Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR5 Review

“KDL-52Xbr5: Best Picture out There…”

Reviewed By ‘Wayne’

Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR5 Review from Amazon.com

With many choices in HDTV, the Sony is geared toward those who don’t want to compromise. As the owner of two HDTVs, I put off replacing my primary TV until I could find one that would be good enough to last a while and would not be a compromise.

Sony has done an excellent job of producing a product that allows me to achieve that goal. But they met that goal in a limited fashion.

HDTVs took a while to mature. Standards changed, LCDs improved, and more choices in resolution became available. This is not my first 1080p, but it does give the best picture of any set I’ve used. The picture is clear and sharp, the TV does a good job of video processing and does not compromise the way other TVs do with many sources.

The problem I have is that a good picture alone is not enough for the Sony Bravia KDL52XBR5 to excel. I wanted something that integrates well into my home, allows for good sound, and allows easy connections to other components. In that respect, Sony missed the mark.

The sound quality is not bad. I didn’t expect great sound from the built in speakers, and realistically, people who buy this are likely to have a home theater system anyway. But the built in sound is adequate as far as built in sound goes.

The problem is getting to to other equipment. Sony provides an optical out that sends Dolby Digital/PCM to your home theater system. But although it works great when sending sound from the tuner, it sends only the PCM component when the source is HDMI. Yes, there are ways around that, such as extra cables or different wiring, but for $4,300 is it really asking for too much for this thing to work as many users expect? It’s not as if I’m asking for a built in home theater system. I’m just asking for a jack that works in a useful way, as other manufacturers already provide.

I could get around the problem by using the digital out directly from my DVD player instead. My Sony DVD player from last year had two digital audio outputs. One was coax and the other was optical. Sony’s DVP-NS77H DVD player now sells for $89.99, up converts to 1080p, and even it has two digital audio outputs. Why did they leave the coax output off the $4300 HDTV? If they could afford it on this year’s low end HDMI DVD player, it’s not as if it would have been a bank breaker.

With a missing output on this TV, I can either get a new AV preamp, or run more cables. But should I have to do that with such an expensive TV? And if I did get a new AV preamp, would the Sony make good use of it?

Not Quite. The TV is also missing a video output. Many home theater systems can make use of one for monitoring, and it would also have allowed me to use my VCR to record, since the VCR has no digital tuner.

Was it left out because VCRs are supposedly obsolete, or was it left out because the TV is considered too low end to have the features expected by a high end AV preamp? Either way, the circuitry involved is a mere fraction of what’s already on their cheapest DVD players: something to take a digital signal, and output it to HDMI, S-VHS, component video, and composite. I’d settle for even one of them if I hadn’t already settled for less.

Sony still sells things such as PS2 video consoles. Indeed many game manufacturers sell things with composite-only video outputs. Yet this TV, while able to accept three HDMI inputs, can accept only one S-VHS input, and none on the side connector. If you use the rear S-VHS connector for a VCR, that leaves one composite input, plus one on the side. And if I want to use the S-VHS connector for my relatively recent vintage Sony camcorder, I’d have to get behind my wall mounted TV to unplug the VCR each time. And since Sony camcorders have a special connector, the cable can’t be shared as an alternative.

My kids got a Wii recently. It’s neither Sony nor obsolete equipment. But it does have composite outputs. I don’t think it’s asking for too much to be able to use things like that or my relatively new Sony camcorder without juggling wires. I think for something as expensive as this TV, it’s not asking for too much for it to be able to handle basic connectivity with commonly used household AV equipment. It’s not asking too much for it to have things that they are willing to put on even the cheapest DVD players.

With equipment that it was designed to work with, it does a great job. It’s nice to be able to press “play” on my Sony DVD player, have it turn on, have it turn on the TV, switch its input to DVD, and just work. It’s also nice that it will turn off my DVD player if I turn off the TV. And perhaps if I had an all Sony AV system, that would integrate well too. But it’s arrogant to think that customers should use only Sony equipment.

The remote control is adequate, but they could have done a better job of allowing it to integrate with other components. Even with their own DVD player, the TV remote has ALMOST all the buttons I would need. And it requires pressing a button to let the remote know if I am intending the next button presses to be for the DVD or the TV. That’s to be expected in some cases, but in situations where it’s unambiguous, it should figure it out for me.

Prior to buying this, I came close to getting a Samsung. The Samsung has a very impressive picture quality and I probably would not have felt short changed. The Samsung has a glossy screen surface, which can be a problem in certain living conditions, and I’ve had that issue with an older Pioneer Elite. I would not have considered that last point to be a show stopper, and the Samsungs still give you more on a dollar for dollar basis. But I’d still give the edge to the Sony for picture quality.

The deciding factor for me, though, was Sony’s manufacturing quality. If something goes wrong with this set, I feel comfortable that Sony will stand behind me. With the Samsung, if I were among the unfortunate few who have problems, I’d be cursing myself for buying it. I might have spent more for the Sony, and will have to spend even more for the overall system to do everything I want, but I did get a good HDTV. I just can’t give it 5 stars given the features for the price.