Sony KD-49XG9005: the best TV under 50 inches on the market

Presentation

The Sony KD-49XG9005 has a 10 bit (8 bit + FRC) 100/120 Hz panel of only 49 inches (124 cm) displaying an Ultra HD definition of 3 840 x 2 160 px and the Sony X1 Extreme processor, already present on last year's Sony XF9005. This processor has already proven itself in several areas, including digital noise reduction, scaling of textures and smoothing of color gradients. The Full Led backlighting system remains identical to that which could be found on the Sony KD-65XE9005 of 2017. Sony has not increased the number of zones, which remains quite small for a Full Led model, but MotionFlow Clarity functionality is still relevant. This system compensates for the decrease in brightness caused by the insertion of black images by increasing the brightness of moving areas. The insertion of black images makes it possible to deceive the retinal persistence and thus to improve the sharpness of moving objects. For the rest, the Sony KD-49XG9005 TV has a 20 W audio system, a DVB-T / T2 (TNT), DVB-S / S2 (satellite) and DVB-C (cable) tuner and fairly complete connectivity. Android TV is always on the move with its batch of applications (Netflix 4K, YouTube, VLC, etc.) as well as the very practical Google Cast functionality. In fact, it is identical to last year's Sony KD-49XF9005, except for the design of the feet. The Sony 49XG9005 is the only Sony TV with the reference XG90 in 2019; the other diagonals are stamped XG9505 and have the X1 Ultimate processor on board (see the Sony KD-75XG9505 test).

Recommended article: KD-75XG9505: the new high-end LCD TV from Sony

The Sony KD-49XG9005 TV is sold for around € 1,200, the price of the rarity and exclusivity of a high-end TV with a screen of less than 50 inches. In comparison, an Oled TV like the excellent Panasonic TX-55FZ800 is displayed at less than € 1,300 at the end of its life. Something to think about ...

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Image quality

This TV has a VA panel which provides very good native contrast at the expense of viewing angles. We measured a loss of brightness of only 51% at 45 °, yet the variations are still very visible as soon as we get out of the axis of the TV. The Full Led backlighting system, on the other hand, provides very good contrast, but the small number of zones (just under 30) results in blooming.

We measured a native contrast ratio of 4,180: 1, which can exceed 10,000: 1 with the dynamic backlight system. Sony perfectly masters its local dimming system since the use of a dynamic backlighting system does not cause a variation in the gamma curve or a variation in white depending on the content. This contrast ratio is very good for an LCD TV and allows you to enjoy a good level of black in the axis. On the other hand, the small number of zones leads to a blooming effect (white halo around luminous objects on a black background) which can be annoying.

This Sony TV does not fall short of the manufacturer's reputation and it is simply perfectly calibrated right out of the box. However, you must choose the Expert display mode to benefit from the best image quality, which for us is not very logical, especially for neophytes. The average delta E measured at 2.2 is less than the value of 3 below which the eye can no longer distinguish the colorimetric drifts. Only red has a delta E slightly greater than 3.

With an average measured at 2.36, the gamma is very close to the reference value of 2.4 and, above all, the curve is stable over the entire spectrum. There is a slight detachment on the very light grays. To obtain this curve, the gamma must be manually set to -2.

The temperature curve is perfectly stable over the entire spectrum and the average measured at 6,840 K is close to the 6,500 K reference. This temperature is obtained with the "Expert 2" setting. The other settings provide a much colder rendering.

The Sony X1 Extreme processor is no longer the fastest at Sony since it was replaced by the X1 Ultimate on the most high-end televisions of the Japanese manufacturer. However, this processor remains very efficient. It perfectly manages the scaling of SD, HD and Full HD content on the Ultra HD panel, color oversampling and motion compensation. The Reality Creation scaling engine is always the best in the field and ensures quality upscaling without distorting the original source. The different settings also make it possible to improve the contours (sharpness), reduce the noise, remaster the colors or even strengthen the textures (resolution).

The MotiowFlow motion compensation system from Sony works perfectly on this TV. Sony controls this aspect much better on its LCD televisions than on its Oled models, which are a notch below the competition (Panasonic and Philips). With this 100/120 Hz panel, the black image insertion system (BFI) to deceive retinal persistence is very efficient and improves sharpness without artificially increasing fluidity.

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HDR

The Sony Bravia XG9005 is compatible with HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. However, it ignores the HDR10 + promoted by Samsung and Panasonic. Small size precision, the HDMI ports of televisions are configured by default in 8 bits. To unlock them, go to Settings> TV viewing> External inputs> HDMI signal format> Improved format.

With a maximum HDR signal at 10,000 cd / m², the Display Tone Mapping used by Sony perfectly follows the reference EOTF curve (in yellow), and even a little too much, which can result in a phenomenon of clipping from 70% luminance. The image parts displaying a brightness higher than 700 cd / m² cannot necessarily be distinguished from one another.

Small disappointment on the side of the peak of maximum brightness. While we expected a peak above 1000 cd / m², we measured a maximum value of only 728 cd / m². Like the 75XG9505, this Sony TV tends to increase the brightness even more around 80% of luminance, a phenomenon difficult to justify. This television is thus placed at the level of Oled televisions which also cap around 750 cd / m². It is far behind other high-end LCD televisions which can reach or even exceed 2,000 cd / m² (Sony 65ZF9 or Samsung 75Q900R). This TV is clearly limited by its number of zones. We counted around thirty, against 60 for the Sony 75XG9505 and 480 for the high-end Samsung Qled models (Samsung QE65Q9F 2018 and Q900R).

Fortunately, this television is perfectly calibrated in HDR. With an average Delta E measured at only 2.3 in HDR mode, the colors displayed can be considered as faithful to those sent by the source.

The coverage of the Rec. 2020 color space is limited to 62%, a fairly low value, but common to most televisions on the market which are still very far from adequately covering this extended space.

The DCI-P3 color space used by the cinema industry is 85% covered. It's a notch below the best Oled and LCD TVs that reach 90 to 95% of this space, but it's still satisfactory for displaying Ultra HD content.

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Video games

Proof that the Sony 49XG9005 television is a high-end television, it displays a remanence time of only 10.5 ms; a very low figure which confirms the use of a quality 100 Hz LCD panel. However, Sony has made no effort to reduce the delay in display. As on last year's XF9005 models, it remains around 40 ms while this year's XG9505 manages to drop to 21 ms, a value more in line with the high-end TV market. The Sony KD-49XG9005 thus displays a little more than 2 images of delay compared to the source (at 60 Hz). As a reminder, it is from 50 ms delay on the display that we begin to perceive a certain heaviness in the commands, but the passage from 40 to 20 ms can be interesting for the competition.

The game mode proposed by Sony makes it possible to reduce the delay in display while maintaining an image quality very close to Expert mode with an average Delta E measured at 2.3, an average gamma at 2.22 and a temperature at 6,820 K. On this point, it is flawless for the Japanese manufacturer.

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Clouding

Edge-Led backlight system point on the horizon, but a Full Led backlight system with - according to our count - less than 30 zones (24 to be exact: 6 x 4). The use of a Full Led backlight system limits the risks of clouding, but this defect can still occur if the light distribution filter is damaged during transport. We also didn't see any banding issues. We have measured the difference in brightness homogeneity at 12% over the entire slab; an average value for a 49 inch model.

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Ergonomics

No real surprise on the design side, which remains both sober and elegant. This 49-inch TV is quite small on our benchmark TV stand, which is 160 cm wide.

The edges of the screen are quite thin, especially for a 49-inch model. The finishes are impeccable, as always on the high-end models of the Japanese manufacturer.

The Full Led backlight system takes up a lot of space and the TV is not really thin. It thus displays a thickness of 7 cm on almost the entire housing. The dimensions on the TV stand are linked to the depth of the stand, which is 27.7 cm here; that's a lot for a 49-inch "only" TV. Some Oled models, such as the LG 55B8, rest on a 23 cm foot.

The discreet feet of the Sony TV set free up space on the TV stand. They are spaced 101 cm apart and therefore a TV cabinet large enough to be able to put this 49XG9005 on it.

The back of the TV is fairly neat, even if it lacks covers to hide the connections. Fortunately, the feet incorporate a fairly basic, but effective cable passage.

The connection is identical to that found on the XE9005. It has four HDMI 2.0a inputs HDR and HDCP 2.2 compatible, a component / composite video input, an Ethernet port, an optical digital audio output, a headphone output, three USB ports including a USB 3.0, a dual-tuner TNT (DVB- T / T2), satellite (DVB-S / S2) and cable (DVB-C). The TV also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi Direct, Miracast and Google Cast compatibility. The latter allows you to do without the Google Chromecast 2 dongle.

Unlike the 2019 Sony XG9505 televisions that ship Android 8.0, this Sony 49XG9005 is content with version 7.0 of Android TV. The system's functionality remains the same, but we would still have preferred the latest version of the system on this 2019 TV. Android TV is one of the most complete on-board systems on the market, and especially the one with the most applications. In addition, the integrated Chromecast allows you to receive and display a video stream sent from a smartphone, tablet or computer. However, the general experience lacks fluidity and we feel that Sony has kept the configuration of the model from last year.

As with all Android TVs, the first start-up is very long. It takes 43 seconds. Again, this is in line with the values of televisions last year while new models like the Sony 65AG9 start in less than 40 seconds. It takes much longer to start up than Samsung's Tizen or LG's WebOS systems, which start up in less than 5 seconds. Fortunately, the TV comes out of standby in less than 4 seconds, while consuming less than one watt in standby after a few minutes when it consumes 20 watts. Sleep is instantaneous.

The Sony KD-49XG9005 is not supplied with the new aluminum-finish remote control for the manufacturer's high-end televisions, but with a much more conventional remote control. It is equipped with a microphone, almost essential for carrying out research. Very light, it is easy to take in hand, gives access to all the functions of the TV and even benefits from multimedia keys. On the other hand, it is not uncommon to press the "Action Menu" key in place of the "up" arrow, which is sometimes annoying. Note also the lack of backlight, which is a shame for a TV sold at this price.

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Audio

The Sony 49XG9005 has a fairly basic audio system consisting of two 10 W speakers that deliver fairly clear sound. They provide a very good frequency response between 100 and 20,000 Hz. This television mainly suffers from the absence of bass and low-mids. In any case, to get the most out of movies, it's better to opt for a sound bar, or even PC speakers.

Recommended article: What are the best sound bars?

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Consumption

We have measured the consumption of this television at 68 W, that is a relative consumption of 103 W / m², which exceeds the average consumption of the televisions tested (around 100 W / m²). In comparison, the Sony 65XF9005 had a relative consumption of only 71 W / m². This difference is explained by the higher pixel density on the 49-inch television and the difficulty that light has to pass through liquid crystals. This also explains the lower brightness peak. Standby consumption is still less than 1 W after several minutes at 20 W, the time that Android goes into deep standby.

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Conclusion

To date, the Sony KD-49XG9005 is simply the best TV under 50 inches on the market. This model displays a perfectly calibrated image, whether in SDR or HDR, and benefits from a very interesting peak of brightness for an LCD model. We regret a little that Sony has not forced his talent and is content to offer the same TV as last year. In the absence of competition in this segment, it remains the benchmark in the category of televisions less than 50 inches.

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