Sony XH95/ X950H (KD-65XH9505) 4K LCD TV Review & Comments

this is my concern. That the stripping out off features from the bigger sets will make the 49inch a hobbled TV that wouldn’t score as highly.

also a bit dubious about Android TV9. Hate the way it takes up the entire screen, and have heard issues with laggy performance and reboots. Android tv10 seems to be way off


I dont experience any lag on android 9 on my xg9505, it shares the same processor as the xh 9505 which makes a huge difference to performance.


My other tv an xe9005 which has a lower processor has no lag and is running android 8, i have no issues with its performance. Android 8 was a big improvement over android 7.

Just restart the tv once a week , which you should do with any computer not fully shutdown and you will have no issues. I dont experience random restarts on my tv, but if you dont do a weekly restart which takes about 30 seconds to 60 seconds then tv will eventually restart to clear memory registers if it needs to free up memory.
 
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this is my concern. That the stripping out off features from the bigger sets will make the 49inch a hobbled TV that wouldn’t score as highly.

also a bit dubious about Android TV9. Hate the way it takes up the entire screen, and have heard issues with laggy performance and reboots. Android tv10 seems to be way off

Android 9 is lighting quick for me certainly don't let that put you off, even android 8 is great without any issues on my other set. I agree that all manufacturers seem to be moving away from investing in the "smaller" screen sizes. Bizarre to think we call 49" small these days! The wide angle filter on my 65" is very good indeed so it's a shame the 49" misses out.
 
Android 9 is lighting quick for me certainly don't let that put you off, even android 8 is great without any issues on my other set. I agree that all manufacturers seem to be moving away from investing in the "smaller" screen sizes. Bizarre to think we call 49" small these days! The wide angle filter on my 65" is very good indeed so it's a shame the 49" misses out.

LG managed to keep the feature set on the CX consistent across the range (although the price of the 48inch reflects that, arguably artificially)
 
Surprised this gets a score lower than the Samsung Q90 series :confused:
 
No you said that nobody on this site keeps a telly for 3 years :D
My tv is 20 years I think.. 28 crt sony trinitron.. Burning for 10 hours a day.. When I switch it on.. it makes a sound boinnnnn and,.. the lights in the room dims down !! BUt there are "soundbars" on each side in the frame with each 5 tweeters.. Sound comes from the xreens it seams..
 
I'd be interested to know how the 49" set deals with standard def television, standard def DVDs and HD from Virgin Media. These are the only things I watch at the moment although I'd probably watch 4K stuff from Prime on it as well if I had one.

I'm not interested in a bigger screen as most of my viewing would probably look dreadful on it!
 
I'd be interested to know how the 49" set deals with standard def television, standard def DVDs and HD from Virgin Media. These are the only things I watch at the moment although I'd probably watch 4K stuff from Prime on it as well if I had one.

I'm not interested in a bigger screen as most of my viewing would probably look dreadful on it!

Sony's upscaling is some of the best in the business. The 49inch model has the X1 Ultimate processor which is the same as the one in the larger models and the same as the set I own, so those sources will all look good, perhaps even better due to the smaller screen size. I was impressed at how well it upscales standard def DVDs. TV has higher compression rates than DVD but will still be entirely watchable. HD will look even better.
 
I prefer Sony Approach of preserving Shadow Detail vs Samsung aggressive dimming which compromises shadow detail.

Same for me, not to mention Sony's more accurate colours and superior motion handling. I think lots get drawn in by the QLED marketing thinking it somehow better technology. The number of unhappy owners on the Samsung threads is shocking!
 
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I'd be interested to know how the 49" set deals with standard def television, standard def DVDs and HD from Virgin Media. These are the only things I watch at the moment although I'd probably watch 4K stuff from Prime on it as well if I had one.

I'm not interested in a bigger screen as most of my viewing would probably look dreadful on it!
Not great imo, a non-4K does a better job in HD and standard def, for sure, so unless you are buying it for 4K, I'd just buy a HD TV, which is far cheaper. I also found the viewing angles not great on the 9505, like if you went 1.5 metres either side of central, a slight grey mist appeared over the screen. I found myself learning over.
 
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How is the sound on the 55"+, given the enhacements made?
 
Is it actually possible to buy a television that isn't 4k these days?
 
Not great imo, a non-4K does a better job in HD and standard def, for sure, so unless you are buying it for 4K, I'd just buy a HD TV, which is far cheaper. I also found the viewing angles not great on the 9505, like if you went 1.5 metres either side of central, a slight grey mist appeared over the screen. I found myself learning over.

This isn't correct at all regarding non 4k content, your experience isn't representative of virtually all of us owners. It has one of the best up scaling capabilities on the market, but if you watch poor source content or have a faulty set you will see issues, like you did. It is wrong to put others off because of your issues, after all you didn't even try a replacement. Unfortunately the VA panel at 49" doesn't have the wide angle benefits of the larger screen sizes but this applies to all VA panels.
 
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Is it actually possible to buy a television that isn't 4k these days?

Why would you want to? Ignore the comments above by Steven, this set upscales very well, plus the 4k and hdr content is superb so best of both worlds. To quote Phil's article " Video processing performance is superb on the Sony XH95 with excellent upscaling that is some of the best in the business. Rather than looking overly sharp and processed, the HX95 upscales with superb sharpness that remains natural looking without any obvious edge enhancements or ringing to fine lines. With 576i, 1080i and 1080p sources, the scaled images look nice and detailed with no artefacts and excellent Jaggie suppression."
 
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My main point was that this isn't sold as a gaming TV. It isn't aimed at the gaming community.
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If that is the case then why is the Sony guy going to such lengths to argue that the absence of 2.1 is no big deal for gamers?
I think we sometimes forget on these forums that the vast majority of the buying public aren’t as knowledgeable as many of the people who post here. I can guarantee that the Sony reps in JL, Currys and the like will absolutely flog this TV as a gaming TV if it gets them a sale.
 
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Why would you want to? Ignore the comments above by Steven, this set upscales very well, plus the 4k and hdr content is superb so best of both worlds. To quote Phil's article " Video processing performance is superb on the Sony XH95 with excellent upscaling that is some of the best in the business. Rather than looking overly sharp and processed, the HX95 upscales with superb sharpness that remains natural looking without any obvious edge enhancements or ringing to fine lines. With 576i, 1080i and 1080p sources, the scaled images look nice and detailed with no artefacts and excellent Jaggie suppression."

Why ignore my comments? Because a couple of people on this thread love the TV?, there are those that don't, and they are equally easy to find. Sony's own review page on the 9505 is littered with customers who are not satisfied with the set, so please do not ask somebody to ignore my comments just because they do not agree yours. That is what forums like this are all about.

The plastic faces, and up-scaling is horrible on this set on general content, and not just the 9505; but a better picture is generated on a HD TV, that is just a fact, so unless you use 4K - and let's be honest, for general viewing there is not that much content available - then there 'are' genuine reasons not to buy a 4K TV.

The HD set I bought yesterday for £379 shows better HD and SD content than the 9505, without question.

PS: The 9505 set I had was not faulty, the Sony set I tried the week before, had exactly the same issues. I am not trying to put anybody off, this is a forum to discuss, and all opinions count.

PPS: Also remember, that I had the 49" panel, as you rightly point out, and there could very well be differences to your own, but the poster asked about the 49".
 
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I have a Pioneer kuro, well over 3 yrs old, it produces a loud crack every now and then shortly after turning on which I assume is something expanding. Issue is its still going, I'm happy with hd but at some point will upgrade. As I'm not a tv gamer and only watch films on a projector, from the comments here the Sony looks to tick all the boxes in my case for a tv for everyday viewing.
 
this is my concern. That the stripping out off features from the bigger sets will make the 49inch a hobbled TV that wouldn’t score as highly.

also a bit dubious about Android TV9. Hate the way it takes up the entire screen, and have heard issues with laggy performance and reboots. Android tv10 seems to be way off
Android 9 is not laggy on my AG9 and don't forget you can add Apps to the source menu which looks like the picture below
8392EDBB-628A-4FBC-9F9E-71A70757EB11.jpeg
 
Why ignore my comments? Because a couple of people on this thread love the TV?, there are those that don't, and they are equally easy to find. Sony's own review page on the 9505 is littered with customers who are not satisfied with the set, so please do not ask somebody to ignore my comments just because they do not agree yours. That is what forums like this are all about.

The plastic faces, and up-scaling is horrible on this set on general content, and not just the 9505; but a better picture is generated on a HD TV, that is just a fact, so unless you use 4K - and let's be honest, for general viewing there is not that much content available - then there 'are' genuine reasons not to buy a 4K TV.

PS: The set I had was not faulty, the Sony set I tried the week before, had exactly the same issues. I am not trying to put anybody off, this is a forum to discuss, and all opinions count.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but an opinion doesn't mean something you are saying it correct. I'm not trying to insult you and I'm not doubting what you were seeing, but it doesn't represent actual ownership for the majority of us and my opinion is that the OP should ignore what you are saying. You are also factually incorrect about the Sony reviews, which out of 180 so far it has a rating of 4.7/5 https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/televisions/xh95-series/reviews-ratings

T3.com give it 5/5, Whathifi gives it 5/5, in fact the lowest overall rating I can find is 4.5/5. Have you even read Phil's review? Anyway, best to leave it there. Enjoy your new set.
 
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T3.com give it 5/5, Whathifi gives it 5/5, in fact the lowest overall rating I can find is 4.5/5. Have you even read Phil's review? Anyway, best to leave it there. Enjoy your new set.
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The reviews never reflect real world conditions or usage. Firstly most, if not all, of the reviewers receive the sets direct from the manufacturer, and I doubt the manufacturer will send them a duff set. Secondly, none of the reviewers spend much time with the sets they review, so they never experience the issues that many consumers have. So ratings are artificially inflated.
 
You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, but an opinion doesn't mean something you are saying it correct. I'm not doubting what you were seeing, but it doesn't represent actual ownership for the majority of us and my opinion is that the OP should ignore what you are saying. You are also factual incorrect about the Sony reviews, which out of 180 so far it has a rating of 4.7/5 https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/televisions/xh95-series/reviews-ratings

T3.com give it 5/5, Whathifi gives it 5/5, in fact the lowest overall rating I can find is 4.5/5. Have you even read Phil's review? Anyway, best to leave it there. Enjoy your new set.

No opinion is factual regarding reviews, as we all see visuals differently, and have different perceptions/justifications - therefore all views are valid.

Even the inferior sets get a high 4.5+ rating on the Sony's website, so they cannot be taken as gospel either, as we know. The set I also sent back before the 9505 has a 4.7+ rating out of 160 reviews.


There are 55" 4K TVs on Argos (Hitatchi) for £360 with over a thousand reviews, showing 5 stars, and I'd assume you wouldn't buy one, so it's all relative to justifying the expense from the purchaser.

And regarding my new set, it is a temporary set until something comes along that I feel actually worth the money. It may not sound like it amongst my posts, but I very much wanted that set to be the 9505 that was returned this morning (excellent service from RS, I must highlight..)
 
I was going to go for the LG CX48 but no swaying back to the Sony because of the natural picture and the PRICE. Saving £500 makes my purchase of a PS5 less of an extravagance!
 

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