We at all times sit up for Sony’s annual refresh of its X940 TV vary. Properly, we are saying vary, however truly there’s solely ever a single X940 mannequin. What a mannequin it’s, although, invariably delivering an enormous 75-inch display screen powered by a few of Sony’s most high-level image applied sciences.

The newest X940, the KD-75XE9405, is doubtlessly Sony’s most enjoyable but. It nonetheless makes use of the identical direct LED lighting with native dimming know-how used to such nice impact by its predecessors, whereby separate clusters of lights positioned proper behind the display screen (moderately than round its edges, as we extra generally see) can produce completely different ranges of sunshine to their neighbours. Nonetheless, the 75XE9405 tremendously will increase the variety of individually managed gentle zones, serving to it to spice up distinction whereas lowering ‘blooming’ (an LCD phenomenon the place you may see halos of undesirable gentle air pollution seem round stand-out shiny objects).

The 75XE9405 additionally advantages from Sony’s new X1 Excessive processing engine. In addition to hopefully enhancing image high quality, this processor is highly effective sufficient to assist the superior Dolby Imaginative and prescient format of Excessive Dynamic Vary through an imminent firmware replace. 

Design

Lengthy gone are the times when Sony used to position its TV screens between big, black, speaker-bearing ‘wings’. Now the model is all about retaining seen bodywork to a naked minimal. 

Actually, the 75XE9405’s black body is so skinny and blends so properly into the TV’s contrast-rich photos that you simply usually don’t really feel conscious of it in any respect. (And belief us, seeing 75 inches of images showing as if from skinny air is a trick that by no means grows outdated.) 

Impressively, contemplating how little seen bodywork it sports activities, the 75XE9405 displays a strong and premium really feel whilst you’re setting it up. It additionally manages a touch of fashion regardless of its ultra-minimalist method by sandwiching its black fascia onto a silvery rear plate, giving its outer sides a fetching two-tone impact.

The 75XE9405 doesn’t go fairly as far in its pursuit of a ‘display screen solely’ design as Sony’s A1 OLED TV, because it makes use of a reasonably standard desktop stand moderately than leaning again on a photograph frame-style leg. However this stand’s heavy responsibility brushed steel end ensures it feels extra like an enhancement than a detriment to the display screen’s design. The stand additionally incorporates some nifty cable administration provisions, which means you don’t have to fret about spools of cable hanging out far and wide. 

It’s value noting, lastly, that the desktop stand is mounted underneath the display screen’s mid part, which means you may doubtlessly place this TV behemoth onto a comparatively small piece of furnishings. 

Design TL;DR: Whereas the 75XE9405 may not be essentially the most glamorous TV on the town, it’s about as subtly elegant as any 75-inch TV could possibly be.

Good TV (Android TV)

As with all of Sony’s current mid-range and better TVs, the 75XE9405 makes use of Google’s Android TV platform for many of its good TV options. Which isn’t solely a superb factor…

As you may anticipate given the excessive profile it enjoys with builders, Android TV gives an enormous array of apps for obtain to your TV. Nonetheless, I’m fairly assured that most individuals will discover the overwhelming majority of those apps a whole waste of time in a TV (moderately than smartphone) setting. 

Luckily, tucked away amid all of the dross is a few truly helpful stuff, reminiscent of Netflix, Amazon and YouTube apps, all able to streaming in 4K and HDR. Android TV nonetheless comes up quick the place the UK’s primary terrestrial broadcaster catch-up TV providers are involved, although. So it’s simply as properly Sony has labored spherical this by individually including assist for the YouView catch-up TV service, which not solely gives entry to all of the UK broadcasters’ primary catch-up platforms, however enables you to seek for exhibits you’ve missed through a easy digital programme information.

Regardless of years of updates and tweaks, although, we’re nonetheless not followers of the Android interface. It’s cumbersome, in need of customisation choices, likes pushing content material at you that most of the time you don’t need, painfully keen on usually sizeable updates, and liable to bugs and crashes. 

The silver lining right here is that its interface doesn’t run as sluggishly as earlier generations, and Sony lately added assist for the Google Assistant voice management system to its 4K HDR Android TVs. This actually is useful, because it usually provides you a manner of sidestepping the unhelpful graphical interface. 

Good TV TL;DR: Android TV continues to frustrate greater than please. Google Assistant now gives some aid from the heavy-duty menu methods although, and YouView is available to supply streamlined entry to the preferred catch-up TV providers. 

 HD/SDR Efficiency 

The 75XE9405 is nothing in need of beautiful with excessive definition and normal dynamic vary content material.

On the coronary heart of its prowess is the 4K upscaling a part of Sony’s new X1 Excessive processing engine. This makes use of a built-in twin database system to analyse, recognise after which extra precisely and speedily work out how finest so as to add tens of millions of additional pixels to HD sources with out exaggerating any noise these sources might comprise. 

Whereas the outcomes of upscaling won’t ever look nearly as good as a real 4K supply, the 75XE9405’s upscaled photos look nearly as good as any I’ve seen. Which is especially spectacular provided that we’re speaking a few 75-inch display screen, the place there’s no hiding place for any upscaling flaws or glitches.

The X1 Excessive engine additionally gives the TV world’s most suitable choice for changing normal dynamic vary pictures into HDR. The conversion system is extra delicate than rivals in relation to increasing SDR pictures’ brightness and color response, leading to pseudo-HDR photos that look far more constantly pure and balanced.

So good is the HDR up-conversion, actually, that we’d think about everybody however essentially the most die-hard of AV purists feeling completely happy to make use of it. 

When you actually do wish to watch SDR content material in its unique SDR kind, although, then worry not: the 75XE9405’s native SDR photos nonetheless look stunning. Sony’s excellent processing brings out seemingly as a lot color and distinction subtlety because it’s doable to get from an SDR supply.

 Its glorious decision upscaling joins with class-leading movement dealing with, too, to make sure that normal definition SDR sources look superbly detailed, crisp and clear, even if you’re watching motion scenes or sporting occasions.

Lastly, the 75XE9405’s mixture of a direct backlight system with greater than 250 individually managed dimming zones delivers the comparatively slim distinction vary of SDR pictures just about immaculately, presenting impressively deep black ranges with out compromising shadow particulars or producing distracting backlight clouds or halos round shiny objects.

HD/SDR efficiency TL;DR: Sony’s excellent image processing and backlight administration make sure that HD SDR photos look just about nearly as good as they’re ever more likely to look on a 75-inch 4K TV.

4K/HDR Efficiency 

Nice although the 75XE9405 is with SD/SDR content material, it actually comes into its personal with 4K HDR sources.

It does a shocking job of getting each final pixel of image high quality from 4K sources by combining its uncooked UHD pixel rely with really distinctive color, gentle and movement finesse. 

Sony’s Triluminos processing is ready to produce an unlimited array of color tones, and works with Sony’s glorious Tremendous Bitmapping system to make sure that even essentially the most delicate of color blends seems freed from striping or blocking interference. Even when there may be a hint of such noise in an HDR supply.

The mixture of direct LED lighting, native dimming and Sony’s backlight administration processing additionally does a principally good job of delivering HDR’s vastly expanded gentle vary. Peak whites and hues look way more intense than they’ve on any earlier X940 mannequin, making it no shock to search out the 75XE9405 delivering a placing excessive measured brightness on a 10% white HDR window of 1240 nits. This represents a rise of virtually 50% over 2016’s X940 mannequin.

Even higher, although, is the way in which the far more intense HDR brightness peaks are in a position to share the display screen with deep black colors with out producing very intense or outlined gentle ‘blooming’ round them. 

The flexibility of the X1 Excessive processor, in the meantime, to interpolate further frames of image on the fly with out producing many undesirable unintended effects allows the 75XE9405 to retain just about all of its 4K readability regardless of how a lot movement the image incorporates. Although truly, even with out the processing in play its photos look cleaner and fewer juddery than most.

The spectacular quantity of localised brightness and distinction within the 75XE9405’s photos make it a principally good HDR show. It provides a a lot wider sense of HDR’s gentle vary than any of its X940 predecessors, and the additional brightness additionally unlocks far more of the expanded color quantity you get with HDR sources. Particularly these that are partnered with huge color gamut know-how (which just about all of them are).

The additional brightness and X1 Excessive processor additionally work collectively to ship spectacular quantities of delicate detailing within the brightest components of HDR pictures, avoiding the ‘clipped’ look many HDR TVs undergo with.

All in all, we might say that the 75XE9405 delivers essentially the most all-round impactful and immersive HDR image we’ve seen from any LCD TV launched this 12 months.

That’s to not say it’s excellent. As an illustration, there’s nonetheless just a little backlight clouding across the very brightest HDR objects at occasions. You solely discover this, although, if the image round shiny objects could be very darkish, and even when such clouds seem they’re usually restricted sufficient by way of each their depth and the space they journey to not rely as a lot of a distraction in any respect. Particularly given how a lot intense image data there’s to carry your consideration elsewhere.

The ‘blooming’ results do change into far more noticeable, although, if you need to watch from an angle of greater than 30 levels or so. 

One last situation finds darkish objects that seem in opposition to a shiny HDR backdrop generally trying a contact low on element, in order that they appear extra like silhouettes than detailed, built-in components of the image. 

Sadly we may solely take a look at HDR10 content material on the 75XE9405, as its Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR replace hasn’t but been launched. Our suspicion primarily based on its common HDR efficiency, although, is that when Dolby Imaginative and prescient arrives, with its layer of additional scene by scene data to assist TVs render HDR photos higher, it is going to look very good certainly on the 75XE9405.

4K/HDR TL;DR: Regardless of the occasional shadowy darkish space and a moderately restricted viewing angle, the 75XE9405 is actually a sight to behold with any 4K HDR supply.

Sound high quality

The 75XE9405 doesn’t function any forward-facing audio system, and doesn’t have sufficient depth to supply a lot ‘air-shifting’ room for the audio system it does have. In consequence its sound lacks just a little directness and influence throughout large film motion scenes. 

It’s removed from disastrous, although: It’s highly effective and loud sufficient to provide a soundstage that almost matches the epic scale of its pictures. Voices sound clear and properly rounded. Particulars and results nonetheless sound clear and clear regardless of the dearth of uncooked, forward-facing assault. And the sound doesn’t change into cramped, overloaded or ‘phutty’ when there’s a variety of bass to deal with. 

Sound high quality TL;DR: Though it lacks just a little aggression and directness, the 75XE9405 nonetheless delivers a big and immersive wall of sound that matches properly with its epic photos.

Different panels to ponder

Not surprisingly, rival 75-inch TVs are fairly skinny on the bottom. The 75-inch Samsung MU7000 is beautiful worth at £1,999, however its use of an edge LED lighting system with no native dimming limits its distinction and backlight uniformity prowess when displaying HDR content material. A greater Samsung different can be the 75-inch Q7F QLED, with its excessive 1500 nits brightness and Samsung’s newest Quantum Dot know-how. Nevertheless it doesn’t use direct lighting with native dimming just like the Sony, so once more, whereas it will get brighter it might probably’t ship the identical form of black degree depth and uniformity. And it prices £500 extra on the time of writing.

Your different choice can be to maneuver right down to a 65-inch TV. LG’s OLED65E7 delivers beautiful contrast-rich OLED image high quality for round £three,799, as does Sony’s £three,500 65A1 OLED TV. Each these units additionally boast sturdy sound high quality – particularly within the Sony’s case.

One final set to think about can be Sony’s personal 75-inch 75ZD9. The ZD9 fashions with their 600-plus dimming zones are the best LCD TVs made so far – however the 75-inch mannequin prices £6,600. The 65-inch ZD9 is at present out there for simply £2999, although, if you happen to do not thoughts shaving round 10 inches from the display screen.

Verdict

Whereas this monstrous 75-inch measurement TV will doubtless be an excessive amount of for a lot of households to deal with, the Sony 75XE9405 is fingers down the perfect new LCD TV of the 12 months. Its mixture of excellent distinction, gorgeously wealthy but additionally delicate colors and impeccable sharpness and movement dealing with works wonders with HDR and SDR alike. It’s surprisingly elegant for such a big TV, too. 

Maybe better of all, although, its sub-£four,000 value appears like one thing of a steal when you think about that you simply’re actually shopping for a top quality dwelling cinema show moderately than a mere TV. It comes extremely really helpful with our seal of approval.