Sony X900E TV Review
By Chris Heinonen on
Performance
Value
Overall
The Sony X900E UltraHD TV
is a new model to their lineup for 2017. It features a full array backlight with 45 zones of local dimming (9×5 I believe, but am not certain), HDR and wide color gamut support, a true 120Hz refresh rate, and integrated streaming through Android TV. With one of the only full array local dimming backlights on the market, it is primed to compete directly with the Vizio P65 in performance and price. Can the Sony dethrone what has been the best value in a HDR TV this past year?
Sony X900E Design and Features
The Sony X900E comes in 49”, 55”, 65”, and 75” sizes. All of these use VA panels with a 120Hz refresh rate so you can get the same image quality regardless of how much space you have. While image quality should be similar between the sizes, the brightness of HDR highlights might vary since the backlights will be different. For our testing, we are using a 65” model.
Connectivity is handled with four HDMI inputs, though only inputs 2 and 3 offer the full 18.0Gb/sec bandwidth needed for HDR and WCG content. Android TV integration lets you stream Netflix, Amazon and others in UltraHD with HDR as well. In a nice touch the X900E includes a pair of IR emitters so the included remote can easily control your cable box or another device without resorting to the less reliable HDMI CEC.
Sony uses a center pedestal design for the X900E stand, something I prefer to the “clawfoot” style stands other companies are using. It’s easier to place on a cabinet that might not be the full width. The remote has a rubber coating so it seems like it might stand up to some excess water better than most, and has a microphone in it for searching with Google. Despite having this microphone, which means it has Bluetooth or WiFi direct for communications, it uses IR for signals and has a relatively small sensor for it.
Most important to the Sony X900E is that it includes both HDR and WCG support. HDR is done with a 20-zone full array backlight. I usually love full-array backlights, though 20 zones are on the smaller side when compared to the Vizio or other models. The WCG support covers almost the entire DCI/P3 gamut, though as discussed in our Color Volume article, this isn’t the best way to measure this. We will have full Color Volume data in the full review once it is complete.
The Sony X900E uses Android TV for an interface which is nice because it offers a full array of streaming content, but is almost insufferably slow. Android TV on the Shield TV, with a faster processor, is a much better experience for the end user. You can speed up the Sony by disabling some services and entering developer mode to change presets, but most people will never do that. While Android TV could be good, on the Sony X900E it leaves me using an external media streamer instead.
Sony X900E HDR Performance
I tested the Sony X900E using the Oppo UDP-203 UltraHD Blu-ray
player along with a Shield TV
, Roku Premiere+
, and the internal streaming apps. Measuring the Cinema Pro preset, the EOTF tracks almost perfectly, though the grayscale has a touch of blue to it.
Using a 10% window, the Sony X900E puts out 900 nits of brightness. As with all HDR displays, it has a slight issue with the EOTF around the 70% knee, but nothing big. Since the Sony has no CMS you don’t need to do any edits to that at all. Like most recent Sony displays, SDR and HDR share a grayscale memory so if you calibrate one, the other will also use it. In our sample, the SDR grayscale average dE2000 after we calibrated the HDR grayscale was a tiny 1.36, so this system works fine.
One thing that is noticeable with the Sony X900E is that the tone mapping varies a lot between Cinema Pro, Custom, and Standard modes. We measured Calibrated Pro initially, since it should track the standards like we want it to, but watching Pan I found that Custom did a better job with tone mapping the extremely bright highlights. More detail was present compared to Cinema Pro, while Standard just blew them out. We will have to go back and perform a full set of measurements on Custom to see how it compared to Cinema Pro, but I prefer how it does the tone mapping.
Doing some direct comparisons to the P65, there are clear differences between the two sets. The P65 has better blacks as far more dimming zones make it easy to see the difference. By comparison, the brighter highlights the X900E can do in HDR are also clear to see. During the nightclub raid scene in John Wick
, bits of red neon are much brighter and red on the Sony compared to the Vizio. Scenes with bright clouds snow more details on the Sony, while the sky in Pan
is a rich shade of blue on the Sony while it is a washed out blue on the Vizio. More comparisons, especially with darker material like Harry Potter, will be needed to compare the two.
I’ve gone through and measured more of the presets on the X900E after the update to Android 7.0 and have some notes on each of them.
Cinema Pro: This is the most accurate mode. It tracks the EOTF correctly and has the lowest grayscale errors of any of the presets.
Cinema Home: Cinema Home makes everything brighter, earlier. So a pixel that should be 95 nits is coming out at 251 nits, while one that should be 10 nits is 34 nits. This continues all the way up. What it does provide is a brighter, punchier image in many scenes, but when you have bright highlights those clip to a high degree and you lose lots of detail.
Custom: Custom tracks the opposite way that Cinema Home does, it in that it makes everything dimmer. This leads you to seeing more detail in bright highlights, but most other scenes are dimmer than they should be. A pixel that should be 10 nits is instead 8.4, one that should be 94 nits comes out at 73 nits. The first value that should peak at 906 nits instead is only 554 nits.
With Custom I found I had a peak light output of 906 nits. Cinema Pro gave me 902 nits, and Cinema Home was 890 nits. Those are close enough that there could easily be measurement error for each as the peak level can rise and fall some as the pattern is left up for longer.
When it comes to Color Volume, we’ve been using the Dolby method as so far it best tracks what our eyes are seeing as well. Using their measurements, the Sony X900E produces 356 million distinguishable colors. For comparison the Vizio P65 does 257 million, the TCL P607 does 267 million, and the Sony A1E OLED does 346 million. This matches up to our HDR viewing, where the Sony models have clear benefits with HDR highlights, showing colors and details that the other sets obscure.
The Sony X900E, unlike the Vizio and TCL models, only supports HDR10 and not Dolby Vision. The higher-end Sony displays (X930E, X940E, A1E OLED, Z9D) are getting an upgrade to Dolby Vision in the future but not the X900E. We’ve done some testing of Dolby Vision here with the Vizio and TCL models and it does a very good job of improving the image. but we couldn’t A-B the X900E against it. As more Dolby Vision content comes out, just know the X900E can’t handle it and will use the HDR10 version.
SDR Viewing
Calibration Summary
| Measurement | Pre-Calibration | Post-Calibration |
|---|---|---|
| Contrast Ratio | 15577:1 | 15656:1 |
| White Level | 157.1 nits | 157.8 nits |
| Black Level | 0.0101 nits | 0.0101 nits |
| Gamma Point | 2.40 | 2.41 |
| Average Grayscale dE2000 | 1.37 | 1.20 |
| Average Saturations dE2000 | 1.13 | 1.09 |
| Average Color Checker dE2000 | 1.47 | 1.42 |
| Summary | The Sony X900E doesn’t offer a CMS, but with adjustments to the grayscale, gamma, and other controls you can get an image that is very close to perfect out of it. The full array backlighting works well with an APL pattern, offering very good contrast ratios. | |
During the opening Macau scene in Skyfall
, there is clearly more light blooming happening in the letterbox bars and on screen with the Sony than the Vizio. When fireworks explode the clouds in the sky light up more with the Sony as the backlights are not as finely controlled due to fewer dimming zones. Blooming is kept in pretty good control, but it is noticeable if you look for it. The letterbox bars are brighter, but not to a degree that most people will notice unless they’re either looking for it or have another display next to it.
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Pre-calibration, you can see the image is very accurate. The grayscale was slightly adjusted in HDR mode already, but not much. The defaults are very good to start and only get better.
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Post-calibration we see very little wrong with the image at all. The flaws that we don’t see objectively we can see in viewing, with the black levels not quite to the same level as the Vizio P65 but you can’t tell that from the charts.
Watching the NCAA basketball championship game, the motion on the Sony is often better but not always. With a bit of reality creation engaged you see some more detail on the 1080i recording, but sometimes you can see a bit of judder on panning shots. Neither the Vizio or the Sony stood out from the other one, and it would not bother me to watch sports on either display.
Both displays make very good SDR displays. A slight edge goes to the Sony as it has more options for motion and image processing, including black frame insertion. This drops the light output significantly, and the overall flicker kept me from using it long term, but some people won’t mind.
Input lag inside of game mode is 31ms, which is good enough for most people, but not as fast as some other models out there. Outside of game mode this rises way up past 100ms, so you need to enable it for any sort of gaming.
Competition
When we started this review, the main competition for the Sony was the Vizio P-Series. Now as we finish it, the major competition is the TCL P-Series. The TCL offers more local dimming zones and a much better interface, but lower build quality, a worse stand, lower HDR brightness, and a peak refresh rate of 60Hz instead of 120Hz. It also only comes in a 55″ size today, while the Sony is available in 49″, 55″, 65″, and 75″.
The Sony X900E offers an image that is clearly better than the TCL, and one that also looks better at wider viewing angles. The gap between the two increases as you watch HDR as well with the superior peak highlights of the Sony X900E. If you’re after a 55″ model, the TCL offers a compelling reason to get it, with its low price and high performance. If you want more than that or a different size, the Sony X900E is current the best option for an LCD for most people I feel.
Final Thoughts
The Sony X900E is a high-performance LCD that offers accurate SDR and HDR images, full array local dimming, and all the major streaming services at a good price. It also comes in a wide range of sizes, making it an option for home theaters large and small, which most of the competition does not. You can spend more on an LCD, though we would advise most people to go ahead and spend the money on an OLED instead.
If you want an LCD and want one with high performance for any content you throw at it, the Sony X900E is a great place to look. The image is great, the build quality and design are top notch, and it has no major drawbacks that we could find. The Sony X900E comes highly recommended by us.
Pros
Accurate SDR and HDR images, full array local dimming, great design and build quality.
Cons
Android interface is slow.
Summary
The Sony X900E LCD offers great SDR and HDR performance in a wide range of sizes. It does much better with HDR content than competing models we have tested, and still looks fantastic with SDR as well. You might want to use an external media streamer to avoid the AndroidTV interface, but that is the only major drawback we found in the set.
ray says
I’d like to hear thoughts on cable TV comparisons too, also the smoothing of bands with the X1 chip.
You counted the 20 zones correct? There seems to be a lot of conflict about the zones. HDTV test and digitalfernshende measured 35 zones on the 55″ so it makes no sense that the 65 would only have 20.
Personally, I would choose the 900e all day because I love the sony processing, the better colors, and the brighter picture which gives more pop to hdr. The loss of blacks is a little disappointing but it’s its a pick your poison type deal. I have a ks9800 so I get the best of both worlds. (BTW the ks9800 can be had now for slightly more than the 900e).
Looking forward to the rest of your review! – ray0414
Chris Heinonen says
Thanks for the feedback. We’ll go back through and count the zones again. We’d heard 20 from Sony but no one ever confirms anything, so we’ll test it again and see what we can find.
The difference in brightness with HDR is noticeable when we pause the compare them side-by-side, but in real world viewing the higher black levels can make it more even. Tone mapping is more visible, but I’ll need to do more measurements today on that to see how Custom and Standard compare to Cinema Pro. I’ll also be using OTA content recorded to a Plex TV to see how that looks, as I don’t subscribe to cable.
The KS9800 is likely better, but is also curved which is a deal-breaker for many people, including myself.
ray says
The curve is a deal breaker for a lot of people, doesn’t bother me as long as I’m somewhat in front of the TV, it does offer a great mix of black, colors, and brightness, really hard to find all 3 right now.
There’s definitely a lot of discussion going on about which picture modes to use for hdr on the sony owner threads, eve with the higher end sets. They all tone map differently and offer different levels of brightness. Some were arguing that cinema home mode was the best, so I showed them your picture that looks like cinema home is actually the worst. Though some may prefer it because it’s brighter than the other modes.
Chris Heinonen says
I’ll add more to the piece tonight, but what Cinema Home does is ramp up the EOTF much earlier, so things are brighter than you would expect. So looking at the data, instead of 95 nits you’re getting 251 nits. Instead of 10 nits you get 34 nits, etc.. So you start to clip earlier than expected because it makes dimmer scenes have more pop than they do in more accurate modes. It’s going to be brighter, but it is also less accurate and has much more clipping of highlights.
ray says
What is the peak nits for all modes?
Surlias says
i recently bought the x900e. it is the best tv ive ever owned by far.
mmu7 says
So I will buy this TV. But how do I calibrate the TV after buying it, should I just leave the setting on Cinema Pro?
Chris Heinonen says
CInema Pro is where I’d leave it if someone wasn’t calibrating it with hardware.
clyde says
Thanks for the recommendation. i usually leave it in cinema pro, if it’s particularly sunny and bring in my room i’ll switch to cinema pro for a brighter environment and if the image is too bright at night i switch to custom.
do you have any advice on a best setting to leave the set on to avoid judder? should i leave the truemotion and cinema stuff off? i’ve seen recommendations to set it to true cinema and high to experience no judder and no soap opera effect.
Eslam Arida says
Is it better than ks8000
Chris Heinonen says
Yes, it’s better than the KS8000 by a large margin in my book.
Gary Davis says
I have both. I ks8000 60 inch in the living room and a 49 inch x900e in my bedroom. They’re both great. The ks8000 is better for gaming with its lower in input lag, slightly better hdr contrast. The x900e is better in almost every other way. Better processor. Backlight is better. Build quality is better. Sound is slightly worse on the x900e–but who uses the tvs onboard speakers??? The x900e is also an android tv which I think is slightly superior to Samsungs smartTVs.
Brad Morrison says
Any testing using Game Mode? I would be curious how it stacks up to Cinema Pro, and if C-Pro with allof the interpolation stuff turned off has nearly the same input lag as Game.
clyde says
I read reviews from other sites like AVS, AVForums, Rtings, and Cnet. and i have to compliment you as having by far the best review. not overly long, you include the main details i’m looking for. i especiallyed loved the breakdown and differences between cinema pro/home and custom.
no other review did that, and it’s such a natural thing that any user would wonder…hmm whats the difference between cinema pro and home.
excellent review!
Chris Heinonen says
Thank you!
Hung Far Lo says
I’m almost “sold” on this tv except for the lack of DV (& any future update for it) although I’m not knowledgeable enough to ascertain if DV is that vital or will ever become so.
John Edwards says
Dolby Vision is a technology that requires a 12 bit panel and at least 4000 nits of brightness. No TV on the market has 12 bit and likely won’t for years to come. 1700 is the highest LED nit brightness for any TV right now (OLEDs only get to a maximum of 800, but cannot hold it for more than a few minutes, average would be 500). They are selling you a technology that you can’t even use! In my opinion HDR and DV are not that great. It actually drops the brightness so you can have more effect on the colour compared to the darker backgrounds… So it gives you that “pop” in the picture. You lose so much detail in the darkness and shadows which you would normally see in a SDR or regular picture. Yes the colour difference is better but at a too bigger cost. This technology needs years to be ready. Do not base a decision on HDR and Dolby Vision. Right now it’s a gimmick like 3D. The cons far outweigh the pros…
Chris Heinonen says
Dolby Vision does not require that a TV have a 12-bit panel and produce 4000+ nits of brightness. Dolby Vision content is mastered in a 12-bit color space and with a display that is at least 4000 nits, with 10000 nits as an option. However Dolby Vision also requires that hardware that supports it talk to each other, so if you have a peak highlight of 4000 nits in a scene and a display that cannot display it, the tone mapping is adjusted to what the display can do to make the material visible.
When you talk about HDR dropping the brightness, this is a common complaint about HDR and one that is rooted is misunderstanding how it works. SDR content is mastered with peak brightness of 100 nits. HDR content will put most content at this same level, with only HDR highlights being brighter. The different is that while HDR displays attempt to display content at their exact brightness levels, SDR displays let you use the backlight control (or OLED light, or anything else) to adjust the level of that 100 nits. So if you have excess light in your room, you might want to watch in SDR mode instead of HDR mode during the day.
The concerns about OLED holding a peak brightness level are also unimportant with HDR. HDR is not meant to display a 2000 nit pattern for a long time, that would hurt your eyes to watch. It’s meant to have highlights and objects that can be brighter for a short period of time. It’s more important that a display can show those peak highlights without a delay in a backlight powering up, which OLED can do, than to display them for minutes at a time. That’s not how content is mastered for HDR.
Henry Garcia says
what’s the picture settings from the post calibration ?
Chris Heinonen says
We don’t share detailed settings for the reasons outlined in this article:
https://referencehometheater.com/2013/commentary/sharing-calibration-settings-results-compared/
Shaun Hall says
Hi I was wondering if you could help me. I have the Sony X950G/XG950 and I was wondering how you can tell if your using gamma 2.2/2.4 or BT.1886. The way Sony do gamma is just a slider that is set at 0 Or -2 depending on the picture mode and you can go to -3 and +3. How do you know which is which? It doesn’t say which gamma your using it doesn’t even tell you when your on ST.2084 for HDR. Many thanks any help is much appreciated.
Chris Heinonen says
With SDR, the slider at 0 will be 2.2 gamma. Going to -2 will be 2.4 gamma (or very close). Doing BT.1886 would require using CalMAN to access the multi-point grayscale control so you can adjust 10% to be accurate, but 2.2 and 2.4 should be very close just using the slider. If you go to +2 it would be close to 2.0 for the other direction. For HDR you should just leave it alone, as in Custom it will track the ST.2084 curve very accurately.