We are not a Sony dealer and have a customer that is looking at replacing his existing Sharp 60" with an XBR. He is looking at two models 850E or 900E and is asking what the difference is. I have quickly glanced at the specs of both and don't notice any difference in them other than one is edge lit and the other is direct.

Can someone with some more knowledge of this brand and these TV's provide some insight as to the different models.

The screen will be used as a monitor and no smart features will be utilized on the TV. It will be connected to a Crestron system and has DM for video distribution and no local sources. Control can be IR, RS232, or IP (Current TV is controlled via IR).

That seems to be the major difference. And since it's edge lighting vs full local array dimming/boosting, that's a pretty significant difference to picture quality, particularly for dark scenes in a dark room.

700 - 800/850 - 900 - 930 - Z
Edge - Edge Dimming - Back Lit (fat) - Edge Zoned Array (skinny) - Full Array
Basic Processor - Better - Better - Best - Best
Blah - Tri-Luminous Color - Tri - Tri - Tri
Linux OS - Android OS - AOS - AOS - AOS

The other difference is that the 850E just has the regular Dynamic Contrast enhancer where the 900E has Xtended Dynamic Range at 5X the contrast. The 930 series ups that to 10x.

Keep in mind that anything below the 930/940 series in 65" or smaller has the power brick that you have to deal with.

I found the brick pretty easy to deal with on the 65 900e.

On the back side there’s a huge recessed area it fits well. Used the clear heavy duty 3m plastic Velcro. Bought a roll. Used two strips down brick then stuck
To tv. It’s not going anywhere.

Thanks guys,

Customer got the 900E and will be replacing the existing TV in a couple weeks when I get to site.

I have a job offer to install the XBR49x900Es and XBR55X900Es and 1 XBR75X900E
televisions. I did not pick the equipment and never have used the 900series and above.
I had no say or input on this and the equipment, but I did get the list.
All the mounts are Sanus BLT2B1 mounts.
From a brief look at the TV specs and the mount, I don't think these will work for the 49" and maybe the 55" TVs because of the mount location and the size of the arms. Do you agree?
What are the best mounts to use for the XBR900 series that you have used?
4 of them are going to get Playbars with them.

Page 18 on this document helps a lot.
[Link: docs.sony.com]