Customer Reviews

Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I don't usually write alot of reviews, but I did a lot of research for this tv purchase. We were upgrading our family room tv from a 35in 720p toshiba tv. We were looking at the 52 inch mark, plasma vs lcd. In a quick review make sure you consider what room you will be placing your new tv into. You are about to spend big bucks make sure you are honest about where these tvs are going or you will be unhappy!
First Plasma vs LCD (This comes from my reading again at higher end plasma vs lcd at the $3000-4000 range 52in-61in)
Plasma
Good
-Clearly plasma edges lcd in contrast. If you are looking for the truest blacks plasma wins hands down
-Long life 80000+ viewing hours
-Some people complain of motion artifact in lcds. The "triple football" effect. Plasma does not seem to have this problem.
-Clearly cheaper than lcd at the 46in+ mark, Significantly cheaper if looking at the 60+ inch

Bad
-Heavy (don't think you are going to mount this baby on the wall yourself
-Screen reflection (Must be in a room with low light to no light to really enjoy) Great for dedicated movie room ...family room with windows not so much.
-Burn in for gamers---I think they are working on this but don't take a chance

LCDs
Good
Maybe not the best for true black, but truly excellent. You won't know unless you are a cnet reviewer.
Light- you can move this with your significant other
No chance of burn in
New 120hz refresh has made ghosting football effect no longer an issue
Now have big computer screen if you want to hook up a pc
No reflection from screen. Works well in rooms with light

Bad
If you are looking at 60+inch tv's the price is crazy for lcd--- go get a plasma or direct view
Not the truest of blacks if you must have the truest of true

Ok so that being said the sony xbr seemed like it fit the bill for me. I needed ~52inch, has to go in family room, must work with xbox/playstation. I also watch lots of football so I had to take that into consideration.

Armed with this I went out looking at tv's. LCD overall fit what I was looking for and as I said unless you are making a dedicated movie room go with lcd. As a note sony believes in lcd tech so much they stopped making plasma screens! Don't know if this is all that but sony usually knows their business.
So going out looking at 52 inch lcds you will run into a few choices---
Sony, Samsung, Toshiba, and Sharp.
Quickly I will note that toshiba and sharp are on the lower end. Less contrast, less hdmi inputs etc...however are usually less money! So be sure to look, but overall the samsung and sony tvs are far superior for a few hundred extra. So if you are reading this you are clearly looking at the xbr sonys. It really came down for me to Sony xbr4 vs the Samsung 71 series. These are really close or even almost the same tvs. The sony xbr4 has 3hdmi, 1:13000 contrast, and 120hz. The samsung 71 also 3hdmi, 120hz, but 1-25000 contrast. The contrast generally considered the amount of true black from the screen. Overall I would say that gave the edge to the samsung and if you read reviews you will see people raving about the samsung vs the sony xbr. However! and this is a big however! Samsung coats their lcd's with a coating that does have a moderate amount of reflection. I have no idea why as this killed it for me. And I am serious that you need to think about the lights in your room. If you have any windows or lights if front of the tv that is what you will be seeing in a plasma or samsung. It will drive you nuts! There is no NO reflection from the xbr4. So ultimately I purchased the xbr4 from amazon. The picture is amazing from my hd tivo to bluray, hd dvd, and standard is well standard. Although numbers say the samsung is better in the real world you will not notice the difference. So I am happy to say this is a five star tv.

Also of note:
Sony offers the xbr5 version of this tv. $400 for a piano gloss black rim. Not worth it to me for plastic.
Samsung also offers an 81 series, with 1:500000, and increased backlights. They are about 1G more than the 71 series and xbrs and if you are looking at high end plasmas, I would take a look at these too. However, same reflective coat.

Decide this isn't for you and want to go plasma... Well I looked at that too. Stick to Panasonic and Pioneer and you can't go wrong. Pioneer kuros hands down the best plasma to date!!!!
Good luck

PS-----I didn't have any problems with amazon white glove. TV was purfect. I was called and two guys unpacked with no problem, even helped move the other tv.

I love Amazon for allowing these reviews, they could censor them to edit out info about other companies and competing sources, but they don't. These reviews have helped me immeasurably in choosing the right TV and other items, so I'm posting this so others can likewise be helped by my experience.

We researched LCDs and Plasma TVs for one whole year, and we agree with most other reviewers who report that the new Samsung and Sony 46" and 52" LCD-TVs are the best. Up to this point Consumer Reports had placed the 50" Panasonic at number 1, but that is last years models. I'm confident that when they rate all the new models this and other Sony and Samsungs will be at the top of the list.

We visually compared all the latest models and every time we found the same thing: that the best HD picture was with the Sony (#1) and the Samsung (#2). The Sony had slightly better clarity and sharpness and color, and sound, and the Samsung had slightly brighter whites. We even created our own little weighted feature comparison chart, and when cost was considered, these two makes came out almost exactly the same.

You can tell by the reviews that many more people purchase (the 46" & 52") Samsung instead of the Sony. That is because the Samsung costs so much less, and goes on sale at a higher discount. The Sony is the best of the two, but the Samsung is the best value because of the price. We even compared them with the 50" Panasonic and the highly respected Kuro Pioneer 50" sets, and the Sony and Samsung came out ahead.

Conventional wisdom says that Plasma TVs have better market share, prices, blacks, contrast, and are generally speaking a little better than LCD TVs, but when comparing these two LCD brands (Samsung & Sony) with various Plasmas in regard to overall color, contrast, brightness, and clarity, our opinion is that the Plasmas have now met their match, and then some when all aspects of HD-TVs are considered.

Some reviewers have said that the automatic volume control (IMHO, a much needed feature) does not work on the Samsungs or on the Sonys. I can't confirm that this is true in regard to the Sony, because we use the Sony with a surround sound (Onkyo) system which automatically disables the TV speakers and the Steady Sound feature which only works when the TV speakers are being used.

last years TVs (even the Sonys) had relatively poor Standard Definition, but the newer 120 hz models with the faster refresh rate have excellent HD quality and VERY good SD quality. Some people like a glossy screen (like glossy photos) it seems to make the picture look deeper or better, but if you have a lot of light or windows in your TV room, then the Sony is for you. It has a coating that almost makes reflection a non-issue. And the Sony backlight automatically adjusts itself in bright / dark rooms.

We bought Onkyo HT-SP908 7.1 Channel Home Theater System, speaker stands, a Playstation 3 to play Blu-ray HD DVDs, a couple of the recommended Monster 1000 HDMI cables, and a wall bracket to mount the TV on the wall later.

So if you want the BEST PICTURE without regard to price- buy the SONY. If you want the BEST VALUE for your money - buy the SAMSUNG!

I previously owned a Samsung 46 inch LCD with 720p resolution and sold that to get something bigger and better. I mention that to set the context that I am used to HD TV and the picture quality.

I was not expecting that the picture would be noticeably better than a TV from last year but I was wrong. Having looked at every 52 inch LCD and many 46 inch LCDs it was clear that this and the Samsung 120Hz TV are the best at the moment. I went for this Sony and I am thrilled at how great the picture is. On HD TV it is very satisfying. Running off an HD DVD player (yes 1080p), the picture is breathtaking. The Planet Earth HD DVDs are incredible (the BBC full version). If you are hesitating as I was then I can only say that if you take the plunge and buy this then there will be no regrets regarding picture quality. The Samsung is also superb. If you see no difference between the picture on this in the store and something cheaper then save your money.

-update- after 3 months I am equally stunned by the picture, this is one of the best purchases I have ever made. To see a breathtaking image quality try Hot Fuzz on HD DVD.

First off let me say that I have been researching HD TV's for the past 6 months. At first I was interested in DLP's because of the price. I soon realized that I wanted a TV that I could see at any angle. Ok so I started researching Plasmas!

After deciding to purchase a Pioneer Elite Pro-FHD1 1080p 50" Plasma I went to the store and compared it to a LCD. Not a LCD at all but THE LCD.... The Sony Bravia XBR KDL-52XBR4 52" 1080p. They were side by side and although the Pioneer's picture was amazing, the Sony left me speechless. The picture was so vivid, bright and sharp. I didn't buy the TV that day but instead went to another store and compared the same TV to others. It was mounted on the wall along with 8 other Plasma's and LCD's (Samsung, Toshiba, and Pioneer). It was by far the best TV up there but was almost the most expensive. I gave it a lot of thought and decided this was the TV that I had to have. I bought it that day along with a Tilting wall mount and an Onyko 7.1 surround sound.

When I got home, I took the TV out of the box and immediately plugged it up and was impressed. It was a few days before I had my Satellite installed. I currently have a DirecTV HD Receiver, PS3, Xbox 360 and an Onyko 7.1 Surround Sound all hooked up via HDMI. The picture is amazing in every aspect. I use the Sony Playstaion 3 for High Definition movies with Blu Ray which is great. You really can tell a difference! The movements are so fluid it almost looks fake if you aren't used to it. The games on the PS3 and Xbox 360 are great and of course with LCD there is no Image Retention (Burn In)!! So you can sit there for hours playing with no worries. The HD channels of course look great. The SD channels are above average. The key I've found to making the SD picture better is changing the video mode with your remote control from "Full" to "Wide Full" which basically cuts out the white boxes to the left and right of the SD picture and it fills up the entire screen. Regular DVD's also look very very good on this TV. Sometimes they look almost like they are Blu Ray in some scenes.

The sound is extremely good as well. I use surround sound like I stated above but sometimes I listen to the speakers on the TV and they are great.

Bottom Line: This TV is absolutely amazing and even better if it's mounted on the wall. I would highly recommend this TV if you have the money to spend on a quality product. You know you're getting a great TV when you buy Sony. My parents own a Sony TV that they bought over 10 years ago and it still works fine! Treat yourself and get this Bravia!

We've been enjoying our Sony KDL52XBR4 for about a week now, and we've never been hooked like this before. HDMI cables (these make the wirings much simpler!) attach our TV to a Pioneer Elite Receiver, Samsung BD1200 Blu-Ray Player and ComCast HD Cable Box. The surround sound is provided by the new MB Quart Alexxa (ALX6.5IW and ALX8.0IC) speakers system. The first Blu-Ray Disc we played is "Planet Earth" - and even though this is a documentary film, we can sit there all day just stunned by every image we see and every little sound we hear. Everything seems to just pop out like real! We LOVE this TV!

I decided on the 52" XBR4 after comparing different sets including the Sony 52W3000, Samsung 5271 & 5281, Sharp 82 & 92 and Mitsubishi 244 'Diamond.' I finally pulled the trigger on the XBR4 based on a couple things: truest colors I could find, amazing picture quality, the least amount of artifacts or "jutter" I could find, cosmestics and the non-glare screen.

The XBR4 has a 120Hz refresh rate, compared to most sets 60Hz refresh rate and not to be confused with Sharp's '120Hz frame rate conversion'which is not the same. A 120Hz refresh rate, basically, in a tiny, tiny nutshell is this-most sets refresh the image on the screen every 1/60 of a second. A set with 120Hz refresh rate obviously does that fast, twise as fast, interpolating a frame, along with the original one, in the time it takes a 60Hz set to display a single frame. Along with "Motion Enhancer" turned on, it creates a much smoother picture, depending on the signal-SD or HD. In my opinion, sometimes it's great, sometimes it's not so great. Either way it's a nice touch to have available.

The XBR4 does a great job with SD, but a fantastic job with HD content. HD DVDs and Blu-Ray discs along with my XBOX 360 are jaw dropping. While I was in stores comparing I thought it was a close contest between the XBR4 and the Sammy 71 Series, but after I got it home, and compared it to my friends 71 Series, I feel confident that I got the best set on the market.

All in all, if you are on the fence about this set, I'd say go for it, you won't be sorry. Most high-end sets are really close in comparison, the Sony XBR4/5s, Sammy 71/81s, Sharp 82/92s, etc. it all comes down to preference and opinion. Some people swear that the Samsungs look better, some thinks Sharps look better, Some Sonys. It's all preference and opinion. I was a little worried that maybe I had made the wrong decision when I first ordered it, but whe I got it, saw it in my home and compared it to other flat panels that friends have, I'm the leader of the pack among my friends and our LCD flat panels.

We have got this XBR 52 for super bowl at the nick of time.Though my team lost it,I am going to keep it anyway.

We also spent lot of time figuring out which one to buy but finally my wife really liked this is TV for picture quality as well as the unique look with floating glass.

I have ordered it thru Amazon and got it delivered at third day to home.It does not hurt to live close by to Amazon warehouse.(25 miles from my place).The delivery was great and put the TV where I want them to put it.Also offered to take the package material out.

After setting up the TV with our Time warner cable box, the Hi-Def channels worked great.Any channel that came in 1080i really worked like charm. But any other channel looked really horrible. In fact, my wife started asking me to return this TV as it was not all good.

Based on my research on avsforum and hdguru reviews, I found that factory default settings sucks. The vivid setting really kills standard-def channels.There is a thread called 52XBR4 owners thread in avsforum which have calibration setting for my cable box with the tv. I setup my tv as per that data, WOW -it made a huge difference. Those changes really brought this TV alive.

So far it has been working really good. I have not seen any blurred images so far since I watch lot of sports on this tv.

Hope this review helps and putting the url.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=893076

I returned Samsung FPT5084 because of the buzzing noise it makes and got this Sony instead. The Sony has amazing pictures especially when playing blu ray movies. TV setup is easy and works perfectly with 1080p, 1080i or 720p signals. There is a white flashing line on the top sometimes when I get 480i analog signals, but that's not a problem since I watching almost all digital channels.
The reasons I didn't give it a 5 star are:
1. Price: very expensive.
2. No swivel base.
3. No USB or SD card input.

The comparable much cheaper Samsung has all three, but Samsung picture is not quite as good.

We bought our first Sony LCD around this time last year. We needed to replace our aging SONY 27" tube that served us well for many years. After researching and trips to the "Big Boxes" we decided on the Sony KDL-32XBR1. My husband was able to remove the tambour doors on our living room entertainment center and it just barely fit. It arrived from Crutchfield with the "white glove service". We were amazed immediately at the picture quality and our friends described the picture as "3D like". That was the beginning.........

That 32" was primarily for me (I have my own DVR and tastes). My poor husband felt deprived having to watch programs on our old 36" Sony tube located in our family room (we also have a DVR in this room). So, being an understanding wife, I agreed to let him order a Sony KDL-40XBR2 (this time from Amazon). Our friends also were impressed at the picture quality, however, thought it was not quite large enough for that room. I agreed and suggested to my husband that we put a corner direct vent fireplace in our bedroom and move the 40" above it and get a 52" for our family room. So, two weeks ago, we ordered, again from Amazon, and we are now enjoying our 3rd Sony LCD!

We both agree that this KDL-52XBR4 is the best of all! The viewing area is much more applicable to the large 15' X 24' family room (for around $38,000 you can get a 70" ha ha!). But this 52" is great! This set also has "motionflow", a 120 HZ refresh rate that gets rid of the image "smearing" sometimes visible on fast action sports.

We have never regretted spending the "extra" dollars on Sony. We are very, very pleased.

NOTE: If you do order from Amazon, check back for price changes. Amazon will honor and refund the price difference for 30 days from date of purchase.

I got the 52XBR4 during thanksgiving last year. Within a day after installation I saw a 3 inch vertical line in the middle of the screen which had tinge of green and blue colors. THe line got bigger within the thanksgiving break. Fortunately I got a replacementTV as it was within days of purchasing. Now within two months, my replacement TV has the same problem. Everyday the line grows by an inch or more and the vertical line covers 3/4th height of my screen. Now I am dealing with local Sony service center. The local center said several customers are facing the issue too on the same model and there is a backorder for the replacement LCD screens. I saw a similar problem posted by another customer on internet who bought it during Christmas last year.

I do like the video quality and the reason I bought Sony is because my prior two TVs were Sony and never had a single issue in the last 10 years. The problems I am seeing seems to be systematic, but then there are several reviews here and none of them have seen pixel issues with their TV, that is why I wonder if it is only the Nov/Dec Sony shipments that have these problems.