Tagged Products - hdtv+1080i+hd+16:9

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Sony KDL-52XBR6 52" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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up the tv. They made sure the remote and the set worked, and they were off after no more than 15-20 minutes from start to finish.

Picture Quality: More than for any other reason, this is why I bought this tv. For me, the decision process started and ended with picture quality, everything else a set had to offer was just extras, nice to have or something to ignore. On the XBR6, HD is stunning. SD is excellent. This is equally true for sports, movies, news, evening soaps. The XBR6 delivers a vibrant picture whether you are sitting straight in front of it or off to one side or the other. The factory settings are very close to the mark, if not on it. If you decide to tweek the picture for personal preferences or to accommodate room lighting, the manual and online menus are easy to follow and offer concise explanations.

No reflective glare: Concern about glare and reflection was a critical decision point for me because the set was going into a room with multiple windows and skylights Daytime with the Sony Wega's reflective crt screen had been horrible. Now, after watching the XBR6 on a few sunny days in a row, glare and reflections are subdued/tamed except on very dark scenes. On colorful scenes, the glare and reflections just aren't noticeable. I am very pleased. My expectations have been more than exceeded. The Samsungs I strongly considered as well as a couple of plasma sets got nixed because of my concerns about reflection and glare. A small negative for me is the reflective quality of the plastic frame around the set.

Sound System: Sound quality from the tv was never a decision factor for me just as it wasn't 10 years ago. A 10 year old Bose Lifestyle 1-2 system was easily connected, and its Dolby 5.1 output sounds better than ever.

Quality and reliability: Sony is number one in service and reliability. The rest are still learning. You can look it up. I did.

Misc. : 1. We have a small net monthly savings by going with direct tv for the local channels, dvr and hd. This amount does not include the foregone costs for tivo since we had paid a one time fee for the life of the unit to avoid month to month subscription fees to it. This amount does include the rip-off monthly fee increase for high speed internet access from the cable company because we discontinued cable service. After eight years with tivo, I thought I'd miss it more than I have, but the features on the direct tv dvr are very similar.
2. There is a couple of seconds delay when switching from one channel to the next. I assume it is due to the line from the satellite that is being multiplexed as a dual line. It is more than acceptable to me, but the pause that refreshes is noticeable.
3. The Tv Guide feature that Sony is promoting is useless for satellite subscribers because it is incompatible (unsupportable?) with them and also redundant, just as it is with cable.
4. You don't need to pay a premium for hdmi cables. See the discussion on avsforums about them as well as their discussions about lcd televisions. The discussions can be over the top and sometimes make a fringe issue sound like it is the center of the universe. These folks care about their viewing experiences. They also seem to know something. They are more reasonable than a person who faults a set sold in the US for not supporting a frame rate used overseas.
5. When doing diligence, I used cnet's reviews, myproductadvisor (to better understand my own requirements and what features are out there, although it seems to have a Samsung bias), other expert reviews, end user reviews (like this one and the others here), the manufacturer websites, and visits to several stores to see with my own eyes.
6. I am 100% satisfied, a very happy camper. I had high expectations from order placement to the day to day set usage, and those high expectations have been met. Sony, Amazon, direct tv and Bose are a great combination, and they've clicked at every level for me. I think they are the best at what they do.

Thanks for listening. I had fun. I hope this helped.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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up the tv. They made sure the remote and the set worked, and they were off after no more than 15-20 minutes from start to finish.



Picture Quality: More than for any other reason, this is why I bought this tv. For me, the decision process started and ended with picture quality, everything else a set had to offer was just extras, nice to have or something to ignore. On the XBR6, HD is stunning. SD is excellent. This is equally true for sports, movies, news, evening soaps. The XBR6 delivers a vibrant picture whether you are sitting straight in front of it or off to one side or the other. The factory settings are very close to the mark, if not on it. If you decide to tweek the picture for personal preferences or to accommodate room lighting, the manual and online menus are easy to follow and offer concise explanations.



No reflective glare: Concern about glare and reflection was a critical decision point for me because the set was going into a room with multiple windows and skylights Daytime with the Sony Wega's reflective crt screen had been horrible. Now, after watching the XBR6 on a few sunny days in a row, glare and reflections are subdued/tamed except on very dark scenes. On colorful scenes, the glare and reflections just aren't noticeable. I am very pleased. My expectations have been more than exceeded. The Samsungs I strongly considered as well as a couple of plasma sets got nixed because of my concerns about reflection and glare. A small negative for me is the reflective quality of the plastic frame around the set.



Sound System: Sound quality from the tv was never a decision factor for me just as it wasn't 10 years ago. A 10 year old Bose Lifestyle 1-2 system was easily connected, and its Dolby 5.1 output sounds better than ever.



Quality and reliability: Sony is number one in service and reliability. The rest are still learning. You can look it up. I did.



Misc. : 1. We have a small net monthly savings by going with direct tv for the local channels, dvr and hd. This amount does not include the foregone costs for tivo since we had paid a one time fee for the life of the unit to avoid month to month subscription fees to it. This amount does include the rip-off monthly fee increase for high speed internet access from the cable company because we discontinued cable service. After eight years with tivo, I thought I'd miss it more than I have, but the features on the direct tv dvr are very similar.

2. There is a couple of seconds delay when switching from one channel to the next. I assume it is due to the line from the satellite that is being multiplexed as a dual line. It is more than acceptable to me, but the pause that refreshes is noticeable.

3. The Tv Guide feature that Sony is promoting is useless for satellite subscribers because it is incompatible (unsupportable?) with them and also redundant, just as it is with cable.

4. You don't need to pay a premium for hdmi cables. See the discussion on avsforums about them as well as their discussions about lcd televisions. The discussions can be over the top and sometimes make a fringe issue sound like it is the center of the universe. These folks care about their viewing experiences. They also seem to know something. They are more reasonable than a person who faults a set sold in the US for not supporting a frame rate used overseas.

5. When doing diligence, I used cnet's reviews, myproductadvisor (to better understand my own requirements and what features are out there, although it seems to have a Samsung bias), other expert reviews, end user reviews (like this one and the others here), the manufacturer websites, and visits to several stores to see with my own eyes.

6. I am 100% satisfied, a very happy camper. I had high expectations from order placement to the day to day set usage, and those high expectations have been met. Sony, Amazon, direct tv and Bose are a great combination, and they've clicked at every level for me. I think they are the best at what they do.



Thanks for listening. I had fun. I hope this helped.

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Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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are evolving fast on LCD TV's so we wanted one that had the Ethernet cable jack to download the latest firmware versions over time. But according to Sony customer support their website that checks for new firmware is down, and even if it was working you still have to do the upgrade by downloading it to your computer and moving it to the TV via the USB port. I think they are wrong but did not have time to debate it with them.
- Signal diagnostics. According to Sony customer support this option only tells you the signal strength of broadcast TV. The website and manual make you think it looks at each signal coming into the set to tell you what resolution it is, etc. Again, I think the support rep was wrong but not a big deal.
- Not all USB devices work with the XBR6 USB port. To Sony's credit they state this clearly in the manual, but it was still frustrating to move a lot of pictures to a USB drive and then not be able to view them on the TV.
- Digital Media Port. This seems to be a confused option. The reviews have way too many complaints about what works and what doesn't when using it to connect iPods, etc. So instead of using the DMP we bought the Apple iPod composite connection cable and it works very well - even when playing movies from the iPod.

Pros:
- Feature set. All the benefits of 120 Hz, 24p, higher contrast, etc., are real and work well on the XBR6. Be ready to turn the 120Hz off at times (motion enhancer) because it works so well movies can end up looking "artificially good" (soap opera looking is the term we heard). But turning it off and on is easy.
- Picture is more natural than Samsung. The Samsung 750 can be stunning in the store but the color intensity can actually be fatiguing when you get it home. You can adjust it, but we liked the natural color of the Sony XBR6 better. The "Vivid" mode on the Sony can still crank up the color when you want it.
- Variable sound output. The Samsung only has fixed sound output jacks. The Sony XBR6's can be set to be variable. This made it possible for us to feed a powered subwoofer and control the sound level at the same time as the TV speakers with the remote control. Very nice effect without the complexity of a full surround sound receiver set up.
- Slim design. The width of the frame around the screen is the smallest we saw. This enabled us to fit the 40" XBR6 into our exiting entertainment center. Also minimizes the frame when hanging the set on a wall. The Samsung frame is much wider and has that "touch of color" tinting that we think distracts from the TV screen.
- No "cloud" effect. Not sure what this is but other reviewers mentioned it. We had no problem.
- Many, many input jacks including USB, LAN, HDMI on the side, etc.
- Deals can be had. Shop! We originally paid $1700, which was the best deal at the time. Then got a price match to $1560 just before Christmas. But the final deal was the combination incentive with the Sony s550 Blu-ray disc player which put the set at just over $1000! (If you don't need the Blu-ray you can resell it easily for more than you pay in the combo deal.)

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Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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are evolving fast on LCD TV's so we wanted one that had the Ethernet cable jack to download the latest firmware versions over time. But according to Sony customer support their website that checks for new firmware is down, and even if it was working you still have to do the upgrade by downloading it to your computer and moving it to the TV via the USB port. I think they are wrong but did not have time to debate it with them.

- Signal diagnostics. According to Sony customer support this option only tells you the signal strength of broadcast TV. The website and manual make you think it looks at each signal coming into the set to tell you what resolution it is, etc. Again, I think the support rep was wrong but not a big deal.

- Not all USB devices work with the XBR6 USB port. To Sony's credit they state this clearly in the manual, but it was still frustrating to move a lot of pictures to a USB drive and then not be able to view them on the TV.

- Digital Media Port. This seems to be a confused option. The reviews have way too many complaints about what works and what doesn't when using it to connect iPods, etc. So instead of using the DMP we bought the Apple iPod composite connection cable and it works very well - even when playing movies from the iPod.



Pros:

- Feature set. All the benefits of 120 Hz, 24p, higher contrast, etc., are real and work well on the XBR6. Be ready to turn the 120Hz off at times (motion enhancer) because it works so well movies can end up looking "artificially good" (soap opera looking is the term we heard). But turning it off and on is easy.

- Picture is more natural than Samsung. The Samsung 750 can be stunning in the store but the color intensity can actually be fatiguing when you get it home. You can adjust it, but we liked the natural color of the Sony XBR6 better. The "Vivid" mode on the Sony can still crank up the color when you want it.

- Variable sound output. The Samsung only has fixed sound output jacks. The Sony XBR6's can be set to be variable. This made it possible for us to feed a powered subwoofer and control the sound level at the same time as the TV speakers with the remote control. Very nice effect without the complexity of a full surround sound receiver set up.

- Slim design. The width of the frame around the screen is the smallest we saw. This enabled us to fit the 40" XBR6 into our exiting entertainment center. Also minimizes the frame when hanging the set on a wall. The Samsung frame is much wider and has that "touch of color" tinting that we think distracts from the TV screen.

- No "cloud" effect. Not sure what this is but other reviewers mentioned it. We had no problem.

- Many, many input jacks including USB, LAN, HDMI on the side, etc.

- Deals can be had. Shop! We originally paid $1700, which was the best deal at the time. Then got a price match to $1560 just before Christmas. But the final deal was the combination incentive with the Sony s550 Blu-ray disc player which put the set at just over $1000! (If you don't need the Blu-ray you can resell it easily for more than you pay in the combo deal.)

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Sony KDL-52XBR6 52" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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me the difference. Amazon gets an A+ for product, price, service and communication but fails on the entire delivery. Still well worth it though. DON'T FORGET TO ORDER THE HDMI CABLES FOR THE CABLE BOX AND DVD- THEY ARE SOLD SEPARATELY AND IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST HDTV, LIKE ME, THEN YOU'LL BE SURPRISED.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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the older 32 inch CRT TV, and to set up the SONY. He didn't leave until the new TV was working properly, which was easily done.

So far everything is working perfectly, and if I could, I would give it more than 5 stars.

I have been an Amazon purchaser for almost ten years, and have never been disappointed.

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Sony KDL-46Z4100/B 46" Bravia LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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the older 32 inch CRT TV, and to set up the SONY. He didn't leave until the new TV was working properly, which was easily done.



So far everything is working perfectly, and if I could, I would give it more than 5 stars.



I have been an Amazon purchaser for almost ten years, and have never been disappointed.

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Sony KDL-52XBR6 52" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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such as time passes and you realize what you have.

Let's start by talking about Amazon's delivery service. Delivery came four days after my order, so that part worked well. But there was only one guy driving the delivery van. Have you ever seen one person try to carry a fully boxed 52" TV? Not sure what the delivery company was thinking, but it was clear I wasn't going to get "white glove" service. With my help, we brought in the TV and uncrated it in the middle of the foyer to be certain that it had no cosmetic damage. Friends later helped move it into place.

After an hour or so of rewiring (as now I can use the HDMI output of my cable box and Bluray player), attaching the external over-the-air rabbit ears (and if you've never seen OTA HDTV, it's a must -- not only a better picture but also more subchannel options than you get from your cable box), and setting it up for HDMI inputs from a digital camera, hooking it up to the wireless network via an Ethernet cable to an Apple Airport, and using its digital output to run a line to the sound processor, we were good to go. The TV works flawlessly. We had no difficulties with the setup process. The interface is similar to the one for Sony's Bluray players, so there's some benefit to staying within a brand family here.

Overall, as others have already described, the picture is magnificent. After comparing it in the store to the 55XBR8, I can't say that I miss the slight advantage that the XBR8 has in picture quality. For the difference in price (about $4k), the XBR6 will be fine. Going from a CRT based HDTV to an LCD panel does have its differences. The only downside I've seen is that analog-based shows on older DVD's have a tendency to show some compression-related artifact that I never noticed on the CRT. Analog broadcasts are fair - Star Trek:TNG, for example, looks like it was filmed entirely through gauze. Standard DVDs look wonderful, particularly with the Bluray player, and all the HD sources are perfect, and so crisp in 1080p as to be three-dimensional in quality.

Hooking up a digital camera through an HDMI output (such as available on the Canon 50D), leads to the ability to have family slide shows in a comfortable spot (the living room, where we used to pull out the slide projector) instead of surrounding the computer monitor. And the images look wonderful - we're not quite where we used to be. I still think projected Kodachromes have advantages over the digital reproduction at this size, but we're getting awfully close.

The interesting thing is that the XBR6 has a VGA input that is really usable. Hooking a computer up will allow you to use this as a 52" computer monitor. That means that the TV becomes a wireless internet hub even without the Ethernet input. Get your mail, look at pictures, play music (yes, there's a separate audio computer input), and read the newspaper now that some newspapers allow you to access the exact image of the newspaper as it appeared in print. And it all looks just as good (well, better, really) as it does on a dedicated computer monitor.

So it's now a reasonable reality that you can purchase a computer, a BlueTooth keyboard and mouse, hook it into the back of the TV, and then use the TV as a dedicated entertainment hub when tied into the home theater sound processing equipment. Sure, you could have done that a few years ago, but it wouldn't have looked this good or worked well enough to lead to your actually using the equipment this way. Now it's all here - and as a bonus you get a stunning TV.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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such as time passes and you realize what you have.



Let's start by talking about Amazon's delivery service. Delivery came four days after my order, so that part worked well. But there was only one guy driving the delivery van. Have you ever seen one person try to carry a fully boxed 52" TV? Not sure what the delivery company was thinking, but it was clear I wasn't going to get "white glove" service. With my help, we brought in the TV and uncrated it in the middle of the foyer to be certain that it had no cosmetic damage. Friends later helped move it into place.



After an hour or so of rewiring (as now I can use the HDMI output of my cable box and Bluray player), attaching the external over-the-air rabbit ears (and if you've never seen OTA HDTV, it's a must -- not only a better picture but also more subchannel options than you get from your cable box), and setting it up for HDMI inputs from a digital camera, hooking it up to the wireless network via an Ethernet cable to an Apple Airport, and using its digital output to run a line to the sound processor, we were good to go. The TV works flawlessly. We had no difficulties with the setup process. The interface is similar to the one for Sony's Bluray players, so there's some benefit to staying within a brand family here.



Overall, as others have already described, the picture is magnificent. After comparing it in the store to the 55XBR8, I can't say that I miss the slight advantage that the XBR8 has in picture quality. For the difference in price (about $4k), the XBR6 will be fine. Going from a CRT based HDTV to an LCD panel does have its differences. The only downside I've seen is that analog-based shows on older DVD's have a tendency to show some compression-related artifact that I never noticed on the CRT. Analog broadcasts are fair - Star Trek:TNG, for example, looks like it was filmed entirely through gauze. Standard DVDs look wonderful, particularly with the Bluray player, and all the HD sources are perfect, and so crisp in 1080p as to be three-dimensional in quality.



Hooking up a digital camera through an HDMI output (such as available on the Canon 50D), leads to the ability to have family slide shows in a comfortable spot (the living room, where we used to pull out the slide projector) instead of surrounding the computer monitor. And the images look wonderful - we're not quite where we used to be. I still think projected Kodachromes have advantages over the digital reproduction at this size, but we're getting awfully close.



The interesting thing is that the XBR6 has a VGA input that is really usable. Hooking a computer up will allow you to use this as a 52" computer monitor. That means that the TV becomes a wireless internet hub even without the Ethernet input. Get your mail, look at pictures, play music (yes, there's a separate audio computer input), and read the newspaper now that some newspapers allow you to access the exact image of the newspaper as it appeared in print. And it all looks just as good (well, better, really) as it does on a dedicated computer monitor.



So it's now a reasonable reality that you can purchase a computer, a BlueTooth keyboard and mouse, hook it into the back of the TV, and then use the TV as a dedicated entertainment hub when tied into the home theater sound processing equipment. Sure, you could have done that a few years ago, but it wouldn't have looked this good or worked well enough to lead to your actually using the equipment this way. Now it's all here - and as a bonus you get a stunning TV.

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Sony KDL-46Z4100/B 46" Bravia LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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this TV and Amazon as well.

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Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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advertised. My P3 Kill a Watt monitor shows 80W when it's ON and 0.18W when it's OFF. I would be interested to see what others are showing.

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Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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advertised. My P3 Kill a Watt monitor shows 80W when it's ON and 0.18W when it's OFF. I would be interested to see what others are showing.

+ 0 likes

Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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advertised. My P3 Kill a Watt monitor shows 80W when it's ON and 0.18W when it's OFF. I would be interested to see what others are showing.

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Sony KDL-46Z4100/B 46" Bravia LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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to enhance the picture and network other tech devices in your house (which I don't need right now, but you never know down the road).
As far as delivery, no major problems. It took less than a week for delivery. I was pulling up to our driveway and the delivery truck had pulled up a few minutes before me. There was just one guy and I saw him drop the TV slightly as he was trying to lower it onto his cart, so I would recommend making sure you are there to help get it out of the truck and carry it in. Not a real heavy TV but a little bulky for one person. But the TV was packed very well and had no damage.
The driver helped put it on the TV stand and I hooked up cables to make sure we had a good picture and there weren't any initial problems while the driver waited for me to do so.
When I thought I was having a problem at first with HD channels, I called Amazon to ask some questions on what to do (Sony wasn't much help but given my problem I can understand why, it wasn't an issue with the TV). Amazon was ready to replace the TV instantly if needed. I decided to troubleshoot some more and figured out my DirecTV receiver needed to be reprogrammed. But my point with this is Amazon was great on the phone and they were ready to back-up the product they sold.
We are really happy with this choice. I like sports but watching golf on TV has never been a favorite for me. But while flipping channels I found myself mesmerized when I stopped to watch it in HD on this Sony.
Keep in mind, you will notice a big quality difference with HD channels even on a good set such as this.

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Sony KDL-52XBR6 52" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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nothing else is on the screen so it's not that huge a concern, but I did knock off one star because of that. It's not enough of a problem for me to send the set back since the next one could be worse, and I haven't noticed it so far when something's on the screen. If the screen went evenly black, I'd easily give this set five stars. I'm also not impressed by the remote. The volume and channel buttons are awkwardly placed, making the remote off-balance when using them. And the illuminate feature is lacking since key words aren't written on the buttons but above them, keeping them in the dark as the button is lit. They could take some notes from Onkyo on this; their illuminated remotes are superb, and I use my universal Onkyo remote for this TV rather than the one included.

All in all, I'm very happy with this TV. The picture is by far the best I've ever seen. I would shop around for the best deal, however. I had this in my Amazon cart at less than $2,300, and when I went to pay for it the price flew up to $2,500. That's still not a bad price for this TV, but Amazon's prices on the set are all over the place as I'm sure you know if you've been watching. There are places online that sell it cheaper, but be sure to review their policies before making a purchase, and don't fall for the high-pressure sales tactics that many employ.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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nothing else is on the screen so it's not that huge a concern, but I did knock off one star because of that. It's not enough of a problem for me to send the set back since the next one could be worse, and I haven't noticed it so far when something's on the screen. If the screen went evenly black, I'd easily give this set five stars. I'm also not impressed by the remote. The volume and channel buttons are awkwardly placed, making the remote off-balance when using them. And the illuminate feature is lacking since key words aren't written on the buttons but above them, keeping them in the dark as the button is lit. They could take some notes from Onkyo on this; their illuminated remotes are superb, and I use my universal Onkyo remote for this TV rather than the one included.



All in all, I'm very happy with this TV. The picture is by far the best I've ever seen. I would shop around for the best deal, however. I had this in my Amazon cart at less than $2,300, and when I went to pay for it the price flew up to $2,500. That's still not a bad price for this TV, but Amazon's prices on the set are all over the place as I'm sure you know if you've been watching. There are places online that sell it cheaper, but be sure to review their policies before making a purchase, and don't fall for the high-pressure sales tactics that many employ.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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does have the deepest blacks I have ever seen on a LCD panel, especially one that is not LED backlight. I have options turned on to increase blacks and increase the degree of difference between light and dark areas of the screen. Blu-rays look absolutely stunning and upconverted DVDs look pretty good. I use an external audio system so I can't really comment on the sound of the TV but I would imagine it's on par with other TVs. All in all it is an awesome TV with a very solid build and great looks. The TV has a lot of inputs which is a plus and the TV guide is great (if you would use it). The only other thing I would like is to see the TV with a glossy display to see if the color pops even more. I would definitely recommend this TV but would also recommend taking some time to setup the picture settings and experimenting a bit to see what looks best for the type of content your viewing.

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Sony KDL-40Z4100/B Bravia 40" Z4100 LCD Television

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so that we morons will go gah-gah when we see them on the wall at a brightly lit Bestbuy. I think its a little more complex than that. In the case of the Sony Bravias, they are typically displayed in the Vivid mode to accommodate the brightly lit showrooms. However, even that picture mode is pretty good... in bright lighting. After all, the manufacturers want these things to look good on display, and they know people shelling out thousands of dollars for a set will tend to be very discriminating. I think the Sony engineers are a little smarter than the pundits give them credit for.

I purchased the "Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics" disk on Blu-ray to calibrate the picture. I carefully went through the explanations and the test patterns. However, I still get the best picture from the factory settings for the Standard picture mode. I've also tried a number of recommended settings downloaded from the Internet. Still, Standard picture mode is the best. My main criteria for judging the picture is how close it is to reality, and I have several Blu-rays, DVD's and some broadcast stuff that I know what they are supposed to look like.

I have been really appreciating seeing dark scenes clearly on the new KDL-40Z4100. Again, I'm using the default settings for contrast, brightness, and backlight. I know there is controversy about contrast ratios, but I can't imagine any better than deep black, bright clear white, and excellent detail in every shade in between.

Motion is also excellent. I watched ape-men fighting scenes and ballet-like spacecraft movements in 2001 A Space Odyssey on Blu-ray, a really fast action sequence in Casino Royale on HBO/HD, and a few Celtics games in HD on cable. All motion was completely smooth, and I saw zero artifacts. It has been quite a relief after seeing so much choppy motion on other sets in the showroom.

Now for the negatives: I bought a Sony Blu-ray player and a Sony Soundbar receiver/speaker system. There is a feature called Bravia Synch which is supposed to make Sony products more compatible with each other allowing you to turn things on and off with one button and a few other capabilities. I have meticulously gone through the manuals and tried various connection configurations, but I can't get the Bravia Synch to work--yet. This negative is somewhat offset by the fact that the remote is a universal remote that can easily be programmed to operate the other devices.

Another irritation is that I can't get closed captioning to work correctly. The options are Off, On, and On with Muting. Nothing works. I emailed Sony support, and to their credit they quickly responded, but the bad news is that you can't get closed captioning when using a cable set top box with an HDMI connection. Any closed captioning has to come from the STB itself. I got that to work, but it takes several steps through menus with the STB remote each time I want to turn closed captioning on or off. A minor nuisance.

However, there's more good stuff:

- 120 Hz
- 10-bit color; xvYCC; wide color gamut; deep color.
- Plug in a USB flash drive and listen to MP3's and view digital photos.
- Connect your laptop with an RGB cable and stereo audio connector.
- Optical digital connection for great digital sound.
- Really good programmable universal remote.
- Slim, modern design--best looking set on the wall.

BTW, Amazon has the best price for the KDL-40Z4100.

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Sony KDL-40XBR6 40" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

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so that we morons will go gah-gah when we see them on the wall at a brightly lit Bestbuy. I think its a little more complex than that. In the case of the Sony Bravias, they are typically displayed in the Vivid mode to accommodate the brightly lit showrooms. However, even that picture mode is pretty good... in bright lighting. After all, the manufacturers want these things to look good on display, and they know people shelling out thousands of dollars for a set will tend to be very discriminating. I think the Sony engineers are a little smarter than the pundits give them credit for.



I purchased the "Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics" disk on Blu-ray to calibrate the picture. I carefully went through the explanations and the test patterns. However, I still get the best picture from the factory settings for the Standard picture mode. I've also tried a number of recommended settings downloaded from the Internet. Still, Standard picture mode is the best. My main criteria for judging the picture is how close it is to reality, and I have several Blu-rays, DVD's and some broadcast stuff that I know what they are supposed to look like.



I have been really appreciating seeing dark scenes clearly on the new KDL-40Z4100. Again, I'm using the default settings for contrast, brightness, and backlight. I know there is controversy about contrast ratios, but I can't imagine any better than deep black, bright clear white, and excellent detail in every shade in between.



Motion is also excellent. I watched ape-men fighting scenes and ballet-like spacecraft movements in 2001 A Space Odyssey on Blu-ray, a really fast action sequence in Casino Royale on HBO/HD, and a few Celtics games in HD on cable. All motion was completely smooth, and I saw zero artifacts. It has been quite a relief after seeing so much choppy motion on other sets in the showroom.



Now for the negatives: I bought a Sony Blu-ray player and a Sony Soundbar receiver/speaker system. There is a feature called Bravia Synch which is supposed to make Sony products more compatible with each other allowing you to turn things on and off with one button and a few other capabilities. I have meticulously gone through the manuals and tried various connection configurations, but I can't get the Bravia Synch to work--yet. This negative is somewhat offset by the fact that the remote is a universal remote that can easily be programmed to operate the other devices.



Another irritation is that I can't get closed captioning to work correctly. The options are Off, On, and On with Muting. Nothing works. I emailed Sony support, and to their credit they quickly responded, but the bad news is that you can't get closed captioning when using a cable set top box with an HDMI connection. Any closed captioning has to come from the STB itself. I got that to work, but it takes several steps through menus with the STB remote each time I want to turn closed captioning on or off. A minor nuisance.



However, there's more good stuff:



- 120 Hz

- 10-bit color; xvYCC; wide color gamut; deep color.

- Plug in a USB flash drive and listen to MP3's and view digital photos.

- Connect your laptop with an RGB cable and stereo audio connector.

- Optical digital connection for great digital sound.

- Really good programmable universal remote.

- Slim, modern design--best looking set on the wall.



BTW, Amazon has the best price for the KDL-40Z4100.

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Sony KDL-46XBR6 46" BRAVIA XBR® LCD Flat Panel HDTV

...

so that we morons will go gah-gah when we see them on the wall at a brightly lit Bestbuy. I think its a little more complex than that. In the case of the Sony Bravias, they are typically displayed in the Vivid mode to accommodate the brightly lit showrooms. However, even that picture mode is pretty good... in bright lighting. After all, the manufacturers want these things to look good on display, and they know people shelling out thousands of dollars for a set will tend to be very discriminating. I think the Sony engineers are a little smarter than the pundits give them credit for.





I purchased the "Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics" disk on Blu-ray to calibrate the picture. I carefully went through the explanations and the test patterns. However, I still get the best picture from the factory settings for the Standard picture mode. I've also tried a number of recommended settings downloaded from the Internet. Still, Standard picture mode is the best. My main criteria for judging the picture is how close it is to reality, and I have several Blu-rays, DVD's and some broadcast stuff that I know what they are supposed to look like.





I have been really appreciating seeing dark scenes clearly on the new KDL-40Z4100. Again, I'm using the default settings for contrast, brightness, and backlight. I know there is controversy about contrast ratios, but I can't imagine any better than deep black, bright clear white, and excellent detail in every shade in between.





Motion is also excellent. I watched ape-men fighting scenes and ballet-like spacecraft movements in 2001 A Space Odyssey on Blu-ray, a really fast action sequence in Casino Royale on HBO/HD, and a few Celtics games in HD on cable. All motion was completely smooth, and I saw zero artifacts. It has been quite a relief after seeing so much choppy motion on other sets in the showroom.





Now for the negatives: I bought a Sony Blu-ray player and a Sony Soundbar receiver/speaker system. There is a feature called Bravia Synch which is supposed to make Sony products more compatible with each other allowing you to turn things on and off with one button and a few other capabilities. I have meticulously gone through the manuals and tried various connection configurations, but I can't get the Bravia Synch to work--yet. This negative is somewhat offset by the fact that the remote is a universal remote that can easily be programmed to operate the other devices.





Another irritation is that I can't get closed captioning to work correctly. The options are Off, On, and On with Muting. Nothing works. I emailed Sony support, and to their credit they quickly responded, but the bad news is that you can't get closed captioning when using a cable set top box with an HDMI connection. Any closed captioning has to come from the STB itself. I got that to work, but it takes several steps through menus with the STB remote each time I want to turn closed captioning on or off. A minor nuisance.





However, there's more good stuff:





- 120 Hz


- 10-bit color; xvYCC; wide color gamut; deep color.


- Plug in a USB flash drive and listen to MP3's and view digital photos.


- Connect your laptop with an RGB cable and stereo audio connector.


- Optical digital connection for great digital sound.


- Really good programmable universal remote.


- Slim, modern design--best looking set on the wall.





BTW, Amazon has the best price for the KDL-40Z4100.