Sony X900F 49" 4K TV as display

daphatgrant

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Hey [H], I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a 49" Sony X900F 4K TV to use as my desktop display. Rtings.com lists it quite high as both a PC monitor and a gaming display. I've looked and looked and there isn't really much between 27" and 49" that fits the bill as I don't want ultra wide. Before I click the process payment button is there any reason that I'd have troubles with this screen and a 1080Ti on an older 2600K setup?

Here's the Rtings.coms review of the X900F

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solid tv. depending on the price you may wan to just hold out for a solid sale. the PPI for use as a monitor is solid at that size. I'd go up a bit for 1 2017 OLED myself.
 
No cause for concern. I'm strongly considering this TV, too. Go for it!
I think that's what I'm going to do. I need a gpu so I'm trying to decide if I want to grab one now or hang on another month and see if the 1180 comes out. Ideally I'd like the grab both at the same time. It's hard when you don't have a release date...

solid tv. depending on the price you may wan to just hold out for a solid sale. the PPI for use as a monitor is solid at that size. I'd go up a bit for 1 2017 OLED myself.
Thanks for the reply, according to camelcamelcamel the price hasn't changed on Amazon since its introduction. I assume that it'll drop around black Friday but that's a ways out.
 
I think that's what I'm going to do. I need a gpu so I'm trying to decide if I want to grab one now or hang on another month and see if the 1180 comes out. Ideally I'd like the grab both at the same time. It's hard when you don't have a release date...
I'd get the TV from Crutchfield. Their prices are good and they have a 60-day return policy. That's plenty of time to see if you'll like it.
 
I saw this TV at the store and it looked great. I thought it was on par with the LG or Samsung high-end models (just my opinion).

Using a TV as a monitor has a lot of benefits. Been using a 55" for a few weeks now and it's great for gaming in particular and movies too.

I'd probably preferred something in the 49" size (or slightly less), but I had my eyes set on the Q7F and the smallest size was 55". Kind of big for desktop use, but I'm making it work.

For 4K gaming, a 1080 Ti will be nice. That CPU is definitely old, as you know, so it may be an issue for some games but 4K is mainly GPU heavy so you might be okay.
 
4K is mainly GPU heavy so you might be okay.
This is what I'm banking on. I plan on upgrading the board/chip/ram at some point but if I can squeeze another year or two out of it that'd be great. It's OC'd to 4.4ghz right now just did that about a month ago to help limp it along.
 
Well there were some oddball specials around prime day that don't really show up on the price watching sites. some cashback sites like ebates and befrugal were recently giving a LOT of cashback at different vendors. I almost bit on one of those LG 2017 refurbs on amazon plus the squaretrade was like $1200'ish. I nearly pulled the trigger. they even offered 24mnth no interest but I was on vacation early this month so I have to rebuild the savings a bit more before a purchase like that.
 
I just ordered one of these sets a couple of days ago and it's due to arrive tomorrow. I will be getting the UK/Asia version X9000F 55" and am looking forward to seeing what it can do! I too would have preferred the 49" for general desktop usage, but I will manage :D

One of the features I am really looking forward to is the "Smooth gradiation" feature. Colour banding is a problem on my current set, so it will be nice to have cleaner colour gradients.

Response time could be better at 1080p + HDR (40ms), but for the most part I'll be using 1080p + 120hz (13ms) for gaming. It would have been great if the TV came with VRR support, but I can live without it.

I'll report back with some first impressions once I've had a chance to get some solid gaming, desktop work and movie time logged.
 
Nice. Can't wait to hear what you think.

Also, the box is huge. When I picked up my 55" from Best Buy the lady was saying my car wasn't big enough, and I was like "No, I have a hatchback. I'm sure there is enough space." Then I saw the box and, damn, it barely fit in my car.
 
Wow, this thing is huge... So far have just updated the firmware and mucked around with a few settings. I haven't been able to get 1080p @ 120hz working yet. I hope 120hz isn't specific to the X900F, but I'm fairly certain the X9000F would be the exact same panel.

Looking forward to playing around with it more!

EDIT: Ok, forcing 120hz via the nVidia control panel seemed to do the trick :)

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So far first impressions have been really great!

I had some trouble with VLC crashing when trying to play 4K and HDR content, but it was a simple fix of installing the 64bit version and changing hardware acceleration to DXVA 2.0

The panel really does look stunning and I'm super impressed with the 1080p 120hz performance. It was fantastic playing Shadow of War at 1080p 120hz with a 90fps average!

I loaded up the Red Faction remaster and it was great to see the textures in their full 4K glory opposed to 4K DSR at 1080p

One thing I am super impressed with is the amount of built in color profiles this set has:
  • sRGB
  • BT709
  • BT2020
  • Adobe RGB
  • DCI
So, if you're a graphic designer or work in a field that requires good color accuracy, these options are really welcome.

Before the TV arrived, I did have reservations about the aesthetics of the stands, but to be honest they are fairly understated and don't look too bad at all.

I can see the "local dimming" feature is going to be fantastic for 4K HDR and general video media, it really boosts lighting where it should be while getting nice rich blacks in darker scenes. You'll want to switch off local dimming for general desktop usage and gaming however.

I actually didn't notice much visual difference when using the "Smooth gradation" feature but this doesn't seem to matter as color banding is a non-issue with this set. It will more than likely help with color banding from more poor quality sources.

I'll be doing some more tweaking over the next few days to get the color, brightness and contrast balance just right, but it must be said that the out-of-the-box impressions have been very favorable.

All in all, I am VERY happy with this purchase... Well worth the coin.
 
I'd love to have that feature set on a smaller screen. Low 40s, high 30s, something like that. 49 would be awfully big with my setup because otherwise I'd be sorely tempted to pull the trigger myself.
 
Hi mr_zen256 thanks for your opinions on this model, much appreciated. How do it look when using it for desktop use? Like for web browsing, navigating desktop etc.? Is it clear, how do static images look?
 
Hi mr_zen256 thanks for your opinions on this model, much appreciated. How do it look when using it for desktop use? Like for web browsing, navigating desktop etc.? Is it clear, how do static images look?

From a subjective perspective, it looks fantastic. Everything is crisp and clean, the colors are natural and more importantly, accurate. In terms of the size factor, 49" would definitely be a more practical option for general desktop use, but for some odd reason they don't produce a 49" in the X9000F UK/Asia model.

The statement I made earlier on the "gradation smoothing" feature not having much effect was incorrect. After some further testing, this feature is great for smoothing out color banding in games that are using a gradient alpha blend and I am sure in many more scenarios. This also rings true for movies and other media. The effect is subtle but noticeably visible when the option is toggled in certain environments.

Also, the "local dimming" feature is great for games as well as TV / movies.
 
From a subjective perspective, it looks fantastic. Everything is crisp and clean, the colors are natural and more importantly, accurate. In terms of the size factor, 49" would definitely be a more practical option for general desktop use, but for some odd reason they don't produce a 49" in the X9000F UK/Asia model.

Good to know. It appears they do offer the 49" model in the UK (and Europe). The model is KD-49XF9005 and the pricing is very competitive. I'm seriously tempted to make the jump up from my current 40" Philips monitor.
 
Good to know. It appears they do offer the 49" model in the UK (and Europe). The model is KD-49XF9005 and the pricing is very competitive. I'm seriously tempted to make the jump up from my current 40" Philips monitor.
Don't quote me but I believe that that's the same panel as the X900F. Rtings did a great review on it and go into depth about all aspects of the TV including pc monitor use.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/sony/x900f
 
I think that's what I'm going to do. I need a gpu so I'm trying to decide if I want to grab one now or hang on another month and see if the 1180 comes out. Ideally I'd like the grab both at the same time. It's hard when you don't have a release date...


Thanks for the reply, according to camelcamelcamel the price hasn't changed on Amazon since its introduction. I assume that it'll drop around black Friday but that's a ways out.
No. Black Fridays is for cheap garbage tv generally. I get tired of the black Fridays shit. The best time to buy is before the new models drop.
 
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No. Black Fridays is for cheap garbage tv generally. I get tired of the black Fridays shit. The best time to buy is before the new models drop.
I completely agree, you're not going to get a good/premium quality TV for 75% off on black friday. However, if Amazon follows the same pricing trend they had for the X900E then the X900F will go down in price around black friday, but only by about $150, maybe. Regardless, I'm not waiting that long. Camelcamelcamel.com is awesome for price watching. On a side note but loosely related, I was eyeing a replacement AV receiver and by waiting a couple weeks I was able to save $100 by watching camel. I'm not willing to wait for $10 but for $100 I can wait a week or two.

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No. Black Fridays is for cheap garbage tv generally. I get tired of the black Fridays shit. The best time to buy is before the new models drop.

Most brands have their lowest prices Thankgiving week and retailers are well stocked. If you wait, prices aren't generally better and supply dries up as new models are introduced.
 
Most brands have their lowest prices Thankgiving week and retailers are well stocked. If you wait, prices aren't generally better and supply dries up as new models are introduced.
They are not well stock on the good stuff. Sure they might be decent price but is not worth dealing with the dumb shit the black Friday brings out of people. Best prices are before the new TVs come out on good TV. Even the special TVs they advertise on BF are hard too get cause store only stock a few. Not worth camping out for a $200 RCA or Sharp TV. Hell you can find better deals on TVs on amazon through out the year then BF. You just have too keep a look out.
 
They are not well stock on the good stuff. Sure they might be decent price but is not worth dealing with the dumb shit the black Friday brings out of people. Best prices are before the new TVs come out on good TV. Even the special TVs they advertise on BF are hard too get cause store only stock a few. Not worth camping out for a $200 RCA or Sharp TV. Hell you can find better deals on TVs on amazon through out the year then BF. You just have too keep a look out.

When I bought my Sony TV, the Best Buy was basically empty of people (it was Monday afternoon) and they had everything in stock. And the price was the lowest it ever got. So based on that experience, I have to disagree.
 
Thanks again to everyone for the comments and thoughts, I pulled the trigger and ordered the 49" X900F and a EVGA 1080Ti FTW3. Going to be a fun Wed, unfortunately I don't have any more $ to buy any new games, lol. I'll update with some thoughts when I get everything setup.
 
After a lot of usage over the weekend I did encounter a slight glitch. Every so often the screen will randomly do a HDMI handshake. The screen doesn't blink but the resolution information pops up like it does when you would change resolution.

This seems to only really happen when in 4K. I've tried swapping out the HDMI cable (HDMI 2.0), but it didn't make any difference. Will have to investigate further to work out what might be causing it.
 
After a lot of usage over the weekend I did encounter a slight glitch. Every so often the screen will randomly do a HDMI handshake. The screen doesn't blink but the resolution information pops up like it does when you would change resolution.

That's an odd one. Maybe a firmware update would solve it?

I'm really interested in this screen. A couple of questions -
  1. Does it support other resolutions outside of 1920x1080 and 3840x2160p? E.g 800x600 or 1280x1024. I sometimes play older games that require a lower resolution.
  2. Is the stand height adjustable? It looks too heavy for my existing monitor arm (even though it has a 200mm Vesa mount).
 
1. Does it support other resolutions outside of 1920x1080 and 3840x2160p? E.g 800x600 or 1280x1024. I sometimes play older games that require a lower resolution.
I believe it should work but may have some odd stretching, I can confirm for you tomorrow.
2. Is the stand height adjustable? It looks too heavy for my existing monitor arm (even though it has a 200mm Vesa mount).
It's a fixed stand
 
caffix You can use GPU scaling, which will run in any resolution supported by the game, and upscale to the native resolution of the TV.

This also helps with having the correct aspect ratio, as some TVs will only stretch to the full screen but GPU scaling can preserve aspect ratio.
 
caffix You can use GPU scaling, which will run in any resolution supported by the game, and upscale to the native resolution of the TV.

This also helps with having the correct aspect ratio, as some TVs will only stretch to the full screen but GPU scaling can preserve aspect ratio.

Thanks, I'd not considered that before... good tip :)
 
Well it's been dropped off at my house, literally, UPS guy dropped it <facepalm>. I've got it on video, hopefully when I get home tomorrow it'll be ok....

I had to leave for work so I left a note asking that it be left in the garage, that's why he pauses on the porch as he's reading the note.

 
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LOL, damn. At least it was an honest slip, not malicious like some other videos I've seen.
 
Well it's been dropped off at my house, literally, UPS guy dropped it <facepalm>. I've got it on video, hopefully when I get home tomorrow it'll be ok....

I had to leave for work so I left a note asking that it be left in the garage, that's why he pauses on the porch as he's reading the note.



Ouch! That was painful to watch.. FYI the packaging materials are pretty substantial in the box, so I'm sure everything will be fine.
 
LOL, damn. At least it was an honest slip, not malicious like some other videos I've seen.
I agree, completely accidental, he was doing me a solid by putting everything in the garage.

Ouch! That was painful to watch.. FYI the packaging materials are pretty substantial in the box, so I'm sure everything will be fine.

Yeah, if the packaging on Sony is anything like Samsung, it should be all good.

I appreciate the support guys, I'm working through it, lol. Looking forward to getting home and setting it up in the morning. Picked up Doom to give it a test drive.
 
After a lot of usage over the weekend I did encounter a slight glitch. Every so often the screen will randomly do a HDMI handshake. The screen doesn't blink but the resolution information pops up like it does when you would change resolution.

This seems to only really happen when in 4K. I've tried swapping out the HDMI cable (HDMI 2.0), but it didn't make any difference. Will have to investigate further to work out what might be causing it.

Hi guys - I finally got this issue resolved. It still doesn't explain why it was occuring in the first place, but here is the fix:

Home > Settings > Channel Setup > Info banner > Off

The only downside to this is the info banner will no longer display when selecting a different input. However, it's a much better option than having the damn info banner popping up randomly during a movie or game.
 
Hi guys - I finally got this issue resolved. It still doesn't explain why it was occuring in the first place, but here is the fix:

Home > Settings > Channel Setup > Info banner > Off

The only downside to this is the info banner will no longer display when selecting a different input. However, it's a much better option than having the damn info banner popping up randomly during a movie or game.

It's good you've found a way around it, but it still sounds like a conection or firmware issue to me. I wonder if anyone else has had it, or if Sony support can provide any advice? It sounds like you've done all the right things trying to diagnose it yourself though.
 
It's good you've found a way around it, but it still sounds like a conection or firmware issue to me. I wonder if anyone else has had it, or if Sony support can provide any advice? It sounds like you've done all the right things trying to diagnose it yourself though.

Yeah, after a bit more research, it seems a lot of users have been reporting this issue when using external HDMI sources such as PC, PS and Xbox. It has been suggested the info banner being triggered is from HDMI audio signal changes (PCM, dolby etc).

To test this theory, I'm going to switch the info banner back on and disable HDMI audio in the nVidia control panel and disable nVidia Output in Control Panel sound settings.

The issue has been reported over multiple Sony TV generations and models, so I'm not banking on getting a firmware fix from Sony any time soon.
 
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