Sony Z9F TV

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

EveryBody knows CES will present Sony Hot Stuffs at CES 2019 January.

Think. Whats Hot Stuff for Z9D Lovers. Surely its not Z9F which seems geared for an entry level Z market buyer. IMO. Not AV Geek or the HT "Z" enthuiast.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

just save some money and get a Z9D. If you're concerned about the "bad motion" on it - Keep in mind nobody even knew it had "bad motion" until rtings released their review. When I had mine, I never noticed any motion that bothered me and I gamed a lot on it with the XBOX One X releasing right around the time I had it.

No real issues with motion on my 65" either. I noticed a very small amount of trailing a couple of times, but that's about it. DSE on mine is negligible also with normal use (=anything except test patterns). Throw in the peak brightness, Sony processing, 3D (yes!) and the BMD and you got yourself a winner I would say...

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Study... know your preferred levels or screen performance ability for

from a Z9F forum

Contrast, Black Uniformity, Color Volume, and Color Gamut

in buying a new Preminum TV. They are important for many TH Enthusiast IMO. Know levels for Sony 900F, 940e for comparison.

[tommyboy81]

looking at rings Z9F review next to their Z9D review.

-Contrast, the D crushes it. (But they think its because the X-wide angle tech)
-Dimming..not that bad.
-SDR, F wins.
-HDR, I'll give it a tie
-F on uniformity
-They have the D having better black uniformity but all you keep hearing from people who have the F and saw it at the shootout say how good it really was
-Color Gamut is better on F and heard tone mapping is awesome on the F
-Gradient better on F

I mean its right there, besides the Contrast and somewhat local dimming its not bad. But did they get the 75in or 65in? Nevermind, they tested the 65in

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

looking at rings Z9F review next to their Z9D review.

-Contrast, the D crushes it. (But they think its because the X-wide angle tech)
-Dimming..not that bad.
-SDR, F wins.
-HDR, I'll give it a tie
-F on uniformity
-They have the D having better black uniformity but all you keep hearing from people who have the F and saw it at the shootout say how good it really was
-Color Gamut is better on F and heard tone mapping is awesome on the F
-Gradient better on F

I mean its right there, besides the Contrast and somewhat local dimming its not bad. But did they get the 75in or 65in? Nevermind, they tested the 65in

The 65”.

[alexanderg823]

Originally Posted by tommyboy81

looking at rings Z9F review next to their Z9D review.

-Contrast, the D crushes it. (But they think its because the X-wide angle tech)
-Dimming..not that bad.
-SDR, F wins.
-HDR, I'll give it a tie
-F on uniformity
-They have the D having better black uniformity but all you keep hearing from people who have the F and saw it at the shootout say how good it really was
-Color Gamut is better on F and heard tone mapping is awesome on the F
-Gradient better on F

I mean its right there, besides the Contrast and somewhat local dimming its not bad. But did they get the 75in or 65in?

1) Contrast is the most important factor in picture quality
2) Dimming... almost 7x as many zones in the D compared to the F...
3) That means for HDR performance, the D is incredibly better since it can actually hit peaks more often in real world content since it has much better precision in light handling
4) Tone mapping seems roughly the same, as apparently they both clip at peak brightness.

Seems like it's a no brainer to pick up a Z9D over the Z9F if you're in the market.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

1) Contrast is the most important factor in picture quality
2) Dimming... almost 7x as many zones in the D compared to the F...
3) That means for HDR performance, the D is incredibly better since it can actually hit peaks more often in real world content since it has much better precision in light handling
4) Tone mapping seems roughly the same, as apparently they both clip at peak brightness.

Seems like it's a no brainer to pick up a Z9D over the Z9F if you're in the market.

Oh well, to each his own I guess... If people prefer the Z9F, then that's perfectly fine ofcourse.

[mzupeman]

I have paid for the television some time ago and it’s scheduled to come tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by trying it out. Worst case scenario is that I don’t like it and get another television, and subsequently advise people against a purchase. No big deal I hope that I do like it though and decide to keep it.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by mzupeman

I have paid for the television some time ago and it’s scheduled to come tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by trying it out. Worst case scenario is that I don’t like it and get another television, and subsequently advise people against a purchase. No big deal I hope that I do like it though and decide to keep it.

Well I sincerely hope it fullfils your needs.

So you do have the right to return it should you not like it for whatever reason and get a different TV?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by alexanderg823

just save some money and get a Z9D. If you're concerned about the "bad motion" on it - Keep in mind nobody even knew it had "bad motion" until rtings released their review. When I had mine, I never noticed any motion that bothered me and I gamed a lot on it with the XBOX One X releasing right around the time I had it.

It's not so much the motion as a whole but the black smearing, at least on the 65". It's the sort of thing that you can watch 100 movies on and not notice but when you get one that trips it, holy shit can it get bad. Still, I've said before that the ambient temperature of the viewing environment can make all the difference because once the LCD panel has warmed up, quite literally, then the smearing becomes a non-issue.

This past summer has been hotter 'n hell in the UK (in B4 PeterTHX says that 100 degrees is like walking into a freezer for him, whoop-de-do) and so the TV's been warmed up and ready to go for the past few months, I've noticed no black smearing in that time. But now the weather's cooling off so lo and behold, when turned on from a cold start it's noticeably more smeary. In the depths of winter I have to leave it running for at least an hour to get the smearing down to an acceptable level. And there's me not wanting to buy an OLED because I don't want to have to baby that tech, looks like I'm having to baby all of them for one reason or another. Heh.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Well I sincerely hope it fullfils your needs.

So you do have the right to return it should you not like it for whatever reason and get a different TV?

There’s like a 14 or 15 day return window, yeah.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

Interesting Z9F don't passthru DTS with ARC hdmi and Optical.
But Z9D do.

I have tons VUDU movies with DTS. I wanna pass-thru them to the AVR.

Do AppleTV app have many DTS movies?

[mzupeman]

I posted this elsewhere but it'll apply here as well:

One thing I plan to test is the opening scene of Alien Covenant. It's beautifully detailed and it'll be interesting to see how the overly white imagery reacts against skin tones and anything else that contrasts. I'll probably give some of the 'in the sewer' stuff from IT a whirl. I'd like to see how some of the stuff near the end of Annihilation looks on the Z9F, as there's some really great HDR going on and great opportunity to judge in-use contrast. John Wick 2. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Pacific Rim. The Revenant. Blade Runner 2049. Perhaps even Goodfellas. Some late series Harry Potter in 4K. These are all things I want to pop into my player and sample. I've got about 150 titles on UHD so if you have anything specifically you'd like me to sample, just look at my collection here and ask.

I'll also get around to testing my Xbox One X and PS4 Pro. I'd like to see how the new Spider-Man game looks, God of War, and I'll also try some Call of Duty World War II and perhaps some Star Wars Battlefront II. One thing I definitely want to check out though is Breath of the Wild and how the uniformity fares there since it's full of broad colors that aren't too complex in overall design.

I obviously can't do all of this in a day, but I do plan to play around and put this thing through some testing.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

What would all that be compared to.
Your old TV?

Or a TV such as the Sony A8F with a Rtings HDR Movie score of 9.2. Among highest score ever.

Note Sony Z9D has Rting HDR Movie score of 8.7.

Everything is relative. How good something is.

ie.,

Someone with a 2K TV then buys a mid-level 4K TV may be blown away by its picture quality performance. With him rating his new 4K TV a 10.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by E6AtmosVuduDV

What would all that be compared to.
Your old TV?

Or a TV such as the Sony A8F with a Rtings HDR Movie score of 9.2. Among highest score ever.

Note Sony Z9D has Rting HDR Movie score of 8.7.

Everything is relative. How good something is.

ie.,

Someone with a 2K TV then buys a mid-level 4K TV may be blown away by its picture quality performance. With him rating his new 4K TV a 10.

I'm not coming from a flagship or premium television, no. I am coming from a Vizio M55-D0 from 2016. It does 4K and HDR but doesn't have wide color, but the dang thing really looks good for what it is.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

How good UHD HDR10 or Dolby Vision disc movies appears on a display will also depend on the Disc Player model.

I have both LG UP970 and OPPO 203.
My favorite for best HDR10 and Dolby vision is the LG UP970 hdmi to LG G6 OLED. For Sony Displays I suspect Panasonic UB820, 9000 is best. Im not sure whether Sony x700 is or is not better than the OPPO 203 HDR10, Dolby Vision wise.

I plan on buying the Panasonic 9000. And most likely the Z9D. But for me... wise is to see what CES 2019 presents.

I think many wanting to upgrade their Z9D will decide after CES 2019.

Importantly I want HDTVtest's Vincent to compare Dolby Vision from Z9F and Z9D.

[mzupeman]

Originally Posted by E6AtmosVuduDV

How good UHD HDR10 or Dolby Vision disc movies appears on a display will also depend on the Disc Player model.

I have both LG UP970 and OPPO 203.
My favorite for best HDR10 and Dolby vision is the LG UP970 hdmi to LG G6 OLED. For Sony Displays I suspect Panasonic UB820, 9000 is best. Im not sure whether Sony x700 is or is not better than the OPPO 203 HDR10, Dolby Vision wise.

I plan on buying the Panasonic 9000. And most likely the Z9D. But for me... wise is to see what CES 2019 presents.

I think many wanting to upgrade their Z9D will decide after CES 2019.

Importantly I want HDTVtest's Vincent to compare Dolby Vision from Z9F and Z9D.

The Sony X800 is one of the best there is but, yeah, unfortunately not DV capable.

[mzupeman]

My 65” Z9F will be here shortly.

[E6AtmosVuduDV]

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.ph...&id=1537850002

Im looking at complete breakdown for the 65 Z9F.
At Best Home Theater TV by Expert Judges. The 57.00 score

[mzupeman]

Alright so I had a bit of stupidity in all my excitement.

Yeah, the television looks pretty impressive out of the box but it's supposed to. However, I was coming across some scenes that were dim that basically made all of the blacks looks pretty much gray and the actual contrast look poor. I was in 'oh crap, this HAS to go back' mode.

I, um, hadn't adjusted the brightness yet. It defaults at 35 out of the box which is pretty high up on Sony's 'brightness' scale. I am not using RTINGS settings for calibration whatsoever... I simply set this tv to Cinema and have at it, which I said I'd do, at least at first. It looked great in many aspects but anytime there was a nice white box on the TV from an app like Youtube or something, it was eye-searing. Well, RTINGS I noticed had brightness adjusted to 2 for their calibration and also recommended 10 for medium lit settings. I brought the brightness wayyyyyy down and now this television is looking pretty great... like, actually. Yeah, you can tell there's some concessions made but it's not bothering me, at least not yet.

I'm going to continue to test and tweak content, and I'll report periodically.

More impressions to follow.

Oh, by the way... uniformity...

I haven't run any test patterns for it but when you're sitting at an input selection on the Z9F without anything being fed through HDMI, the default screen is gray. I see no DSE there. At all. I fired up my Xbox One and saw no DSE in the green Xbox logo screen as it booted, nor in the gray background behind the icons like I had seen on my Vizio. I also don't see any on my Nintendo Switch startup screen, which was also a notorious 'yep, I see it' moment in my home.

I've been using Alien Covenant as my current test for contrast, by the way. I'm going to try some SDR content, some South Park in HD for seeing how the color is, and some gaming.