Adventures in High Definition - 46� Sony Bravia XBR LCD Reviewed - DigitalReviews Network

Like many Australian's, my home is currently stuck in the land of Standard Definition. When the opportunity to review a 46" Sony Bravia XBR came along, I knew my current television wouldn't approve, but as I got off the phone, through the corner of my eye, I could swear I saw my Xbox 360 crack a smile 1080p wide.

Read on to find out about how the XBR performed and what making the transition to High Definition is all about..

The Bravia KDL46XBR3100 is one of SONY's premier 10 bit LCD panel displays with “Full HD” 1080p resolution and features Sony's propriety Motionflow 100Hz technology. The XBR range also have dual TV tuners built in allowing both High Definition and traditional analogue broadcast reception. The set also features SONY's Bravia Engine Pro to enhance video and has a viewing angle of 178 degrees.

The overall feature set of the XBR series is fairly standard for a high end television and includes a parental lock, picture-in-picture, multiple aspect ratios and the regular gamut of picture tweaking settings.

FULL SPECIFICATIONS

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

As we took the XBR out of its box (weighing 38kg, lifting the set is definitely a two man job) I realised just how big this thing was. Now I've ogled the 46" XBR at my retailer many times, but sitting in my living room it just appeared bigger. Much bigger.

Once out of its packaging the XBR immediately appeals. The combination of brushed aluminium and glass surround looks quite elegant and the set’s stand is both neat and unobtrusive. I don’t care much for how a television looks while it is turned off, but for the record, the XBR looks good.

In the box with the XBR was a standard VGA cable, a short length of RF cable, a power cord, a short manual and a small cable-clip which connects to the television’s rear to tame the cable Rat king.

SETUP

The rear of the XBR is fairly well laid out and anybody who has installed a television before will find everything pleasantly familiar. Along with the standard RF antenna port, there are three sets of rear inputs, each with its own HDMI and composite ports. There are two sets of component inputs, an S-VIDEO connector and a S/PDIF digital optical output connector.

The side input panel also has a full set of ports - bar component - and is located on the left hand side of the set. Along with a 3.5mm headphone port, the side input also features a standard USB port for displaying JPEG photos.

Once unpacked, I quickly connected my antenna, S-VIDEO monitor cable and the S/PDIF optical audio cable and sat back down on the couch, ready to fire it up.

Firing up a television for the first time is a special experience and the SONY was no exception. As I pushed the remote’s green power button, the television screen came to life and the SONY logo at the bottom of the set lit up proudly. The remote control felt good in hand and the notch on the underside is perfectly placed to make using the D-pad effortless. The remote can be easily programmed to work with other equipment (SONY or otherwise) and has a hidden button panel for your VCR/DVD/BD player. The remote also features a blue backlight which can be activated by pressing the “light” button which fades away elegantly after a few seconds of inactivity.

In Standard Definition land, on screen displays tend to be pretty fuzzy and rudimentary. Even without displaying a moving image, the sharp white on grey information panels, left an immediate impression: High Definition has well and truly arrived.

The on-screen menu system is competent and while a little complicated at first, is quite easy to live with. While exploring the multitude of settings available I was pleased to discover an option to turn off the back-lit SONY logo mentioned above. While I personally like the logo lit, the fact that it can be disabled is a testament to the set's configurability and attention to detail.

In a few clicks, I easily managed to get the XBR to automatically search for digital and analogue channels. Thankfully, the set found all known channels without any drama - suggesting my old antenna was up to the task.

To be perfectly honest, I've never been a fan of flat screen televisions and when I watched the XBR for the first time I felt the usual tinge of disappointment I feel whenever I look at modern flat screen televisions. I'm not entirely sure what it is about them (LCD or plasma) but the picture just moves differently to traditional analogue TVs: The picture seems to be in a continuous flux.

To my genuine surprise - after two weeks - I'm a convert. While I still think that the old CRT tubes are best for watching Standard Definition content, I have gotten used to the way the XBR creates images and movement. The best way I can describe the sensation is that I have stopped looking for the motion and started watching the picture.

For HD content, be it 1080i HD television broadcasts or 1080p images through my XBOX 360, the picture was phenomenal. The image was crystal clear and very bright. I had no problem with the way the set displayed blacks and during the two week test, was suitably impressed by the sets overall performance with high definition content.

The XBR made television broadcasts looks so good that over the two week period, I found myself watching more free-to-air television just because it was in HD. I even sat through the entire length of Proof of Life!

Via an el-cheapo HDMI cable, the XBOX 360 too showed off the XBR’s awesome picture quality. Playing games on this set was a dream. The Picture was bright and rich in colour, with no noticeable issues despite the dynamic colours and fast paced action.

SONY Bravia XBR Remote (Lit)

I tested the included RGB cable with my laptop and played back some 720p content which again, looked fantastic. Admittedly, the picture wasn't quite as sharp as the 1080 streams, but it was still crisp and a pleasure to watch.

Via HDMI, DVD playback looked good but due to its lower resolution, felt a little blurry. In fact, this was the biggest drawback of the XBR, which I suspect it shares with all other flatscreen televisions: For my money, non HD content looks ordinary at best. DVDs via HDMI looked okay, but once I got used to watching “Full HD” material, going back, even to DVD resolution was quite off-putting.

And going back further was positively painful. I found analogue television and to a lesser extent, SD digital broadcasts painful to watch - with the picture taking on a blurry, jagged and "MPEG artefact" look. Even the mainstay of all my equipment - the S-VIDEO cable, fed images that were all but unwatchable.

And this really brings to a head the main problem with flatscreen televisions: For maximum benefit, a new television is going to mean a lot more upgrades. Both in content/media and in hardware. While HDMI cables can be found on the cheap (if you look hard enough), it is all the other equipment: DVD/HD-DVD/BD Players, Receivers, etc - that will break the bank. Even the XBOX 360 requires a costly proprietary cable to get HDMI video and Dolby Digital Audio output at the same time.

THE SOUND

I won’t dwell on the XBR’s sound as I generally consider televisions to be monitors for proper audio equipment - especially when we're talking HD as everything communicates digitally. While I was reticent to take it off mute initially, I was pleasantly surprised by the sound output of the XBR.

While the sound wasn't phenomenal, for a television it was quite good and I often watched digital content using the XBRs built in speakers rather than arc up my Onkyo AC3 behemoth. Overall, the sound was better than expected and quite acceptable for general viewing.

SONY Bravia XBR (XBOX 360 - Ace Combat 6)

SONY Bravia XBR (XBOX 360 - Ace Combat 6)

CONCLUSION

For a first trip, I’d have to say the XBR has impressed upon me a vital need to upgrade to High Definition. The set is wonderful to watch when it is fed 720p or better content and if you are moving from an old analogue set it will be sure to blow you away with its clarity and overall picture quality.

Of course, if you really want to get the most out of the XBR, you will really need to let go of most of your old equipment and to a lesser extent, content and transition fully to the new world.

Without a real base for comparison I cannot say how the XBR performs against its competition, but in and of itself the XBR is a strong performer. It’s HD performance was outstanding and if I am to look forward rather than back, then I have no hesitation in recommending this set as a perfect waypoint in moving to a completely High Definition setup.

The Sony KDL46XBR retails for $4799AU and is available from all major retailers. Also, if you happen to purchase any of SONY’s Full HD range of televisions before January 28, you will receive a complimentary Playstation 3 via mail in redemption. For more details visit the SONY’s promotion page.