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

Review by Gary B for Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
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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.

Review by CJ for Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
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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.

Review by Thomas A. Seitz for Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
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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….

Review by Retired techy for Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
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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 a slightly upward angle during the examination.

Review by Power User for Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR6 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
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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.)