Sony XG95 (and X900F?) - Terrible picture quality @ 720p 24hz

buffeh

Standard Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
11
Reaction score
3
Points
29
Age
42
Location
UK
Hi,

I'm a bit surprised I can find so little about this elsewhere on the internet. There seems to be some mention of it here: Poor picture quality 720p - MrMC

I recently purchased the 65" XG95 and am generally very happy with it. I am using it with a media device (Nvidia Shield Pro, although I've determined the issue is the TV, not the streaming box), and after much reading I'm given the impression that the X1 Ultimate Chip in this TV is particuarly good at upscaling, meaning to ensure the TV does the upscaling, I have set the option in Plex to match the resolution of the file being played, so 1080 files will play in 1080 resolution and the TV will upscale to 4k, and the same with 720, etc.

I have also been given the impression that setting the display refresh rate to match the file being played is also a good idea (to avoid judder), and Plex has this option too (frame rate matching), so for 99% of content this will set the display to 24hz.

This works great for 1080p HD files and they look really good upscaled to 4k, and with 24hz no judder is visible.

The problem happens for 720p files, I have quite a lot of old TV shows that are in this format. When the TV switches to 720p 24hz, the image looks terrible - colours look all wrong and washed out and everything looks very blocky. It's not specifically the 720p resolution causing the issue, it's the 720p with 24hz. If I disable frame rate matching but leave resolution switching enabled, the image looks good. So basically 720p @ 60hz looks fine, 720p @ 24hz looks bad. It's like the TVs upscaler gets bamboozled by this particular combination of resolution and refresh rate.

I have confirmed this is nothing to do with my AVR being part of the chain (although I don't know why it would, as I have it set to pass video straight through), not is it anything specifically to do with the Shield or Plex. I have a PC connected directly to the TV, and if I set the resolution to 720p @ 60hz, it looks fine, until I also then set the refresh to 24hz, then it suddenly looks awful. If you have this TV and a device attached where you can set the resolution and refresh rate, go ahead and try it! If something different happens for you, I'd be really interested to know!

As much has been made of the X1 Ultimate chips ability to upscale any content, I'm surprised this isn't mentioned more, I would have thought matching frame rate and resolution was the optimum way to enjoy non HD / lower res content on this TV, but as it stands this isn't workable for 720p content.

Does anyone if this is this a known issue at Sony? Is there any sort of fix I'm missing?

Thanks
 
What tv shows do you have that are 24 fps? Virtually all broadcast material is either 60hz (30 fps) US shows, or 50hz (25 fps) UK shows. Playing these shows at 24 fps will cause dreadfully choppy playback. If they are rips of tv shows from a blu ray, there will be some material shot at 24 fps, or more precisely 23.976 fps.

Andy
 
Last edited:

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom