•   Overview
•   Advantage of Sony KD-49XG9005
•   Advantage of Sony KD-49XG8396
•   Common Strengths and Weaknesses
•   Selected Features
•   Specifications

Here we are comparing Sony KD-49XG9005 to Sony KD-49XG8396 to reveal their common strengths and weaknesses as well as the differences between them which will help you in making a correct decision before the purchase. Both models have the same 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) resolution and they both support HDR.

We have evaluated the TVs from available features and specifications. Sony KD-49XG9005 gets higher overall score in our ranking system which is based on the display specifications, video, audio and other features, connectivity and format support.

This section shows the features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony KD-49XG9005 over Sony KD-49XG8396.

This section shows the features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony KD-49XG8396 over Sony KD-49XG9005.

VA Panels

Both TVs have vertical alignment (VA) panels. Such panels are most commonly used in LCD TVs as they provide deeper blacks compared to the IPS panels. However, they are still limited with the viewing angles compared to the IPS panels or OLED displays.

Full-Array Local Dimming on Sony KD-49XG9005

Sony KD-49XG9005 has Full-Array Local Dimming technology with multiple zones throughout the display. Individual zones of LEDs can light up independently which enhances black levels, shadow details and decreases level of light bleed in dark parts of the image. This gives higher contrast with increased picture quality which is very important for HDR reproduction. Higher number of zones gives better control over local dimming and less blooming around the bright objects and subtitles.

HDR10

Sony KD-49XG9005 and Sony KD-49XG8396 support HDR10 which was announced on August 27, 2015, by the Consumer Technology Association and uses the wide-gamut Rec. 2020 color space. It is not backward compatible with SDR. It sends static metadata via video stream to the TV which calibrates its screen brightness and color according to that. HDR10 is technically limited to a maximum of 10,000 nits of brightness and uses 10-bit color which corresponds to 1024 shades of the primary RGB colors.

Dolby Vision on Sony KD-49XG9005

Sony KD-49XG9005 also supports Dolby Vision which is an update to HDR10 by adding dynamic metadata that can be used to more accurately adjust brightness levels up to 10,000 nits on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis and supports up to 12-bit color depth (4096 shades of RGB) and 8K resolution.

And in the end we display all the specifications which are present for both models.

Note: The following table shows only those details which are applicable for both models and excludes the ones that are applicable for only one model. If you want to see a full list of specs for each model please visit their individual pages here - Sony KD-49XG9005 and here - Sony KD-49XG8396.