Sony Bravia XBR4 Series 40 inch KDL-40XBR4, 46 inch KDL-46XBR4 and 52 inch KDL-52XBR4 1080p LCD HDTV Review

Sony’s Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture full high definition (1080p – 1920 x 1080 pixels) LCD televisions are fortunately for everybody marketed under the far simpler Bravia brand name Bravia. At 1080p resolution the Sony Bravia XBR4 40, 46 and 52 inch models have over 2 million pixels and are able to display the highest resolution high definition video sources available today such as is available on Blu-ray discs. All lesser resolutions are scaled to fit the displays available pixels.

Sony Bravia XBR4

From a technical viewpoint, notable features of the Sony XBR4 series include Motionflow for LCD blur reduction with fast action sport or movies, Deep Color for a greater color gamut and an excellent contrast ratio of 18,000:1 (dynamic) and 2,000:1 (on-screen). For smoother more natural looking images, Sony have included 24p input capability to capture movies and other video sources filmed or encoded at 24 fps (frames per second). The XBR4 models have picture-in-picture (PIP) and a side by side option (P&P). P&P is excludes dual HDMI feeds and for PIP the smaller image must be sources from the antenna/cable input. Other convenience features are freeze image and a favorite channel list.

Realizing that a television’s external appearance can have an unusually large influence on purchasing decisions, Sony supply a range of changeable designer color bezels (optional) for the Sony XBR4 series.

LCD Motion Blur Reduction

LCDs are prone to motion blur primarily due to LCD pixels remaining lit between frames unlike the rise and fall of pixel lighting with other display technologies. LCD manufacturers have moved to combat motion blur through a doubling of the refresh rate to 120Hz. To produce the faster refresh rates the video processor creates an interpolated frame between each existing frame making motion appear smoother for the viewer. Sony’s Bravia XBR4 models have their version of the technology, Motionflow, while Mitsubishi has Smooth120Hz, Toshiba - ClearFrame, LG – TruMotion Drive and JVC call it Clear Motion Drive II.

Sony’s Motionflow double the frame rate (120Hz) for 60fps video sources. For film sourced 24fps encoded content Motionflow eliminates the need for 3:2 pulldown producing a smooth, judder free video output as with the original film. Judder is something that may be observed during on film based video in scenes that include slow camera pans.

Video Processing - BRAVIA Engine PRO Full Digital Video Processor

Video processor performance is having a progressively greater influence HDTV image quality. While the extra detail of HDTV produces more “life like” images, it also magnifies any image defects which may include noise and image artifacts caused by poor video processing. Image defects masked by lower resolution displays become evident on a HDTV. Artifacts and image noise can be introduced through the compression required to pack hundreds of channels within limited transmission bandwidth or during de-interlacing required to convert NTSC or PAL interlaced signals to progressive-scan for digital display.

BRAVIA Engine PRO Full Digital Video Processor features Sony’s latest generation of proprietary video processing technology: Digital Reality Creation - Multi Function (DRC-MFv2.5). The DRC=MFv2.5 can up-convert all lower resolution standard and high definition video sources to 1080p. It also features “1080p Direct Creation” minimizing losses in interlace-to-progressive (IP) conversion by performing Digital Reality Creation and IP Creation algorithms simultaneously.

Live Color Creation – a Wider Color Gamut

The seemingly infinite diversity of colors of the real world, particularly deep reds, greens and clear blues are have not been fully represented with conventional display technologies. Standard CCFL backlit LCD TVs have a color gamut of approximately 72% of NTSC (broadcast TV standard).

In an effort to achieve a larger gamut of colors for more “true to life” color images, Sony and other manufacturers are moving to WCG-CCFL ((Wide Color Gamut Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) backlighting of their LCD displays. A wide gamut CCFL can have a color gamut of approximately 90% NTSC. It’s interesting to note that Genoa Color Technologies have announced a CCFL backlight capable of achieving 110% NTSC. It’s possible we will see this sort of innovation incorporated into LCD displays soon for even more realistic color images.

Sony’s Live Color Creation for “clear blues, natural greens and an overall vibrant color” is term for their technology combining WCG-CCFL backlighting and advanced chroma signal processing algorithms.

Contrast Ratio

As mentioned, the Sony XBR4 series has an excellent contrast ratio of 18,000:1 (dynamic) and 2,000:1 (on-screen). Sony use the more conservative ANSI test rather than the Full On/Full Off test which yields higher results. The ANSI test involves the display of 16 black and white rectangles with contrast ratio being the result of dividing the average light output of the white rectangles by the average light output of the black rectangles. It is commonly argued that the ANSI test is more indicative of contrast ratio due to its checkerboard pattern being closer to actual viewing conditions.

Sony’s Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE) achieves the Dynamic Contrast Ratio of up to 18,000:1 through real-time image processing adjustments to the contrast along with the optimization of backlight levels. Backlight intensity adjustment is in response to the automatic sensing of the APL (Average Picture Level) of the video signal.

Deep Color - x.v.Color technology

Sony’s Bravia XBR4 full HD LCDs adopt the new xvYCC color standard (IEC 61966-2-4 color standard called xvYCC (short for Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications). Sony have simplified the terminology by referring to it as x.v.Color. This new color standard provides an extended gamut (color space) supporting some 1.8 times as many colors as the commonplace sRGB color space. As promoted by Sony “ performance has now advanced to the point that the color range can be defined by limitations in the original video source, rather than the TV . This increase in the number of colors that can be produced gives the plasma displays a more lifelike or natural appearance as it brings their color palette closer to that the human eye can perceive.

Deep Color refers to the use of 30-bit, 36-bit, and 48-bit color in flat panel displays - an increase from the 24-bit depths in previous versions of the HDMI specification. The extra bit depth is required to reduce the chance of posterization which can occur with extended color gamuts such as xvYC. Posterization occurs when part of an image with continuous graduation of tones is replaced by a number of regions of fewer tones. It looks somewhat like tidemarks between distinct steps in color. The effect is sometimes referred to as false coloring.

Unfortunately, there are no xvYCC video sources available at the moment so this feature is best looked at a future proofing one.

DMeX - Ready (Digital Media Extender)

The Sony XBR4 models feature Sony’s Digital Media Extender (DMeX) which can provide a digital connection to a BRAVIA Internet Video Link module (optional item). The DMeX is part of the movement by television manufacturers to move their products towards entertainment platform status. When connected to a broadband connection (3Mbps or higher) through a Bravia Internet Video Link Module, the DMeX allows users to view select Internet video, including high-definition content, from the comfort of their living room from providers currently including AOL, Yahoo! and Grouper, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music. Navigation of available content is by Sony’s Emmy award winning XMB user interface.

Image Fine Tuning Options

An extensive range of image customization options are available with the Sony Bravia XBR4 LCD HDTVs including:

Brightness
Contrast
Color Temperature - four presets plus facility to adjust via the user-menu RGB controls
Backlight Control - 10-steps adjustment of lighting intensity of the screen
Noise reduction settings - two DRC modes and a DRC (Digital Reality Creation) palette control
Black Corrector – four steps
Advanced Contrast Enhancer
Gamma Control – four steps
Clear White Control – three steps for bluer whites
Live Color – four steps
Color Space - two-options
Detail Enhancer - four-steps
Edge Enhancer four-steps
Motion Enhancer - adjusts refresh rate
CineMotion – alters video processing of film-based (24fps) video
Photo/Video – switching image optimization between still or moving images
Photo Color Space - choose between sYCC, sRGB, and Adobe RGB

Presets can be independent per video source input.

BRAVIA Theatre Sync

Sony’s BRAVIA Theatre Sync is based on the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC or HDMI-CEC) optional feature of HDMI. It allows global control all CEC-enabled peripherals using a single remote. CEC will allow up to ten devices to discover and communicate with one another through HDMI cabled network. Although commonly linked with HDMI v1.3, CEC was actually first available in HDMI 1.2a.
Intended to simplify control of A/V equipment, CEC allows individual AV devices to control each other. As an example, closing the DVD tray can trigger the DVD player to switch the TV on, select the correct video source on the TV and set the appropriate video and audio modes for playback.

Some of the many names manufacturers have used to refer to CEC include; Regza Link – Toshiba, Simplink – LG, EZ-Sync – JVC and Aquos Link – Sharp. Generally, all units with CEC enabled should work together without any problems.

Connections

The Sony XBR4 models have a good range of connection options including 3 HDMI connectors (1 Side/ 2 Rear), 2 component video (Y/Pb/Pr ) inputs (Rear), a rear S-Video input and PC Video Input(s)

User Reviews and Price Comparisons

Visit the following online retailers to check prices and read hands on customer reviews.

Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Sony Bravia XBR KDL-46XBR4 46-inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Sony Bravia XBR-Series KDL-40XBR4 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52″ 1080p LCD HDTV KDL52XBR4

Sony KDL52XBR4 52-inch BRAVIA XBR 1080p 120Hz LCD Flat Panel HDTV
Sony BRAVIA KDL-46XBR4 46 LCD TV - 46 - ATSC - 178 Horizontal / 178 Vertical - 16:9 - 1920 x 1080 - HDTV
Sony KDL40XBR4 40-inch BRAVIA XBR series 1080p 120Hz LCD Flat Panel HDTV

Specifications for Sony XBR4 Series 40 inch KDL-40XBR4, 46 inch KDL-46XBR4 and 52 inch KDL-52XBR4 1080p LCD HDTV

Aspect Ratio	16:9
Screen Size	40, 46 and 52 inches diagonally
Television Type	Flat Panel LCD HDTV
Closed Caption (CC)	Yes
ID1 Detection	Yes
Video Label	Yes
Native Resolution	1080p
Contrast Ratio	18,000:1 (Dynamic); 2,000:1 (On-screen)
Display Resolution	1920 x 1080
Tuner	ATSC, Clear QAM
Video Processing	Yes (BRAVIA Engine™ PRO)
Comb Filter	Yes (3D Digital Comb Filter)
DRC® MultiFunction Circuitry	Yes (DRC MF V2.5)
Game Mode	On/Off
Light Sensor	Yes
Display Technology LCD	(178° wide viewing angle LCD display panels)
Backlight Type	WCG-CCFL (Wide Color Gamut - CCFL)
High Definition	Yes (Full HD 1080)
Live Color Creation	Yes
x.v.Color	Yes
MotionFlow	120Hz Yes
10-bit Display Panel	Yes
BRAVIA	® Theatre Sync™ Yes (One-Button Home Theater Control (HDMI-CEC))
10-bit Video Processing	Yes
Noise Reduction	Yes
Deep Color	Yes
Audio Power Output	22W (11W x2)
Steady Sound® Automatic Volume Control	Yes
MTS Stereo Decoder	Yes (with SAP)
Digital Amplifier	Yes
Dolby® Digital	Yes (ATSC/QAM only)
Sound Booster	Yes
Voice Zoom	Yes
S-Force®	Front Yes
Channel	Skip/Add Yes
Favorite Channel	Yes
Speed Surf™ Channel Selection	Yes
Parental Control (V-Chip	) Yes
Programmable Timer	Yes
Sleep Timer	15, 30, 45, 60, 90, Off
Timer Events	On/Off Timer
Clock	Yes
Power Save Mode	Standard, Reduced, Picture Off
Picture Freeze	Yes
Input Skip	Yes
DMeXTM Ready	Yes (Feature Expansion Capability)
Xross Media Bar®	Yes (Graphical User Interface)
Remote Control	Yes (Backlit)
Optimized Theater Mode	Yes
Photo TV HD	Yes
Analog Audio Input(s)	5 (4 Rear/1 Side)
Audio Out (Variable/Fixed)	1 (Rear)
Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr ) Input(s)	2 (Rear)
Composite Video Input(s)	3 (2 Rear/1 Side)
Digital Audio Output(s)	1 (Rear)
S-Video Input(s)	1 (Rear)
Headphone Output(s)	1 (Side)
PC Audio Input(s)	1 (Rear)
PC Video Input(s)	1 (Rear) with D-sub 15 and L/R stereo mini plug connection4
HDMI™ Connection(s)	3 (1 Side/ 2 Rear) - 1 rear input has L/R audio inputs
1080/24p Input Capable	Yes (via HDMI™)
Energy Star® Compliant	Yes
Limited Warranty	1 Year Parts / 1 Year Labor
VESA	Yes (VESA Hole Mount Compatibility for Mounting Applications)