 Quality warrants Price |
| Review Date: January 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: S. Sarnowski, USA |
Overall the Sony Bravia XBR3 is worth every penny. The Picture is absolutely astonishing and amazing. It's a wonder how I was able to watch tv w/o such beautiful High Def all these years. It is a rather expensive tv, but in this case you truly and honestly get what you pay for. If you enjoy the best then this is the tv for you. With it's elegant design, and picture perfect clarity the Sony Bravia XBR3 offers it all from 1080p to all the features/standards you'd seek for gaming, movie watching, and television shows...
Hands down the Bravia XBR3 has one of the best pictures on the market, if not the best picture. Via an HD Cable Box the 1080i is gorgeous, and after watching it for a day or two the real difference really sinks in and quite literally you see things clearly. *wink* Be it Sunday football in HD, or a movie/series on HBO HD. These channels, along with their picture on this tv should be the industry standard. It's hard to imagine how Sony, let alone anyone else will top the picture produced by this Bravia.
Furthermore the picture is absolutely stunning w/ the PS3, and 360 as well. Ridge Racer 7 in 1080p is drop dead gorgeous, as other games at even a lower resolution. This is the quintessential television for gaming. Not only is the picture amazing, as it always is in hd, but the Bravia XBR 3 offers a Game Mode to further enhance the gaming experience.
With 9 video inputs, and numerous HDMI inputs, along with a PC input you can run everything needed directly to this tv if you're not a sound buff like me who has a receiver and numerous speakers. The speakers themselves on the tv sound excellent and Sony has provided a Tru Surround feature so that w/o surround sound you actually get something of the feel w/ just the speakers in the tv.
I could ramble on all day about this television as it truly is a work of art, and an amazing television. In case you can't tell, yes I love my Bravia XBR3 and wouldn't trade it for the world. I shopped around and looked at numerous tv's but the Bravia was always the best, top of the line in both quality and price. Why pay the same price for another brands 46" when you can buy this 40" which has a much better picture. My only advice would be to shop around online before making a purchase because with any tv the markup is so great that you can find private retailers/sellers who can offer a much better price than retail stores. |
A Terrific TV
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| Review Date: May 16, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Gamearts, Fairfax, VA USA |
First, some history on the XBR brand line. Sony has divided its TVs into tiers according to product performance. There are three tiers: S, V, and XBR, from lowest to highest--although I should point out that there will be a new "W" series debuting in 2007, the XBR is still the cream of the crop for Sony's Bravia line. For the most part, the V and XBR offer the same features, but the XBR gives you a slightly better video processing engine--Bravia Engine Pro--and a far cooler bezel with the surrounding floating glass encapsulating it. There are two TVs in the XBR 2006 lineup: The XBR2 and the XBR3. The main difference between the two is that the XBR2 comes in gray while the XBR3 comes in a piano black. So if color isn't a concern, you should probably spring for the XBR2 since it gives you the same exact picture quality as the 3 and it's cheaper. The XBR1 is a 2005 model and is obsolete.
The Sony KDL-40XBR3 is a complete "Full HD" TV that offers an excellent picture, good quality speakers, and a great look from a physical standpoint. Now, against conventional review scheme, I'll list the minuses first and get those out of the way and then delve into the specifics of the TV. I figure it's always better to come out with the bad first.
Minuses
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1: The Component inputs are not 1080p. This means the only way you can truly enjoy 1080p is via the HDMI and VGA outputs on the TV. The highest resolution the component inputs will display in is 1080i. They'll still take a 1080p signal; it'll just downgrade to 1080i on your TV.
2: A certain % of the TVs have cloudy mura defect that is most evident when the TV is in a dark room on a blank signal or against a dark background in the current picture you're watching. Not all the TVs suffer from this defect but it's enough for me to warn you about it.
3: When watching regular TV, Standard Definition--non HD--programming could look a little better--I haven't calibrated my TV so it may just be my settings.
Using the XBR3
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I will try to cover most of the generic uses people will probably use this TV for. I'll first start with normal TV viewing.
1. Regular TV Viewing: Standard Definition looks a little botchy but that's going to be true for most HDTVs that you are not feeding an high definition signal to. I watched some ESPN college basketball on the TV and didn't really detect any motion blur when the ball was being passed around. I did notice some "panning" going on when the camera zoomed abruptly. Again, this was all in standard definition so I don't know if this applies to HD. I'd say this would be a decent TV set for sports watching, but probably not the best. My grade for normal TV viewing: C+ for Standard Definition and B+ for HD
2. Movies: DVD and Blu-Ray look pretty good on this TV. As I mentioned earlier, standard definition doesn't particularly look its best on this TV but when watching blu-ray you really see the TV shine. The detail and attention to the image is second to none I've seen. Ice Age 2--for Blu-Ray Disc--looked absolutely spectacular on the XBR3; I couldn't believe how much night and day difference it was between the ESPN standard definition college basketball game and Ice Age 2 high definition. Grade: A+
3. Games: Gaming is great on the XBR3. But like with the normal tv viewing, it's best you are playing a high definition game or else it won't look as great. The PS3 games all look spectacular and I do not think it's possible to get a better picture. Minna no Golf 5 and Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection all look spectacular on the XBR3. The golf courses look very detailed and the grass looks very nice in Minna no Golf in particular. Standard definition gaming (pretty much anything before the current PS3/360/Wii gen) is probably going to give you lesser results. PS2 games don't really look too good, but you can make them look better thanks to the GAME MODE that's available on the TV. Game Mode will make the picture look a little more vibrant and less pixelated, giving you a better overall game picture. You can also turn the GAME MODE on when not playing a game, but the effects aren't noticeable compared to when playing a video game. I played Kingdom Hearts II For PlayStation 2 on the XBR3 from start to finish using normal composite video and with Game Mode, the picture looked fairly decent I would say! My grade for video games is A+. This is the best TV for high-definition gaming, as far as I am concerned!
4: Computer hookup. I've tried both linux and Windows XP on the XBR3 and both look just fine and dandy at 1920 x 1080 resolution, 60 hz. Basically, for those who are unaware, you can hook up the TV to the computer using either VGA--sometimes referred to as RGB--or HDMI, using a DVI to HDMI cable. The VGA is what Sony recommends you to hook up your PC to. I highly recommend you do NOT opt for the VGA connection though if you can help it. The picture doesn't look as great as the HDMI; HDMI gives you a more vibrant picture while the VGA seems to just give you a substandard quality picture that looks a little faded. Also you should know that while in the VGA connection slot, most of the main menu's controls will not be accessible to you. You won't be able to tinker and improve the PQ while in VGA mode as you would in HDMI: another reason why I recommend you go for HDMI when you connect your computer to the XBR3. The sound was also good. There was very little, if any, noticeable static sound when hooking up the computer to the XBR3's speakers via an RCA Mini Stereo plug. My grade for the computer viewing experience on the XBR3 is A-
Inside the XBR3: The picture and sound
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I'll now discuss more about the TV itself rather than how it did with other devices. The XBR3 has a wonderful GUI menu with many things you can customize straight from the remote. You have three preset picture modes: Vivid, Normal, and Custom; Vivid gives you a showroom overly bright viewing experience, while custom is what you do with it. Don't like how bright the TV is? You can change the back light to be lower, adjust the brightness/picture/color/hue--important for when wanting to tone down the red/green color balance i.e. "red push" when real people's faces appear too red--color temperature, sharpness,Gamma, Black corrector, White Balance, and the list just goes on and on. I can honestly say you should not be disappointed in what control you have over this TV's picture! My grade for the picture of the TV is A
I'll now talk about the sound settings in relation to the TV's own speakers. As with the picture setting, you have three predefined sound modes: Dynamic, Standard, and Custom -- Dynamic provides a more fuller sound but you can do better adjusting on your own in my opinion. You can adjust the treble, bass, balance, and activate the TruSurroundXT feature, which will imitate a true surround sound coming from your two XBR3 speakers (as best as it can, anyway). Overall I'm pleased with the sound so I give it an A-
Other features: There were some other features I found attractive on the XBR3. You can turn on/off the SONY illuminating logo found below the piano black bezel hiding in the floating glass via the menu; when choosing for the logo to turn on and off it was instantly recognized by my input on the controls with absolutely no delay whatsoever. The Full Pixel feature is efficient especially when working with a PC to ensure you receive NO overscan! Overscan refers to when you aren't seeing all of the picture; imagine working on your computer in Windows XP and not being able to see the bottom start menu--that's what overscan is. I like that it has a headphone jack on the side because it's very easy to get to when portable listening is needed so as not to interrupt the other people in the house. The three HDMI inputs were nice given that I have more than one device that uses HDMI and the full range of composite, component and S-video inputs were attractive in case I wanted to hook up something else to the TV. The supplied remote is good on the hands and offers plenty of buttons, so that gets a + in my book. For the "little things" the XBR3 does exceed my expectations slightly, so it scores a B+ in this category.
I'll conclude by saying that the XBR3 is, in my opinion, the best LCD TV of 2006. It may have been superseded by the newest Samsungs or Sharps that came out already in 2007, but you can bet that's only because of the newer technology available now compared to a year ago. I have been enjoying my XBR3 since December and I do not think you can find a better looking TV with its floating glass and piano black frame. Sony is also going to be releasing another special high-end version of the XBR3 which is the 70XBR3 shipping later this year. My overall grade for this TV is a 5/5 rounded up. I would give the TV a 4.8 out of 5, but since we can only give whole numbers, I rounded it up to 5. It's not a perfect TV, but to me, there's no better other TV that covers all the bases quite like the XBR3. This is the perfect all-purpose HD TV in my opinion: style, features, picture and sound quality; it's got it all. If you can wait for the XBR4 and XBR5 coming out later this summer, you may want to hold out for those instead of the XBR3; but either way, I highly recommend the Sony XBR2 or 3 to anyone looking for a premium TV who has the budget for it. |
Could not be better but .................................
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| Review Date: January 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Babur, Edmond, OK |
| I have owned this TV now for more than six weeks and have tried all the inputs. The satellite HD channels are great on it and the same are DVD's by upconverting DVD player through HDMI input. I have also used it a lot as my desktop monitor and it is great. The only deficiency I think it has is that PIP mode is not available. Overall it is a great TV but comes with a huge price. |
Sony Bravia XBR LCD 40" HDTV
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| Review Date: September 6, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Calvin G. Dixon, USA |
| This TV is fantastic from the picture to the way it looks in your living room. I have Direct TV service with the TV and the Picture looks great in HD and also very good in standard. I also purchased a Sony BLU ray player with the TV and I highly recommend people to do the same. Movies look unbelievable when played through the TV in Blu Ray hooked up with a basic HDMI cable ( No need to buy the expensive Monster ones ). I also have an x-box 360 elite hooked up with HDMI cable and this looks amazing too. Could not be happier with the TV. I have not seen or had any problems with the so called "clouds" when the screen is black, no problem at all. |
Great TV!
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| Review Date: January 31, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Minh Do, USA |
| This TV looks awesome even when it's not turned on. The blue ray player from my PS3 is crystal clear. It will make regular DVD's look like VHS. This is one of the best buy I've made. |
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