make sure that this wouldn't be carried over into their build of DV, but it's there alright.

Is the grey bars problem visible during any DV content or specific titles only?

[Geoff D]

It shows up on anything that dims down either to full-field black (e.g. on a fade to black, or a white credit on a black background) or a very dark scene with minimal light, basically it's the exact same problem that the LG OLEDs had.

It's always been there too, I haven't just started noticing it as the opening scene to Power Rangers (a notorious grey bar scene) was one of the first things I checked in DV on the ZD9. But it's only as I've started to watch more and more DV content that it's really begun to niggle at me.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by E6AtmosVuduDV

Vincent is getting closer! to the Z.

Yes. He talks some Z9F stuff/feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHr0...ature=youtu.be

Thay was painful.
Cinema is the new name for cinema home.
And the new name for cinema is Custom....
Um no, custom is the old name for custom....

He is also wrong about the 4k HDMI inputs being the first for a Sony to take enhanced formats.
He is a parody by now

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by E6AtmosVuduDV

Vincent is getting closer! to the Z.

Yes. He talks some Z9F stuff/feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHr0...ature=youtu.be

Is that ^ safe for work? I stopped the video abruptly after 5 sec. Concerned next a dominatrix in some kinky outfit is about to pop out of the box after hearing Vincent’s first line that “the Master has arrived” and then train him.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Agent Kay

Thay was painful.
Cinema is the new name for cinema home.
And the new name for cinema is Custom....
Um no, custom is the old name for custom....

He is also wrong about the 4k HDMI inputs being the first for a Sony to take enhanced formats.
He is a parody by now

Eh? He means that all four are now the proper 600MHz chips, not just 2 and 3 like it has been for the last few years. Do try and listen to what he says instead of foaming at the mouth with barely controlled disgust straightaway.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Yep. Sony Master. 4 HDMI inputs now can accept HDR10, Dolby Vision as video signals. Like from 4K HDR, DV Apple TV streaming box. OPPO 203 player, LG DV Playet, Panny 820 etc. Gaming box. etc.

My LG Signature G6 OLED only has two such HDMI input.

[Geoff D]

Well, all four chips on the older HDR Sonys can accept 4K HDR, it's just getting 4K HDR with higher chroma subsampling and/or higher bit depth and/or higher frame rate that's the issue with the 'standard' 1 and 4 HDMI inputs. I've had 4K24 12-bit 4:2:2 HDR and 4K60 8-bit 4:2:0 running on both of those sockets, I believe DV works as well but will have to check.