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

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..)

My honest opinion that either you had a source content issue and/or a faulty set. I'm still not sure why you didn't get a replacement, at least then you would have been sure it was the source and not a faulty set or you might have got a great set and be sat there being able to make the most of all the UHD/HDR content as well. My first ever "proper" television was a SONY 36" CRT and the first two were awful, but the third was absolutely superb and it lasted me for many years. Like I say, your experience isn't representative of owning this set. I hope you find one that meets your requirements.
 
My honest opinion that either you had a source content issue and/or a faulty set. I'm still not sure why you didn't get a replacement, at least then you would have been sure it was the source and not a faulty set or you might have got a great set and be sat there being able to make the most of all the UHD/HDR content as well. My first ever "proper" television was a SONY 36" CRT and the first two were awful, but the third was absolutely superb and it lasted me for many years. Like I say, your experience isn't representative of owning this set. I hope you find one that meets your requirements.


Ten years ago, I bought the Sony Bravia KDL46EX503U three times from Amazon. The first two were returned, as they both had problems (backlight bleeding, banding, etc) and it was only the third time that I was brought an acceptable unit. Which was a bit of luck, as Amazon's 'no quibble' returns only extended to three on something that big!
 
Is it actually possible to buy a television that isn't 4k these days?

not a high spec one, you may get a low range model, that lacks full array dimming, hdr and the contrast ratios and brighness levels of Sonys high end lcd tvs.

I have last years xg9505 and personally I find quality fine, if you have a virgin v6 box, it will, upscale to 4k and you can use one of your presets to customise quality for non hd channels.
Clarity allows you to adjust sharpness and reality creation improves non 4k inputs like hd, dvd no hd channels.

There are 2 more presets you can unlock it to store settings

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".

I dont experience what you described on my xg9505, i rate the picture above any tv I have owned.

Even lower quality stuff like battlestar galactica is watchable and bbc iplayers bitstream is a lot lower than netflix or prime. As on prime bsg was perfect with no flaws.


Think you either had a duff tv or you managed to make the picture worse with the settings you used. The upscaling is excellent, but you need to adjust the settings. I watch sony movies on freeview sometimes and with clarity adjusted, I dont see plastic faces.

I have clarity at 55, random noise at low, digital noise low and smooth graduation at medium and sony movies is watchable.

The quality is not as good as the hd channels, but likewise hd is inferior to 4k prime, netflix or virgins 4k channel, which are all inferior to a 4k hdr disk.

But some channels may be broadcast in poor quality, which may be the other issue that you had if you were watching one of these channels. As poor quality will be highlighted on any high end tv.

The 49 inch has same processor, features, etc as the larger sets in the range
 
Last edited:
My main point was that this isn't sold as a gaming TV. It isn't aimed at the gaming community.
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.
[/QUOTE]
Because what the Sony guy is saying is correct. At the moment the lack of 2.1 isn't a big deal, it's being made out as if it is by a few people on forums.
It's the latest must have hardware that won't be of much use for at least a couple of years yet.
The vast majority of people will as you say walk into Curry's, but they will see the large display of Samsung TVs on the back wall, & will believe the qled hype.
To most people a 55" TV is a 55" TV why pay £1300 when this one is only £450
 
Last edited:
@LCDseeker & @StevenUK

Can you both cut out the snide comments or you’ll both be thread banned.
 
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.
I have to concur with StevenUK's informative posts. His viewing profile appears similar to mine. As I have said the 49XH9505 is the top of my prospective purchase list. However I do have reservations which match his concerns.
I have viewed this TV in two different John Lewis stores. On both occasions on an RF Freeview feed showing BBC1HD via the onboard DVB-T2 tuner.
In the first case the upscaled to 4K picture was atrocious. I checked with the salesperson that I was watching BBC1HD not SD. The lower priced Sony 49XH8xxx model alongside on same feed was better but still not brilliant.

So 2 weeks later I and Mrs visit another JLP store again to look at the TV's. The 49HX9505 seemed in this case to perform a lot better with upscaled HD and PQ was acceptable but it did not appear stunning.
So we returned home from JLP and watched V6 recording of same BBC1 HD we had watched i on record on our 12 year old full HD Panasonic 39". Guess what apart from brightness the Panasonic looked better! That's both me and wife (colour not resolution for her - semi -retired pro artist.)
I appreciate that this may be settings but do not see that these could affect basic upscaling.

Given my totally different experiences from instore demos and StevenUK's info but conversely yours.
,I start to wonder are there actual panel/ origin/production batch variances in this model?
 
I have to concur with StevenUK's informative posts. His viewing profile appears similar to mine. As I have said the 49XH9505 is the top of my prospective purchase list. However I do have reservations which match his concerns.
I have viewed this TV in two different John Lewis stores. On both occasions on an RF Freeview feed showing BBC1HD via the onboard DVB-T2 tuner.
In the first case the upscaled to 4K picture was atrocious. I checked with the salesperson that I was watching BBC1HD not SD. The lower priced Sony 49XH8xxx model alongside on same feed was better but still not brilliant.

So 2 weeks later I and Mrs visit another JLP store again to look at the TV's. The 49HX9505 seemed in this case to perform a lot better with upscaled HD and PQ was acceptable but it did not appear stunning.
So we returned home from JLP and watched V6 recording of same BBC1 HD we had watched i on record on our 12 year old full HD Panasonic 39". Guess what apart from brightness the Panasonic looked better! That's both me and wife (colour not resolution for her - semi -retired pro artist.)
I appreciate that this may be settings but do not see that these could affect basic upscaling.

Given my totally different experiences from instore demos and StevenUK's info but conversely yours.
,I start to wonder are there actual panel/ origin/production batch variances in this model?

All I can say is that I honestly have none of these issues. I watch plenty of HD content via my sky Q box and also lots on the various apps along with the HDR/UHD content on Netflix. As with any brand and model you can and will get variation in panel quality as has been mentioned.
 
I have to concur with StevenUK's informative posts. His viewing profile appears similar to mine. As I have said the 49XH9505 is the top of my prospective purchase list. However I do have reservations which match his concerns.
I have viewed this TV in two different John Lewis stores. On both occasions on an RF Freeview feed showing BBC1HD via the onboard DVB-T2 tuner.
In the first case the upscaled to 4K picture was atrocious. I checked with the salesperson that I was watching BBC1HD not SD. The lower priced Sony 49XH8xxx model alongside on same feed was better but still not brilliant.

So 2 weeks later I and Mrs visit another JLP store again to look at the TV's. The 49HX9505 seemed in this case to perform a lot better with upscaled HD and PQ was acceptable but it did not appear stunning.
So we returned home from JLP and watched V6 recording of same BBC1 HD we had watched i on record on our 12 year old full HD Panasonic 39". Guess what apart from brightness the Panasonic looked better! That's both me and wife (colour not resolution for her - semi -retired pro artist.)
I appreciate that this may be settings but do not see that these could affect basic upscaling.

Given my totally different experiences from instore demos and StevenUK's info but conversely yours.
,I start to wonder are there actual panel/ origin/production batch variances in this model?
I have the 75" version and the picture quality via the DVB tuner and SkyQ are stunning on both counts. Even SD material looks very good, not perfect but still good. HD and UHD both look stunning and incredibly life like.
 
Are the shop feeds somehow ‘diluted’ I wonder? Are they splitting the signal between all those sets and making it worse?
 
With the blooming issues mentioned by Phil would you suggest this TV for watching movies with subtitles?
 
With the blooming issues mentioned by Phil would you suggest this TV for watching movies with subtitles?
I have had no issues with blooming when credits come up or with subtitles on the odd program we watch.
Credits on a solid black back ground at the end of films shows nothing out of the ordinary. Obviously a lot of artifacts can be worked out with the vast amount of settings.
I have had my 75" XH9505 for 3 or 4 weeks now and have got my settings just about right, although to my other half's annoyance I'm still tweaking a tad.........
 
Because what the Sony guy is saying is correct. At the moment the lack of 2.1 isn't a big deal, it's being made out as if it is by a few people on forums.
It's the latest must have hardware that won't be of much use for at least a couple of years yet.
The vast majority of people will as you say walk into Curry's, but they will see the large display of Samsung TVs on the back wall, & will believe the qled hype.
To most people a 55" TV is a 55" TV why pay £1300 when this one is only £450
[/QUOTE]
You’ve just nailed my point - that this set will most likely be obsolete in 2 years time. Which means the lack of 2.1 will be a very big deal indeed for those who have splashed the cash on a set they expect will do the job (including gaming) for 5+ years, and which will have been sold to them on the basis it can.
 
I have to concur with StevenUK's informative posts. His viewing profile appears similar to mine. As I have said the 49XH9505 is the top of my prospective purchase list. However I do have reservations which match his concerns.
I have viewed this TV in two different John Lewis stores. On both occasions on an RF Freeview feed showing BBC1HD via the onboard DVB-T2 tuner.
In the first case the upscaled to 4K picture was atrocious. I checked with the salesperson that I was watching BBC1HD not SD. The lower priced Sony 49XH8xxx model alongside on same feed was better but still not brilliant.

So 2 weeks later I and Mrs visit another JLP store again to look at the TV's. The 49HX9505 seemed in this case to perform a lot better with upscaled HD and PQ was acceptable but it did not appear stunning.
So we returned home from JLP and watched V6 recording of same BBC1 HD we had watched i on record on our 12 year old full HD Panasonic 39". Guess what apart from brightness the Panasonic looked better! That's both me and wife (colour not resolution for her - semi -retired pro artist.)
I appreciate that this may be settings but do not see that these could affect basic upscaling.

Given my totally different experiences from instore demos and StevenUK's info but conversely yours.
,I start to wonder are there actual panel/ origin/production batch variances in this model?
Watching a tv on cable or sattelite in a shop can trow you into the bushes. What you HAVE TO DO,.. is get the tv to your home,.. and put it next to your own tv.. And then compare. That's the only thing you need and have to do. In store they have dilluted signals.. with lots of pixel-snow around edges..
At home you have a good signal. So, ask for a 14 day return period.
Just do it.
 
Last edited:
The quality is not as good as the hd channels, but likewise hd is inferior to 4k prime, netflix or virgins 4k channel, which are all inferior to a 4k hdr disk.

But some channels may be broadcast in poor quality, which may be the other issue that you had if you were watching one of these channels. As poor quality will be highlighted on any high end tv.

Yes, I agree that HD is inferior to 4K, etc. but the main point I was making, was that a 4K TV scaling up content will not be as good as HD content on a HD-only top end model (or even a decent model) - that was predominantly made to play 1080p/i content, which is easily good enough for most people - when they start avoiding, and buying into the marketing.

I never noticed any poor quality on my previous TV (w905a), seriously, I never did, as the TV ironed out the flaws, and I am as analytical as they come (I have run an IT business for 20 years), and I noticed the issues with these sets immediately, which seemed to change from channel to channel.

I can live without 4K - it is great, yes, but I'd much prefer all-round quality HD uniformity on all channels; instead of poor scaled up content. I actually feel that 4K is a gimmick - UNTIL it becomes the standard - and as 4K TV's have been out for years, and still only a handful of content ever being made available, I don't think that will change.

Having now tried 3 x 2020 Sony TV's in the last couple of weeks, I don't personally think they are any better than TV's 7 years ago - 4K gimmick aside. In fact, tonight I have just bought a replacement w905a that has hardly been used, from an elderly gentleman who has had it in his spare room for a few years, and I guarantee, that as soon as I get hold of it and turn it on (with my previous settings), I'll have a sigh of relief and hopefully be set - TV-wise - for at least a couple of years, or until 4K/UHD becomes the standard, which I doubt will ever happen.

I think what happens sometimes (I know it does, because my IT business has turned over many millions worth of consumer products/services, with many thousands of customers, thus I see it often), and this happens with all purchases, is that we try to justify what we have spent our hard-earned money on, and we can make ourselves believe something is better than it really is.

It's human nature.
 
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..)
Do you remember your picture settings? Your post hinted towards high sharpness/ reality creation settings.
 
Good review! It came at the right time, I have to get a new 85” and I‘ve been zeroing in on this Sony.

Fingers crossed for some Black Friday deal.
 
Watching a tv on cable or sattelite in a shop can trow you into the bushes. What you HAVE TO DO,.. is get athe tv to your home,.. and put it next to your own tv.. And then compare. That's the only thing you need and have to do. In store they have dilluted signals.. with lots of pixel-snw aroudn edges..
At home you have a good signal. So, ask for a 14 day return period.
Just do it.
This was not a cable or satellite feed, in both cases it was an aerial signal displayed via the TV'S onboard DVB-T2 tuner. Thus the quality of the shop feed does not come into it.
 
All I can say is that I honestly have none of these issues. I watch plenty of HD content via my sky Q box and also lots on the various apps along with the HDR/UHD content on Netflix. As with any brand and model you can and will get variation in panel quality as has been mentioned.
In that case then I assume the Sky Q is doing the scaling not the TV? I think that Clearandcolours suggestion of a home trial does make some sense as I will be using a V6 cable box to do the scaling.
 
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.
did you have that tv at home ???
 
Yes, I agree that HD is inferior to 4K, etc. but the main point I was making, was that a 4K TV scaling up content will not be as good as HD content on a HD-only top end model (or even a decent model) - that was predominantly made to play 1080p/i content, which is easily good enough for most people - when they start avoiding, and buying into the marketing.

I never noticed any poor quality on my previous TV (w905a), seriously, I never did, as the TV ironed out the flaws, and I am as analytical as they come (I have run an IT business for 20 years), and I noticed the issues with these sets immediately, which seemed to change from channel to channel.

I can live without 4K - it is great, yes, but I'd much prefer all-round quality HD uniformity on all channels; instead of poor scaled up content. I actually feel that 4K is a gimmick - UNTIL it becomes the standard - and as 4K TV's have been out for years, and still only a handful of content ever being made available, I don't think that will change.

Having now tried 3 x 2020 Sony TV's in the last couple of weeks, I don't personally think they are any better than TV's 7 years ago - 4K gimmick aside. In fact, tonight I have just bought a replacement w905a that has hardly been used, from an elderly gentleman who has had it in his spare room for a few years, and I guarantee, that as soon as I get hold of it and turn it on (with my previous settings), I'll have a sigh of relief and hopefully be set - TV-wise - for at least a couple of years, or until 4K/UHD becomes the standard, which I doubt will ever happen.

I think what happens sometimes (I know it does, because my IT business has turned over many millions worth of consumer products/services, with many thousands of customers, thus I see it often), and this happens with all purchases, is that we try to justify what we have spent our hard-earned money on, and we can make ourselves believe something is better than it really is.

It's human nature.

It's all about the quality of that DVB material. I still have 1080p SONY and watching something like news or anything live or recently made is the same. But when they decide to rerun The Nanny for like 78438648374 time then yeah, 1080p is way better since it does not have to recreate 95% of the picture. But don't blame the TV or broadcasters, blame Public Joe who fell for 4k marketing while everybody who knew a bit about where do we stand in terms of 4k were saying that it is not really necessary.
Add screen size to that and it's expected outcome for those who get it.
Those that are watching only broadcast really shouldn't buy anything but the cheapest crap on the shelf. And considering that it all goes to streaming with high compression I have to say that I'm also staying away from any high end model of anything. If the source is crap than no tech can make it up for that, the point of diminishing returns is much lower then it once was.
 
I've had the XH950 for about a couple of months now and the upscaling of 1080p material is nothing short of sensational, the processing on the Sony is far superior to the Panasonic OLED I had.

You've got to remember that you are always limited by the source getting fed into the TV, a crappy source will always look crappy no matter what TV its on but IMO Sony are one of the best for scaling and processing. I watched the Pacific on SDR 1080p Blu-Ray recently and the picture was so sharp and perfect it was almost like watching 4k, feed a high quality 1080p signal to the 950 and it will upscale and process it flawlessly.

You have to understand that a 1080i feed of Sky or Virgin are highly compressed and pretty shocking quality in comparison to a Blu-Ray or even Netflix., and these low bitrate streams will always look better on a 1080p panel as its native to the signal, upscaling and stretching a 1080 video to a 4K panel will always have limitations no matter how good the processing is.

Watch something 1080p Netflix from the internal app on the XH950 and you will see how good the image looks, there is nothing wrong with the upscaling on the 950 its very good.

The quality of SKY and Virgin is awful in reality, read through the many forum posts on terrible HD quality especially on Sky Sports at the moment and you can see where the problem lies, they have dropped the bitrates on everything I'm presuming to make their UHD look much better (It doesn't) and there is only so much a TV can do with a poor source. The BBC are guilty of this as well on there HD channels.

If all you watch is 1080 programmes then yes, a high end 1080p TV will look better as the panel is native to the source. I have two KURO 500A's and the 1080p picture is better on these purely because there is a 1080i source being fed to a 1080p panel.

The XH950 is a superb TV and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to buy one, I have the 65" version and this has been calibrated professionally to produce a stunning picture. The colour accuracy of the 950 when calibrated is awesome.
 
In that case then I assume the Sky Q is doing the scaling not the TV? I think that Clearandcolours suggestion of a home trial does make some sense as I will be using a V6 cable box to do the scaling.

I have it set so the television does the scaling, it's better than the sky q box although that is very good.
 
Yes, I agree that HD is inferior to 4K, etc. but the main point I was making, was that a 4K TV scaling up content will not be as good as HD content on a HD-only top end model (or even a decent model) - that was predominantly made to play 1080p/i content, which is easily good enough for most people - when they start avoiding, and buying into the marketing.

I never noticed any poor quality on my previous TV (w905a), seriously, I never did, as the TV ironed out the flaws, and I am as analytical as they come (I have run an IT business for 20 years), and I noticed the issues with these sets immediately, which seemed to change from channel to channel.

I can live without 4K - it is great, yes, but I'd much prefer all-round quality HD uniformity on all channels; instead of poor scaled up content. I actually feel that 4K is a gimmick - UNTIL it becomes the standard - and as 4K TV's have been out for years, and still only a handful of content ever being made available, I don't think that will change.

Having now tried 3 x 2020 Sony TV's in the last couple of weeks, I don't personally think they are any better than TV's 7 years ago - 4K gimmick aside. In fact, tonight I have just bought a replacement w905a that has hardly been used, from an elderly gentleman who has had it in his spare room for a few years, and I guarantee, that as soon as I get hold of it and turn it on (with my previous settings), I'll have a sigh of relief and hopefully be set - TV-wise - for at least a couple of years, or until 4K/UHD becomes the standard, which I doubt will ever happen.

I think what happens sometimes (I know it does, because my IT business has turned over many millions worth of consumer products/services, with many thousands of customers, thus I see it often), and this happens with all purchases, is that we try to justify what we have spent our hard-earned money on, and we can make ourselves believe something is better than it really is.

It's human nature.

I find hd content on my tv better than my previous w905a, which I gave to my daughter, its not a case of justifying it to myself on all of the hd channels, the content is displayed, better than my w905a did.


I work in IT and I'm fully aware of technology, my job entails constant learning to keep up with latest changes.


I'm not sure why you are still posting here though as its a thread for owners of the 9505. Are you planning to post to the w905 or start a thread for your new tv that you bought?


As I said you likely had a duff panel, glad your happy with what you now have, as you will be glad, that majority of owners on this 9505 thread are happy with their tvs.
 
Last edited:

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom