Sony 47" W800A vs Sony 46"W950A

[ssj4karan]

Hey Guys,

I have finally narrowed down my choice to these 2 TV's.
Here i am just trying to contemplate if it is worth paying the extra 30k for the W950A.
I have demoed both the sets and here are my opinion.

I used Avengers bluray rip on both the TV's at the showroom.

Honestly could not find the difference in PQ.
The sound quality was also equal.
The W800 was brighter than the W950A.

Where the W950A shined, was when the triluminous demo disc was played.
The colors just blew the W800A out of the water.
But during normal viewing, the difference is not evident. So does it really matter?

Also i dont understand the back lighting, local dimming feature and stuff. When do these come into effect?
Could not notice this at the showroom.

Also when i check for the ideal Picture settings for a TV, Everywhere it is said to turn off all the advanced features including the motion flow feature. Then why have these features in the first place? Does 400 Hz motion flow rate vs 800 Hz motion flow rate really matter?

Also passive 3D in W800A was very comfortable for viewing. The conversion was also very good.
The previous issue that i faced with the conversion in W800, was because i was standing too close to the TV when the conversion from 2D to 3D was done. Stand about 8ft away and its perfect.
Honestly prefer passive 3D to the active 3D.

Now the main question that comes to mind is future proof as one is spending 1 lac+ and a TV is used for atleast 5-6 yrs.
This is where i lean towards to the W950A.
Budget is not an issue but then earning money is not easy.
If i could save 30k, i would go ahead with it.

What do you guys have to say?
Pls share your opinion.

Thanks and Cheers,
Karan

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Karan,

A simple side by side comparison will not be very helpful. You have to consider room light conditions.

W950 can't go as bright as other edge lit displays but it is one of the best if plasma is not an option.

W800 does not stand a chance in comparison with W950. My friend purchased one last Saturday. I pointed out the lower brightness but we both were totally sold on the W950.

W800 is better than the LG I have seen so far.

So if you can control the lighting and budget is no constraint then I recommend the W950.

 

[shainz]

i was also in the same dilema then decided to go with w950 as it has something new to offer that is triluminous dispaly and i am very happy with my decison, colours on this set are simply mind blowing and no led in market today has that

 

[just4kix]

If you could not find much difference between the two sets, then I would advise you to not spend extra. Save your money and go with W800. The "triluminous demo disc" is designed to bring the best out of a triluminous display. But that is not what you are going to view any time. You said that you use "The Avengers" BD rip. BD rips could be anything in the ratio of 1:1 to 1:50. The original movie on BD is roughly 35-40GB at 26mbps in MPEG4.264 AVC codec. If your "rip" is not as good as the original, it will not bring out the best in the TV. If you can, you should test the two TVs with original BDs - any BD for that matter.

Answers to other questions:

a) Backlighting: In the showroom, you can experiment but you won't be able to guage much. Backlighting is used to adjust the black levels and contrast in an LED TV.
b) All purists will advice you to turn of motion control features. Motion control technology is used to counter the slow response, image lag and ghosting effect. It generates predictive interfames between two main frames and thus tries to smoothen the motion and end judder. Unfortunately it produces the soap opera effect that purists hate. It is a personal choice really. Some like the soap-opera effect, some don't. You should read the linked article, experience it and judge what is good for you.
c) Passive 3D is generally more comfortable than active 3D. But passive 3D is half HD while active 3D is full HD. To me that really does not matter because the difference is not that perceptible to me.

My advice and looking at your 5-year horizon, is, go for W950A only if you are convinced that it is going to bring value. If you are mostly going to watch DTH and "rips", I think that W800A will suffice while W950A could be an overkill.

 

[ssj4karan]

Karan,

A simple side by side comparison will not be very helpful. You have to consider room light conditions.

W950 can't go as bright as other edge lit displays but it is one of the best if plasma is not an option.

W800 does not stand a chance in comparison with W950. My friend purchased one last Saturday. I pointed out the lower brightness but we both were totally sold on the W950.

W800 is better than the LG I have seen so far.

So if you can control the lighting and budget is no constraint then I recommend the W950.

Buddy, In a showroom, I can't do anything but a side by side comparison.
When you say it does not stand a chance, i want to understand in what cases?
I understand the colors would be better because of the triluminous technology but that i could notice only for the specific content.
For any normal content, i could not see a diff in the color.
Also if i recall correctly, the HX850 does not have the brightness issue. Then how come the W950a?

 

[ssj4karan]

i was also in the same dilema then decided to go with w950 as it has something new to offer that is triluminous dispaly and i am very happy with my decison, colours on this set are simply mind blowing and no led in market today has that

Do you notice this color difference when watching normal and HD content too? Cause i could not at the showroom so was wondering about the tech.

 

[ssj4karan]

If you could not find much difference between the two sets, then I would advise you to not spend extra. Save your money and go with W800. The "triluminous demo disc" is designed to bring the best out of a triluminous display. But that is not what you are going to view any time. You said that you use "The Avengers" BD rip. BD rips could be anything in the ratio of 1:1 to 1:50. The original movie on BD is roughly 35-40GB at 26mbps in MPEG4.264 AVC codec. If your "rip" is not as good as the original, it will not bring out the best in the TV. If you can, you should test the two TVs with original BDs - any BD for that matter.

Answers to other questions:

a) Backlighting: In the showroom, you can experiment but you won't be able to guage much. Backlighting is used to adjust the black levels and contrast in an LED TV.
b) All purists will advice you to turn of motion control features. Motion control technology is used to counter the slow response, image lag and ghosting effect. It generates predictive interfames between two main frames and thus tries to smoothen the motion and end judder. Unfortunately it produces the soap opera effect that purists hate. It is a personal choice really. Some like the soap-opera effect, some don't. You should read the linked article, experience it and judge what is good for you.
c) Passive 3D is generally more comfortable than active 3D. But passive 3D is half HD while active 3D is full HD. To me that really does not matter because the difference is not that perceptible to me.

My advice and looking at your 5-year horizon, is, go for W950A only if you are convinced that it is going to bring value. If you are mostly going to watch DTH and "rips", I think that W800A will suffice while W950A could be an overkill.

Well I bought an Avengers Bluray Disc just for this purpose. To compare my rip with the actual Bluray and i could not notice much diff in the PQ. Hence decided the rip would be good enough. I currently own a Samsung 40" LCD.

I plan on mainly using it for rips and playing PS3/PS4 games.

I too hate the soap opera effect. The scenes just don't have a natural flow to it. So if motion flow is to be set to off, the 800Hz and 400Hz does not matter right or does it?

 

[just4kix]

... I too hate the soap opera effect. The scenes just don't have a natural flow to it. So if motion flow is to be set to off, the 800Hz and 400Hz does not matter right or does it?

Essentially correct.

I am of the personal firm opinion that display technology and its adjustments (contrast, color, backlight, brightness, sharpness, tint, gamma, etc.) are the main thing. Please note that I am in no way stating that W950 is not good. It is definitely better than W800. My only point was that if you cannot feel the difference between a Camry and a Lexus, stick to the Camry.

 

[ssj4karan]

Essentially correct.

I am of the personal firm opinion that display technology and its adjustments (contrast, color, backlight, brightness, sharpness, tint, gamma, etc.) are the main thing. Please note that I am in no way stating that W950 is not good. It is definitely better than W800. My only point was that if you cannot feel the difference between a Camry and a Lexus, stick to the Camry.

Well when i had to test on my samsung, i changed the Picture settings as per the avforums guide for best PQ.

Essentially plan on doing the same for the TV i buy.
It could just be that i was slightly disappointed by the W950A as from my demo, it did not blow the W800a the way i was expecting it to...

Would you say for watching rips, playing ps3/ps4 games the W800 would suffice? Cause essentially thats what i am planning on using the TV for.

 

[just4kix]

Would you say for watching rips, playing ps3/ps4 games the W800 would suffice? Cause essentially thats what i am planning on using the TV for.

I thought that I spelled it out entirely in my previous post.

 

[adder]

The W800 has a IPS panel and has no local dimming it only has global dimming.

The W9xx has a VA panel with natively superior blacks and add to that it also Edge lit-local dimming just like the multi award winning HX850.

In order to fully see the triluminos display tech you will need triluminos content such as Sony Re-mastered Blu ray movies.
If you have the 2013 Sony imaging consumer products like the A58 DSLR/SLT which can shoot in Triluminos color space (which exceed the sRGB color space) then it can be seen on W9xx.

Now even regular content can look different if you switch On the Live view display perhaps significantly when you set it to medium or high but it doesn't mean that its accurate.
Since the content was only recored to the standard REC709 ,even though film cameras exceed that color space by a huge margin and digital cinema cameras like the Sony CineAlta F65 and F55 can even exceed the film color space and miles away from the now old REC709.

Its only now that they are releasing movies that exceed the REC709 color standard ,currently only Sony is releasing them.
But once the new Rec2020 UHD standard is approved we will see Hollywood releases from all production companies which with colors well exceeding the old REC709 and and these Sony triluminos tvs will be the only Tvs thus far that can theoretically be capable of showing those deep colors.Although there is no calibration standards yet for the new format.

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Don't buy the W950 for triluminous feature. Take away that feature and it is still one of the best along with F8000.

If you see no difference between W800 and W950 then chances are you'll never see it. If you are sure then go for W800.

 

[ssj4karan]

Don't buy the W950 for triluminous feature. Take away that feature and it is still one of the best along with F8000.

If you see no difference between W800 and W950 then chances are you'll never see it. If you are sure then go for W800.

Hmm. I guess you are right. That is exactly what i am going to do.
But one thing that i would like to say is that the salesman was convinced that w800 was better than the F8000 :lol:

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

The salesmen are convinced whatever they want to sell. Try this. First show interest in W800. He'll convince you that it's the best. Then show a sudden spike of interest in that gorgeous W950 PQ. Salesman will convince you that's the best. Then move on to LG and you know what will happen.

While doing this be serious as if it is on spot purchase. They are called salesmen for a reason

 

[Dhanan]

Well I was in the same dilemma of w800 vs w950. Eventually went for w950.

 

[ssj4karan]

The salesmen are convinced whatever they want to sell. Try this. First show interest in W800. He'll convince you that it's the best. Then show a sudden spike of interest in that gorgeous W950 PQ. Salesman will convince you that's the best. Then move on to LG and you know what will happen.

While doing this be serious as if it is on spot purchase. They are called salesmen for a reason

Well being a salesman, he should try to sell me the TV with the highest price. As that is good businees for him.
Here it was the opposite so kind of surprising
Well, i have to pick up my set in the next 2 weeks.
I guess when i go for the purchase, i'll make up my mind.

I just want to see an example of local dimming in a pic or something.
Is there any image that can show this? Superior black levels and other stuff that you guys talk about?
This will help me get a better understanding.

 

[just4kix]

@ssj4karan, if you trust the salesman so much, you may as well surrender the key to your home to your mother-in-law. hyeah: :lol:

 

[sanjeevji]

1) Movies to test black level: Black Knight rises, Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part -2, Sky fall (Shanghai sky scraper murder scene)

2) Animation such as cars-2

3) Sports channel (football) to test motion rendering and fast camera panning

4) Avengers 3D to test 3D

5) Always take good quality Blu Ray disk or high quality RIP.

6) Take your own sweet time for the demo. Best time is in afternoon - non rush hour

7) Ask the salesman to switch the picture setting to Cinema or something which is natural. Usually settings on the Demo sets are way to high to compensate for bright lights

 

[shaiju_o_thomas]

Well being a salesman, he should try to sell me the TV with the highest price. As that is good businees for him.
Here it was the opposite so kind of surprising

Not necessarily. He'll try his luck with the an expensive set first. If you fall for then it's his lucky day. Once you start showing interest and inquire more then he'll change stance and try to sell that you are most interested in.

His intention is to make a sale, doesn't matter which one.

 

[ssj4karan]

@ssj4karan, if you trust the salesman so much, you may as well surrender the key to your home to your mother-in-law. hyeah: :lol:

Well i never said i trusted the salesman. Was just sharing my experience.
I mean, I doubt the salesman would be having even half of the knowledge of the TV, that we carry when go to buy one