As many other retailers, Sony decided to presents it’s most advanced LCD HDTV just before the Christmas season, let’s have a look what this HDTV has to offer.
It’s slightly bigger then the nowadays standard 46 inch, and the additional space really make difference, and you can put it in bigger room and enjoy it with bigger audience. As for the screen details, it’s XBR6 series so the color processing is done in 10 bits AND displayed also in 10 bits (usually we have only 8 bits displays/processing). Even more interesting is that Sony uses xvYCC international standard (which is a part of HDMI 1.3) in which the color space is 1.8 larger than in RGB.
KDL 52XBR6 also contains a contrast enhancer (called ACE), it makes watching dark scenes a lot more entertaining, as you can see more in the shadowy places of the motion picture. This HDTV makes it without losing great representation of black color, so when it is black it is really black. Another good feature is the dynamic noise reduction, constantly keeping track of the signal noise and reducing it only in the appropriate places.
MotionFlow 120Hz technology is a whole new thing Sony developed for the Bravia series. It basically doubles the number of frames in the movie. Normally we have 60Hz, and the MotionFlow takes two frames, calculates the new frame that should appear between them. It makes watching fast action especially entertaining, as one can finally keep track of quickly moving objects.
120Hz of KDL-52XBR6 allows another feature – watching cinema movies without jerky motion. One has to understand that movies are made at 24Hz, and normal TV is 60Hz, so displaying them on the TV screens means that some of the frames will repeat, (24×2 = 48, we still need 12 to get to 60) and it makes this jerky motion. On the other hand, 120Hz is a direct multiply of 24 (24×5 = 120) so no frames will be multiplied more then others and the unpleasant effect disappears.
For the TV addicts, added in XBR6 series the On-Screen Interactive Program Guide, which one can use at any time. Further more it doesn’t need any subscription, it just a free addiction from Sony (which is the first company to add such functionality for free).
As for the audio, nothing new in this space, but you get usual SRS TruSurround XT and a less common S-Force Front Surround which makes the sound more 3D.
Other features of this 52XBR6 HDTV include a USB port, which can be used for watching photos on the big screen, contrast of 50,000 to 1, four HDMI ports, and a PC input.
So many new features and with a good price one has to really consider this HDTV when thinking of replacing old TV (or even HDTV). Watching sports and movies on 52 inches is a whole new deal, especially when you have more colors, superior noise reduction and a free TV guide that.
The sum up of this Sony 52XBR6 review: it is one of the best 52 inch HDTV one can buy in the late 2008, early 2009, and it costs only $3,499.99.
Update: Currently KDL-52XBR6 is available for only $2,399.00, so consider buying it here or reading more 52xbr6 reviews.
Steve has over 17 year of experience in reviewing TV equipment. Most of his free time he spends tinkering with electronic in his garage or traveling to distant places.