A short preview of the newly announced Sony Bravia 9. This is the 75" model.
Join the Bravia 9 Community at AVSForums: www.avsforum.com/threads/sony...
Sir Robert Zohn, if you happen to see this, join the above forum! It has way more enthusiasts than that blu-ray thread you're posting on.
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4K Test clips that were played in this video ranges from: Local Dimming Tests, Screen Uniformity Tests, Stress Sample Clips (Fireworks, OLED Clips), Gameplay Clips, & Movies.
Be advised that while I've viewed the TV straight on, the filming of this video was done at an angle hence more blooming will show up than expected. I could not crouch while filming as it would be difficult to maneuver. The TV was unfortunately placed at an awkward position.
Please note: I was manually and deliberately increasing and decreasing the exposure multiple times throughout the entire video with the intention to capture local dimming and blooming behavior.
At around 10 mins in, the picture settings are explored briefly, and I noticed that local dimming was set to "medium", after which I switched to "high". Left everything else at the default Vivid store preset though I usually prefer the other more color accurate modes.
At the end of the video, a flashlight is directed at the screen for a basic reflection handling test.
Throughout the video, the exposure of the camera is increased and decreased multiple times via ISO and Shutter Speed to hunt for blooming while also showing what our eyes would see. (Tried my best to stick to 1/60 shutter speed as the video is captured at 30 FPS)
Was also moving from center, left and right positions to sample viewing angle and blooming.
[ First Impressions of the TV in a brightly lit store environment ]
Using the hockey dirty screen test clip, there doesn't seem to be any obvious uniformity issues on that display unit. Was trying to hunt for grid line issues as seen in Samsung's QN90B/A (Can't recall which).
Some blooming (though quite small in size and faint/dim) is seen when the TV was viewed dead centered, it's not as bad as the X90K (Hazy mess imo) and X95K. From the last time I've seen the X95L 65", the Bravia 9 is definitely brighter than the X95L though I'm comparing between the 65" X95L and the 75" Bravia 9 so this comparison is a disadvantage to the X95L as larger sized TVs have more dimming zones. Small (10%-40% window) highlights in dark scenes are intensely bright, my eyeballs felt those scorching nits, especially when there are scenes of metal surface reflecting environmental light, e.g sunlight, power crystals etc.
During the Horse-riding scene with the trainer (at 8:33), while gradually overexposing the image over a span of a few seconds, blooming was hardly seen in that footage even while in vivid mode, overexposed and at a slightly off-angle. I went to the extent of walking toward extreme angles in hopes to reveal some blooming, but it didn't seem noticeable.
During the Rocket League Game Test clips (at 12:53), while the car is rapidly moving, the local dimming doesn't seem to behave crazily like what I've witnessed on both the X90L and X95L where there are rapid moving flashes/halos/light bloom around the car during fast maneuvers. This is an indication that there is an improvement either due to an updated dimming algorithm or the increased zone count.
During the Ark Survival Evolve Gameplay clip (at 17:16) where the character traverses through the dark dungeon/cave, I did notice less hazing compared to the X95L.
To conclude this short impression, this is seemingly better than the X95L. In not too complex scenes (without miniature highlights), this screen is a light cannon with even less hazing compared to the X95L and X90L. Keep in mind these are first impressions (not a review) observed in a brightly lit store environment. Please wait for reviews from RTINGS, HDTVTest and DigitalTrends AND see it in person before making final judgement!
Looking forward for the review from RTINGs, HDTVTest and DigitalTrends!
If you're in the same boat, please vote for both the Bravia 7 and 9 on the RTINGs review pipeline here:
www.rtings.com/review-pipelin...
Additional Info related to Bravia 7 & 9:
It has been confirmed by the Sony Tech Department that the Bravia 7 will have the same Micro Circuit Backlight Drivers and Local Dimming algorithm as seen on the Bravia 9.
Source: Robert Zohn (Value Electronics) in the comment section below & Sony's official statements in their video at 57:39: kzfaq.infoHE0UNCfD...