When comparing Samsung MU9000 55" (UN55MU9000) vs Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E), the Slant community recommends Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) is ranked 12th while Samsung MU9000 55" (UN55MU9000) is ranked 34th. The most important reason people chose Sony X930E 65” (XBR65X930E) is:
This TV offers much better HDR experience than the overwhelming majority of competitors in its price range because of its ability to display shots that combine bright and crisp highlights with some truly inky dark regions.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great picture quality
The MU9000 can produce really detailed pictures, especially in dark scenes thanks to its really deep black levels. It has a contrast ratio of about 6000:1, which enables it to produce blacks that are 6000 times darker than the brightest white.
The colors are lifelike and accurate even without any calibration by the user. They will look really vibrant even in bright scenes because of the panel’s high peak brightness levels of ~400 nits for SDR & ~450 nits for HDR.
Even in a decently-lit environment, the MU9000's picture quality can still hold up - the panel is excellent at handling reflections thanks to its glossy finish, and it can get bright enough to fight off glare.
Pro Good for HDR content
On top of its great picture quality, the MU9000 has a high HDR peak brightness level and wide color gamut that makes it good for HDR.
Shadows look pretty good with nice details, and highlights are quite vibrant thanks to the peak brightness level of ~450 nits.
The panel can reproduce the wide range of colors required for true HDR playback because of its wide color gamut, which covers ~60% of the standard colors required for HDR according to the Rec. 2020 color space. This is considered decent enough for reproducing HDR details, and it can display these colors accurately at different brightness levels.
It’s worth noting that while the MU9000 has local dimming that’s supposed to make HDR better, the local dimming is worthless and doesn’t do much. It increases the contrast ratio by a meager amount and does nothing else.
Pro Excellent at handling glare
The MU9000's panel has a glossy finish that reduce reflections significantly. This makes it excellent at fighting glare, along with its adequate brightness levels of ~400 nits for SDR & ~450 nits for HDR.
Pro Suitable for gaming and watching sports
The MU9000 is pretty versatile. On top of its great picture quality, it has features that makes it perform quite well for gaming and sports.
It offers a responsive and fluid gaming experience . Players will have no issues keeping their actions in sync with what’s on the display, and fast-moving objects won’t leave any trails on the screen. That is thanks to the low input lag of ~25ms and the panel’s quick response time of ~15ms, which virtually eliminates motion blur.
It’s also great for watching sports because of the almost non-existent motion blur that makes fast-moving objects look smooth. The panel is also pretty uniform meaning it has no issues with displaying large, same-color objects on screen, like football fields.
Pro Inputs are very accessible
The MU9000 comes with a OneConnect box which moves all the hard-to-access rear inputs away from the TV. Thanks to this, you’ll always have full access to all inputs and outputs of the TV even if it’s wall-mounted. The OneConnect box can also be used as a USB charging hub.
Pro Intuitive user interface
The MU9000 runs on the Tizen smart platform, known for its simplicity and intuitiveness.
It’s easy to navigate and access all the functions of features of the TV. The Tizen OS menus are organized around the “Smart Hub” which contains everything: apps, settings, input switching and others. It also has a section for quick access to frequently used items.
Pro Remote has a voice command feature
The MU9000's remote has a voice command feature that can perform actions as you physically would with the remote, and it can even be used to adjust settings directly.
Pro Great at upscaling low-res content
The MU9000 can upscale 480p, 720p, and 1080p content to 4K quite well. The upscaled content has almost no noticeable artifacts, and all the details are preserved.
Pro Capable of smooth 24p content playback
The MU9000 is great at dealing with 24p content, such as Blu-rays or media sourced from an cable or satellite box. It can detect and eliminate the judder effect present in these content, where images displayed can appear jittery.
Pro Great for HDR
This TV offers much better HDR experience than the overwhelming majority of competitors in its price range because of its ability to display shots that combine bright and crisp highlights with some truly inky dark regions.
Pro Screen has virtually no reflections
The X930E's panel is excellent at handling reflections, thanks to its semi-gloss finish that significantly decreases the intensity of glare.
Pro Excellent for HDR content
The X930E shines when it comes to HDR content. HDR pictures look true-to-life with stunning highlights and great black details. This is thanks to the high contrast ratio, local dimming, wide color gamut, and really high peak brightness level.
The local dimming can make parts of the screen darker when neccessary, giving it a boost in contrast ratio from 5744:1 to 6564:1. This gives the image deeper blacks and greater detail, resulting in brighter HDR highlights and better overall picture quality.
Its wide color gamut enables it to reproduce all the colors neccessary for HDR, and the high peak brightness level of ~1.4k nits makes the color really vibrant.
Pro Excellent at handling glare
When set in a bright environment, the X930E's picture quality doesn't suffer from much deterioration.
It has no issues fighting glare thanks to its really high peak brightness levels of ~900 nits for SDR & ~1.4k nits for HDR. The intensity of glare is also further reduced by the panel's semi-gloss finish.
Pro Decent sound quality
The sound quality of X930E’s built-in speakers is decent enough for users that aren't picky about sound details.
Dialogue sounds clear, and details aren't drowned out by too much bass or treble. It can get pretty loud at ~95dB, but there's some distortion at higher volumes.
Pro Interface is ads-free
The X930E's interface has no ads, and it even has a feature for limiting ads in third-party applications.
Pro Great alternative to OLED TVs
The X930E doesn't suffer from image retention issues like OLED TVs do, and the picture quality can be considered on par with OLEDs in the same price bracket, making it a great alternative when image retention is a concern.
Pro Excellent at handling highly dynamic content
The X930E can handle fast-paced or rapidly-moving objects very well.
Objects don't leave any trail behind it, thanks to the panel's quick response time. It only requires ~13ms fully change the pixel's color, which eliminates virtually all motion blur.
The panel also has a native refresh rate of 120Hz that makes images look smoother.
Pro Excellent picture quality
The X930E’s picture quality is top-notch. Images are wonderfully reproduced with captivating colors and great detail.
The blacks are really deep - it’s about 6000 times darker than the brightest white pixel the screen can produce. This creates a sense of depth as the focus of the picture pops, without any loss in background details.
It gets even better when watching in a dark room. You’ll be able to notice subtle details in the picture, and dark scenes will look stunning as the lack of glare allows you to perceive blacks better.
On top of that, the colors are really vibrant, even in broad daylight, thanks to its really high peak brightness levels of ~900 nits for SDR & ~1.4k nits for HDR. It can get brighter than most smartphone’s screen under the sun without significant loss in picture quality.
Pro Works well straight out of a box
You will most likely not need to spend time calibrating this TV because it's out-of-the-box color accuracy is reasonably high.
Cons
Con Mediocre sound quality
The sound quality of MU9000's built-in speakers is mediocre. It sounds quite bassy and the clarity is reduced at higher volumes - you might have a hard time following dialogues at higher volumes because of this. There’s also distortion at higher volumes.
Con Not suitable for group watching
The MU9000 has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for watching with groups.
Audience sitting away from the center of the screen will not experience the same picture as those sitting in the center, because the picture quality starts to deteriorate significantly when viewing from just ≥20° away from the screen's center - the colors will start looking dull and blacks will look like greys.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The MU9000 currently only supports the HDR10 format for HDR content.
Con Interface has ads
There are ads that can't be removed on the MU9000's interface.
Con Not a good value for money
The MU9000 is a great TV, but the retail price can be off-putting for some because the picture quality and features it offers are present in other similarly-priced models, e.g. the Sony X900E. This TV can be really worth it when on sale, or if Samsung offers better after-sales service in your region.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The X930E currently only supports the HDR10 format. Dolby Vision is not supported.
Con Poor viewing angles
The X930E is not suitable for group-watching because of its poor viewing angles.
Audience viewing from other angles might not experience the same picture quality as those directly in front of the screen. The picture quality starts deteoriating at just ~10° off the center of the screen with the blacks turning into gray and colors looking dull.
Con Speakers produce distortion at higher volumes
The X930E's speakers produces some distortion at higher volumes, and it becomes significantly noticeable when nearing maximum volume.
Con Doesn't sound good
The TV's overall sound quality is not a match to its picture quality.
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