HDTeleVision Review

While the amount of 3D content is still small, Hollywood in recent years has boosted its output of 3D movies in an attempt to lure people into theaters. There will be around 7,000 3D screens by the end of 2009, according to Sony.

You’ll need a 3 D set or a Blu-ray player, if  you want to watch 3D movies in the home, the specifics with the movie studios haven’t been worked out yet. Sony & Panasonic haven’t announced prices for their 3D sets, but you can bet there will be a significant premium, at least initially.

Panasonic says it’ll include special glasses with its 3D set, but it’s unclear if that means one or several pairs. And what will the glasses cost? Most home theater fans will probably want 2 to 4 (or more) pairs of glasses, an expenditure that could add a lot of the 3D outlay.

If prices of 3D TVs fall rapidly & assuming the glasses aren’t too pricey, 3D entertainment could have a future in the home. In addition to movies, gaming is another realm where 3D has potential. Sony plans to add 3D capability to its PlayStation 3 console. And you can bet that Microsoft and Nintendo have similar intentions for the Xbox and Wii too.

Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-52V5100 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black

With Full HD 1080p resolution and Motionflow 120Hz technology, Sony BRAVIA V-Series HDTVs are engineered for fast-action movies, sports, and game play. Enjoy sharp, crystal clear images with the BRAVIA Engine 2 fully digital video processor on the KDL-52V5100’s 52-inch screen.

BRAVIA Link compatibility expands your HDTV’s capabilities by letting you connect optional BRAVIA Link modules, including the BRAVIA DVD Link, BRAVIA Wireless Link, and BRAVIA Input Link (all sold separately).

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Features

The XBR8’s full 1080p resolution allows you to see every detail in everything you watch, from movies to sports. With plenty of 1080p sources available now you will have no trouble see every bit of detail in your video games, TV shows, or movies. The 10 bit processor ensures that the images on your Blu-ray disc are the same as what you will see on your screen.

The Triluminos LED backlit panel allows the screen to deliver brighter, more accurate colors than with standard CCFL backlighting. And since the TV uses LED backlights it is able to dim the brightness in areas that need to be darker. This results in a picture with more contrast and detail, especially in darker scenes.

Standard LCD televisions refresh the image 60 times every second, or a 60 Hz refresh rate. The KDL-55XBR8 refreshed the image 120 times every second. This improves the sharpness of the image especially in scenes with a lot of motion. This feature is especially useful for anyone who watches a lot of sports. The ball will now tend to stay focused instead of appearing blurry.

Since the 55-XBR8 uses a 10 bit processor it is able to deliver up to 1024 levels of gradation. Previous models that used 8 bit color processors were only able to produce 256 levels. The result is colors that are more accurate and true to real life.

Summary of Reviews

Experts were impressed with the image quality of the KDL-55XBR8. The black levels produced by the XBR8 were the best of just about any LCD TV available. The color accuracy was also accurate. The XBR8 also comes with a plethora of connectivity options including 4 HDMI connections. The only gripe with the TV was in some modes there was some minor artifacts visible. Cost was also another factor. This is one of the most expensive TVs available and as such has a pretty limited market.

Users were impressed by the TV’s image quality. There wasn’t much to not like about this TV. Most of the complaints were style issues such as the side mounted speakers which prevent it from fitting in some cabinets. On the other hand, users felt the image quality was spectacular.

Item Description
Sony 55" BRAVIA XBR Series Black LCD Flat Panel HDTV - KDL55XBR8/ 1920 x 1080 Full HD 1080p Resolution/ Digital Media Extender (DMex)/ BRAVIA Engine II EX Technology/ Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE)/ 24p True Cinema/ 120Hz Refresh Rate With Dejudder Processing/ LED Backlight/ Bottom-Mounted Speaker/ RS-232 Port/ Piano Black Finish

Sony BRAVIA Theater System (DAVHDX576WF) – Black

Bring the theater home. This sleek BRAVIA Home Theater System delivers the goods with crisp, 5.1 channel surround sound and S-AIR wireless speaker technology for multi-room audio streaming. The Sony DAV-HDX576WF BRAVIA Theatre System has an integrated 5 disc DVD/CD changer with the capability to upscale your DVD¿s to a Full 1080p output using the HDMI connection to your BRAVIA TV set. Adding to the incredible functionality is great styling with Floor Standing speakers and with the included S-AIR wireless surround receiver you get simple wireless capability for the rear surround speakers or multi-room listening with the S-AIR wireless receiver/speaker system.

Product Features
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By David Mackenzie

The V-Series has actually been around since the beginning of BRAVIA in 2005, and has traditionally taken its place in the comfortable mid-range spot (the first V-Series BRAVIAs were featured prominently in the company’s original memorable adverts). Although specifications have changed in order to move with the times, the same would appear to hold true today: the Sony KDL40V4000 features the now ubiquitous 1920×1080p LCD panel, but doesn’t feature a 100hz system or some of Sony’s fancier video processing or convenience features. Does this no-nonsense 40″ HDTV display do what it sets out to do well? Read on.

Detail & Resolution

Over HDMI, and with the [Full Pixel] mode turned on, the Sony KDL40V4000 successfully resolved each nuance of the horizontal and vertical 1920×1080 line patterns.

Video Processing

The Sony KDL40V4000’s standard-def video processing is average. At first, we were about to say that this television featured the worst standard definition scaling (upconversion) we’d ever seen, but fortunately, this turned out to be a bug. An explanation: when the TV is fed with 480i, 480p, 576i, or 576p video, and Sharpness is set to “Minimum”, the TV actually applies the maximum amount of sharpening, resulting in a very poor quality picture with a huge amount of ringing.

Picture Quality

High Definition (Blu-ray)

For testing the 1080p performance of the Sony KDL40V4000 LCD television, I picked out Resident Evil: Extinction, a video transfer which looks beautiful from start to finish (yes, even during the scenes of zombie splattering). The superb contrast being offered by the LCD panel rendered a dark scene near the end in a particularly stunning fashion. On other displays, particularly those that share the same S-PVA panel type (which can suffer from response time issues when not carefully implemented), the shadows around Milla Jovovich drag and blend into her face noticeably as she walks around, but the effect was absolutely minimal here.

the KDL40V4000’s design is unmistakably Sony. Resembling a slightly less prestigious W4000 series, the company’s “Draw the LINE” design concept is in effect, visible as an indentation between the area below the screen and the dotted speaker grille. The indentation here is covered in gloss black plastic rather than the glass-like perspex of the W-Series model, but the result is still appealing, despite the inclusion of a glossy finish (which can be distracting and reflective in certain rooms).

The back of the chassis features recessed handgrips, which eased the process of unboxing the LCD HDTV, fitting it onto its stand, and finally placing it into position.

Connections

A single back panel houses two HDMI inputs (there’s a third on the side), a set of Component video and stereo audio inputs, two SCART terminals (which can each accept RGB, Composite, and on the second input, also S-Video), an aerial input, and a VGA/PC input. In addition to the third HDMI input, the recessed side panel also features a Composite video input and accompanying stereo audio jacks. In common with several other recent European HDTVs, there is no traditional S-Video jack, but we can’t imagine anyone really missing it. If you have S-Video equipment that you absolutely must use, you can do so by feeding it through the S-Video compatible SCART terminal with an adapter.

Unlike older Sony displays which have featured the blue and yellow “WEGA GATE” style menu, the Sony KDL40V4000 instead features elegant menus which resemble a slightly cut-down version of the premium “Xross Media Bar” design, which incidentally leaves out the Xross Media Bar in favour of a standard list. Whilst accessing menus, the entire screen is covered in transparent blue. Upon making a picture adjustment, the transparent blue gives way to reveal the TV picture below, allowing the user to see the effects of the change.

Sony’s EPG design does not appear to have undergone any radical changes since the previous models, but this isn’t a problem, because it’s easy on the eyes, suitably responsive, and easy to use. The information banner is nice and small, and appears momentarily at the top of the screen after changing channels.

Benchmark Test Results

Power Consumption

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Sony’s OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV, the XEL-1, is truly the next big thing in television technology. It boasts a 3 millimeter thin panel and offers unparalleled picture quality with amazing contrast, outstanding brightness, exceptional color reproduction, and a rapid response time. It delivers astounding performance in all the key picture quality categories. OLED technology can completely turn off pixels when reproducing black, resulting in more outstanding dark scene detail and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. OLED also creates unmatched color expression and detail and enables rapid response times for smooth and natural reproduction of fast moving images like those found in sports and action movies. The XEL-1 features the latest connectivity options including two HDMI™ inputs, a digital tuner, and a Memory Stick® media slot for viewing high-resolution photos.

The organic material itself is formed using two competing processes — small molecule, developed by Kodak, and dispersed polymer, first invented at Cambridge University and taken privately by spin-off CDT (recently acquired by Sumimoto Chemical of Japan). All OLED display manufacturers license one or the other of these two processes.

The base, which is surprisingly heavy, is where the speaker system is located. The rear panel connectors are also minimal, with two HDMI 1.3 inputs for external video and audio sources, a single RF connector for analog and digital TV signals, and a USB connector that’s labeled “for service only” unless the optional Bravia DMex module is connected. There’s also a side-mounted 1/8” mini stereo jack for headphones.

Perhaps the most significant thing about the XEL-1 is that it’s the first TV I’ve tested in recent years that has no analog video input connections whatsoever — no composite, no S-video, not even a component connection. It’s HDMI all the way, or nothing.

The supplied remote is also super-thin, but it has large buttons (hooray!) that are easy to find in a darkened room. In addition to Volume and Channel controls (set off by themselves), there are four silver buttons for Options (menu adjustments), Input (HDMI1/2 or TV), Return, and Favorites (pre-selected channels).

he Wide button lets you choose between three different aspect ratios – Full, Wide Zoom, and Zoom. Full is used to show 4:3 and 16:9 content in their native aspect ratios, while Zoom fills the width of the screen with 4:3 content and Wide Zoom is good for filling the screen with letterboxed 4:3 programs.

There’s not too much to adjust in the Picture menu. Basically, you get the Big 5 settings, plus four different color temperatures (Cool, Neutral, Warm 1, and Warm 2). You’ll also find three steps each (plus off) of analog and MPEG noise reduction, three steps of black levels enhancement (contrast expansion), three different and unidentified gamma settings, and a Clear White function that boosts contrast at the high end.
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