Sony 49XG9005 vs 49XH9505

Boostrail

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Well at last I am beginning to lean towards the purchase of one of these in favour of the Samsung offerings particularly after the atrocious experience I had today when I phoned them to try and clarify the anomaly in the QE49Q85T product description and specification as discussed in my other thread. I trust a Samsung employee sees this and reports this to his management.
However to the point.
What advantages would I see in purchasing the XH9505 over the XG9005?
The price differential is only £210 ( new not refurb) and both are thus cheaper than even the Q80T and within my budget.

My concerns with these models are:-
Operating system - reports of slow and clunky operation. I cannot understand this when I find no problem with Android phones and tablets. Is this better on this years model?
Viewing angle and reflections again is their a difference?
Dolby Vision whilst I am not sure if any of my present sources use this there are several reports of it causing a marked picture darkening on the XG9005 to the extent that several users have enquired as to how to turn Dolby Vision off! How does the XH9505 perform in this respect?
Several tests comment on Black levels not being maintained in a moving bright object against a black background test (Comet Tails ). Is this better on the XH9505?
I think the stand on both models is ugly.

I think I can now discount any concerns I had regarding upscaling as it appears that this will be done externally to the TV by my input sources.

Is it worth spending the additional£210?
 
Operating system - reports of slow and clunky operation. I cannot understand this when I find no problem with Android phones and tablets. Is this better on this years model?
The newer TV has an improved chip and will run more up to date smart TV, faster. Its not a problem with speed like it used to be, and the XH9505 should be quite a bit faster.
Viewing angle and reflections again is their a difference?
No. You should not be buying either TV if you want good viewing angles.
Dolby Vision whilst I am not sure if any of my present sources use this there are several reports of it causing a marked picture darkening on the XG9005 to the extent that several users have enquired as to how to turn Dolby Vision off! How does the XH9505 perform in this respect?
This is a largely a Sony problem as a whole. Don't think its changed on the XH9505.
Several tests comment on Black levels not being maintained in a moving bright object against a black background test (Comet Tails ). Is this better on the XH9505?
Every LCD TV has this issue since it can only dim each zone and not pixel by pixel like an OLED can.
I think the stand on both models is ugly.
You can fit your own custom stand to any TV. Just match up the wall mount VESA hole dimensions behind the TV with a table top stand.
Is it worth spending the additional£210?
Not worth the extra currently. You want to avoid buying a 2020 model right now as they are overpriced. You should consider waiting for the XH9505 to come down in price unless you are happy overspending on it for the sake of having it sooner.

Lets keep this thread active now for any further questions, comments etc you have. No need to open a new thread each time.
 
Well at last I am beginning to lean towards the purchase of one of these in favour of the Samsung offerings particularly after the atrocious experience I had today when I phoned them to try and clarify the anomaly in the QE49Q85T product description and specification as discussed in my other thread. I trust a Samsung employee sees this and reports this to his management.
However to the point.
What advantages would I see in purchasing the XH9505 over the XG9005?
The price differential is only £210 ( new not refurb) and both are thus cheaper than even the Q80T and within my budget.

My concerns with these models are:-
Operating system - reports of slow and clunky operation. I cannot understand this when I find no problem with Android phones and tablets. Is this better on this years model?
Viewing angle and reflections again is their a difference?
Dolby Vision whilst I am not sure if any of my present sources use this there are several reports of it causing a marked picture darkening on the XG9005 to the extent that several users have enquired as to how to turn Dolby Vision off! How does the XH9505 perform in this respect?
Several tests comment on Black levels not being maintained in a moving bright object against a black background test (Comet Tails ). Is this better on the XH9505?
I think the stand on both models is ugly.

I think I can now discount any concerns I had regarding upscaling as it appears that this will be done externally to the TV by my input sources.

Is it worth spending the additional£210?

The XH95 is much the better set.

The operating system on the XH95 is very fast and easy to use, I find it to be excellent!

DV is also superb on the XH and it now has a Netflix mode and a DV bright mode which I love. HDR is superb!

You need to go for the larger screens on the XH to get the be benefits of the new viewing angles which are a huge improvement.

I find contrast and motion also to be excellent with the XH. Upscaling is also very good.

I also dislike the stand and I'm looking for a good central stand that doesn't raise the television too high but don't let that put you off the XH is a quality LCD but go for at least a 55".....which means you also get the premium remote.
 
I also dislike the stand and I'm looking for a good central stand that doesn't raise the television too high but don't let that put you off the XH is a quality LCD but go for at least a 55".....which means you also get the premium remote.
Many thanks for your observations and comments.
I have also looked at alternative stands and also found that they all raise the TV too high at the minimum setting.
I regret that a 55" TV is out of the question. I made a cardboard mock up at that size and it appeared overpowering even in our 6mx4m lounge 49" was just OK.
 
I can’t answer your question if it is worth the extra £200 but I got the XG9005 after recommendation from @Dodgexander in an earlier thread. It is a brilliant TV I’m more than happy with it I upgraded from 32” tv so I suppose anything would of looked better but the difference in picture quality is amazing sports look fantastic. The Android TV can be a bit cluncky but it’s not unbearable plus loads of apps. If you are into streaming Netflix, prime etc. and it’s in your budget think about getting a nvidia shield to go with it. Hope that helps.
 
Many thanks for your observations and comments.
I have also looked at alternative stands and also found that they all raise the TV too high at the minimum setting.
I regret that a 55" TV is out of the question. I made a cardboard mock up at that size and it appeared overpowering even in our 6mx4m lounge 49" was just OK.

It's frustrating about the stands isn't it. Our living room is a similar size to yours and I've already got use to the new 65". You tend to get better tech on the 55" upwards.
 
I have the 49xg9005, nothing slow or sluggish about it
 
Many thanks for your observations and comments.
I have also looked at alternative stands and also found that they all raise the TV too high at the minimum setting.
I regret that a 55" TV is out of the question. I made a cardboard mock up at that size and it appeared overpowering even in our 6mx4m lounge 49" was just OK.

The stand is the worst thing about the 49XG9005. I'm really happy with the stand that was recommended here. It makes everything look cleaner.

Hi, I bought a generic one (I'll find the link) off Amazon
View attachment 1349253
View attachment 1349254
View attachment 1349255

Fits perfectly.

This is my setup. Took a few goes to get the height right. Not on the lowest setting but is lower than the supplied stand.
IMG_20200902_205118.jpg


I have the 49xg9005, nothing slow or sluggish about it
I agree. I don't have any issues with performance. I can access Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and YouTube etc quickly and easily. Android TV gets knocked quite regularly but I'm not sure what more people need from a TV operating system. Would be interested to know why people find it so bad?
 
Whichever TV you get I really don't think the stand should be a consideration. There are so many aftermarket options available.

In terms of the difference between the sets I can't answer for that, I have the 49xg and it is a brilliant TV. As far as I can tell 99% of issues with Dolby Vision are down to the source. I have seen brilliant DV and also such bad DV I've switched it off (via Xbox, in-built Kodi or simply watching it in SDR). Bottom line is I think most of the issues would be present irrespective of TV.

As for Android, not sure what the issue is. It works and is really flexible unlike most others. Plus it is getting better and slowly but surely hooking in to the other things Google is moving towards, things like Stadia etc...
 
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Whichever TV you get I really don't think the stand should be a consideration. There are so many aftermarket options available.

In terms of the difference between the sets I can't answer for that, I have the 49xg and it is a brilliant TV. As far as I can tell 99% of issues with Dolby Vision are firm to the source. I have seen brilliant DV and also such bad DV I've switched it off (via Xbox, in-built Kodi or simply watching it in SDR). Bottom line is I think most of the issues would be present irrespective of TV.

As for Android, not sure what the issue is. It works and is really flexible unlike most others. Plus it is getting better and slowly but surely hooking in to the other things Google is moving towards, things like Stadia etc...

Could you post the link to this stand please. I'm on the look out for something for my 65" and want it to me low to the television cabinet. Thanks.
 
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That is for a 55 inch max?
Hi, sorry, I've got a 49 so didn't look at that. If it is there are plenty of alternatives.

This one looks ok for up to 65?
LINK

There are quite a few available with ok reviews.
 
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Thanks, frustratingly this only does up to 55" and I need one for a 65" but that keeps its low to the tv cabinet.
Yeah, sorry only noticed after FubarKid pointed it out. I've got a 49 so...

But this one from above might do the trick? It is OK for 65 and is adjustable in height and gets good reviews.

LINK
 
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Firstly could I please ask posters to refrain from suggesting I get a 55" as they have better tech. I am fully aware of this but this size is definitely a non starter in the layout of our lounge.

This was confirmed today as visited John Lewis (Peterborough) basically to look at lighting and kitchen appliances but of course I drifted upto the TV department. I must say that this was far better laid out and run than my previous visit to a JL store (Edinburgh).
Firstly all TV's except the 1 8K model and the OLEDS were showing an identical source Freeview BBC1 HD on an RF feed! The program was the Longleat safari park programme with Ben Fogle. So all 43"+ Tv's were upscaling 1080i to 2160p. Also there were both Samsung and Sony assigned salespersons as well as JL sales partners in evidence.
Whilst the 49" Samsung just had the edge on upscaling the difference to the Sony XH9505 was indiscernable at anything over 4ft from the screen. Viewing angles on the Sony were also marginally but definitely better but not as good as either the Samsung or Sony 55" models.
Picture quality is always subjective but giving both reps the chance to adjust settings the Sony definitely gave the best picture. my wife who had joined me agreed

When we got home we were able to compare our experience with our current TV as my wife had recorded the same programme. Our impression was that our TV did an excellent job in comparison and only lacked a little in brightness and vibrancy. Colours looked the same . A I have said before this TV has an independently developed (with Hitachi) Panasonic manufactured IPS alpha panel which at the time were considered to be better than the LG IPS panels. Better contrast ratios, blacks and motion handling were the claimed benefits at the time. We never had any issues with back light bleed until a few years ago when after my grand-daughter thumped the screen because she did not like the baddy cartoon character she was watching! Since then there has been a slight bleed in one corner.

Conclusion:- I will wait for the Sony 49XH9505 to come down in price a bit and then get this TV.
 
our current TV as my wife had recorded the same programme.
Be a bit wary, some content is recorded at a lower quality to save space! Not that it will be easy to make a comparison anyway without the TVs side by side :)

Just updating to a new TV will give you benefits elsewhere from upscaling in picture quality though. By having better blacks and contrast if you watch in the right conditions the picture should look a lot better. If you were to consider OLED instead of LCD, those differences will be even more paramount. The move from IPS to VA LCD tech has been an improvement all round, but its not a new tech like OLED is.

For the record the difference between one IPS variation and another is small. Both LG and Panasonic have exchanged battles for years coming out with what they consider to be the best (panasonic most recently with their failed proto types). At the end of the day its the panel matrix which is the limiting factor which is why all higher end LCD TVs now are using VA panels, and why many manufacturers are giving up with LCD TV production completely on higher end sets.
 
Firstly could I please ask posters to refrain from suggesting I get a 55" as they have better tech. I am fully aware of this but this size is definitely a non starter in the layout of our lounge.

This was confirmed today as visited John Lewis (Peterborough) basically to look at lighting and kitchen appliances but of course I drifted upto the TV department. I must say that this was far better laid out and run than my previous visit to a JL store (Edinburgh).
Firstly all TV's except the 1 8K model and the OLEDS were showing an identical source Freeview BBC1 HD on an RF feed! The program was the Longleat safari park programme with Ben Fogle. So all 43"+ Tv's were upscaling 1080i to 2160p. Also there were both Samsung and Sony assigned salespersons as well as JL sales partners in evidence.
Whilst the 49" Samsung just had the edge on upscaling the difference to the Sony XH9505 was indiscernable at anything over 4ft from the screen. Viewing angles on the Sony were also marginally but definitely better but not as good as either the Samsung or Sony 55" models.
Picture quality is always subjective but giving both reps the chance to adjust settings the Sony definitely gave the best picture. my wife who had joined me agreed

When we got home we were able to compare our experience with our current TV as my wife had recorded the same programme. Our impression was that our TV did an excellent job in comparison and only lacked a little in brightness and vibrancy. Colours looked the same . A I have said before this TV has an independently developed (with Hitachi) Panasonic manufactured IPS alpha panel which at the time were considered to be better than the LG IPS panels. Better contrast ratios, blacks and motion handling were the claimed benefits at the time. We never had any issues with back light bleed until a few years ago when after my grand-daughter thumped the screen because she did not like the baddy cartoon character she was watching! Since then there has been a slight bleed in one corner.

Conclusion:- I will wait for the Sony 49XH9505 to come down in price a bit and then get this TV.
Thanks for sharing that excellent summary. I’m in a similar situation, can’t manage to squeeze in the magic 55”+ set. A chimney breast gets in the way and by moving the TV away from the wall results in one of the main sitting positions being less than two meters.

I have been looking at the same sets as you and pondering the same issues, however, there is one issue that constantly crops up regarding sub 55" Samsung's and that’s motion flow. (60 vs. 120hz on Sony). My understanding is it’s more prominent on sports coverage.

Did you notice any issues when you viewed the sets in store?
 
Thanks for sharing that excellent summary. I’m in a similar situation, can’t manage to squeeze in the magic 55”+ set. A chimney breast gets in the way and by moving the TV away from the wall results in one of the main sitting positions being less than two meters.

I have been looking at the same sets as you and pondering the same issues, however, there is one issue that constantly crops up regarding sub 55" Samsung's and that’s motion flow. (60 vs. 120hz on Sony). My understanding is it’s more prominent on sports coverage.

Did you notice any issues when you viewed the sets in store?
Hi benny5. Actually no as they were all showing the same Longleat safari park programme that hardly tested the TV's in a Footy/Formula one context. I just assume that as the gurus on here say a 120Hz panel must be better?

Whilst I was dodging from left to right between the 49QE80T and the 49XH9505 ( it was only about 10ft) the Sony definitely was showing the better picture (on the same source), my wife agreed.
 
#
Hi Dodge
Firstly many many thanks help and for your updating of a very long term TV tech enthusiast as I trust my screen name belies. Please can I please (without offence) correct a comment that you often make which whilst is correct in the USA context is incorrect in particular to the UK and some other European countries such as Germany and France. You often refer to SD as that's "still the same as when TV started."
The UK started in 1936 with a 405 line 377i TV service. This stopped during the war due to proximity to early radar frequencies and resumed in 1946 on this standard until the early 1970's. This was not as bad as it may at first appear due to a relatively high bandwidth and consequent good horizontal resolution . Also postwar Germany and France used 441 and 819 line standards. In the late 1950's European countries moved towards the common CCIR standard now known as 576i with the other standards being for some time being slowly phased out. As you probably refer the 480i US SD standard remains the same as when it was first introduced in 1941.
However back to the thread!

Be a bit wary, some content is recorded at a lower quality to save space! Not that it will be easy to make a comparison anyway without the TVs side by side :)

I don't think this is applicable as it was recorded via a VM V6 box, if anything it was probably better due to a higher bit rate on VM cable vs Freeview HD.


Just updating to a new TV will give you benefits elsewhere from upscaling in picture quality though. By having better blacks and contrast if you watch in the right conditions the picture should look a lot better. If you were to consider OLED instead of LCD, those differences will be even more paramount. The move from IPS to VA LCD tech has been an improvement all round, but its not a new tech like OLED is.

I do not and have never had any upscaling issues which are mainly due to my input sources. I was a bit frightened by the close up viewing of the Sony XH9505 that revealed artefacts that were reminiscent of the Sony TV's in early 2008 when viewing Freeview SD. The Panasonic I bought did not have these artefacts but at the expense of a rather "misty?" Freeview rendition. This was immediately cured by using my Sony badged Pioneer Freeview HDD DVD recorder reset to output 1080i. A few weeks later I switched to what is now the full VM service rather than the phone/minimal internet package I had at the time and got even better upscaled SD and the amazing BBCHD at 17mbps in Mpeg2!

For the record the difference between one IPS variation and another is small. Both LG and Panasonic have exchanged battles for years coming out with what they consider to be the best (panasonic most recently with their failed proto types). At the end of the day its the panel matrix which is the limiting factor which is why all higher end LCD TVs now are using VA panels, and why many manufacturers are giving up with LCD TV production completely on higher end sets.

I fully agree with your observations on the status quo, but I was referring to early 2008 when I bought my current TV. There is no doubt in my mind that at that time the IPS -alpha panel was exceptional giving high brightness, good blacks, and high contrast ratios . Concurrent S-PVA, PVA and MVA panels were way inferior to todays VA panels and generally looked like "Dimvision" in comparison. I can honestly say that I have never had a problem with black levels on this TV even with widescreen movies with a black band above and below . Thus until grand-daughter thumped the screen I also had no problem with backlight bleed. Please note this TV is backlit by a ccfl array not edge lit LCD. Why this type of panel was discontinued by Panasonic is a mystery but I would surmise that it was expensive to produce with perhaps a high QA reject rate. There was a fair amount of alarm on this forum when Panasonic introduced a 42" TV with a LG panel!
Btw I have 2 LED edge lit LG 32" IPS sets in other locations - poor black levels and edge bleed are very apparent on these TV's.

So many of our visitors remark "How do you get such an amazing picture on your TV?"
 
The UK started in 1936 with a 405 line 377i TV service.
Didn't realise that, but I'm not sure many people even owned a TV back then. Think it was the 50s and 60s when most people first owned them, and at the time I think there was only one channel. I'll have to correct my point in the future, but the fundamentals behind my point still remain the same; by today's standard broadcast TV is by far behind TV technology. That wasn't the case previously, especially come the launch of HD.

They seriously need to update regular TV if they even stand a chance competing with streaming services in the future. I think the push will come over the internet only though, with the government keen to sell off any frequencies used by TV for other purposes.

On a separate point, why are you concerned so much about upscaling performance? Do you plan on switching resolution manually depending on what you watch on your V6 box? I've been there before and just ended up keeping my BT box at UHD after I couldn't see a difference.
 
... On separate point, why are you concerned so much about upscaling performance? ....
I would also question the visibility of 4k upscaling on a 49 screen - unless you are very close. Motion handling is much more of an issue surely?
 
Firstly to answer Dodgexanders question I am not obsessed with upscaling. As I have said before I was just amazed that upscaling artefacts less but still noticeable to those observed 12-13 years ago had not become a thing of the past given the huge advances in processors and storage since that time. As I have said I have now ruled this out as a significant factor as my sources will be doing the upscaling to 4K

I would also question the visibility of 4k upscaling on a 49 screen - unless you are very close. Motion handling is much more of an issue surely?
Fully agreed as I have said in an above post above whilst it was noticeable close up it was not an issue at 4ft distance. Trouble was that the way TV's were displayed in JL Edinburgh it was not possible to get 4ft away in a direct view from the 49XH9505 whereas in JL Peterborough this was possible.
Fully agree motion handling is very important.
 

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