Customer Reviews

Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I wanted the biggest set I could buy and fit into the built-in opening in our home (my wife's only requirement). I knew I would be paying extra for a Sony, but decided to make the plunge, since other 40" screens were several inches wider. This set is slim and atractive.

I have only had this set for a weeks and am still learning about it's many functions. My set is attached to cable, a blu-ray player for DVDs, and an older Denon A/V amp via S-Video for sound output.

Before buying, I researched features availble in a 40" LCD set in the store and on-line. This set led the pack in many ways. The picture is incredable. Plus, if you are into adjustments, you have a great deal of control over the picture settings. I have viewed in a highly lit room as well as in the dark. It's high contrast ratio makes it easy to watch in both situations. I can not detect the blurring, many LDCs suffer from in action sceans.

It packs all the latest video inhancements but most importantly, 120Hz, 24p. The built in speaker is even good, and makes a reasonable attempt at surround sound considerng it's is a single source speaker. Of course when hooked up to a A/V reciever, it makes movies come alive. I have not connected to a LAN yet, but am curious to try, soon.

It is loaded with input options (HDMI, LAN, USB, Composit, S-Video, etc). The only thing I would like to see is a more versitile USB port, so I could plug in a wireless reciever. This system has to be hard wired to a LAN. It would be nice if the computer input ports were on the side of the set, so it did not have to be pulled out to make these attachemnts.

The stand could be improved, it does not allow for any adjustment. It was not a big deal for me, since the set sits at eye level, but if it was sitting anywhere else, you would need to purchase an adjustable mount, which are axpensive for a set this size.

The manual is somewhat limited. There are many set-up options that are not full explained. I called Sony for a setup question. They answered fairly quickly. The first rep had me try several different things, but was not much help. Then he passed me on to the "blu-ray" expert, who answered my question in seconds.

Overall, this is a great set, I deffinately recommend it.

When the price of this Sony dropped to $1429, I jumped on it, when it launched it was $2299, not that long ago either.
I got my XRB-6 two days ago, the picture quality is amazing! I have never seen colors so vibrant and clear.
I must say though, like I read about clouding issues with other Sony sets, well to my disappointment, it's true, when the screen goes black, there are visible clouds, it's not really a big deal, but since I've been reading about this problem for some time, I would have expected Sony to correct it. Not sure if I'm going to keep this set or not, other than that it's close to perfection, just not sure I can live with this defect or not.
My previous set was a cheap Polaroid 37" 1080i, it had no clouding issues though, this problem seems to be exclusive to Sony.
Gonna try to adjust the settings, this set has many controls to adjust settings, and there is a control where you can reduce the backlight, which is what is causing this problem.
Right now though, I have very mixed feelings, I never had a problem with a Sony before, so I expect perfection.
Will update after I make the adjustments to see if it helps any.

Update: I made adjustments to the backlight control, if you lower the setting 3 levels, and turn the tv to power save mode, the clouding issues are mostly gone, but your overall picture is much darker, a trade off for getting rid of the clouds.
My clouding issues were not too bad, other owners reported clouding covering 50% or more of their screen, my clouding was minimal, sets with this problem seem to have different levels of clouding.
Bottom line, I've decided to keep the tv, the pros far outweigh this minor issue.
I can't help but wonder if the XBR-8 priced at 5 grand has this problem too.

Purchased the 40" Sony Bravia XBR6 LCD TV hoping that this newest release of the XBR series would be "mura" free. Mura is the technical term for a cloudy looking background image appearing on an LCD screen in dark or black scenes. The mura in the set I purchased covered a good 60% of the total area. Sony agreed to replace the LCD display panel after it was examined by a certified technician in our home. I decided NOT to go that route as the set was only one week out of the box and one month from its manufacture date. Besides, my research uncovered that the cost of the part was twice the cost of what I paid for the new set in the first place. Amazon customer service department and CEVA/Eagle shipping were both very professional and responsive to the problem, and I was promptly credited the full purchase price.

Since we've happily owned a 42" Sony plasma flat screen TV for three years now, we decided to stay with plasma technology. LCD technology has certainly improved over the years, but mura problems still exist, even in the newest models. BUYERS BEWARE - save ALL original packing materials for at least two weeks after your new set arrives. MURA DOES NOT SHOW UP IMMEDIATEY OUT OF THE BOX. Carefully examine the screen during "blackouts" on the screen; between commercials or channel changes. AND, sit low to the screen and look up at a slightly upward angle during the examination.

The XBR is more or less the "Mercedes" of the TV industry, while everyone else compares their product to the Sony, it remains the pinnacle of the LCD game. I looked at both the Samsung and the Sony, both were spectacular. In fact, Samsung makes the screen for the Sony, so it makes sense they are the same. Bottom line, there is simply more "coolness" to the Sony name.

The TV is great, but Amazon's white glove shipping stinks. I bought the product, and it sat on several docks for days, finally got through to the shipper, scheduled for Saturday. But guess what? no TV. Have to schedule multiple times - I guess free shipping implies "worthless". The drivers are late, never call back, and all you get is an answering service. I would have bought this product somewhere else if I had known....

We expected to be blown away by the Sony XBR6, especially since so many people rank it even with or better than the Samsung 750. And the picture is great - when you get all the adjustments fine tuned. The Steelers trouncing of the Browns game was gorgeous! We highly recommend it but with a few cautions:

- Not the set for the "set it and forget it" type. Many adjustments required but it is beautiful when you get done.
- Sound. We heard many complaints about the sound from LCD sets so picked the XBR6 specifically because it has an internal subwoofer. But we found the subwoofer made little difference even when set to maximum, especially if you put the TV in a cabinet where the sound gets trapped inside. We fixed this by hooking up an external powered subwoofer to the sound output jacks on the rear of the set. Made a phenomenal difference - I highly recommend this if you can't use a surround sound receiver. And you can't do it on the Samsung (see below).
- Network upgrades. Features are evolving fast on LCD TV's so we wanted one that had the Ethernet cable jack to download the latest firmware versions over time. But according to Sony customer support their website that checks for new firmware is down, and even if it was working you still have to do the upgrade by downloading it to your computer and moving it to the TV via the USB port. I think they are wrong but did not have time to debate it with them.
- Signal diagnostics. According to Sony customer support this option only tells you the signal strength of broadcast TV. The website and manual make you think it looks at each signal coming into the set to tell you what resolution it is, etc. Again, I think the support rep was wrong but not a big deal.
- Not all USB devices work with the XBR6 USB port. To Sony's credit they state this clearly in the manual, but it was still frustrating to move a lot of pictures to a USB drive and then not be able to view them on the TV.
- Digital Media Port. This seems to be a confused option. The reviews have way too many complaints about what works and what doesn't when using it to connect iPods, etc. So instead of using the DMP we bought the Apple iPod composite connection cable and it works very well - even when playing movies from the iPod.

Pros:
- Feature set. All the benefits of 120 Hz, 24p, higher contrast, etc., are real and work well on the XBR6. Be ready to turn the 120Hz off at times (motion enhancer) because it works so well movies can end up looking "artificially good" (soap opera looking is the term we heard). But turning it off and on is easy.
- Picture is more natural than Samsung. The Samsung 750 can be stunning in the store but the color intensity can actually be fatiguing when you get it home. You can adjust it, but we liked the natural color of the Sony XBR6 better. The "Vivid" mode on the Sony can still crank up the color when you want it.
- Variable sound output. The Samsung only has fixed sound output jacks. The Sony XBR6's can be set to be variable. This made it possible for us to feed a powered subwoofer and control the sound level at the same time as the TV speakers with the remote control. Very nice effect without the complexity of a full surround sound receiver set up.
- Slim design. The width of the frame around the screen is the smallest we saw. This enabled us to fit the 40" XBR6 into our exiting entertainment center. Also minimizes the frame when hanging the set on a wall. The Samsung frame is much wider and has that "touch of color" tinting that we think distracts from the TV screen.
- No "cloud" effect. Not sure what this is but other reviewers mentioned it. We had no problem.
- Many, many input jacks including USB, LAN, HDMI on the side, etc.
- Deals can be had. Shop! We originally paid $1700, which was the best deal at the time. Then got a price match to $1560 just before Christmas. But the final deal was the combination incentive with the Sony s550 Blu-ray disc player which put the set at just over $1000! (If you don't need the Blu-ray you can resell it easily for more than you pay in the combo deal.)

This TV set meets all my expectations in terms of video and sound quality. I subscribe to all 5 star reviews here. I haven't noticed any clouding or mura effect so far.

A few minor things to mention:

- the remote is a little long for my taste but it has everything it needs on it, even backlighting. Sometimes you need two hands to handle it which makes me look like my grandpa trying to find the keys on the remote.

- shipping company Manna, called to reschedule the delivery time and date at the time when they were supposed to knock at the door. Good thing it came in perfect condition.

- the TV is kind of hard to take out of the box, other brands have the fancy box that opens sideways. Sony, when you take it out you need to place it on the pedestal right away. You wouldn't want to put it on the floor sitting on the speakers which are directly attached to a glass panel.

This is a great product. No buyer's remorse here.

Oh, I almost forgot: Power consumption is a lot less than the 225W advertised. My P3 Kill a Watt monitor shows 80W when it's ON and 0.18W when it's OFF. I would be interested to see what others are showing.

Hey Gang,

The 40" XBR6 television is fantastic. I can't recommend it highly enough. After two weeks of ownership I can say with confidence that this was a great purchase. As a Sony buff I like the set's full integration with my laptop and camera. The deal now running on Amazon to throw in a matching Blu-Ray player is a steal.

I did a tremendous amount of research on Sony's HDTV product line and the price on this near high-end set caused me to bite. Moving up from vhs+dvd on a 20" WEGA tube set has been a revelation.

There are some hyper-critics out there who can find minor faults with this product but I'm not one of 'em. Blacks are deep and colors are vibrant. Sports are eye-popping. Even without cable or satellite service my programming is HD and amazing quality. Ditch cable and watch PBS in HD!

If you table mount this television I do recommend purchasing two accessories direct from sony: the support belt kit and the anchor bolt. Proper use of these prevent accidental tipping of the tall, top heavy set. Order these items via telephone in the US 800 488 7669, they cost under 11 bucks delivered, a tiny investment compared to the cost of the set.

By the way, a Blu-Ray player such as the s550 is essential pairing. Not only does Netflix now offer Blu-Ray selections, wow, but the player upscales DVD to the screen's native resolution to splendid effect.

Keep up the good work Sony!

Like many of you, I get a liitle obsessed when deciding on a tech purchase. I studied HDTV's intently from August to Christmas. I visited every store, read every review and kept watch of every forum. The three finalists were the Panasonic 800 series plasma, Samsung 650-850 series LCD and the Sony XBR6.

The Panasonic has great color reproduction and plasmas are far superior in off-angle viewing but the shiny screen and overall "dullness" of the picture requires that viewing is best in a darker room. The Samsung 650 offers good bang for the buck but the picture just seemed less realistic than the Sony. The Samsung 850 is thinner so the backlight is closer to the screen and creates a better picture than the 650. But the price is quite close to the Sony and the Sony still looks more realistic.

Samsungs are very vivid in their default setting. The colors "pop" but tend to look artificial. Of course you can change the settings and tone them down but the Sony XBR6 consistently looks more real. Samsungs also have the shiny screen and it does show reflections in even a moderately lit room.

I've had the 40" XBR6 for a few weeks now and it is fantastic! It looks even better now than it did the first week. Blu Ray is superb and HD cable looks great. ESPN in HD is amazing. Standard broadcast is also very good but you can't make a blanket statement about how a HDTV handles standard content. It all depends on the source. Some content looks great while others are blurry. It's not the TV's fault. The sound is excellent, no need for extra speakers. I have no clouding issues at all. The only knock on this TV, and all LCD TV's, is off-angle viewing. The colors wash out at a 45 degree angle but we watch this set head on so its not an issue.

I watch the TV from 12 feet away and its perfect. I had a 46" for a few weeks because the "experts" say 12 feet should be a 46-50" but it was too big. It was beautiful but it just overwhelmed us and we couldn't enjoy it. If you want a full home theater effect go bigger but if you don't want to be moving your eyes and head back and forth all the time get the 40".

If I could give the delivery a separate rating it would be 1 star. The TV started out from a warehouse only 400 miles away and it took 15 days to arrive. The tracking showed it just sitting in a warehouse 20 miles from me for three staight days. I wasnt given any contact info for CEVA so I had to complain to Amazon and get them to get CEVA on the ball. When the TV finally arrived the delivery men just set the box down and asked me to sign. I asked them if this is all they were going to do and they said "yes". So much for "White Glove" delivery. I've seen enough complaints about CEVA that Amazon should rethink it's relationship with them. At least provide contact info for CEVA in the very first email. Amazon has always been first-rate with me but this delivery was a joke.

Anyway, you don't need to waste 200 hours studying TV's like I did. (unless you secretly like to do that sort of thing!) Just buy the Sony XBR6. You'll love it!

I have waited almost 6 years to buy a TV and this TV was all worth the wait!! Not only the HDTV broadacat is beautiful but also the USB connection to view photos taken on the camera is absolutely fantastic! I was very impressed and totally happy with the TV. Thank you Sony for making this wonderful TV!

This tv is the best for the price!!!! I have been comparing for a new tv for a while now and this just amazed me, My comparison was towards the samsung ln40a750 to this sony xbr 6. Both Tv's shows upmost clarity, the external face is nice(i like the sony piano black, but meh) The awesome 120Hz on both. Even thought it is very similiar, what caught my eye was the price on the Sony XBR 6. i was amazed and got it on the spot becuase of its incredible price XD