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The Sony 46" 1080p XBR2 Review

After months of research and testing, I recently purchased a Sony Bravia 1080p 46" XBR2 tv set. What follows are my experiences with the unit.

Out of the Box

Unpacking was simple and straightforward and Sony thankfully has cut way back on packaging material. It took me a couple hours to properly mount it on my existing wall-mount, due to vast differences between my old plasma set and the back design of the Sony (different screws, placement, etc).

As with most new flat-panel TVs, the default configuration after turning it on is too bright and too blown out, color-wise. HD cable looked harsh, Blu-Ray movies looked too contrast-y, and video games hurt my eyes. CNET and the AVS Forum have some good calibration guides with all the settings you'd want. Personally, I went with CNET's settings but I toned down the filter from warm2 to warm1 and I followed the AVS forum settings for the DRC feature.

Picture Quality

With the new calibration settings in place, the picture quality really shined. 1080i cable feeds looked amazing, DVDs looked great, Blu-Ray a little better. While my Nintendo Wii (at 480p) looked a little worse than my previous EDTV plasma, my new Sony PS3 (review coming soon) outputting at 1080p looked absolutely fantastic with perfectly sharp text and life-like reflections. I didn't detect any cloudiness defects in dark scenes that some reviewers on amazon have found. During high action playback or fast camera pans, the 8ms response time did show slight pixelation at the edges of objects on screen, but not as bad as previous LCD TVs I'd looked at a year or two ago.

Standard definition TV looks pretty good on this set, much better than I expected (I'd read review after review of every 1080p LCD set on the market and how analog cable channels looked bad). With my Series 3 TiVo set at best quality, even analog cable channels are sharp enough to not show artifacts during anything but the highest action scenes.

Conclusions

I'm happy with the purchase and loving the bigger screensize (I went from 37" to 46"). I'm not a huge gamer, but games are definitely more fun and easier to play the larger your screen is. In regards to this set's resolution versus my old ED plasma, I would have to say there is a difference, but from 7 feet away on the couch it's not a huge one I was expecting. I'll write more about that point in an upcoming post.

I have the Sony wall mounted above a fireplace, in a living room with lots of windows. The brightness of the LCD shines through day and night, and definitely out-performs my old plasma in bright daylight. All my video sources are connected with a single HDMI cable (hooked to my Denon A/V unit), so I don't have to do much switching or even use the remote beyond turning it on (which I already programmed my other remotes to do) and I haven't had to use the included speakers because I've got 5.1 surround sound instead. After initial setup, it just plain works.

List price on the TV is $3799, but it's available at Amazon now for $3299 and I found street prices at most stores ranging from $3400-3600 for this model (Jan/07).

by Matt Haughey January 5, 2007 in Product Reviews

Comments

"All my video sources are connected with a single HDMI cable"

What do you use to do your video switching?

Posted by: Myles at Jan 5, 2007 2:20:51 PM

I was wondering the same thing. I've been looking for a good HDMI switch, as more of my devices are coming with that option in addition to regular component...

Posted by: Andrew Ruess at Jan 5, 2007 2:53:42 PM

I have a 40" Bravia and am very pleased with it as well.

I also use a single HDMI cable for all of my video sources switched through a Sony DA5200ES which has 3 HDMI inputs and one HDMI out.

Posted by: El Payo at Jan 5, 2007 3:08:35 PM

I wrote a full review here a few weeks ago of my recent Denon purchase.

http://holidaygadgetguide.federatedmedia.net/19

The Denon has two HDMI inputs (one for tivo, one for ps3) and a mess of other hookups that covers everything I need. A single HDMI cable goes out from that into the back of the Sony.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 5, 2007 3:14:59 PM

How on earth does a person justify spending $3300 on a TV set? Seriously, I'm amazed that these things actually sell.

Posted by: Jesse at Jan 5, 2007 6:12:24 PM

For me personally, I'm using it as a test monitor for loads of other stuff I'll be reviewing here, so it's actually a tax write-off.

But I too was kind of surprised at how well this model is selling -- it was backordered at my local home theater store and 5 of the 6 Best Buy stores within 50 miles were also sold out.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Jan 5, 2007 7:29:26 PM

My brother has this tv and its the best i have seen in all respects. Incredible looking realism when the PS3 is connected via HDMI and 1080p. Even football games (Comcast HD) look amazing- am clipping coupons until i can afford.

Posted by: Hoamie at Jan 7, 2007 11:28:34 AM

I own one of these and have digital cable, a Tivo series 3, a 5.1/THX reciever and a MAC mini attached to it. I'm pretty satisfied with the viewing experiance. The TV should be calibrated for best picture, once it is it is amazing.

Posted by: gear at Jan 9, 2007 4:04:33 AM

gear: How did you hook up your Mac Mini to the 46XBR2. I am purchasing the 46XBR3, which is the same technology in a diffferent package. I was hoping to just hook up the Mac Mini using a DVI to HDMI cable. However, the sony manual that I downloaded warns not to hook computers up to the HDMI port and I have read on the net problems with the signal using this method. Do you have any problems? Are you getting full resolution from the Mac Mini?

Thanks for any leads.

Posted by: Rob E at Jan 16, 2007 9:58:22 PM

Matt

How did you get your Denon remote to work with this TV? I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to get my Tivo and Comcast and LG remote codes to work!!!!

Posted by: PMYKLAND at Jan 27, 2007 6:17:00 PM

PMYKLAND, I just use my TiVo remote to turn the tv on and off and it works fine.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Feb 4, 2007 2:31:34 PM

I also have the 46 XBR2. What type of wall mount bracket is recommended. I bought a universal wall mount, however, it does not support the XBR2.

Posted by: Vic at Feb 4, 2007 5:48:56 PM

Have you heard of any issues with the XBR2 LCDs going bad within the first few months? Is this just a gimmick by the sellers to buy their warranty programs?

Posted by: Michael Kasper at Feb 6, 2007 8:06:04 AM

I have a Sony Bravia tv and would like to mount it above my gas fireplace. I'm concerned that the heat may damage the tv over time. Any info to share with me?

Posted by: Margie at Dec 31, 2007 9:30:11 AM

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