New Sony Bravia 4K TV... Recommended Picture & Sound Settings?

I finally dumped my 2018 Samsung TV and got this new Sony model:

Sony X85K 4K HDR LED TV with smart Google TV (2022)

I've poked around on the net looking for user recommendations in terms of optimizing picture quality (mainly, but also sound), and found recommended settings for 'everyday use'. Figured I'd ask here since this forum is such a rich knowledge base.

I am mostly watching movies and TV shows, some new HD content and some older, mostly streaming but sometimes DVD or Bluray. In other words, no news, sports or gaming. And I always view in a darkened room at night or during the day with heavy drapes. I futzed around with the settings a bit but there are so many picture options. For audio I am using the optical output to the DAC section of my OPPO player which also serves as my DVD/Bluray player. I am unable to get the HDMI ARC audio to work alth0ugh both the TV and OPPO claim to support this feature. And I'm pretty satisfied with the sound, I don't think it's gonna make a huge difference to switch to ARC but I'd try it if I were able (FYI my setup is two-channel only, no surround). I'm sure I could improve the picture though, compared to the factory settings and the few tweaks I made.

If anyone has spent time optimizing picture settings for this line of LED TVs by Sony please share your suggestions or recommendations. Thank you.

 

If you join his YouTube membership for $5.00 he says he has settings for this tv. Start watching at the 2:20 mark:

 

I have spent a lot of time and I am very happy with the results but now I haven't touch it in ages and I don't remember to be giving advise. You are likely to get some answers here but if you head to the forums in bluray.com you will probably get a lot more replies.

 

You might have better luck over at AVS forum. They may have a thread dedicated to it

 

You might start here:
Sony X85K Calibration Settings

 

Just play with the settings until you get a picture quality you like. When I visit friends who still use the original picture setup I am reminded of how fake and over-saturated the standard (shop) setup looks so definitely play around with your picture settings.
Sound is not important as everything goes through my stereo dac/amp/speakers. Don't care for sound through the Tv speakers as it's crap, no matter how you change the sound settings.

 

As others have noted there are a few sites that calibrate with test signals and share the settings.
Sony X85K Calibration Settings

 

Yes, but there are so many different settings and the final results may depend on what combination of settings I have selected for the given parameters. That's why I posted here, to save myself some time and effort. I usually get some trustworthy advice gained from experience here on this forum, though of course it's always subjective, and different viewing environments and preferences will influence what one person likes with regard to picture quality. Of course I agree about TV speakers, I would never consider using those if I have a DAC and sound system to use instead.

Yes, I may just go with one of those sites and what is recommended, and/or I may pay that YouTube channel $5 for a membership and get his custom settings, as @Stereosound suggested.

 

$5.00 to save hours of mucking around, I'm in.

M~

 

I have a 75" x85j in a dark room and, for the most part used the settings recommended for that set on rtings.com (just google search it) and think the set looks quite good.

I did turn Motionflow (and the sliders there) to off though and Cinemotion to low. That seems to get the most natural movement/motion. Watching mainly Prime/Netflix and sports. With some sports you might want to experiment with Cinemotion on the high setting.

I agree with the above poster who states that the factory settings are horrible. My wife just about went into a state of depression watching the set the first few days as i futzed around with the settings.

Out of the box it is horribly set up.

Edit: I see the rtings.com recommended settings for the K are essentially what they were for the J.

But I would turn motionflow to off and cinemotion to low.

I think you'd be quite happy with those settings.

Not a gamer here. Gaming may require different settings.

 

I agree, that one is in a bad format, confusing.

Others just give a list of settings to use.
imo turn off all the auto stuff
Motion control, etc.

look at the bottom of this one, not your TV, but this is what you need
Best Picture Settings for Samsung TV (UHD/4K/QLED)


Also
Viewing distance
Height
Room lighting
Reflections

 

Wondering why you did not get an OLED model?

OLED's has the best screens, for clarity. color and black & whites...

 

I will say, however, that I was having a sound sync issue with this TV using the optical output. Changing the AV sync setting to Auto, On or Off had no effect. There is a Digital Audio Out setting that allows Auto 1, Auto 2 of PCM and it was set to Auto 1 by default. I changed it to PCM and it corrected the sound sync issue.

 

Going to give it a try, thanks. Two others have already linked that page and I've bookmarked it.

I posted two different threads here and asked about image burn-in and about a third of the members who responded said it happened with their OLED TV, and because I am so neurotic I wanted to avoid having to live with the worry that it would happen with my new TV. Also, I needed to save some money, and finally, I wanted a Sony 43" screen to fit on my desktop and the Sony OLED came in the smallest size of 48" and the stand design would have made it difficult to put where I need to put it (wall mounting not an option in my room).

 

Please don't support this person. He's falsely copyright claimed people, threatened their families, and has said VERY homophobic statements in the past.

 

Sounds good. Let us know how you make out. I just checked my settings (I am watching in the dark/very dark room) and I ended up with Brightness set at 25. More than that and it is a bit overwhelming.

 

Actman fanboy I take it? He’s no better. Whatever…..

 

Too late, I already paid the $5 and got the custom settings. Will report back later on how they look. FWIW I plan on cancelling the membership right away, I only joined to get this one members only video.

 

I'm sorry but this guy knows nothing about TVs or visual media. He's been around forever, before he put the settings behind a paywall he would clearly mess the image up so much by jacking up every setting under the sun to make it "pop".

Unlike the audio world displays have standard calibration practices ensuring what video professional produce is seen fairly accurately on consumer displays. Really just comes down to setting your target gamma and white balance. Some high-end enthusiasts often pay big-name calibrators to come adjust their sets with colorimeters, but modern TV settings can get you pretty close, especially when paired with some objective measurements from publications. The default settings on most TVs are designed to stand out on the showroom floor and meet power requirements for stickers, but you can usually find a more accurate "cinema" mode on most TVs.

@Tinnitus Andronicus if you like the settings on the TV from his video there's no shame in that. I'd say it's akin to a smiley face EQ, and frankly not objectively better than the inaccurate box settings. As with a smiley face EQ, you'll witness some content is "enhanced" while others seem "too much". If you want the TV to look as intended I'd use the free RTINGs guide. Sony prioritizes picture quality so it looks pretty simple to get this set to a reasonably measuring state. RTINGs measures their sets and reports back on the settings that hit their targets best.

 

I'm usually suspicious of comments that make blanket condemnations or dismissals against the qualifications or merits of other persons or points of view, but you seem to know what you're talking about. In fact, after implementing all of 'this guy's (whatever his name is?) custom settings on my set last night and glancing at some different content including some very high quality shows and more average material, I was not so impressed. Did seem a bit garish and exaggerated in some respects. I am going to return to the picture settings and try out those RTINGS recommendations, as you suggest. If you have any pointers for fine tuning the settings based on the RTINGS tips that would make things look more natural and reflective of the artist's intentions rather than vividly enhanced or exaggerated, given my predilection for viewing arthouse cinema (vintage and contemporary) and television drama (as opposed to action flicks and blockbuster crap), I'm all ears. Thanks. Fact is, I don't have a clue what most of those settings and features in the picture menu mean or what they're supposed to do, so I'm relying on the expertise of others to guide me in the right direction so I don't waste a lot of time fumbling around in the dark.

 

Trust me I hate blanket condemning people’s POVs but that “Quantum” character is a pretty misinformed dude. His mark of quality is high color volume and all he does is jack up all the dials to mimic a wider color display or more saturated content which is very much not what the artist intended. In fact when you run into a saturated movie say something in Technicolor like Oz or Black Narcissus, it’s going to look really off!

I haven’t used a Sony set for quite some time (LG OLED user) but RTINGS should tell you in the step by step what settings are more or less ok to “tune to taste”. Personally I’d take a bit more of a purist approach so I keep a lot of settings off like they suggest.

Over-simplifying but for that TV settings really boil down to white balance, gamma and LED brightness. For Gamma you’re setting the way the TV transitions from white to black, you’ll notice this in the overall shadows of the image. RTINGS recommends the gamma at “0” so I’d start there. This corresponds to gamma 2.2 if you want to look into it. If you’re seeing elevated shadows and generally feel there’s a lack of contrast you can take it down to -2, which you may prefer as a dark room viewer. If you notice a large lack of detail in the shadows you’re getting “crushed blacks” due to ambient light and are better off putting it back at 0. The white balance RTINGS recommends should be the one that measures close to D65 the industry standard white point. This may appear “warm” to some especially after using a cooler out of box color but the eyes will adjust. LED brightness is up to your taste and the ambient light, although I wouldn’t recommend the max brightness setting on most TVs, especially if you view in the dark, eye strain. I’d recommend turning off any of the settings they flag as unessary like motion smoothing and edge enhancing.

You’ll likely have to set up HDR10 and Dolby Vision as well. RTINGS has settings for these as well. Usually you need to play native content in these formats to trigger the settings at all all though.

 

@zombiemodernist @MrEWhite I never even heard about this guy until @Stereosound recommended his X85K video above. Seems he has a large base of detractors...



One comment to the above video reads: "I'm really not a part of the AV community and I'm most definitely not an expert, but even I saw that this man is a charlatan. I signed up for his members only videos, and I canceled same day. He posts a lot of semi random "tweaks" for various TVs, and for some reason people seem to love it. And his attitude is the worst part of it all. People, just stop listening to this quantum guy. Whatever value he has to offer, if any, I'm sure you can get from more reputable sources like the hdtv channel (the one with the Asian host) or RTINGS. These people seem legit about what they do."
Now I'm sorry I paid him my five bucks, but I sure won't be continuing to support him.

 

Any sound settings from the TV will probably be bypassed if using an external DAC.