Top Notch LCD TV

I purchased my Sony KDL-46XBR2 (Bravia) from J&R Electronics in lower Manhattan about two weeks ago and I've been doing my best to scrutinize the television for the purposes of this review. For the record, I purchased my for a total price of $2,620 (including delivery) which was about $800 less than places like Bestbuy and Circuit City were asking.

To start with, when the TV arrived I had thought they sent the wrong television as the box it comes in is enormous (I guess I expected a thin box because of it is less than 5 inches deep - without the pedestal).

At first view (before turning the tv on) this set is a stunner. I purchased a silver one (with the glass trim), but Sony offers this TV in six different colors to match the decor of your room.

The television is advertised as "Full 1080", which means it is a 1080p television or the highest current level of resolution available through the high definition medium. To be clear about the whole 1080p thing... as far as I know, no cable company or satellite provider offers 1080p resolution. In order that you achieve that level, you need to attach either a Blu Ray DVD player or an HD DVD player. As I have neither, I am unable to comment upon the picture quality as 1080p.

Picture:

Having said that, I have watched programming both through 1080i and 720p and the picture is stunning. I did do a little "tweaking" to the factory settings, as I found them to be a bit red, but other than that, the picture is phenomenal. Angle viewing in unparalleled in the LCD world.

The knock on the LCD's of old (and even still) is that the view angle was quite bad (as compared to Plasma's). This TV seems to correct that problem.

I chose an LCD over a Plasma because the room in which I have this TV has a lot of light and LCD's perform better than Plasmas (generally) in high light. This TV is exceptional in a sunny room.

Color contrast is exception and when watching this TV (in HD), you really get the feeling the people are sitting in the room with you.

The one criticism I have of the picture is when watching something in standard definition. The picture is good, but certainly NOT great. There is a bit of distortion and noise with regards to SD picture quality. When paying the kind of money you do for a TV like this, you expect perfection and you don't get it in standard definition. Again, the quality is acceptable, not spectacular.

Sound:

This TV comes with two built in 11w speakers on the bottom portion of the frame. Sound is slightly above average for an LCD, but anyone who is looking to make this a center piece of a home theater would certainly want to invest in a more elaborate sound set up.

The TV comes with various sound options, including Sony's "virtual surround sound".

Connections:

This TV comes with a myriad of back panel connections.It features 3 HDMI Inputs, 1 S-Video Input, 2 Component Video Inputs, 3Composite Inputs, 1 PC Input a Headphone Jack and 2 Audio Outputs. One small pet peeve I have with the connections is that they did NOT include a cable card slot, which I think a TV at this level should have.

Remote Control:

The remote control and tv controls are nicely laid out and intuitive. Comparing my Sony remote to my Samsung (HD DLP)TV remote and controls is like night and day. Sony wins hands down. However, the remote does not contain a user backlight which makes the use of the remote difficult in a dark room. A simple change Sony should address.

Size:

Screen size is 46 inches, but because Sony puts this unique "glass like" border around the TV, this TV baloons to almost 50 inches wide and 30 inches tall.

I was also a bit annoyed at the fact that in the instruction manual they explicitly state that the TV "is only to be lifted by two individuals". While this is obviously the most prudent thing to do, I just thought one of the purpose of the "thin TV" was to decrease weight so it could be handled (safely) by one. No such thing here.

Surprisingly, this TV weighs 90lbs (with the pedestal) and about 80 without.

Mounting:

You have two options with regards to mounting. You can just place the TV upon a stand (it comes with a built in pedestal) or you can remove the pedestal and mount it (on a wall - or stand). I mounted mine on an Omnimount Stand which I purchased for an extra $350.

Mounting was not as easy as I had expected and took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete. I used the hardware that came with the stand to attach the mounting bracket. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it worked okay.

Styling:

While this is completely subjective, IMHO, this TV has better styling than ANY TV currently on the market. Since I bought it, I have had about 6-10 people come over to my house and everybody instantly falls in love with the look of the TV, before I even turn it on.

Clouding:

When doing my research for this TV I came across many complaints about "clouding". That is, when viewing dark scenes some people say that the picture develops "clouds" and makes watching the TV very annoying. Some people have claimed they have returned 3 TV's with the same problem. The sales guys at J&R said those were false stories, but I think they are wrong, because Sony posted a "fix" for the clouding problem.

Basically it entails fiddling with your picture controls.

Thus far, I have NOT experienced ANY clouding and I have viewed the TV under all types of conditions with all types of programming, including dark scenes.

So, I cannot comment upon what I have not seen.

Overall impression:

I primarily watch HD channels and regular DVD's. I have two HDTV's, this Sony and my rear projection 56" Samsung DLP. Both are wonderful, but the Sony excels in HD picture quality and brings TV to a new level when you see it connected to a 1080p source (as it was in the store). The prices on these TV's have come down substantially and I could not turn down the price I got it at. Overall, I am HIGHLY recommending this television. It is NOT perfect, but I think it is excellent.