Someone should tell Sony’s marketing department that the company shouldn’t make promises that it might not be able to keep.
Following alleged admissions made by customer support reps, an increasing number of XBR X900H (XH900 in Europe) owners are venting over the possibility that their new HDTVs won’t be getting support for two major gaming-related HDMI 2.1 features: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). This is quite embarrassing for Sony, as the company had promised the implementation of these features on a variety of promotional materials, going so far as to deliberately market these televisions as being “ready for PlayStation 5.”
It isn’t clear whether there’s been a miscommunication by Sony’s engineers or if support representatives are simply clueless, but the fact that Variable Refresh Rate and Auto Low latency Mode features are being scrubbed from X900H sites isn’t a good sign. Not all hope is lost, however, as the official specifications page comparing the four models still lists VRR and ALLM as part of their HDMI 2.1 features.
“It’s perhaps worth saying that Sony has previously stated to me that the reason it has been taking so long to add VRR and ALLM to the X900H/XH90 is that it’s been waiting for the official ratification of these features by the HDMI Org,” Forbes’ John Archer noted in his coverage. “Something that has only just happened.”
XBR X900H Series owners have also been sounding off about an issue that results in 4K 120 Hz output looking like a blurry mess. Sony has pushed out an update that attempts to resolve the problem, but many users are saying that it doesn’t work correctly.
