Customer Reviews

Sony BRAVIA XBR Series KDL-52XBR9 52-Inch 1080p 240 Hz LCD HDTV, Black

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

This is a very impressive TV. It replaces a 34-inch Sony WEGA tube-based high-def television that I bought in 2003, and I have an XBR6 in another room.

Picture quality is very good. I'm not an expert and won't quibble about technical details. All I know is that I can see the makeup that doesn't completely cover the news anchor's face, and I can examine his dental work. That's probably more than I really need to see. :-) The picture seems to pop out into the room, and that effect is enhanced by the TV's narrow frame. There's a little bit of what I guess is called "mura" when there is no picture on the screen, but it's hardly noticeable and vanishes completely when a picture appears, even if the picture doesn't occupy the entire screen. Not an issue at all.

Sound quality is also very good. I use a separate speaker and amp system if I'm watching something where sound is especially important, but the built-in speakers here serve their purpose quite well and are amply adequate for routine use.

For me the most interesting thing is the ethernet connection, though this is not for browsing the 'net. Sony is still in the process of updating its internet presentation, but I have used the TV to download high-definition movies from Amazon, and it worked very well. Some competition in that space would be useful. Why no NetFlix access? (8/4/09: After an automatic software update last night there's a NetFlix logo and a message that NetFlix access will be available in the fall.)

With movies and TV programs available from Amazon and others, with the Bravia's expanding internet access, and with local broadcast stations offering multiple digital channels with different content, this TV could compete with cable and DirecTV. DirecTV's limited selection of pay per view movies just cannot compare to this. Also, the increasing capability for "a la carte" purchase of program episodes currently available only through DirecTV (or other cable or satellite providers) will reduce the value of my monthly subscription. Really has made me consider my DirecTV subscription.

The XBR9 can retrieve photographs (or music or movies) from my computer via my home ethernet network, or from a flash drive plugged into a USB port, so I'll be able to make lots of people view my photographs and slide shows! (Of course, seeing your photos on this screen in superb color and detail will necessitate another visit to Amazon to upgrade your collection of photography paraphernalia.)

One little quibble: there's a panel of switches located on the right side at exactly the position where I put my hand to move the TV on its mount (Amazon shows an image). Sure would have been thoughtful of Sony if they could have provided some kind of protective device to make it a little harder to accidentally flip one of those switches when I'm trying to adjust the position of the TV.

Finally, and this is important: I installed it using a Sanus wall mount Sanus Systems VMAA26B Universal Articulating Mount with Extended Reach for 30" to 50" Displays (Black). The TV has a lot of mass, and if the cables reach their limit while the TV is still moving, something has to give. So be careful to leave enough slack in the connecting cables to allow the TV to move freely throughout its range. That's especially important with the coaxial antenna cable that screws into its connection and can't merely be pulled out, but it seems possible that you could also damage other connectors, including the HDMI connections.

Length:: 5:53 Mins

I hope you enjoy the review.

I wish I could show the TV's image quality better, it is amazing.

Please provide feedback, I'd love to hear from you if you liked
the video or wanted to see something I may have missed.

I bought the 52" XBR9 based on rave reviews (both consumer and professional) but I am sadly disappointed in it.

The picture quality is as good as you'd expect for an HDTV these days but the black level and backlighting are a let down. It gets pretty dark but not as black as I expected from a Sony XBR in this price range. The back lighting is this TV's major flaw though. It is VERY noticeable. You can always see the backlights shining down from the top two corners in any dark scene of a Blu-Ray movie or in the letterbox bars. The backlight is also very non-uniform. In any dark scene or during a black transition you can see splotches of light scattered across the screen. It becomes quite noticeable when the camera pans across a dark room and you see the backlight splotches staying in place as the image on the screen moves around.

I don't want to sound too negative because I haven't compared this TV to anything else this size so I don't know if there is a better TV in this price range. And the XBR9 has a lot of cool features such as the internet widgets and the Digital TV Guide (which is great for people with basic cable like me because it is essentially like having a digital cable box with a guide and program information built in) NOTE: everthing about the image quality mentioned in this review was based off of viewing Blu-Rays or Xbox360 through HDMI input, not basic cable. The 240HZ MotionFlow produces incredibly smooth, life-like images that truly look real, though I prefer to leave it turned off and preserve the "film" look of movies.

The Sony XBR9 is a fine HDTV with nice features and good picture quality but I can't help feeling a little disappointed with the black level and backlight performance.

I replaced my 42" XBR Plasma Wega with this new model and believe me when I say that I LOVED my Plasma but it cannot hold a candle to the new XBR 9. The picture quality from any source just looks great. From cable shows to movies played on my PS3 the images just pop out of the screen. I did have my doubts about how well the XBR 9 would handle the fast action of sports or fast moving images but its just truly amazing how crisp the action looks with none of the 'smear' that I expected from a LCD TV. I read a previous review about how the Black was not Black enough, which I don't understand, with all the options on preset and custom settings I'm sure you can manipulate the picture to your hearts content. And I see none of the 'splotches' of lights in dark scenes or any other strange visual anomaly on my screen. Also this set has many input options, you'll be hard pressed to use all the inputs on the TV, 4 of them are HDMI. If you're looking to upgrade or get your first HD TV look no further - this is it. Well worth the price.

Just a quick note on the delivery -- I ordered the TV on a Sunday night and by early Wednesday morning I was watching it.

Edit--- After having the XBR9 for a couple of weeks I have noticed that there are some 'splotches' of light on the corners after a couple of hours of viewing, its very soft but it is there. It's only noticeable when the screen goes dark. It can be distracting to some but Im satisfied with the overall performance of the TV.

I bought a LN52A750 for 1260, enjoyed the TV for two weeks and loved it. Two weeks later I found KDL52XBR9 was on sale for 1600; couldn't refuse the deal and got it PMed in local BB.

Put them side by side and watched Land of Lost Blu-ray for the night. I found myself liked Sony better for the shadow details in my dark home theater setup. Here is my 2 cents:

1. Samsung has better black which leads to more 3-D pop looking. This means it has to sacrifice some shadow details to gain it, at least for the A750 model.

2. The default for both of these TVs is meant to be brought up in a brighter room (like in the retail store, and yes Samsung would look stunning). The out of box default make Samsung un-watchable in my HT setup since it was to bright to begin with. Sony does the same but just a touch better. You'll have to adjust the TV' settings to fit your room's viewing condition.
I used the settings people posted online for exact set for each TV as a starting point, and found myself like Sony much better for the eye constrain (Samsung is still too high of contrast and hard to get it adjust to show shadow detail w/o losing the 3-D pop). Don't get this wrong, I loved my 2 weeks old Samsung but had to let it go for Sony (just my personal preference).

One thing I do notice is the Sony's `Theater' mode does exhibit very poor motion (mottle /blotchy) when it in dark scene, just simply too much enhancement. This match to what the negative commends I found online in regards to this TV. However, I don't use the Theater mode. Instead I tweak and stay with the Custom mode and didn't see the motion problem since.

Here are the settings I used for this Sony TV (credit to hometheatermag dot com:

Picture Adjust menu

Picture Mode Custom
Backlight 1
Picture 93
Brightness 51
Color 47
Hue 0
Color Temperature Warm 2
Sharpness Min
Noise Reduction Off
MPEG Noise Reduction Off
Motionflow Standard
CineMotion Auto 1
Advanced Settings
Black Corrector Off
Adv. Contrast Enhancer Off
Gamma 0
Auto Light Limiter Off
Clear White Off
Wide Color Standard
Live Color Off
White Balance

R-Gain -1
G-Gain -5
B-Gain -4
R-Bias -3
G-Bias -1
B-Bias -3

Hope this helps.

Good TV overall, but falls a little short of greatness. This set is replacing a 50" Sony Projection LCD (720p) TV. I wanted something smaller and newer so voila.
First of all, the item came quickly and was well packaged from Amazon. I am impressed by the look of the TV itself, the double edge bevel is classy - as are the down/rear firing speakers.
After calibrating the TV ([...] and getting everything hooked up via. HDMI, the picture is overall excellent. I am impressed by the Motionflow smoothness, and also the depth of colors and how true they are. Watchmen looks great, as does PlanetEarth, or even regular HDTV shows. PS3 games look good as well, the refresh rate is solid! Standard def (~480) looks ok, but then it looks ok in general. I am also impressed by the built in speakers, they sound good and the rear/side firing tweeters help to give a better surround presence. Glare isn't much of an issue either, which is nice.

So why not 5 stars? Well the TV is close to 5 stars, but two things kept it from being the best of the best. First of all, the screen has some uniformity issues on pure blacks. There are some lighter "splotches" on the corners that are noticeable in very-dark (nearly all black) scenes. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but when you have horizontal bars or a night scene (ex. The Dark Knight Blu Ray) it is a little disappointing. I'm over it, but it did bug me at first. These issues aren't as bad when viewing the TV straight on I've noticed. More than about 45 degrees off angle, tho, and the become more noticable, tho not a deal breaker IMHO.
Secondly the Bravia interactive content is so-so. I am curious as to how the NetFlix material will be. Otherwise, whats on it now seems mostly like clips and previews. I'll stick to Comcast OnDemand and BluRays for the time being... I hope newer content and an expansion of services makes the feature a bigger boon in the future.

Overall an excellent TV, but the uniformity/streaming content are a slight demerit. That said, it's overall an excellent set, but not perfect. The Sony XBR7 LED LCD does not appear to have these problems, but it has it's own big problem - price! I'm sure in 5 or so years I'll want the newest (insert technology) anyhow! Might as well enjoy this train for now!

Internet TV works great! No more messing up with extra boxes, connecting PC to TV or any such stuff. This box just works! You can copy HD movie (.mp4 in h264 format) to a thumb drive (or usb hard drive), plug it straight into the TV (side usb2 port) and it plays it! No other TV can beat that. And with direct access to the internet, you can watch so much stuff. Selection of for-pay movies in Amazon is very good, much more than on Comcast on-demand. Picture is awesome as well!

Here's my story, hope someone can learn from my tragic mistake. Furthermore, I just realized the LCD panel is actually made by Samsung NOT Sony. If you buy a Sony TV; why is the LCD Panel (the most important and expensive part of the TV) is made in Korea by Samsung. The picture might be good but how long will it last.....for me it only lasted 1 year and 4 months. Also If you do a simple search on Amazon you will find that Amazon does not sell Sony XBR LCD TV directly anymore since I guess they have so many complaints from their customers on the Sony LCD TV. Go ahead look and see you can find Amazon selling Sony XBR LCD TV directly...Amazon actually refer you to another brand like LG or other brands when you are looking any Sony XBR LCD TVs.....and my Full Story below:

5/9/2010- I brought the Sony XBR series TV on Amazon about 1 year and 4 months ago and now the TV have failed. The picture quality was amazing until just yesterday the picture started to degrade and now it has green clouds and rainbows all over the pictures. I just call the Sony authorize tech service from they said it will cost me $75 for the in house service since it's out of warranty. They also said that if it's the LCD panels has failed then it would cost as much as the TV itself. This is my first LCD from Sony but I have 3 other Sony TVs- 1 30" Sony CRT, 1 47" XBR rear projection and 1 65" XBR rear projection TV. All the previous Sony TVs had no problem at all and I am still using the 65" rear projection TV. What happen to Sony's quality and reliability product? I guess it went to the same place as other first rated Japanese products like Toyota. They are just too busy on cutting cost and lower their reliabilities so they can rack in the billion dollars profit. So if you like the picture quality of Sony TVs; be advice to buy their extended warranty. I wish I did because if the LCD panel failed then my LCD TV is just a big 52" black picture frame hanging on the wall. If you really, really have to get a Sony XBR LCD TV then I would recommend to get 5 years extended warranty plan for $299-it will save you a lot of frustration. And after 5 years, you will probably do a upgrade anyway.

5/11/2010 update: Today the tech came and verified that the LCD panel has gone bad after 1 year and 4 months of service. In the tech's own words-the panel is a factory defect since it should not failed after just a little over a year of service and that I should call Sony and see they will reimburse the cost of the panel. I am so disappointed on the product since I did not just buy any Sony TV but the top of the line XBR series TV. I called Sony and told them the whole story but they just told me to fax all the documents -receipt and repair cost to Sony and they will evaluate it. I will wait and see what happen - but at this point I am really disappointed and frustrated with the whole thing! :-(

Update: 5/13/2010-Just received a call from Sony "Customer Relations" today. It's official-Sony don't stand behind their products. They will not pay for the cost of their defective LCD panel since it's out of warranty (1 year) after 1 year and 4 month of service. They just lost a loyal customer. No more Sony products in my house. Sony customer relations representative even has the nerve to offer me $900 reimbursement on a $$3517.75 repair cost. That's right-I will have to pay $2617.76 to fix my $2018.88 LCD TV. So if you buy a Sony TV and you have a defective LCD panel after 1 year of use then you can just throw that TV in the trash because Sony will tell you go F yourself and trash the TV. Good luck on buying a Sony LCD TV because you going to need it-and looks like from my research, I am not the only customer that have a defect LCD panel after 1 year. In fact, the LCD panel is not even made by Sony but Samsung made in Korea. Samsung LCD Panels have notoriously for premature failure of their LCD panels. So no more Sony LCD for me or should I say Samsung LCD TV ....

This tv has the best picture I have ever seen on a tv. Movies on Blu-Ray or cable are awesome. With 240hz motion-flow, action is totally smooth. There are easily accessible adjustments for everything, including "level-sound" to keep the commercials from being 4 times as loud as the show, "voice zoom" so old people like me can hear the dialogue over the mood music, and any aspect of the picture (as if the default settings weren't perfect.) The internet widgets which let you pull up favorites like weather, videos, your pictures, etc. with a usb cable or ethernet bridge are really nice and I think I'll like them even better when AT&T gets U-Verse in my neighborhood with all kinds of internet features on tv. It has a lot of other features, but this is what I like best about it. It is easily my favorite tv, ever.

Had the TV for about a week. Was quick and great delivery with a very good price from amazon.com (direct). Price was lower than the 52XBR6 or 52XBR7

The picture is amazing. I have not seen any of the black ghosting. 240mhz appears to work well on sports. NBA Finals and Stanley cup were/are incredible.

Internet features are nice too.

Only con is speakers are on back of TV. Not bad sound, but I will be hooking to a home theater system, which completes the HD experience.

This TV is highly recommended!