Meet your new screen idol
WITH ANDY O’DONOGHUE
Sony ZD9 55inch 4K Smart TV €5,249. Info: sony.ie ★★★★★
In 1969 as controller of BBC 2, David Attenborough commissioned the acclaimed arts series Civilisation, partly as a means of showing off the station’s new UHF television service. It feels serendipity has nudged me towards Attenborough this week with Planet Earth II. It has been filmed in Ultra High-Definition and the teasing segment the BBC has made available of the 4K content is as mesmerising as it is dramatic. I needed to watch Planet Earth II, and Sony have just the TV for the job.
Unpacking the ZD9 is a two-man job. The set is available in 75inch and 100inch inch versions but even the 65inch I tested is a giant. Once we’d carefully removed the huge panel from the box it’s actually straightforward to assemble.
I powered up the TV and went through the 10 minute set-up process, a crucial part of which is registering the TV on your WiFi network for access to Netflix and other apps.
I was keen first to try some standard TV broadcasts. Immediately, I was struck by the depth and clarity of this TV. Sony have a smart new chip, the X1 Extreme and I believe it’s this that helps transform the picture. Even standard definition TV pictures get the once over and are up-scaled, drastically improving the definition and contrast. A technology called Object Based HDR Remastering means the ZD9 produces a picture that has not only depth but texture that you can almost touch.
One of the best tests for knowing what your TV is capable of is to watch some deep space scenes from the 2013 sci-fi film, Gravity. The deep wonderful blacks the ZD9 produced were the best I’ve seen on a consumer television and there was none of the segmentation or unsightly banding that can occur with landscape scenes when viewed on some sets.
The ZD9 uses the Android TV interface for its smart features. While not my favourite, Sony have done a really nice job. The remote control’s voice-search works really well and it’s easy to cast content from your phone or tablet. Access to Netflix is made easy with a single button press. I connected some other media devices, USB and a gaming console, with the huge screen making for a fabulous gaming experience in the living room.
TVs this big are always a challenge for audio and the ZD9 is no different. The sound is a little thin but this set is ideally meant to be coupled with a sound-bar or surround sound system.
The price of the ZD9 means it’s a significant purchase and its physical size is as much a consideration. That said, in the same way that David Attenborough’s Planet Earth II is a landmark series, the Sony ZD9 has set a completely new standard for home entertainment.