Sony KDL-52XBR5 Review

“Shockingly Good Picture Quality on Bravia KDL 52XBR5..”

Reviewed By ‘B. Chandler’

Sony KDL-52XBR5 Review from Amazon.com

After almost a year of doing research on all 52 inch LCD’s, my wife and I finally took the plunge and bought the Bravia KDL52XBR5 HD LCD. We already had a Samsung 32 inch HI DEF with great picture quality, and, the Samsung 71 and 81F’s were in the running; but, as with a good portion of reviewers on Amazon, we, too, found the glare of the Samsungs a big negative. We checked out both the XBR5 and the 71F side by side at a closeby TV warehouse, and glare issues on the SAMMY finally eliminated it from the list. True, the Samsung’s picture was stunning, but the screen picked up just about every available light source in the store and threw it back out at the viewer. It’s too bad Samsung is so set on the glass. It really is a huge problem.

Now, onto the SONY XBR5. The side speakers are more than adequate for the average viewer; however, if you’re an audiophile, a good sound system would be recommended down the road after the TV is paid off. I was pleasantly surprised, though, with the quality of the internal speakers.

The picture on this TV is outstanding; superb, actually. After spending some time with the video settings, I found that the VIVID mode was the absolute best for our viewing, as long as the color was also backed down to about 70 percent, the brightness to about 30 percent and contrast to 60 percent or so. The tint was fine at the 0 level. It’s truly amazing that a screen of this size shows virtually NO pixels at a normal viewing distance. The video in HI DEF looks as crisp and clean as a movie screen. The standard analog programming just pales in comparison. We found it a bit “fuzzy”, but with a screen this size, it’s to be expected. To really appreciate this TV, one MUST have a HI DEF cable box or go satellite. I couldn’t say how over the air HD looks, since we have cable.

We are extremely happy with our purchase. The 120hz motion settings come in OFF, STANDARD and HIGH. I’ve found STANDARD is probably best for sports programming. It does an adequate job.

As for looks, the glass around the screen with chrome stripping is a nice touch. It sets the look off with an “upscale” design, befitting the quality of the TV.

We would highly recommend this model to anyone wanting a beautiful, perfect 52 inch HI DEF. The blacks are very black, the colors are incredible, the lines and clarity in HI DEF are just breathtaking. It’s expensive, but, if it’s the main TV in any household and gets watched every day, it’s worth the extra money. SONY’S attention to LCD exclusively now, having dropped Plasma a few years back, shows in the extreme brilliance and unbelievable perfection of the picture. Get this one! It’s the best LCD 52 inch on the market.

One caveat, SONY recently announced that they’re discontinuing their association with Samsung and going with Sharp, possibly as soon as April. Sharp has been known for banding issues and problems with uniformity in their LCD screens, so, unless they’ve worked out the problems, it might be a good idea to grab one of these sets while they still have Samsung blood running through them. For my money, Samsung and SONY are neck and neck as far as LCD technology.