The Sony X950H 85 inch TV 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR has a simple, yet outstanding design, with thin bezels and minimal branding. Although the feet look thin, they’re fully metal and they support the TV well. The Sony X950H is a great TV for watching TV shows. It’s well-suited for bright environments, as it can fight glare easily and it has outstanding reflection handling. Lower resolution content from cable TV is upscaled well and without any issues, and there’s no risk of permanent burn-in even if you watch the same program all day long. The downside is the TV’s mediocre viewing angles, which makes it harder to watch while walking around doing chores. Find helpful tips and tricks in our Sony X950H 85 inch TV 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR review.
Sony X950H 85 inch TV 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR comparison
| X950H Series | A9G MASTER Series | X900H Series | X800H Series | |
| screen sizes | 49″ / 55″ / 65″ / 75″ / 85″ | 55″ / 65″ / 77″ | 55″ / 65″ / 75″ / 85″ | 43″/ 49″/ 55″/ 65″/ 75″/ 85″ |
| Display Technology | LED (Advanced Full-Array) | OLED | LED (Full-Array) | LED |
| Display Resolution | 4K HDR | 4K HDR | 4K HDR | 4K HDR |
| Picture Processor | X1 Ultimate (Best of Sony) | X1 Ultimate (Best of Sony) | X1 4K HDR | X1 4K HDR |
| Contrast | X-tended Dynamic Range Pro 6x | OLED + Pixel Contrast Booster | X-tended Dynamic Range | Dynamic Contrast Enhancer |
| Refresh Rate | X-Motion Clarity – 120HZ | MotionFlow XR – 120HZ | X-Motion Clarity – 120HZ | MotionFlow XR240 – 60HZ |
| Viewing Angle | X-Wide Angle (Excluding 49″) | OLED Wide Angle | — | — |
| Netflix Calibrated Mode | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Dolby Vision & Atmos | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Sound Technology | Acoustic Multi-Audio (no 49″) | Acoustic Surface Audio+ | Acoustic Multi-Audio (no 55″) | — |
| Android TV w/ Google Assistant | Yes (Hands Free) | Yes (Hands Free) | Yes | Yes |
| Alexa/AirPlay/HomeKit Compat. | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
What is good in Sony X950H 85 inch TV 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR
One-Slate Design
With the slim one-slate design, the screen meets the edge of the TV, helping it blend into nearly any room environment. The flush surface with narrow aluminum bezel helps keep you focused on the picture, not the TV.
X-Wide Angle
X-Wide Angle helps ensure that colors stay true from nearly any viewing angle
Full-Array LED Backlight
By controlling light levels in sections of the screen independently, full-array backlighting helps provide more realistic contrast by making light areas lighter and dark areas darker. Contrast is further enhanced by X-tended Dynamic Range PRO 6x, which helps adjust brightness for higher peaks in highlights and detailed blacks in shadow.
TRILUMINOS Technology
By widening the color spectrum, TRILUMINOS technology, powered by the X1 Ultimate processor, helps the TV reproduce more colors. It analyzes and processes data in each image to help make colors more natural and precise for lifelike video.
Smart Voice control
Press the Google Assistant button on the remote to ask it to ask it questions, search for your favorite movies, control compatible smart home devices, or access various apps and services. Download your favorite apps from the Google Play store, including YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Spotify, and more. You can also find and cast your favorite videos to the TV with Chromecast built-in. You can also change the channel or volume with Amazon Alexa.
Super Bit Mapping HDR
This function reveals additional tones, ahdes, and gradations of light in images to create a smooth, natural 4K image with reduced color banding.
X-Motion Clarity Technology
This technology is designed to refine the on-screen action in real time with an enhanced refresh rate, brightness, and clarity.
Integrated Cable Management
Hide your cables from set-top boxes and other components within the stand.
4K X-Reality PRO Engine
The 4K HDR X1 Ultimate processor upscales Full HD images to near-4K resolution with the 4K X-Reality PRO engine. It is engineered to analyze and process data to enrich images with lifelike detail, textures, and clarity for nearly everything you watch by leveraging intelligent dual-database processing. It also upscales Full HD video to near-4K.
HDR, Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced, and Netflix Calibrated Mode
4K UHD resolution and HDR content, including Dolby Vision HDR compatibility, combine to bring augmented detail, color, brightness, and contrast to your media. The IMAX Enhanced program enables IMAX Enhanced content to be digitally remastered to provide sharper images and more powerful sound, as the creator intended. Netflix Calibrated Mode was developed so you can enjoy Netflix original content the way its creators intended. Dolby Vision is an HDR solution designed to create an immersive cinematic experience with deep black levels and vibrant colors.
Clear Phase for Balanced Frequencies
The X950H uses a computer model to analyze and compensate for inaccuracies in speaker response by sampling the speaker frequency with high precision. This information is fed back to cancel out any peaks or dips in the speaker’s natural response to help produce pure, natural audio with smooth, even reproduction of all frequencies.
Object-Based HDR Remaster
With Object-Based HDR Remaster, the color in individual objects on screen is analyzed and the contrast adjusted, helping the TV reproduce greater depth, textures, and more realistic pictures.
Voice Zoom
With Voice Zoom, you can hear dialogue clearly without turning up the volume. This feature is particularly helpful for news bulletins and documentaries.
S-Force Front Surround
This technology is designed to mimic the way the brain correlates sound sources to create proper volume, time lag, and sound wave spectrum, using only the TVs left and right speakers, to help provide rich, high-fidelity audio across a wide listening area.
Smart Remote
Connect your compatible set-top boxes and other devices via HDMI and control them all using the smart remote. The slim, rounded design and simplified button layout help make it easy to use.
Bluetooth Connectivity
Pair your compatible Bluetooth headphones with the TV to enjoy TV shows and music without disturbances or interruptions.
CalMAN Compatible
To address color variations from the production process, this TV is compatible with CalMAN auto-calibration software. This provides additional levels of calibration and the ability to fine-tune adjustments not possible through conventional picture settings. It’s designed to deliver high-fidelity color reproduction that’s true to the original TV signal and can adapt to subtle changes in color that may occur over time.
Support Apple AirPlay & HomeKit
With Apple AirPlay, you can stream video and audio to the TV right from your iOS device or Mac. Watch movies and shows from the Apple TV app, your favorite apps, or Safari. Share your photos with everyone in the room. AirPlay & HomeKit compatibility is scheduled to be made available via a future firmware update.
Apps and features
- App Selection Great
- App Smoothness Very Smooth
- Cast Capable Yes
- USB Drive Playback Yes
- USB Drive HDR Playback Yes
- HDR in Netflix Yes
- HDR in YouTube Yes
The Google Play Store received a makeover. The interface is clean, there’s a large selection of apps, and it runs very smoothly. Casting is supported and the built-in media app can play most common file types.
Detailed specifications
| Model year | |
|---|---|
| Model year | 2020 |
| Dimensions and Weight | |
| Screen Size (inch, measured diagonally) | 85″ (84.6″) |
| SCREEN SIZE (CM, MEASURED DIAGONALLY) | 215 cm |
| Dimension of TV without Stand (W x H x D) | Approx. 75 1/4″ x 43 3/8″ x 3″ (1910 x 1099 x 74 mm) |
| Dimension of TV with Stand (W x H x D) | Approx. 75 1/4″ x 46 1/2″ x 16 1/4″ inch (1910 x 1179 x 412 mm) |
| Dimension of TV with Floor Stand (W x H x D) | – |
| Dimension of Package Carton (W x H x D) | Approx. 79 7/8″ x 48 1/2″ x 11 1/4″ inch (2026 x 1231 x 284 mm) |
| Stand Width | Approx. 69 5/8″ (1766 mm) |
| VESA® Hole Pitch(W x H) | 15 3/4″ x 15 3/4″ (400 x 400 mm) |
| Weight of TV without Stand | Approx. 101.4 lb (46 kg) |
| Weight of TV with Stand | Approx. 108 lb (49 kg) |
| Weight of TV with floor stand | – |
| Weight of Package Carton (Gross) | Approx. 141 lb (64 kg) |
| Connectivity | |
| Wi-Fi Standard | Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Ethernet inputs | 1 (bottom) |
| Bluetooth profile support | Version 4.2; HID (mouse/keyboard connectivity)/HOGP (Low Energy device connectivity)/SPP (Serial Port Profile)/A2DP (stereo audio)22/AVRCP (AV remote control) |
| CHROMECAST BUILT-IN | Yes13 |
| APPLE AIRPLAY | Yes23 |
| APPLE HOMEKIT | Yes23 |
| RF (Terrestrial/Cable) Connection Input(s) | 1 (bottom) |
| IF (satellite) input(s) | No |
| Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr) Input(s) | No |
| Composite Video Input(s) | 1 (Side) |
| RS-232C Input(s) | 1 (Side) |
| HDMI inputs total | 4 (1 Side, 3 Bottom) |
| HDCP | HDCP 2.3 (for HDMI™ 1/2/3/4) |
| HDMI-CEC | Yes |
| Features specified in HDMI2.1 | eARC |
| HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) | Yes (eARC/ARC) |
| Digital Audio Output(s) | 1 (bottom) |
| Headphone Output(s) | 1 (Side) |
| Audio Output(s) | – |
| Subwoofer Output(s) | – |
| USB ports | 2 (side), 1 (bottom) |
| USB HDD Recording | No |
| USB drive format support | FAT16/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS |
| USB playback codecs | MPEG1: MPEG1/MPEG2PS: MPEG2/MPEG2TS (HDV, AVCHD): MPEG2, AVC/MP4 (XAVC S): AVC, MPEG4, HEVC/AVI: Xvid, MotionJpeg/ASF (WMV): VC1/MOV: AVC, MPEG4, MotionJpeg/MKV: Xvid, AVC, MPEG4, VP8. HEVC/WEBM: VP8/3GPP: MPEG4, AVC/MP3/ASF (WMA)/LPCM/WAV/MP4AAC/FLAC/JPEG; WEBM: VP9/AC4/ogg/AAC/ARW (Screen nail only) |
| Picture (Panel) | |
| Display type | LCD |
| Display resolution (H x V, pixels) | 3840 x 2160 |
| Viewing Angle (X-Wide Angle) | Yes |
| Backlight type | Direct (Full Array LED) |
| Backlight dimming type | Local Dimming |
| Picture (processing) | |
| HDR (High Dynamic Range) compatibility | Yes (HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision) |
| Picture processor | Picture Processor X1™ Ultimate |
| Clarity enhancement | 4K X-Reality™ PRO Dual database processing Object-based Super Resolution |
| Color enhancement | TRILUMINoS™ Display Super bit mapping™ HDR Live Color™ Technology Precision Color Mapping |
| Contrast enhancement | X-tended Dynamic Range™ PRO Object-based HDR remaster Dynamic Contrast Enhancer |
| Motion enhancer (Native Hz) | X-Motion Clarity, Auto mode |
| Video signal support | HDMI™ signal: 4096 x 2160p (24, 60 Hz), 3840 x 2160p (24, 30, 60 Hz), 1080p (30, 60, 120 Hz), 1080/24p, 1080i (60 Hz), 720p (30, 60 Hz), 720/24p, 480p |
| Picture modes | Vivid, Standard, Cinema, Game, Graphics, Photo, Custom, Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, Netflix calibrated |
| SENSOR | Light |
| NETFLIX CALIBRATED MODE | Yes17 |
| Sound (Speakers and Amplifier) | |
| Audio Power Output | 10 W + 10 W |
| Speaker Type | Acoustic Multi-Audio; Sound-Positioning Tweeter |
| Speaker Configuration | Full Range (Bass Reflex) x 2, Tweeter x 2 |
| Sound (Processing) | |
| Dolby audio format support | Dolby™ Audio, Dolby™ Atmos |
| DTS audio format support | DTS Digital Surround |
| ACOUSTIC AUTO CALIBRATION | Yes |
| VOICE ZOOM | Voice Zoom |
| FM Radio | No |
| Sound processing | No |
| Simulated surround sound | S-Force Front Surround |
| Sound modes | Standard, Dialog, Theater, Music, Sports, Dolby Audio |
| TV CENTER SPEAKER MODE | – |
| Software | |
| Operating System | Android™ |
| On-board Storage (GB) | 16 GB |
| Display Language | AFRIKAANS, AMH, ARABIC, ASSAMESE, AZE, BEL, BULGARIAN, BENGALI, BOSNIAN, CATALAN, CZECH, DANISH, DEU, GREEK, ENGLISH, SPANISH, ESTONIAN, BAQ, PER, FINNISH, FRENCH, GLG, GUJARATI, HINDI, CROATIAN, HUNGARIAN, INDONESIAN, ISL, ITALIAN, HEBREW, JAPANESE, KAZAKH, KANNADA, KOR, KIR, LAO, LITHUANIAN, LATVIAN, MACEDONIAN, MALAYALAM, MON, MARATHI, MAY, BUR, NoB, NEP, NLD, ORIYA, PANJABI, POLISH, PORTUGUESE, ROMANIAN, RUSSIAN, SOL, SLOVENIAN, ALB, SERBIAN, SWEDISH, SWAHILI, TAMIL, TELUGU, THAI, TGL, TURKISH, UKRAINIAN, URD, UZB, VIETNAMESE, SIMPLIFIED CHINESE, TRADITIONAL CHINESE , ZULU |
| Text Input Language | ENGLISH / FRENCH / GERMAN / HEBREW / ITALIAN / RUSSIAN / SPANISH / VIETNAMESE / JAPANESE |
| Voice Search | (Voice Search) Yes24/(Built-in Mic) Yes |
| Electronic Program Guide (EPG) | Yes |
| Internet Browser | – |
| Application Store | Yes (Google Play Store) |
| On/Off Timer | Yes |
| Sleep Timer | Yes |
| Teletext | No |
| Auto Calibration with CalMAN® | Yes20 |
| Closed Captions (Analog/Digital) | (Analog) Closed Caption (Digital)Closed Caption |
| Power and Energy saving | |
| Energy Level Rating | – |
| SCREEN SIZE (CM, MEASURED DIAGONALLY) | 215 cm |
| Screen Size (inch, measured diagonally) | 85″ (84.6″) |
| Power Consumption (in Operation) | 417 W |
| Annual Energy Consumption | 476 kWh/Year |
| Power Consumption (in Standby) | 0.5 W |
| Power Consumption (Networked Standby Mode) – Terminals | – |
| PEAK LUMINANCE RATIO | – |
| Presence of lead | Yes |
| Mercury content (mg) | 0.0 oz |
| Power Consumption (On Mode) for Energy Star | – |
| Power Consumption (Standby Mode) for Energy Star | – |
| Energy Star® compliant | – |
| Power Requirements (voltage/frequency) | 60 Hz for UL cUL 50/60 Hz for other AC 120 V for UL cUL AC 110-240 V for other |
| Power Saving Mode/Back Light Off Mode | Yes |
| Dynamic Backlight Control | Yes |
| Design | |
| BEZEL DESIGN | Aluminum Bezel |
| BEZEL COLOR | Black |
| Stand design | Metal Blade Stand |
| STAND COLOR | Dark Silver |
| STAND POSITION | – |
| REMOTE CONTROL | Standard Remote |
| Built-in Tuner | |
| Number of Tuners (Terrestrial/Cable) | 1(Digital/Analog) |
| Number of Tuners (Sat) | – |
| TV System (Analog) | M |
| Tuner Channel Coverage (Analog) | VHF: 2-13/UHF: 14-69/CATV: 1-135 |
| TV System (Digital Terrestrial) | ATSC |
| Tuner Channel Coverage (Digital Terrestrial) | VHF: 2-13/UHF: 14-69 |
| TV System (Digital Cable) | Clear QAM |
| Tuner Channel Coverage (Digital Cable) | CATV: 1-135 |
| TV System (Digital Sat) | – |
| CI+ | – |
| Accessibility | |
| Screen Reader | Yes |
| Audio Description (Audio key) | Yes |
| Closed Caption | Closed Caption |
| Text Magnification | Yes |
| Accessibility Shortcut | Yes |
| Voice Search | Yes24 |
Sony X950H 85 inch TV 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR customer review
Incredible tv, support and TIVO
Other reviewers will talk about picture quality with numbers and words I don’t use so no sense in me even trying to tell you about that stuff. If you want a review from a different perspective, here’s mine…
Setup….I’m a 63 year old single woman and I had no problems whatsoever getting this out of the box, onto my table top and setting it up and getting it working all by myself. Incredibly simple and easy. I read the screen and I pushed a few buttons and it was done. I use a TIVO and that was no issue whatsoever.
I can no longer use my older DVD player as it has the three plugs (white yellow red) and this tv does not support that, all must be digital. As I stream almost everything, that wasn’t an issue and I just put the player in another room on an older tv.
Picture- when it first starts they show you this quick little movie thing and it blew me away how sharp and clear it was. Incredible, as nice as in any movie theater. But that said, a lot of my tv watching is older stuff and I really don’t see much difference during those shows. When newer commercials or live news comes on, then I notice a clear and sharp picture again. Someone came over and played with the tv and turned on some live sports and I noticed the difference again, but if you watch old Law & Orders or The Office, the picture doesn’t really seem to improve much, at least to these old eyes.
Sound has really impressed me. I never knew what I was missing. Even in old shows I hear background noises I never knew were there. After using it for days I accidentally discovered it will level the sound so commercials aren’t so loud. Good thing I stumbled on that.
The tv’s remote is a bit annoying to me. It has a lot of buttons which do nothing, and other buttons for things I don’t want, need or will ever use. So there are all these unused buttons on the remote while things I do use and want have no buttons at all. It would be great if I could program these unused buttons to do what I want them to do. For instance, I have two streaming services, neither are Netflix, yet there’s this huge Netflix button. I wish I could program that for Amazon video instead but I can’t. I’d like a quick button for the sleep timer and another to send me back to live TV after being in TIVO Central. Not all buttons need to be programmable, but some would be nice. You can decide what you see or don’t see in some pm screen menu’s, but you can’t link them to buttons on the remote.
Google Assistant in the remote- interesting, useful at times, pointless at others. I don’t have Alexa, but this comes with Google Assistant. The microphone is in the remote control, so you have to pick up the remote to tell Google to turn the tv off or lower the volume…why not just push the button on the remote you’re holding? I’d really prefer a microphone in the tv so that when I wake in the morning I can find out the temperature while still snuggly under the covers, or to be able to turn the tv on/off when I can’t find the remote. I have asked the Assistant to wake me in the morning, tell me the temperature outside, raise/lower volume, turn the tv off, tell me the age of some actor, and things like that. But all by holding the remote.
I use a TIVO so here’s what I think of it in combination with it….there was no setup required at all. I took the hdmi cord from the old tv and plugged it into this one and TIVO was there and working fine and didn’t even notice a change. The tv’s remote takes over the function of most of TIVO’s remotes function with a few exceptions. From the tv remote you can access the guide, jump tuners, record, ff, rw, and a few others. What you can’t do is (or I haven’t figured out how to yet) is change the day on the guide, or get back to live tv from TIVO Central. Some I don’t have an issue with some I do, not being able to get back to live tv from the tv remote drives me nuts. So I have to keep both remotes handy.
A few days into use of this tv I had a trivial, but annoying issue with one of the options I had set during the initial set up. I no longer wanted that option and yet for the life of me could not find a way to change it back. I used the onscreen help and then my laptop and scoured the internet but the tv was too new for much to be out there. I gave up and called Sony. They remotely connected to the tv (after I gave them permission) and tried to find the answer to my problem while I watched them go through all my screens and such. When they couldn’t find it either, they simply said reset it and go through the various setup options again. They offered to do that for me but I said I could do that and did. It was quite impressive, I’ve never had that in a tv before. I can see where if there ever is a real problem, this would be so tremendously easier than a repairman. Loved it.
So this tv and the customer help line and such is just about perfect. To be perfect they need to rework that remote.
By Amazon Reviewer
A great TV assuming a forklift doesn’t hit it.
This TV is a beautiful device, worthy of the cost. We purchased this as a replacement for our 2009 50 inch Panasonic plasma. It’s a fine successor to what was a fantastic tv for many years. Finally a tv that offers the quality of a plasma without the risk of burn in (like OLED). That is once the second one arrived two days later. The first one sent to us had clearly been run into by a forklift in the bottom left corner. Upon removal from the box the device was found shattered and completely ruined. Amazon was great about getting a replacement to use less then 48 hours later though, so that’s something.
The Sony x950h is a relatively simple upgrade over the 2019 g model, one of the two biggest differences being in its audio quality. Now if you have a great sound system already you might be able to save a few bucks and go with last years addition. From my research the two are nearly identical in overall image quality. In my case we decided on the h precisely because we don’t have room for a decent surround sound setup. In fact I’d say it’s audio quality is equal to a good sound bar and should be more then enough for most folks.
The picture quality is great with one small draw back (I say draw back but it’s more like a trade off). The viewing angle on this TV is fantastic, much better than the 2019 model. But to achieve this and it’s rather dark blacks, they had to cut down on the number of zones for the full array LED lighting. As a result you may notice a slight bloom effect around things like credits and subtitles, especially when viewing in a very dark room. You could simply turn this feature off, but you will greatly sacrifice the darkness of your blacks as a result. I only notice it very infrequently, so it’s not a deal breaker for me.
The built in smart tv software is fine for anyone without a dedicated media device. We are only using it for YouTube at this point, everything else is viewed on an Apple TV 4K. Can’t wait for Apple to make their device fully compatible with the YouTube app, but until then, the Android Tv will suffice. Setting options are easily accessible and paired well with a cheap feeling but very capable remote.
A great alternative for OLED (no thanks, don’t need burn in problems) at a very reasonable price. Giving it 5 stars over all and very satisfied.
*edit – Apple has finally update the Apple TV 4K. We are no longer using any of the built in Android TV apps. A few months in and I have no complaints at all, the points in my original review still stand on solid ground.
By Amazon Reviewer
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