Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR4 46 inch LCD HDTV

XBR series televisions represent the very best Sony has to offer in high definition viewing. The XBR line of
Full HD 1080p televisions incorporates all of Sony's latest technologies (including HDMI v1.3 features such as x.v.Color and Deep Color). Additional features like Motionflow 120Hz enable smoother motion when viewing movies or fast-action sports. BRAVIA Engine PRO with Digital Reality Creation upconverts all interlaced and progressive video signals including HD signals directly to 1080p for amazing detail and sharpness.

Sony BRAVIA Full HD means you re getting the best resolution that high-definition has to offer consumers. With Sony BRAVIA XBR HDTVs, Full HD 1080 means 1920 x 1080 pixels5 and 1080p video inputs.

XBR4 series features: Full HD 1080p, Motionflow 120Hz, BRAVIA Engine PRO, 10-bit display panel and processing, x.v.Color capability, Deep Color (HDMI v1.3 option), 1080/24p input capable, PhotoTV HD, changeable designer color bezels (optional)

Impression The TV looks visually appealing and has a high build quality. There is a clear plastic frame that goes around the TV. We immediately took the TV off the default setting and changed it to cinema. Cox cable looked very bad. So bad that we recommended switching to satellite.

We saw great detail in the picture and found that the skin tones looked very natural. Color representation was highly accurate. The TV has very good black levels for an LCD. We found that computer generated scenes looked fake for some reason. The skiing scene looked very good. There was a lot of contrast between the white snow and the blue sky. The TV has a Contrast Ratio of 2,000:1. We liked the off angle viewing of this TV.

While not on par with Plasmas, it's much better than most LCDs we've seen. Next we started playing around with the settings to dial the TV in. Our friend was happy with the pre-configured cinema settings and was getting antsy about us spending so much time with his TV. In the end, our quick calibration made the picture even better.

Our calibration settings are included at the end of this review, but please use them as a starting point only. We ended up turning the all the special processing off, but you can play around with those to see if you like what you see. With HD film based material, we felt the Motion Enhancer took away from the viewing experience. With SD material it actually improved the picture.

This is very subjective so if you plan on buying this TV or you already own one, experiment with these settings. Once we had it dialed in, we went back and watched the Fantastic Four Blu-ray disc. It was clear to all that we had indeed improved the picture. Our friend was happy we came by. It was everything we said before about the clarity, color, and detail but improved.

The motion enhancer actually improved the picture. Our recommendation is to screen parts of the movie with the motion enhancer on and then turn it off, and see which one you prefer. You'll soon figure out what types of movies this will help and what types it won't help. Unfortunately we do not have a clear cut answer for its use.

Conclusion Overall, the Sony makes for a nice TV when a good quality HD signal is present. If you have an overly compressed signal via OTA or Cable you won't be happy with what you see. To really show off this set, you should also consider buying a Blu-ray player. Please do not leave the set in its default settings. At a minimum switch it to Cinema mode. Better yet calibrate it with any of the calibration DVDs or have a professional do it for you.

This TV will really show its stuff when set up properly. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios. Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

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