Sony 85X900H vs LG 86 Nano90/91

cueball73

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Hey all... I'm coming over from another forum. Heard good things.

Anyway, I have money burning a minor league hole in my pocket and was waiting for the 85" Vizio to come out on June 30th... but now another long wait.

So,if I don't want to wait, it looks like in that size I have the 85 Sony and the LG Nano 90. I keep hearing contradictory things about the LG:

'Stay away, it's IPS!'
'It's IPS, but they added new backlight tech to achieve same contrast as VA'
'Closest black levels to OLED'
'Black levels not dark enough'

Meanwhile, 'people' are complaining about banding artifacts in the Sony X900H series.

Thoughts from the audience?
 
The 'new' technology (over ten years old but being increasingly used now due to HDR requirements) is local dimming and while it's true that a good IPS implementation can produce similar or better results to a VA without it, it equally applies to VA panels.

I haven't looked into the 2020 models but in last year's ranges Sony's local dimming on the XG90/XG95 was better than LG's best implementation on the SM9800.

A couple of models down the LG range was terrible. It arguably detracted from the picture, let alone matching a VA panel. Initial reviews seem to be complementary about the 90 model being a step up (perhaps to the SM9800 level) but I haven't seen any hard numbers or direct comparison.

Unless Sony has made the 90 model worse, which is possible but not that common for them, then I'd expect it to be the more capable TV. Sony also tends to start their TVs off at lower prices too so if it's the same price as the LG at this time of year I'd expect it to be a higher end model.
 
Yeah. This particular series, the Nano 90/91 from this year, has gotten rave reviews.
 
That's weird... I'm in the same boat. The majority of ''reviews'' says the Nano90 are ''outstanding'', but some guys on discussion boards says this is pure garbage! I got a potential price error on a Canadian retailer for the 86NANO90UNA. Everywhere in Canada, they sell this TV for 5000-5500$ CAD. With some rare places at 4600$ CAD. I got this for 3500$ CAD (2500$US) on a 4 days ''error or super deal price''. I will receive the TV in 5 days. But I'm scared of what I'm going to find out by trying this television...
 
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I haven't seen this years TV's but any previous year if it wasn't an OLED, LG had nothing to offer the enthusiast.

Without seeing it, no way I'd be buying an IPS panel unless I absolutely needed the viewing angles
 
Koolfreak: Please lettuce know! I was waiting on a price drop for the Sony (which still may come soon) But BOTH TVs are available with LONG warranties at COSTCO... One of them will be mine ASAP.
 
You can try to get X950G,X950H or something from Samsung if You can afford it.
 
Money isn't the issue. I would avoid both 950s as they lack all the next gen tech.
 
Koolfreak: Please lettuce know! I was waiting on a price drop for the Sony (which still may come soon) But BOTH TVs are available with LONG warranties at COSTCO... One of them will be mine ASAP.

I'll let you know for sure... and the rtings.com will publish their reviews in 2 weeks. The nano90 is already in their lab.
 
If I would buy massive TV, I would get Samsung Q90T/Q95T
 
Money isn't the issue. I would avoid both 950s as they lack all the next gen tech.

Most of that 'tech' is supporting standards for the actual hardware though, and the 95 models have better hardware capable of displaying more of the HDR data.

I'd go for hardware first and tech second, as you can often buy something external to fudge the support for the tech.

Unless it's something like VRR you're after, which is fair enough.
 
If I would buy massive TV, I would get Samsung Q90T/Q95T
Agree with you... but the QN85Q90T is 7000$CAD in Canada... with some rare retailers selling this for 6000$CAD. I don't think 90T is twice as good as Nano90 or x900h.

Here's a comparaion

And the final verdict:
You won’t be disappointed with the performance of either TV, but the Samsung is the better of the two – as long as you’ve got the cash for it.
 
At what price You can got X900H or Nano 90? In my country price difference isn't that massive.
 
Correct. They are the same price.

And to the other question, to my eyes (and after owning several) the Samsung’s are garbage. I am done with them. Motion is a joke. Colors are disappointing compared to Sony and LG.

i just watched Hamilton last night on an older Samsung 4k from before QLED existed. The performance and experience was remarkable compared to the newer models. But i am shopping in the 85” space now. Sony or new LG it will be.
 
To be fair, I would have loved to check out the new 85” Vizio. (I do want VRR/ALL/Freesync) but Vizio delayed the rollout yet again to the fall.
 
Happy Monday! Rtings released their preview review of the Sony and already have the Nano90 in their labs... should be an interesting couple of weeks. Can I calm the trigger finger?
 
Whater review comes out for the LG from Rtings, it wont be representative of an 86" variant of it (in particular) when it comes to uniformity. This 75" is probably the biggest they've done and should be a closer match LG SM9970 8k Review (75SM9970PUA) but the Nano90 will probably have less zones and perform a bit worse when it comes to black uniformity as well.
 
That is a completely different year/series. They are using all new tech this year and so far all reported has been very positive compared to the SM series. So, whatever NANO review comes out will match the NANO best...

Whater review comes out for the LG from Rtings, it wont be representative of an 86" variant of it (in particular) when it comes to uniformity. This 75" is probably the biggest they've done and should be a closer match LG SM9970 8k Review (75SM9970PUA) but the Nano90 will probably have less zones and perform a bit worse when it comes to black uniformity as well.
 
RTings review up. Promising in all the right places. Except they made an error about smooth gradation feature. Up next is the review for the Nano... looking forward to that. I expect it to fall short of the Sony. I am really interested in the Vizio PQX reviews. If they got their gradation, motion, backlighting quirks worked out, it should be the set to beat. 792 zones...
 
I have fully tested my new Nano90 today. When I first started testing, my living room was really bright. And I was shocked how the display and colors are accurate! The black are really black too during the day. But when I tested in a dark environement, I was really disapointed. The blooming are bad. I mean, really bad. I can clearly see the backlights zones switching when I move the cursor. And during some dark scenes... this is really annoying. I don't have any experience with the sony... but I'm really disapointed for the performances in a dark room with the nano90. I will try to play with the settings to find a way to fix this a little bit. But in a bright room... performances are impressive.
 
I just watched some other comparaison with the Q80R/... and the same situation happened. It's my first backlighted TV, maybe that's normal after all. I'm coming from an Panasonic Plasma VT60. The blacks was superiors and no blooming at all with the Plasma.
 
I just watched some other comparaison with the Q80R/... and the same situation happened. It's my first backlighted TV, maybe that's normal after all. I'm coming from an Panasonic Plasma VT60. The blacks was superiors and no blooming at all with the Plasma.

The blooming is quite poor on the LG's, but you will also see it on virtually all LCD's to some degree. The top end sets like the Q90 or Sony 95 range will have the least blooming of LCDs. HDR means you see it more now than maybe a few years ago as the sets are much much brighter.
 

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