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• Sony BRAVIA XBR KDL-52XBR4 52" LCD TV

• Price Range

  $2799.95 - $3095.0
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• Specs • Add Your Review

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  • RATING
• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: mesaros

  Updated:01-09-08

  Duration of ownership:1

  Strengths: This is a great picture, easy to use TV

  Weaknesses: Price was very high compared to other LCD. Hopefully, it will last a long time

  Overall Evaluation: This is a great TV. I looked at LCD's in a brick and mortar store and could see the picture on the xbr really stood out. We set it up quickly - it's pretty light!The picture is very bright, sharp, and clear. It looks good even in the bright daylight of our living room. Watched a movie the first night!! DirecTV hasn't yet come through with completing my order for HD broadcast, but the regular signal is amazing.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: pramod111

  Updated:12-18-07

  Duration of ownership:10 Days

  Strengths: SONY Quality and reliability

  Weaknesses: Higher Price compared to others. I bought it knowing this was pricey, hoping that it is going to last forever like it's tube cousins that still look new to this day after 20 years!!

  Overall Evaluation: This is a beautiful TV. We really like the size of the TV and trust that the SONY name will be reliable for us as it has been in the past. The HD picture is incredibly sharp! Old DVD's have a new life, even at 480P res. into Component inputs which I did not have before.

• Overall Rating
  3 Star Review

  Reviewed by: Consumer3

  Updated:12-14-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Excellent Picture. But many other of the major manufacturers also have highly refined and brilliant picture.

  Weaknesses: Price is ridiculously high. Other leading manufacturers of the 1080p LCD television have at least brought their pricing into context.

  Overall Evaluation: Sony must show the willingness to become at least some what competitive. Because the truth is that there are many highly qualified 1080p LCD televisions that also are very impressive in this market. My Grandfather once said Pigs get fat, Hogs get slaughtered.Keeping the other high quality manufacturers in consideration, Sony's stance regarding their pricing is one out of context with the market.We are not buying and looking at a name, we are buying and viewing the splendid images of our television. If one can get the high quality and save $1000.00, then that is exactly what the consumer in 2007/2008 will do. I sure can enjoy the other items I can buy with that extra money.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: seym20

  Updated:12-02-07

  Duration of ownership:10 Days

  Strengths: 3 1.3 HDMI inputs. Bright Colorful Picture, and fast refresh for fast motion

  Weaknesses: Non so far

  Overall Evaluation: We compared many flat panel LCD tv's before selecting the sony bravia. Our main concern was the clarity and richness of the picture when viewing Hd broadcasts. Sony's colors compared to the Samsung or Sharp lcd's were more saturated, and had richer blacks. The multiple HDMI inputs are a plus, but mostly being 1.3 version compatible was important as my av receiver is 1.3 hdmi compatible and we will get the most color information currently available. I think the speakers on the Sony are adequate, but I use my receiver to broadcast sound so it is really N/A for me. The look of this set is sharp, modern and looks good in the room. Being a 52" set this is important as it is the biggest thing in the room. Setup was easy. Right out of the box this thing started right up with no picture adjustments needed. One quick cable plug in and we were rolling. So far I have had no need to adjust the picture controls. All in all, we are thrilled with this purchase. Especially on College football day.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: marc_sloan

  Updated:12-02-07

  Duration of ownership:10 Days

  Strengths: everything

  Weaknesses: none

  Overall Evaluation: I have only one problem with sonys. I am running out of rooms to put the old ones I have a 32inch 1994 sony xbr 2, it still performs as it did 13 years ago. My sony xbr 960 is outstanding, it performs as it did the day I got it. I presume the bravia xbr 4 will supercede the two I have refrenced. Great products , expensive but not over the long term. Real value is buying a Sony

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: rbc24123

  Updated:11-26-07

  Duration of ownership:1 Months

  Strengths: Well-built (hey...it's a Sony!), decent remote, extensive menu options.

  Weaknesses: 120Hz MotionFlow Engine tends to overcompensate, making action movies look more TV like (30FPS) than film (24FPS).

  Overall Evaluation: I wavered between quite a few TVs before deciding on this one (ultimately, my decision was between the Samsung 52" 71F series and the Sony KDL-52XBR4).I am definitely NOT a Sony fanboy. I should note that I've owned Sony TVs for the last 10 years and swore I'd never pay that much for a TV again (or ever want to move a Sony again...they can be hea-vy!). I thought they were good TVs, but didn't feel like the Sony name was enough to justify the extra $ (and believe me, with the Sony name, you'll usually pay extra $!).Having said that, I looked long and hard at other brands for similar/better features and build quality.The Sharp Aquos 52" 92U had a great menuing system (aesthetically), but didn't have features I'd want to adjust. The Toshiba Regza Cinema 52" was nice, but didn't handle fast motion as well as the Sony (though it didn't give the movie any extra edge enchancement as a result of its 120Hz engine, which I liked). I didn't like Philip's AmbiLight (too distracting) and felt like LG's set wasn't a good picture compared to the competition (at least, not for the $ they're asking for it). Visio's 52" was ok, but was, like the LG, not as good as the others on my list.In the end, I had the Sony and the Samsung side-by-side. After a quick in-store recalibration (never trust the in-store setup on any TV), I started making notes. We watched Transformers, Corpse Bride and Planet Earth in HD and/or Blu-ray (I had the sales guy connect a Toshiba HD DVD and Sony Blu-ray players via HDMI straight to each TV). The Samsung had good color (aided somewhat by the glossy glass on their panel), but it didn't handle greyscaling as well as the Sony. The Sony was more vivid and handled blacks better than the Samsung (though the blacks still aren't DLP/Plasma quality...st00pid backlighting...maybe OLED TVs will handle this in the future). In some scenes in both Transformers and Corpse Bride, the Samsung struggled with image consistency (brightness uniformity, contrast) where the Sony excelled. Though I couldn't confirm this, the Sony seemed to handle 1080p/24 better than the Samsung. Chalk one up for Sony.The Sony's menus are extensive (read exhaustive...read overwhelming). If you want to adjust it, it's probably in there. While going through the calibration, we noticed subtle menu changes would dramatically alter how the picture looked, so be careful changing your settings...you could end up thinking the Sony sux, when really it's a simple fix via the menu. This could either be seen as a good point or a bad point (if you like control, good; if you hate menus with 713,478,923,015 choices, bad). I didn't mind the Samsung's menu system, but it didn't have modern look and feel (transparent graphics with faded edging, decent fonts, etc.) the Sony menus have.As I stated in the weaknesses area above, I like the MotionFlow engine, but not for everything. For some movies, it can drive the sharpness on edges crazy high, giving the movie a weird look (which some people like...I didn't, though). I've adjusted the Cinema and Motion settings so that I still get crisp action sequences without artficial sharpness enchancement, so I keep it turned on. (NOTE: if you don't like it, don't bother wasting your $ on getting the new XBR4...you'll end up hating it and turning it off, wishing you'd saved $ byb buying last year's model that didn't have it).I like that it has a DB-15 VGA connector. I've hooked it to my laptop and opened PhotoShop with some pix from my Nikon and zoomed in.... I seriously think the Sony handles color more accurately than my calibrated monitor. I'm thinking I'll hook a Mac Mini to it in the future permanently and use the Sony/Mac setup as a 2nd PC for the family room on my network (great for displaying pix and having as a central computer, where I can monitor what the kids are doing on the web).The remote control is nice, albeit not as cutting edge as I'd like (maybe a more rounded, hourglass shape a la Logitech?). Also, for a TV this $, I'd like a color display on the remote. One last touch would be for Sony to include an HDMI cable in the box...wouldn't be much more to Sony's bottom line and would be a nice addition.Overall, I'm very happy with my Sony. I got a fair deal ($3475 out the door from a large box retailer here in my town). My wife, who has no A/V experience at all, even comments that our standard def. DVD movies look dramatically better.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: PGTimbo

  Updated:11-26-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Great Picture LCD - no issues with glare or room brightness

  Weaknesses: Settings out of the box are very bad. High Price

  Overall Evaluation: So far, I love this TV. If you get this TV make sure you change the default settings so that you get the best picture! I used the settings/calibrations provided in the avsforum and am very happy. LINK: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=893076 I feel like many sales people tried to push me to plasmas that were similar sized and similar priced - but for me the glare on plasmas (even plasmas that are supposed to not have much glare) pushed me back to LCD. If you can get this TV in the low 3k - there is no comparison.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: vtranism

  Updated:11-26-07

  Duration of ownership:3 Days

  Strengths: I believe Sony TV is number one in quality and in duration

  Weaknesses: I have not found it yet up to now.

  Overall Evaluation: This is the first time I possess a 52"-LCD 1080P from Sony Production. This image is so nice, clear and beautiful. Also, the sound is great. I am happy to make a right decision to buy a BRAVIA XBR KDL-52XBR4 52. However, the price is still the point to be considered now because its price is over $3,000 at this moment. I wish the price would be about $2,400 that is more affordable to us.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: x0lliex

  Updated:11-22-07

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Excellent picture, very nice looking TV, bright, great colors

  Weaknesses: Glass surround makes moving it very tricky, 1 of the 3 HDMI ports is on the side

  Overall Evaluation: This TV is the nicest looking TV on the market, and it's appearance is matched by the picture quality. The screen is very bright (not even on the brightest settings) and the colors are vibrant and accurate. When paired with a blu-ray player the picture is simply stunning. We looked at this TV and when compared to many other TVs (Sharp, Samsung, Philips) this one was by far the best. The glass surround makes the TV look very stylish but it makes it a pain to move, when carrying the TV you cannot hold it by the glass so be prepared for some awkward lifting. It has 3 HDMI ports, but one of them is on the side. While this is bad for some people, it also makes hooking in a HDMI device (like a computer) temporarily easy. I can't comment on the speakers because I haven't used them. Overall, this is the best looking TV out there with a picture quality to match, highly recommended.

• Overall Rating
  5 Star Review

  Reviewed by: stormskye

  Updated:11-09-07

  Duration of ownership:30 Days

  Strengths: Picture is amazing

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall Evaluation: The picture quality is outstanding but the tv itself looks beautiful in any room. I've had many friends drop by and tell me that it's the best tv they've ever seen.

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Sony BRAVIA XBR KDL-52XBR4 52" LCD TV

$2799.95(4 sellers) • Avg User Rating •Specs