When comparing Sony X940E 75" (XBR75X940E) vs Sony X850E 75" (XBR75X850E), the Slant community recommends Sony X940E 75" (XBR75X940E) for most people. In the question“What are the best TVs?” Sony X940E 75" (XBR75X940E) is ranked 24th while Sony X850E 75" (XBR75X850E) is ranked 48th. The most important reason people chose Sony X940E 75" (XBR75X940E) is:
The X940E's performance can be considered on par with the OLEDs in this price range. It has everything necessary for true HDR: high native contrast (4941:1, can go up to 11634:1 with local dimming enabled), wide color gamut, great black levels and uniformity. Beyond all that, its panel is one of the best in the market — even in a bright room, this TV can still really shine because of how bright it can get.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Perfect TV for movies and HDR content
The X940E's performance can be considered on par with the OLEDs in this price range. It has everything necessary for true HDR: high native contrast (4941:1, can go up to 11634:1 with local dimming enabled), wide color gamut, great black levels and uniformity. Beyond all that, its panel is one of the best in the market — even in a bright room, this TV can still really shine because of how bright it can get.
Pro Local dimming is excellent
Local dimming is the TV's ability to dim areas of the screen for deeper black levels and better contrast — they are separated into different dimming zones, where each zone can be individually dimmed as needed. The local dimming on the X940E is the best in LED TVs of 2017 — it is capable of doubling the contrast ratios from 4941:1 to 11634:1. The only other LED TV with this capability is the VIZIO P65-E1, but its contrast with local dimming enabled is lower than the X940E's (at ~9.3k:1).
Pro Interface is ads-free
The user interface of modern smart TVs can include some advertisements similar to those on the internet or in a mobile app. The X940E does not include any, and it also has a feature for limiting ads in third-party applications.
Pro Dark scenes looks great
The X940E can handle dark scenes very well thanks to its high native contrast levels, which clocks in at 4941:1 native, and it can go up to 11634:1 with local dimming enabled. This, along with excellent black levels and uniformity, gives the TV the ability to achieve great representations of dark scenes beyond most expectations.
Pro Excellent black levels and uniformity
The black levels of a TV affects the viewer’s perception of other colors next to it. If the black levels are not deep enough and doesn’t remain uniform across the screen, the overall picture quality will look “flat” without much depth. The X940E handles this extremely well with one of the lowest deviation (<0.6%) ever in a non-OLED panel. This is measured across the entire screen from what a pure black screen should be, giving it significant gains in its native contrast levels thereby increasing the picture quality by a ton.
Pro Excellent performance in bright environments
The X940E has a practical peak brightness of ~1,100nits for both SDR and HDR content — this is by far the second brightest ever in a VA panel, only bested by the X930E. It can sustain this level of brightness when playing content and it will not have any issues with fighting light in bright environments thanks to its virtually reflection-less panel.
Pro Great ecosystem of third-party apps
The X940E runs on Android TV — normal Android apps from the Google Play Store (or other app stores) will work on it.
Pro Does not suffer from image retention
Unlike the OLED panels in this price range, the X940E has a VA panel and thus it does not suffer from image retention issues.
Pro Great for dark rooms
The X940E shines in dark environments — it is great at reproducing dark scenes, making it suitable for enjoying media in a cinema-like setting. It performs extremely well in movies with many black highlights/scenes where this is immediately noticeable even to undiscerning viewers (e.g. Interstellar).
Pro Virtually no reflections
The X940E's panel has a glossy finish, unlike the X930E which has a semi-gloss finish. This, along with its ability to get very bright, means that this TV is excellent at handling reflections — even in a bright room, the picture quality will remain more or less the same.
Pro Great color reproduction
The color gamut of a TV refers to the range of colors the display can reproduce — the wider the color gamut, the more colors it can display, and the better the overall picture quality will be. This is extremely important for HDR content because it requires a much wider color gamut than SDR content. The X940E has no issues with accurately reproducing the colors necessary for true HDR because its color gamut is one of the widest and only bested by some OLEDs.
Pro Exceptional picture quality
The X940E is the best LED TV of 2017, outperforming its competitors in nearly every aspect. Its picture quality is top-notch for any kind of content and it can handle all sorts of use cases really well.
Pro Decent for HDR content
The X850E has a wide color gamut that allows it to reproduce the colors necessary for true HDR, and it has an average peak brightness level of ~400 nits that allows it to light up these colors properly. Thanks to that, HDR pictures look decent and highlights will look fairly good.
However, the HDR performance can’t get better than that, due to the average peak brightness of ~400 nits which isn’t really enough for details to truly stand out, and it lacks local dimming.
Pro Good for sports
The X850E looks fluid thanks to its excellent color uniformity and decent handling of motion.
It can display large, same-color objects like football fields really well - they will look natural and uniform.
Fast-moving objects, like football, will also look smooth. The panel only requires ~14ms to fully change the pixels color, resulting in fast-moving objects not leaving any trails on the screen, eliminating virtually all motion blur.
Pro Great ecosystem of third-party apps
The X850E runs on Android TV that has access to the Google Play Store. The Play Store has a nice selection of apps, but normal Android apps won't work unless they support Android TV.
Pro Decent picture quality
The X850E looks really good in dark scenes, thanks to its decent contrast ratio of 4500:1 and excellent black uniformity.
It can produce blacks that are 4500 times darker than the brightest white, and the black uniformity is especially good - there’s barely visible flashlighting, where edges of the screen have a light on them when displaying a black image, and the screen is evenly bright. This makes it perform really well in dark scenes.
Colors look vibrant because of the panel’s high peak brightness levels of ~350 nits for SDR & ~400 nits for HDR. With these brightness levels, it can get bright enough to fight glare. Along with its great handling of reflections, pictures will still look good in decently-lit environments without dull colors.
Pro Interface is ads-free
There are no ads on the X850E’s interface.
Pro Excellent motion interpolation capabilities
The X850E can increase the framerate of content to either 60Hz or 120Hz.
It guesses which frames are missing based on the previous and next frame, and inserts the missing frame in between them. This produces a really strong soap opera effect, where images look really smooth.
This might look weird to some people that don't like it, but the X850E can do this really well for those who enjoy it.
Pro Suitable for gaming
The X850 has a relatively low input lag of ~35ms that makes it a decent pick for gaming. Most players will feel in sync, however, it might be a little unresponsive for competitive or demanding gamers.
It’s also acceptable for HDR gaming because the input lag does not increase in HDR mode.
Pro Excellent for 24p content
The X850E is an excellent option for those who watch content from an antenna/satellite box, DVD/Blu-ray player or Apple TV. It can detect eliminate jerky playback that is common in content from these sources.
Pro Offers best value for screen size in this price bracket
The X850E has the largest screen size at 65” for the cheapest when compared to its direct competitors. Similarly-sized models from its direct competitors cost much more.
Cons
Con Poor viewing angles
The picture quality on the X940E suffers from some degradation when viewing from an angle, as typical of a VA panel. The colors shift with even just a little deviation in the viewing angle, and the blacks become less apparent with it turning grey-ish.
Con Lacks support for Dolby Vision
The X940E can currently only play HDR10 content. It does not support Dolby Vision.
Con Not suitable for group watching
The X850E has a narrow viewing angle that makes it unsuitable for watching with groups.
Its picture quality starts to deteriorate significantly when viewing from just ≥20° away from the screen's center. The colors will start degrading really quickly.
Con Might require color calibration
Some viewers might find the X850E’s white balance to be slightly off out of the box, so a brief calibration might be required if you notice it. Fortunately, all the optimal color settings are available on the internet and isn’t hard to find.