Hi, I’m Daniel from Rtings.com
In this video, we will go over how-to setup
and get the best picture for the Sony X900F.
These settings should also work for international
models like the XF9000 in Europe.
We will describe the settings you should adjust
for gaming, HDR, and movies.
For a summary of our recommended settings,
see the link in the description to our website.
First we’ll go over the inputs.
They are located on the back of the TV, directed
down the back and out the side.
Of the four HDMI inputs, two of them support
HDMI 2.0 full bandwidth so these two should
be used for PC use or high bandwidth consoles
like the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.
One of these high bandwidth HDMI inputs is
also labelled ARC and you should connect this
to your ARC supported external sound system
to direct audio from the TV or other devices
through your external speakers.
Unfortunately, these HDMI limitations mean
you may have a problem if you have more than
2 high bandwidth devices or more than one
high bandwidth device and a receiver connected
on HDMI 3.
In this case you may have to buy an external
HDMI switch to increase the number of ports.
The first thing we’ll do is go into the
external inputs and set the ‘HDMI Signal
Format’ to ‘Enhanced’.
There is no reason not to enable this, except
if you are having compatibility issues with
older devices.
This increases the bandwidth of the HDMI port.
Now, go back to what you are watching.
These settings apply only to the HDMI port
you are on, so you do need to adjust the settings
for each device individually.
Even the apps have different settings.
Press the ‘Action Menu’ button on the
remote.
The ‘Display’ option lists information
about the input signal.
‘Picture in picture’ shows multiple inputs
at the same time, but it only works for some
signals like over the air TV.
‘Picture Off’ disables the display.
This can be useful if you only want to play
music for example.
We’ll go back to the ‘Picture Adjustments’
soon
‘Wide Mode’ allows changing the aspect
ratio.
You usually shouldn’t have to use this as
the TV detects the correct ratio automatically.
‘Sound Adjustments’ are for sound control
with the TV speakers
‘Speakers’ allows you to select whether
audio is output to external speakers
‘Sync Menu’ is for the Sony Bravia Sync
settings
Now we’ll start on the picture adjustments.
The first thing to do is adjust the ‘Picture
Mode’.
There are some differences between each of
the picture modes outside of the default settings.
For gaming and PC use, the game and graphics
picture modes both offer equally low input
lag.
They have different upscaling methods though,
so graphics tends to be better suited to text
and hard edges for PC use while ‘Game’
tends to be better suited to normal content.
You can try both and see which you prefer.
Note that in these picture modes some processing
settings are disabled to reduce input lag,
but you can still follow the remainder of
our recommended settings.
For watching movies or sports, use the ‘Custom’
picture mode for the most setting adjustment
and good preset options.
If you are watching HDR content, then an HDR
icon appears in this menu.
For HDR gaming on a new console or PC, the
HDR game option is the best choice.
When watching HDR movies, you can leave the
TV in the ‘Custom’ picture mode for the
most accurate image.
This does clip highlights though, so if you
find that you are missing details in some
bright scenes then change to ‘Cinema Home’
for an EOTF with roll off, preserving details
in highlights.
‘Auto Picture Mode’ tries to detect the
input signal to change the picture mode to
suit.
It may be useful for some people, but we don’t
recommend it as it can be incorrect sometimes.
We'll be using measurements taken from our
X900F to show how the picture quality is affected
in ways cameras can't capture.
The ‘Brightness’ setting on Sony TVs behaves
differently to other brands.
This setting affects their backlight and can
be adjusted to suit your room without degrading
the picture quality.
For a bright room set it to maximum, but for
our average room calibration we will set it
to 9 which corresponds to about 200 nits on
our checkerboard pattern.
‘Color’ affects the saturation of the
image.
In this diagram the squares are the target
points which is what an accurate display should
achieve.
The circles are the measured points from our
X900F.
Decreasing the color results in undersaturated
colors and a dull image.
Increasing it results in oversaturated images
with very vivid colors.
You can adjust it slightly, but for accurate
colors the default value of 50 is best.
‘Light Sensor’ changes the brightness
of the screen to match the light in your room.
It can be useful if you watch TV in changing
light conditions, and don’t want to adjust
the ‘Brightness’ option.
We recommend leaving it off for the most control.
In the ‘Advanced Settings’ menu is the
same option as before for ‘Brightness’.
‘Contrast’ affects the brightness range
of the display.
Low values result in a dim or washed out image.
It should be set as high as possible without
clipping details.
We’ve found that 90 is a good safe value.
We can measure the gamma curve to see the
effect of the ‘Gamma’ setting.
These results show the relationship between
dark and bright areas in a scene.
A lower gamma value results in a brighter
image and a higher value results in a deeper
or darker image.
The default gamma value of 0 corresponds most
closely to our 2.2 target, which is the standard
that movies are mastered at.
Increasing the gamma option in the menu lowers
the gamma curve, which can bring out extra
details in dark scenes.
The ‘Black Level’ option should be left
to the default value of 50.
Lowering this will result in crushed details
in shadows, while raising it results in blacks
that appear gray.
The black adjust option doesn’t make blacks
deeper but instead applies software processing.
This affects the gamma curve and changes the
level of shadows.
We recommend disabling it for an accurate
image.
‘Advanced Contrast Enhancer’ is another
software only feature which doesn’t change
the actual contrast of the display.
This also affects the gamma curve, and we
recommend leaving it disabled for the most
accurate image.
‘Auto Local Dimming’ is a hardware feature
which does result in deeper blacks.
You should leave on ‘High’ for the deepest
dark scenes and best picture quality in a
dark room, but if you find the brightness
changes distracting then you can use ‘Medium’.
‘X-tended Dynamic Range’ is the opposite
of local dimming in that it brightens highlights.
It can only be enabled with local dimming.
Set this to maximum for the brightest highlights,
especially in HDR, but if you find the highlights
too intense then you can lower this option.
In the ‘Color’ menu is the same color
options as before.
Leave it to 50 for the most accurate image.
The ‘Hue’ option rotates the color palette.
For the most accurate colors, leave it at
0.
The ‘Color Temperature’ option should
be adjusted as you prefer.
Cooler values result in a blueish image while
warmer values result in a red or yellowish
image.
The color temperature which most content is
mastered at is 6500K, which corresponds to
the ‘Expert’ values.
These two expert options have the same color
temperature, so you can use either of them,
but can be calibrated independently with advanced
equipment through the ‘Advanced Color Temperature’
menu.
We don’t recommend you set any values in
here unless you have a colorimeter.
The best settings do vary on a unit by unit
basis due to panel variance.
‘Live Color’ should be left disabled.
This oversaturates the content, which is fine
if you want to produce an image with more
pop but ‘Off’ is more accurate.
In the ‘Clarity’ menu is an option for
sharpness.
The default value of 50 results in no added
sharpness or softening.
You can increase this slightly if you prefer
a sharper image when watching low quality
content, but this does introduce artifacts.
We will leave it to the most accurate value
of 50 for this calibration.
This is also the case for ‘Reality Creation’.
Leave it off for the most accurate image,
unless you want the appearance of more details
in the picture.
‘Mastered in 4k’ is an option which applies
the reverse of the downscaling used in Sony’s
mastered in 4k blu-rays.
This may result in a slightly more accurate
image when watching Sony’s 1080p Blu-rays
that were mastered in 4k,but should be disabled
for everything else.
The two noise reduction features can be enabled
if you find too much noise in low quality
content such as cable TV.
Random is for analog noise, which is rarely
present ow.
Digital is for block noise artifacts that
most recent compression algorithms have.
If you are watching high quality content then
leave these options disabled for the most
accurate image without any softening.
Smooth gradation is to correct color banding
issues.
These issues are usually most visible in skies
or other areas with a slight gradient.
It works well, so although it can apply some
softening you should be fine to leave it enabled.
Now on to the motion menu.
This is a complex subject, so you can watch
our motion series which is linked down below
to explain what each of these options do.
In short, for movies set it to ‘True Cinema’
with ‘CineMotion’ on ‘High’.
This won’t add any motion interpolation
or soap opera effect, but will display 24Hz
content at the correct cadence.
If you want the soap opera effect then set
it to ‘Smooth’.
For gaming the ‘Smoothness’ slider is
disabled, but you can increase the ‘Clearness’
slider which adds screen flicker to clear
up fast paced motion.
Not everyone likes this flicker though.
Under the ‘Video Options’ menu set everything
to ‘Auto’.
These settings are mostly useful if there
is an error in the incoming signal such as
missing metadata, and allow you to force the
TV to treat it in specific ways.
In summary, for most content in SDR including
movies and sports use the ‘Custom’ picture
mode.
For gaming, use the ‘Game’ picture mode
for lowest input lag.
For PC use, the ‘Graphics’ picture mode
is best for 4:4:4 support, low input lag,
and upscaling of text.
For each of these uses adjust the ‘Brightness’
to suit your room, and the ‘Color Temperature’
to suit your preferences.
If you are watching HDR content then use either
the ‘Custom’ or ‘Cinema Home’ picture
mode.
The ‘Custom’ picture mode is more accurate
for most scenes, but will result in loss of
details in highlights.
‘Cinema Home’ is better for preserving
highlight details.
So that’s it.
You can find the screenshots of all the settings
we recommend on our website via the link below.
If you like this video, subscribe to our channel,
or become a contributor.
Thank you for watching and see you next time.
