The included native apps are fast and easy to use. In mid-2016, Sony launched a new flagship LCD design, the XBR-Z9D. This outstanding noise management makes X1 Ultimate exceptionally flexible when it comes to working with different qualities of sub-4K content. The 2018 Z9F has much better motion handling, with significantly faster response time and less input lag, great for gaming. Its new X1 Ultimate processor does an unprecedentedly good job of adding the millions of extra pixels needed to convert HD to 4K, introducing more color nuance and depth as well as the more predictable pixel density and detail enhancements. There’s a decent amount of depth and presence to the 65Z9F’s bass as well, and the sound is projected an impressive distance from the screen, boosting its immersive qualities and clarity. The design of the subwoofer is nothing out of the normal. The stand is made of metal and is well-built. In scenes with heavy motion, there may be more visible artifacts, and if there's too much motion the TV will sometimes stop interpolating. This may be a result of the new optical layer, which you can see in the pixels photo here. The Sony Z9F has wider viewing angles as it incorporates Sony's 'X-Wide-Angle' technology at the expense of lower contrast ratio. To remove judder from those 60p sources, such as a cable box, set Motionflow to 'Custom', with Smoothness set to 'Min' and CineMotion to 'Auto'. Sony's Z9F LCD is a dizzying mix of delight and disappointment. The Z9F LCD replaces the aging Z9D, which was released in 2016, as Sony’s top LCD TV offering. To be honest, it looks less than stylish when undressed. Sony has a serious winner on its hands with the new X1 Ultimate processor. The Sony Z9F is a great TV for most uses. And actually, Sony has managed to get one key feature supposedly associated with HDMI 2.1 onto the 65ZF9in the form of eARC support that allows you to pass lossless Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks through the TV from a 4K Blu-ray player to a separate audio system. For our side-by-side comparison, Auto Local Dimming was set to 'High', and X-tended Dynamic Range was set to 'Medium'. Only the 0-20% transition takes longer to transition. The Samsung Q9FN is much better in a dark room, thanks to the much better native contrast ratio and black uniformity. This immediately makes it much harder for the 65Z9F to ensure that light only appears where it’s supposed to appear in a picture. But it’s pretty clear that this isn’t enough to compensate fully for the loss of so many dimming zones. Have spent hours on the phone with SONY support and their response is that will offer me a Z9F for $2900. Excellent reflection handling, but slightly worse than the Z9D. Movies look great, but dark room performance isn't as great due to the contrast ratio. 1080p content from Blu-rays or older game consoles looks great, almost as good as native 4k content. Excellent HDR brightness, similar to the X930E, Z9D, and Vizio P Series Quantum. In these shots, the Z9F is in the top left, Z9D top right, the Vizio P Series Quantum bottom left, and the Q9FN bottom right. Additionally, the Android TV Play Store offers a ton of apps so you can enjoy the content you want. Very bright objects such as wall lights can cast strange circles of greyness onto the non-black walls behind them, for instance, subtly adjusting the color of those parts of the wall in the process. The Sony Z9F has better reflection handling and better gray uniformity, which is great for watching sports in a room with many light sources. If you see any banding, the clarity tab has a few options that can help. The Sony Z9F can interpolate lower frame rate content up to 120 fps. Gamers will enjoy the amazing response time and incredibly low input lag. The Z9F is available in 65-inch ($3,500) and 75-inch ($6,000) screen sizes, both with full-array LED backlighting and Sony’s X-Wide Angle optical design, which reduces the loss of color fidelity when the screen is viewed from off axis. The European variant of the TV is also known as the ZF9, and we expect it to offer the same performance. These are high figures bettered only by a handful of rivals - and our best guess is that the lower brightness of the Standard mode reflects the fact that Sony is trying to strike a good balance there between brightness and limiting the screen’s backlight issues. You can see more about this in the pixels section of the review. Also, the Z9F gets decently loud, without producing too much compression and pumping artifacts. The dirty screen effect is minimal, but some sports fans might notice it during a game, where it's the most visible. The Sony Z9F is an excellent TV for playing video games. If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Sony Z9F doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we'll update the review. The C9 looks much better in a dark room, as the OLED panel delivers near-perfect black uniformity and an infinite contrast ratio. https://www.sony.com/electronics/televisions/xbr-z9f-series/reviews-ratings For instance, dark scenes, especially with HDR images, tend to look rather grey thanks to the screen’s difficulties with hitting a really deep black color. Like many 2018 Sony TVs, the back of the legs can be used to guide cables. HT-Z9F in the US and HT-Z9F in Europe is a more affordable version with optional rear speakers, which was one of our main gripes with the flagship model. The TV has an excellent fast response time, great for action films, and can also remove judder from any 24p source. Outstanding gradient performance; the best we've ever seen on a 4k TV. Design TL;DR: Although it’s not the most stylish TV in 2018, the Z9F is well built, and its finish is promisingly ‘serious’. The TV has a great wide color gamut and is extremely bright, able to deliver a picture closer to what the content creator intended. Because the 65ZF9 joins the ZD9 in using a direct lighting system (where the LEDs sit right behind the screen), it should put out a similar performance. There’s also USB, 3.5mm and digital optical inputs as well as an ethernet connection. On a par with the upscaling prowess of Samsung’s recently reviewed 8K debutante, the 85Q900R. Surround made simple. The Sony A9G is an OLED TV that displays perfect blacks in a dark room, has excellent wide viewing angles, and it is a better choice for watching movies or HDR movies in a dark room. The overall amount of THD produced at 80dB SPL is within decent limits, except for the 7kHz area. It’s worth adding, too, that while the 65Z9F solves the color and contrast issues associated with wide LCD viewing angles, watching from an angle can cause the light blooming issues noted before to become more aggressive. © 2021 9298-5266 Quebec Inc. All Rights Reserved. The viewing angles aren't as wide as most IPS or OLED TVs, but still good if you like to move around while watching TV. In terms of overall brightness, measurements reveal that the 65Z9F can output around 1570 nits of brightness in its Cinema mode (on a 10% white HDR window), 1650 nits in its Vivid mode and, strangely, only around 1250 nits in its Standard mode. The Sony Z9F can compensate slightly for the lower contrast ratio through the better implementation of local dimming support. Sony HT-Z9F Soundbar best price is Rs. The Sony HT-ZF9 bar is part gloss, part matte and features a removable magnetic grille. We’ve already noted what a fantastic job X1 Ultimate does of upscaling lower resolution sources to 4K. It really seems like Sony designed this not to be seen. TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Using two headlight shots of The Evil Dead, one of UHD-HDR and one of HD-SDR, the Sony XBR-Z9F shows the extra bright highlights even if the film detail isn’t a slick as today’s digital films. There were also some general recommendations based on the televisions that were released in 2018. Thankfully, there's good news: Sony’s X1 Ultimate processing engine is a piece of work, in all the very best senses of that phrase. Seeing the various black level issues, however, you have to wonder if the mysterious ‘optical processes’ deployed to achieve this viewing angle breakthrough have had a negative impact on contrast. The Sony Z9F is better than the Sony Z9D, unless you watch movies in the dark from directly in front. This may explain the strange performance of the TV which is somewhere in-between VA and IPS type panels. Like the Z9D, there are plastic panels that cover all the inputs, giving it a clean look. It has a bit brighter peak brightness in HDR, far brighter peak brightness in SDR, better color gamut, color volume, and color gradient. Though this soundbar only has three front-facing drivers, Sony claims it can still produce a 7.1.2 surround sound by ‘virtually’ processing audio so … Unfortunately, late-night gaming in a dark room isn't perfect, as blacks tend to appear gray. Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. Design. Native 4k content looks great and is displayed perfectly. Second, while the soundstage is large, it doesn’t project forward into your room much. It gets really bright when there are small highlights on the screen and loses some of its brightness as bigger areas are covered, but it's still one of the brightest TVs we've tested so far. In the first image, you can see that the local dimming is worse on the Z9F, resulting in brighter letterbox bars, and you can also see that the contrast is worse. We review the Sony ZF9 Master Series 4K HDR TV which is also marketed as the Bravia Z9F in the USA. Its ability to define and render a huge range of colors with exceptional finesse and accuracy joins with the processing’s ruthless suppression of noise and processing artefacts to deliver an emphatic 4K experience painted in much more than mere pixel numbers. 52. Now HDMI doesn't work at all, I have a black line across the bottom of the screen, and TV continues to turn of randomly. This all adds up to a superior dark room/movie viewing experience. These look good when the TV is placed on a stand, but they can be hard to remove if you need to access the connections when wall-mounted. The company’s new Dolby Atmos soundbar, the HT-Z9F, is another fine showcase for Sony’s considerable talents in this arena. When a product is discontinued or no longer popular, we sell the purchased products locally in Montreal, Canada. Sony has added a few sound features that we prefer to call gimmicks as the resulting sound is not improved much. Good. The C9 has a nearly instantaneous response time, but this results in more noticeable stutter when watching movies. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, But it also makes native 4K sources look exquisite. The TV is extremely bright, making it a good choice for use in a bright room, as it can easily overcome glare. Sony states that the X1 Ultimate processor includes new algorithms that improve how cleverly the dimming zones apply themselves to the 65Z9F’s pictures. You can see what products we currently have for sale. The system ran much more slickly and quickly than the previous Android implementation too. 31 12 4 2 3. The Sony Z9F has better local dimming, which is great for movies and wider viewing angles thanks to the 'X-Wide Angle' technology; something which the X950G offers only at the larger models. It has an excellent fast response time, and excellent low input lag. The Sony Z9F is great for watching movies in a dark room. But, as we found out, Sony might've cut some corners in terms of overall zones. There’s also USB, 3.5mm and digital optical inputs as well as an ethernet connection. The 65" Z9F we tested was manufactured in Aug. 2018. A set of … It still isn't as easy to use as LG or Samsung's interface. Sony continues to be fairly uninspired with its button-filled remotes. All common resolutions and refresh rates are supported, except for 4k at 120Hz. 4.3 based on 52 customer reviews. All test scores and pictures have been updated. For most part, it does manage to talk the talk and walk the walk. NY 10036. Sony's Z9F LCD is a … However, some of those panels feel loose. Especially with 1080p signals, this is better than the X900F. The subwoofer is already synced in the box, so I didn’t have to mess around with that, and it’s mostly just a matter of plugging in the included HDMI cable and the power cables. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. The sense of depth and clarity is stunningly lifelike, enticing you into whatever bright scenes you’re watching arguably more than any other TV picture before (barring the native 8K images we saw on Samsung’s monumental Q900R). Sony introduces Master Series A9F and Z9F. Most colors appear as they should, and although the gamma curve follows the target well, some scenes might appear darker than they should. In our analysis of 68 expert reviews, the Sony Sony Soundbar & Wireless Subwoofer placed 8th when we looked at the top 14 products in the category. Update 02/27/2019: eARC has now been tested, and is properly supported. We took some comparison shots to demonstrate the local dimming of the Z9F. Also, the color temperature is almost spot on the 6500K target. Are you planning to buy soundbar for your entertainment? It was discovered that system sounds must be disabled for it to work. Update 02/27/2019: Retested viewing angle with our new test; the score is now much better and matches our subjective impression. If it's still too dim, increase the Contrast Enhancer setting to your liking. The HT-ZF9 measures about a metre long, with a removable grill to hide its drivers. It faces some tough competition in the high-end market, though, and there are some TVs out there that outperform it for less. The Z9F uses a VA panel and is much brighter than the C9, and the brightness doesn't change as much with different content (ABL). It produces superb images, with enhanced off-center viewing so all guests will be happy at your next Super Bowl party. As the second flagship LCD TV of 2018, the Sony ZF9/Z9F has one product to beat: the Samsung Q9FN. The overall design is somewhat simplistic, but it should look great in most rooms. By all qualifiers it set the standard in 2016 (it was the last top of the line 4k LCD with 3D by the way). Update 07/07/2020: The operating system has been updated to Android 9.0. No cherry-picked units sent by brands. From the moment Sony revealed that it was finally going to introduce a sequel to what is arguably one of the most important TVs of all time, the ZD9 series, we’ve been counting down the days waiting for the first ZF9 model to arrive. 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Focusing in front of the pixels, we can see the X-Wide Angle layer as shown here. Sony continues to be fairly uninspired with its button-filled remotes. The Sony XBR65Z9F is slightly thinner than the Z9D, and it has a more uniform thickness that looks great when wall-mounted. We purchase our own TVs and It has good gray uniformity; there's some dirty screen effect but it isn't too noticeable. It's hard to know if the extra processing power comes by was of Sony’s new X1 Ultimate chipset or Android 8.0’s improvements, but whatever the reason, we’ll take it. Except in a dark room, all of them make the pictur… Our Verdict. Many of the controls require direct line-of-sight to the TV. Tweet [`yahoo` not found] Sony Z9D is the flagship of Sony’s 2016 4K HDR LED TV that has great performance particularly on its peak brightness. There's no significant overshoot in most transitions. Like the Z9D, there are covers on the back that hide the connections. The Sony Z9F is brighter overall, but some small highlights can appear brighter in some scenes in HDR on the Q9FN. Watching with subtitles on can also be extremely distracting as there's a lot of blooming around the subtitles. The LFE (low-frequency extension) of 113Hz indicates a bass that produces no thump, rumble, or punch, which is important for bass-heavy film scores and video game sound effects. © Similar three-button control scheme found on other Sony TVs. The Sony Z9F has a great design, with a few minor flaws. Meanwhile, except black level, Sony Z9F is superior on almost all aspects of picture quality. HD/SDR Performance TL;DR: Fantastic upscaling makes every sub-4K source look much better, and makes good quality HD sources actually look almost 4K. All picture modes hard clip at the peak brightness of the Z9F, whereas some of the picture modes on older models would roll off more smoother. The Z9F's remote is a 7.9-by-1.9-inch (HW) black wand covered with membrane buttons. Visit our corporate site. On the other hand, the smaller models of the Sony X950G have higher contrast ratio, due to the lack of the 'X-Wide Angle' panel. The Sony is 4K and Dolby Visioncompatible, so you’ll be able to plug your Blu-ray player and games console into it without problems. Some settings can be difficult to find. Rs. Rating: 4 out of 5. The TV is well-built, but some of the panels on the back are loose and could cause some vibrations. All of the inputs are on the back of the XBR65Z9F, either facing downwards or towards the side. Keep reading our Sony HT-Z9F review to find out. Its presentation looks crisper; it does a more intuitive job of implementing core TV functionality such as settings, input selection and live TV features; and there’s more focus on prioritizing the video streaming content that most TV users care about. The soundbar ’ s pretty clear that this isn ’ t touch and improve quality and some improvements. 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