Sony recently issued firmware update v6.0414 to its Bravia range including the X900H which has been suffering from HDMI 2.1 4K 120Hz blur issues. The problem was spotted last month around the launch of the Xbox Series X. I covered the blur issue in detail taking photos of the console running games like Gears 5. There was a noticeable smoothness around text and 3D models. However, further investigation revealed that the issue was across all games on the console due to the fact that once you enable 120Hz, the entire system uses the render mode even if the games don’t support 120 FPS. This meant even Forza Horizon 4 suffered from this smooth image quality.
Well, after updating my Sony Bravia X900H to v6.0414, I can tell you that the blur has been significantly reduced. So much so that sitting 2-meters away from the TV, you won’t even notice it any more. I revisited the games I tested on my previous report and the improvements are quite clear. Before we start, you can read how to manually update your Sony Bravia X900H to the v6.0414 here.
Sony Bravia X900H v6.0414 4K 120Hz Changes
You can see the difference in quality quite clearly here. First off we have Gears 5 which was a problem. The blur on the Sony Bravia X900H was quite intense and caused the 3D models to have smooth edges. The gun tip, for example, had no sharp edges. Even the blades underneath the weapon were blurred out as if the image was smudged. After the update, things are a lot better. The gun tip is cleaner and even the blades are precisely depicted. Sure, it is not as sharp and clean as the 60Hz image but there is a clear improvement.
The next set of images is a character chest piece which is a great way to show off the cleaner image quality. The original 120Hz image had an intense blur. For example, the shoulder pad plate edges looked round on the tips. There was also a clear lack of sharpness across the entire image.
Lastly, I wanted to share Forza Horizon 4 and even though it is not a 120Hz game, the visual experience was brought down by the Xbox Series X’s system-wide use of the display mode. It was probably the only game that you could instantly notice a blur issue on when playing it on the Sony Bravia X900H. There’s clearly an improvement here. For example, the “SENNA” text on the back of the car was completely blurred on the original image. Another example to look at is the image of the car on the licence plate where it says “HZN”. On both the 60Hz and new 120Hz image, you can clearly see there’s a blue rectangle where the car’s licence plate is. On the original 120Hz image, this is smudged with the white of the car. In general, the car edges are also sharper and there’s a clear improvement in quality.
So is this it? Does Sony plan on further improving the image quality even more? I have no idea yet but I hope so. However, if they don’t, this is a pretty decent spot to be in. As I originally said, the quality is a day and night difference compared to what it was last month. If you sit 2 meters away, you won’t even notice anything wrong. All the improvements across every object on the TV delivers a much better picture. You also need to keep in mind that these examples above were taken right up close to the display. You will never sit this close.
Let us know if you have noticed any major changes in the TV or if you have updated it?
