Sony KD 65X9005A review

Of course, none of this on-demand content is being streamed in Ultra HD yet. To test the X9 properly we used Ultra HD open-source film Tears of Steel and some reference clips supplied by Sony. We found the level of detail to be simply breathtaking. You can clearly distinguish faces in a crowd of football fans, read the names on the back of players’ shirts and notice details in other scenes that would be impossible to spot in 1080p footage. The texture detail on clothing, brickwork and wood, facial features and incidental detail all look superb in Ultra HD.

The X-Reality Pro sharpens footage subtly and creates the impression of additional detail without introducing noise to the picture. The Sony 65X9005A produces the best looking Ultra HD images we’ve seen on a home TV so far.

Colour accuracy is also fantastic. Sony’s Triluminos technology helps create a more subtle blend of colours, which particularly enhanced the vibrant images seen in Sony’s Ultra HD wildlife footage.

Our only criticism was a slight tendency to show deep blacks as slightly off-grey; this is unnoticeable when watching anything but a very dark scene, but it’s unmistakeable once you’ve spotted it. Experimenting with the dynamic backlight couldn’t completely eradicate the issue, so if you want the absolute deepest blacks you’ll still need to look towards plasma technology (while it’s still around).

The 65X9005A also does a fantastic job of upscaling 1080p video to Ultra HD, mainly thanks to the Reality Creation setting. Reality Creation creates a greater sense of resolution by sharpening specific parts of a given image. It’s an effective method, which ensures you get a picture that’s just as good as a native 1080p TV.

Although standard definition pictures look fairly average, that in itself is an achievement considering the source material and the number of pixels the standard definition video is being stretched to fill. Sony’s various noise reduction and image creation techniques work together excellently to clean the picture as much as possible, although very low bit rate channels such as Dave and BBC News still look pretty ropey when you get close to the screen.

Unusually for a Sony TV this one uses passive 3D technology

Unusually for Sony, the X9 uses passive technology to produce 3D video rather than active shutter glasses. This makes a lot of sense. You lose half the vertical resolution with passive 3D, but on a 4K panel you still see Full HD picture. Essentially, you get the resolution of active 3D, but the benefits of flicker-free viewing and almost no cross-talk. Combined with the vibrant Triluminos colours, the X9 is a superb way to watch 3D films.

The X9 is also available as a cheaper 55in model, but at £3,299 it’s still prohibitively expensive for many people. However, if you want a Ultra HD TV we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Sony X9. Superb 1080p upscaling, unparalleled Ultra HD detail and an impending firmware update that will add 60 frames per second playback make it the best Ultra HD TV we’ve seen.