Sony X90L Review | Puts TCL and Hisense on Notice

A Sony X90L TV boy I tell you what I've  been ready to lay into this TV with some   pretty stiff criticism and now that I've  measured it and been watching it for   almost three weeks well you are definitely  going to want to hear what I have to say [Music]   welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Dennison and today  we're going to talk about the Sony X90L TV let's   begin with why I was ready to lay into this TV  before I even got it out of the box so the X90   Series has long been Sony's value proposition  TV a lot of what there is to love about a Sony   TV like it's processing and smooth motion add a  more attainable price than some of Sony's super   premium options but over the past three years  or so the X90 Series has been an increasingly   harder sell and that's because Hisense and TCL  have been turning out some great TVs that punch   right up to the Sony X90 in terms of performance  in some respects even exceeding the Sony while   costing significantly less it's always looked  like the real value lay with the TCL 6 Series   and the Hisense U8 Series in the past and this  year was looking pretty similar at least on paper   here's what I mean both the Hisense U8K and TCL  QM8 have mini LED backlight systems broken down   into an impressive number of dimming zones in  theory those mini LED backlights and high Zone   counts should provide High brightness while also  having great black levels and reduced blooming   and Halo the Sony X90L here uses a standard  LED backlighting system and not only that but   significantly fewer local dimming zones about 80  or so for this 65 inch that we're reviewing today   on paper or conceptually anyway that makes it look  like the TCL and Hisense competition have better   Tech for Less money but here's where things start  to take a turn the Sony X90 Series has always been   significantly more expensive than its high sense  and TCL counterparts last year the 65-inch TCL   r655 and Hisense U8H had Street prices that came  in about 250 bucks lower than the 65-inch Sony   X90k this year the difference between the  65-inch TCL QM8 and the Sony X90L is only   a hundred dollars though to be fair the Sony is  still about 200 bucks more than the Hisense but   high sense prices are just I mean it's it's not  fair anyway the price Gap has now closed some but   on paper it looks like the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8K backlight systems are ready to just shame the   Sony meanwhile Sony is still out here sticking to  this line it's been pushing about how it's not the   size of the backlight system it's how you use it  I mean we can make juvenile jokes about that but   as good as Sony TVs have looked with what appear  to be inferior backlight systems last year's TCL   and Hisense tvs had very impressive black levels  brightness and reduced blooming and Halo whereas   the Sony X90k well it did not so you can see why  even though Sony increased the local dimming Zone   count for that X90k here and increased the number  of backlights significantly I was still skeptical   and ready to read Sony the riot act because both  the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8K have seemingly more   advanced mini LED backlight systems and I think  a lot of folks just don't get why Sony can't use   mini LED when these supposedly tier 2 brands are  using that Tech then I unboxed the TV and started   watching it and folks I do have something to say  about the little bit of blooming you will see on   the Sony but overall step back and look at the  big picture of the TV in its totality and this   Sony X90k TV not only looks fantastic for the  price but it's got picture quality elements that   the TCL and Hisense competition just can't match  not only that but it is a lesson in how many LED   as a backlight Tech is not necessarily the Magic  Bullet I think we all hoped and expected it to be   before I get into the narrative describing what  this TV is like to enjoy in your home let's get   down to the nitty gritty you know what time it is  it's numbers for Knit nerds time and folks I've   seen the mock-ups for the knit nerds merch that  we've got coming and I think you're gonna love   it I'll keep you posted but it is coming soon  okay so let's dig into the data and a friendly   reminder that you can skip this section if you  like we've got chapter links down below so the   measurements I got paint an impressive picture of  the Sony x90l's performance potential SDR white   balance was outstanding with both low luminance  and high luminance readings coming in below a   Delta e of Two And as a reminder anything below  three is great not perceivable by the human eye   even more impressive than that the color in SDR  was below a Delta e of two across the board now   I use the custom picture preset here so the SDR  Peak brightness was expectedly higher than a very   strict standard coming in at about 600 nits for  a 10 window which is more than respectable it's   great for a TV of this price moving to HDR the  peak brightness readings I got came in at just   over 1600 nits from smaller window sizes and  about 800 nits full screen white for the sake   of comparison the TCL QM8 I tested exceeds the  X90L in brightness measurements with Peaks well   above 2000 nits from small windows but about the  same 800 nit full screen brightness and it's a   similar story with the Hisense U8K which only  promises 1500 nits Peak brightness but routinely   tests above 2000 nits when it comes to HDR color  the Sony X90L was exceedingly accurate only one   color swatch tipped over a Delta e of two which  is just insanely good in fact the measurements   from the Sony were so good that I called Sony  and I asked them point blank was a hardware   calibration performed on this TV before you sent  it to me is this a so-called golden sample and   Sony was quite clear that while they tested the  TV to make sure it fit within tolerances of what   they consider to be a good example of the TV it  was not altered in any way and is a good example   of what you all out there will get when buying at  retail and I do believe that to be true so from a   measurements perspective the Sony may not be as  intensely bright on these charts as the TCL and   Hisense but it's very close and when it comes to  accuracy the Sony X90L handily defeats both the   TCL and Hisense seeing this kind of accuracy in a  TV at this price is hard to believe and frankly I   think that's really exciting so at this point in  my review process the Sony X90L is looking very   promising indeed but I want to see how it performs  with actual content of varying types and of course   in the back of my mind I'm concerned about how its  black levels will turn out how much blooming we'll   see in will it detract from the other excellent  aspects of its performance well I'll just come   right out and say that the Sony X90L doesn't  perform quite as well in some backlight torture   tests as the Hisense U8K or TCL QM8 if we put the  X90L side by side with the TCL QM8 here we can see   that the qm8 has a little less Halo or blooming  around bright objects on black backgrounds if   we turn on the closed captions when we've got  letterbox bars we see the black areas around the   white captions text sees a bit of Halo and Bloom  on the Sony where it is almost non-existent on   the qma but when you view the Sony X90L dead  on frankly blooming and Halo is not an issue   with most content unlike the Sony X90k which had  blooming and Halo that really bothered me quite a   bit the X90L is looking just fine thank you very  much you really have to step well off angle to   see the backlight system doing its thing but since  we're talking about off angle performance neither   the TCL nor the Hisense have very good off-angle  performance either so it's not like the Sony takes   a significant ding in this area to be clear there  were times when I was watching the X90L in perfect   darkness and when I looked for it I could see the  backlight in operation but I had to look for it   unlike many other LCD TVs I've tested though  I was never bothered by it and folks I am more   easily bothered by backlight stuff than most  people more importantly though the Sony x90l's   backlight is quick the algorithm that drives it is  just excellent better than other TVs in this price   class and better than some that cost more I mean  this X90L really lends Credence to Sony's claim   that what looks good on paper doesn't necessarily  translate into great picture performance the X90L   might not seem like it should look so good but  it absolutely does okay we gotta move past the   backlight stuff now because when it comes to  color accuracy color gradation motion resolution   and upscaling the Sony X90L is A Cut Above the  competition Sony's processing once again Reigns   Supreme in some cases it's marginally better  and in others it is significantly better when   streaming content from like YouTube and peacock  and Hulu streaming services that have a lot of   compression and low bit depth the Sony just looks  cleaner than the other TVs this is especially true   for sports where you get these wide swaths of  color across the screen and there's fast action   This TV has been great for watching sports as for  gaming well you guys know I don't dive super into   the gaming realm there are other channels that do  a better job with that but I was able to determine   that the input lag on the two HDMI 2.1 ports was  about 19 milliseconds at 4K 60 and just a touch   lower at 120 hertz the TV does support vrr but  when you engage vrr most of the processing gets   scaled way back and that includes the local  dimming system so contrast takes a fairly   significant hit as a matter of fact HDR gaming in  general even without vrr doesn't have the contrast   that I I want because the game mode chops down  the local dimming system enough that you lose a   significant amount of picture pop that's really  the only instance in which the lack of mini LED   backlight system shows through honestly the X90L  isn't a bad gaming TV per se it's just not as high   performance as other TVs in this price class it  does have a nice gaming dashboard though which   is shared across the Sony line this year as for  sound well I'm going to say get a sound bar if   you can the TV's legs allow two different heights  of installation the taller of which is enough to   accommodate a low profile sound bar even one of  Sony's basic bars is gonna really pump up the   audio for this TV the onboard audio is passable  but I got used to having this sound bar and I just   didn't go back at this point look I think the  takeaway for the Sony X90L is pretty clear if   you're a movie buff if you're someone who values  accuracy you like to know you're seeing something   as close to what the Creator intended as  possible the Sony X90L is worth the extra   one or two hundred bucks it doesn't muscle you  with brightness all the time like the TCL QM8   does but when it comes to HDR performance the  X90L puts its muscle where it counts it results   in a clean Dynamic vibrant and colorful picture  with a lot of pop in the past it was hard for   me to call the X90 series a great value but now  with the X90L I mean this is one of the highest   values in TV on the market and not just for Sony  this is absolutely a short list TV for anyone and   definitely the best choice for budget conscious  video files I highly recommend checking it out   I think when you see it in action you'll know  if it's for you thanks as always for watching   everyone are you surprised by the X90L as I am  let me know down in the comments I'll be there   with you when this video goes live please consider  liking and subscribing to support the channel I'll   see you on the next one and until then here's  two other videos I think you might like foreign

Channel: Digital Trends

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Id: 4x18X7lA1CU

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 15 2023