Bought a Sony W800B 50 inch. Impressions.

[igluk]

The W705B has an AUO AMVA3 or 5 panel, at least the one tested on digitalversus (different sizes can use different panels)
The FG2421 has Sharp UV²A, they are also used in some Televisions and -usually- known for better motion resolution and low input lag
the most recent UV²A TV is this:
http://www.digitalversus.com/tv-television/sharp-lc-60ud20-p21670/test.html
but it happens to have bad motion compensation
Sony W850B is also UV²A (subpixel are a dead giveaway)
http://www.rtings.com/reviews/tv/lcd-led/sony/w850b

 

[Pechendko]

I've just got a 42"800

So far really impressed with it, great contrast ratio with inky blacks and the gaming mode seems pretty decent with no perceivable lag and no change to the picture compared with the cinema mode.

The thing that bothers me is the blacks get bluish when viewed even from slight angle, is this normal?

The other thing, it displays more white lines than it should in the apl clipping test, but the "contrast" control doesn't seem to affect it that much, the 237-238 strips are still visible even with the contrast set to max resulting in unpleasantly bright picture. I just left it set to 75.

Also, the gamma seems a bit off, it's nowhere near the stated in reviews 2.4.

Is there something wrong with it? How do I get video levels right?

One the other hand the color accuracy is great.

 

[Adexus]

Just got the second replacement and it's exactly the same with the same manufacturing date of 11/14, don't know what to do now!

 

[androsforever]

Just got the second replacement and it's exactly the same with the same manufacturing date of 11/14, don't know what to do now!

I just checked my manufacturing date and it's 11/2014 as well. Heh, I would send you my unit since it's perfect except for the motion blur which is giving me a headache ^^

 

[Adexus]

I just checked my manufacturing date and it's 11/2014 as well. Heh, I would send you my unit since it's perfect except for the motion blur which is giving me a headache ^^

Well, that's strange! Aha I have gotten used to the motion blur on it, it ain't too bad.

 

[androsforever]

Well, that's strange! Aha I have gotten used to the motion blur on it, it ain't too bad.

It's not horrible, although I have personally gotten used to turbo 240hz and I think I will have to go with a Panasonic Plasma for my next blur free experience.

 

[Adexus]

It's not horrible, although I have personally gotten used to turbo 240hz and I think I will have to go with a Panasonic Plasma for my next blur free experience.

I never used the high motion stuff on past TV's, always looked weird so I'm more fine with it I think.

Still not sure what to do with this TV, thinking of trying the 42" to see if it's a different panel since I can't find any info on what the 32" uses, can't find any other TV that I like and has a low input lag, all seems to be Sony's!

 

[xIps]

Sequel where everything in it smears reddish so hopefully you'll be able to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qQLq_WOTF8

It looks very blurry in motion, but it's difficult to tell how it looks in real life since there's also the factors of the video camera, its white balance, exposure, and the screen I see it on.

Still not sure what to do with this TV, thinking of trying the 42" to see if it's a different panel since I can't find any info on what the 32" uses, can't find any other TV that I like and has a low input lag, all seems to be Sony's!

Take some test videos to a store and check the 42" version.

Toshiba had some low-latency TVs recently, and there are others as well:
http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/

I've just got a 42"800

40W800B?

The thing that bothers me is the blacks get bluish when viewed even from slight angle, is this normal?

VA has bad viewing angles (of course, not as bad as TN), and I think these Sony may be subpar even for VA:
http://www.rtings.com/info/viewing-angle-tvs

 

[TheManko]

The other thing, it displays more white lines than it should in the apl clipping test, but the "contrast" control doesn't seem to affect it that much, the 237-238 strips are still visible even with the contrast set to max resulting in unpleasantly bright picture. I just left it set to 75.

Is there something wrong with it? How do I get video levels right?

One the other hand the color accuracy is great.

Under Home, Settings, Video Input you can set the dynamic range of inputs, to Limited, Full or Auto. It might have detected your input signal as Full and displayed the entire 0-255 range when you were setting the contrast. On LCD displays I set contrast as high as possible, without clipping of course, and then use the backlight control if it's too bright. That ensures I get the most contrast at any brightness level.

 

[Nikyo]

Get a W950B lol.

I'm seriously contemplating one to replace my UN46C6300 for the viewing angles alone. I don't much see the point in a VA panel for my personal use when I sit slightly higher than my TV causing the entire bottom half of the screen to become undersaturated. It's oversatured in the green + red department (source), which could bother me as the dark room picture from Rting's review looks quite red. I do keep my room well lit, so I think the black depth issue will be negligible as seen in the 'average room' and 'bright room' pictures.

I'm kind of curious though, why do TV reviewers calibrate IPS panels to 2.4 gamma? I was under the impression that IPS contrast is too low to calibrate to 2.4 without massive black crush.

Sony continue to fly the 2.4 gamma flag high, and we absolutely respect them for it. After all, the International Communications Union (ITU) has since 2011 recommended 2.4 as the EOTF (electro-optical transfer function) for flat-screen HDTVs used for dark-room studio mastering.

The above just seems silly to me, I guess? I'm not too educated on TVs, however.

The 51" F8500 is another option to me as it retails for $1000 at Best Buy, but I don't know if I want to mess around with the reported 'buzzing' lottery that apparently plagues it.

 

[SolarNova]

A large screen for a PC VDU is perfectly fine, though i will admit that i think you sit rather close, specialy for a 50" screen.

I run a 42" screen and sit roughly 6 foot away from it. Even then find the PPI Low, i cant wait to finaly upgrade to 4k or 5k at the same size.

That said, i use a Plasma, which imo is superior to any LCD screen. I cant stand the grey blacks, ghosting and overall poor image quality of LCD's... even the best of them. Still if u find ur 50" LCD to be acceptable then al lthe best to ya, large screens as PC VDU's are great with the only downside being lower PPI vs smaller monitors. Thankfuly 4k is now making its mark and sub 100 PPI will no longer be a problem for PC VDU's bigger than 32".

 

[Nikyo]

Well, I went ahead and put in an order for the 50" w800b. The IPS variant is too expensive for me to rationalize the cost, and quite frankly, I just want to get rid of my flickering C6300 as it causes me pretty severe eyestrain in longer gaming sessions. The motion interpolation and low input lag are of course a huge plus with Ys 8 and a few other PS4 action JRPGs on the horizon.

Also, thanks Godmachine for checking this TV for PWM, it swayed my decision considerably.

 

[Godmachine]

I never used the high motion stuff on past TV's, always looked weird so I'm more fine with it I think.

Still not sure what to do with this TV, thinking of trying the 42" to see if it's a different panel since I can't find any info on what the 32" uses, can't find any other TV that I like and has a low input lag, all seems to be Sony's!

I can't speak for any model other than the 49 inch W800B. Just to reiterate most of these sizes use different panels. Some have better contrast (VA) some have better viewing angles but poor contrast (IPS). Since Sony doesn't make their own panels its best to stick with not only models in the series but also sizes as well.

The 32 and 42 inch versions are entirely different than the 49 inch versions on up. They don't use similar panels and have different internal hardware. So I can't speak to if they are quality or not.

Well, I went ahead and put in an order for the 50" w800b. The IPS variant is too expensive for me to rationalize the cost, and quite frankly, I just want to get rid of my flickering C6300 as it causes me pretty severe eyestrain in longer gaming sessions. The motion interpolation and low input lag are of course a huge plus with Ys 8 and a few other PS4 action JRPGs on the horizon.

Also, thanks Godmachine for checking this TV for PWM, it swayed my decision considerably.

As long as you don't run Impulse mode you'll be a happy camper then.

Impulse mode is effective and I wouldn't use it anywhere but a dark room since it dims the panel but honestly the flickering doesn't bother me quite that much although largely I don't use this feature. Its just an interesting feature but it shouldn't warrant a purchase of this TV just for that feature. Samsung generally has better motion clarity but comes at a large gamble thanks to its horribly unpredictable panel lottery that effects their low to mid range sets. I've seen the direct competitor to the W800B which is the UN50H6350 and the two I saw both had major bright spots in their backlighting which immediately turned me off buying that panel entirely. Also the higher input latency (more than double the Sony) also turned me off buying it.

However if gaming isn't your concern the Samsung MIGHT be a better deal if you buy it locally and have them hook it up to check for any panel lottery issues before you go home with it. If you can get one that doesn't have any obvious issues then for things like movies , TV it might fair better.

I don't think its fair to compare this set to the Foris FG2421 (I've played with this monitor for a bit of time and I would say its contrast is on par if not equal to the Sony) mainly because its such a horrible gamble (also being a PC monitor) that people on this forum have given up entirely on it because of all kinds of backlighting , uniformity , color and gamma problems amounting to almost no quality control from Eizo. It certainly is better at motion clarity but since its running at 120hz native and a mock 240hz in "Turbo" mode I would expect it to be better than a 60hz TV panel with black frame insertion.

The Sony W800B is a mid range panel and when you consider its features and PQ its an excellent panel. For gamers (and PC usage) its basically Sony or Vizio but only Vizio's budget 4K panel has lower input latency but it also suffers from even worse motion clarity.

The only two viable choices with features considered are UN50H6350 and the W800B (US variations so model names will be different in different countries). Nothing I've found in that price range can compete with them. Unless resolution is your only concern than the 4K budget Vizio is what you'll want.

 

[Richard Jones]

I can't speak for any model other than the 49 inch W800B. Just to reiterate most of these sizes use different panels. Some have better contrast (VA) some have better viewing angles but poor contrast (IPS). Since Sony doesn't make their own panels its best to stick with not only models in the series but also sizes as well.

The 32 and 42 inch versions are entirely different than the 49 inch versions on up. They don't use similar panels and have different internal hardware. So I can't speak to if they are quality or not.

Only the W950 uses an IPS panel, all other W series models are VA, though the manufacturer may vary (AUO, Sharp, dunno exactly which panel in which model but that's only a google away).

32" & 42" W7, then 42" & 50" W8, are actually very similar and all based on the same internal hardware+engine, then the 42" W8 adds 3D, and the 50" W8 adds both 3D and real MotionFlow settings.

 

[Nikyo]

Also the higher input latency (more than double the Sony) also turned me off buying it.

However if gaming isn't your concern the Samsung MIGHT be a better deal if you buy it locally and have them hook it up to check for any panel lottery issues before you go home with it. If you can get one that doesn't have any obvious issues then for things like movies , TV it might fair better.

The input latency was definitely a factor and is [partially] why I chose the w800b over the similarly priced F8500; though, buzzing also sounds pretty not-fun.

I'm actually a bit concerned how the color reproduction is going to be with it's undersaturated red + blue. I've never actually checked my C6300's gamut coverage - something I'll need to do - but I actually lucked out when I bought it and received a S-PVA panel (HQ06). Regardless, I really wish Samsung would ditch PWM in favor of something that doesn't wreck my eyes.

Anyway, the w800b should come Tuesday, so I'll -probably- post some thoughts/measurements taken with my colorimeter.

 

[Nikyo]

Quick thoughts; I'll (maybe) do a more detailed write-up later.

Disclaimer: I've yet to take extensive measurements and have only calibrated to 6500k.

Pros:

+Uniformity is amazing; not a spot of backlight bleed.

+Pretty easy to calibrate to 6500k.

+The bezel is pretty damn cool looking.

+Sony being the competent people they are actually opted for a matte grey bezel that improves perceived black depth.

+Semi-glossy coating has excellent clarity and does a good job of keeping off reflections.

+I don't see any color banding to speak of.

+Black levels blow my C6300 out of the water.

+PWM free; rejoice.

Cons:

-Stand is lame and pretty ugly.

-Yeah, so when I was calibrating the white point - I had horrible OSD lag only while running dispcalgui via my laptop, but it went away after closing the program. The lag was actually so bad it caused the TV to power-off twice.

-Uh, I'm not sure if I need to let the display warm up, but my out of box max brightness was a paltry 95 cd/m2.

-Impulse mode: Hello, I have a headache + it's too dark to use given my awful OOB brightness.

-Viewing angles seem inferior to my C6300.


So-so

• Color reproduction seems similar to my C6300, but the uniformity of the backlight combined with the better black levels makes for a more enjoyable experience.

• Speakers are alrightish....I won't be using them obviously, but I guess they're better than other TVs I heard; still lame, though.

• I have mixed feeling about the external power brick; easily replaceable if it were to ever fail, but rather large and I had to move my TV stand to hide it properly.



The weak brightness is the only thing truly bothering me.
In Rting's review, they had to set a backlight of 2 in order to get 100 cd/m2; however for me, a backlight of 2 equates to 47 cd/m2. Is there a setting I'm missing here? Do I just need to let the backlight heat up? I'll test the former later, but let me know if the latter is something I can change.

 

[Richard Jones]

Maybe disable the light sensor and any 'eco' or power-saving feature.
The light sensor switch is somewhere deep in the settings.

 

[Nikyo]

Maybe disable the light sensor and any 'eco' or power-saving feature.
The light sensor switch is somewhere deep in the settings.

That was it - thanks Richard!

I wanted to commend them on an intuitive UI, but hiding the eco sensor in the home settings seems pretty silly.

 

[Richard Jones]

All Sony sets come with power saving default to 'on'. That is indeed silly.

 

[Mabu]

Anyone know if the Best Buy exclusive variant W700B uses the same panel as the W800B? Best as I can tell, the only major differences is that the W700B has a different color bezel/stand (silver vs black) and lacks the 3d capabilities of the W800B. It's also $100 cheaper, which is a great trade-off for the 3d features that I'd never use anyway.

 

[Richard Jones]

I think the 50" W7 and W8 models both use AUO AMVA5 panels, the W8's an active 3D variant though.

 

[Nikyo]

I only tested in the game-mode original as I doubt anyone is going to use the other presets.

Brightness and Black Levels
Backlight - Brightness - Black Level
Max - 235 cd/m2 - .05 cd/m2
9 - 212 cd/m2 - .04 cd/m2
8 - 202 cd/m2 - .04 cd/m2
7 - 186 cd/m2 - .04 cd/m2
6 - 169 cd/m2 - .03 cd/m2
5 - 152 cd/m2 - .03 cd/m2
4 - 135 cd/m2 - .03 cd/m2
3 - 118 cd/m2 - .02 cd/m2
2 - 100 cd/m2 - .02 cd/m2
1 - 83 cd/m2 - .02 cd/m2
Min - 68 cd/m2 - .01 cd/m2

Uncalibrated Game Mode Original Preset

The Sony W800b is quite accurate out of the box aside from a slightly warm color temperature and high brightness.

Calibrated Game Mode Original Preset
Settings
Backlight: 3
Color Temperature: Warm 2

White Balance:
R-Gain: -6
G-Gain: -8
B-Gain: 0
R-Bias: 0
G-Bias: 0
B-Bias: 0

Once calibrated we're sitting at a cozy 6500K and 104 cd/m2.

Gamut Coverage

The Sony W800b covers 91.9% of the sRGB gamut.

Random Thoughts

•Great out of box experience, minus the eco-sensor being turned on by default.

•Impulse Mode has a max brightness of 46 cd/m2

•The OSD lag during calibration that I mentioned earlier was fixed via a software update.

•The speakers are atrocious.

•Color reproduction is meh due to mediocre gamut coverage, but the calibrated black levels in unison with the incredible backlight uniformity leaves a very good impression.

I'm pretty happy with this TV.



Update 2/16/2015

I'm still enjoying my W800B for the most part. The color gamut still leaves much to be desired, specifically in the red department, but I'm stuck with it, so, ah well.

I actually had the opportunity to make use of impulse mode. Good ol' boxing; motion was smooth as butter - until I had a splitting headache and vowed never to use the feature again.

At the end of the day, I really wish I would've waited for 2015 TVs to be announced. I also wish I would've went with the IPS panel. There's no reason - not a single one - as to why an IPS panel couldn't match the black depth of this TV, assuming adequate bias lighting is in place.

So, anyway, I can easily recommend this one if you absolutely need a TV now; however, playing the waiting game is more ideal. It's 2015, new TVs are right around the corner.

I just hope Sony keeps their beautiful, slim, matte-grey bezel, and use of direct current, a standard going toward the future.

 

[dpoverlord]

So basically this is not that good for a replacement of a computer monitor?

In a similar boat, looking for a 40-50+ inch solution if it has 3d / gsync even better vs buying 3-4 28 - 32" monitors.

I plan on doing:
Gaming
Videos
Lots of spreadsheet / stock work
movies
Some photos and alot of we surfing.

Did you find this could keep up? I also was looking at the Inkel SU40SK/ Philips 40"

 

[Nikyo]

So basically this is not that good for a replacement of a computer monitor?

In a similar boat, looking for a 40-50+ inch solution if it has 3d / gsync even better vs buying 3-4 28 - 32" monitors.

I plan on doing:
Gaming
Videos
Lots of spreadsheet / stock work
movies
Some photos and alot of we surfing.

Did you find this could keep up? I also was looking at the Inkel SU40SK/ Philips 40"

Indeed, this would be a poor replacement for a monitor.

The gamut coverage is very mediocre and the viewing angles are piss poor unless viewed from a distance of ≥120cm. It's also 1080p, not 4k, so the tasks you listed would probably be awful given the size.

It's honestly only a nice TV given the price point, use of direct current as opposed to PWM and relatively low input lag.

Zardluck reviewed a PWM-free/high frequency 39" 4k monitor; however, it's limited to 30hz. You're probably just better off waiting for something else to be announced.

 

[Richard Jones]

My opinion;

Sony W series with Full-HD VA panels are good from a mid to normal TV viewing distance (as opposed to monitor viewing distance), really great for all 60Hz games (pc or console) thanks to the low lag and good scaling, for up to three-four viewers sitting in front they're more than okay (the viewing angles are not IPS-good, okay, but they're still quite better than TN).