Sony Bravia XBR-52HX909 – Deep black levels
This TV comes in two sizes; the first one is this 52 inch model and the other one is 46 incher and this review will apply to both of them since there are no major changes apart from the size of the panel. The price of this TV is $3600 and you might wonder why Sony has slapped such a high price on this TV. The reason behind this is that the panel has LED backlighting and the monolithic design. The latter has been quite popular in Sony’s panels, they make the TV look quite attractive and hence the manufacturer makes you pay more money for it.
The monolithic design here means that the screen disappears in to the frame of the TV and it makes the panel look very sexy. When viewed from the front, it is one big black slab. When it comes to design, I must say that this panel is the sexiest one out there but the good looks come at a price. On the bottom, there is a silver stand which provides a bit of contrast to the TV.
Sony Bravia XBR-52HX909 is a 3D compatible TV but the manufacturer doesn’t give the specs along with the TV. You will have to buy them separately. The price of these 3D glasses right now is $150 and you will have to buy at least two as you won’t be watching the movies alone. You will also have to spend $50 more for the IR emitter.
The video streaming services on the Sony Bravia XBR-52HX909 is really excellent, you get everything from NetFlix, Amazon Video on Demand, blip.tv, style.com, Minisode network, howcast.com, Michael Jackson, Dr. Oz, Golflink.com, Dailymotion, etc. There are also lots of video numerous video podcasts like Gadget Pron, Attack of the Show, NASACast and CNN Daily. There is also the ability to search some of the niche services altogether through one search so I really liked that.
I am not saying that the Sony Bravia XBR-52HX909 is a perfect panel though. It doesn’t have some of the widgets capability seen on some of the other TVs so you cannot get the weather unless you turn on the weather channel on this set. Picture adjustment options on this TV is quite impressive, you get controls for backlight, picture, brightness, color, hue, color temperature, noise reduction, sharpness, MPEG noise reduction, Motionflow, and OneMotion. In the advanced settings, you have black corrector, advanced contrast enhancer, gamma, LED dynamic control, auto light limiter, clear white, live color, white balance, detail enhancer, etc. Videophiles will love all these settings; they will have plenty to play around with.
On the back panel, you have to HDMI jacks, a component video input, and a VGA jack for computer connectivity. Of course, the Ethernet port too is there. One thing missing here is built in Wi-Fi. But you can easily take care of it by purchasing a separate dongle. The side panel includes two HDMI jacks, a video input and a USB jack. There is also an RS-232 port that juts out from the back but it doesn’t spoil the look of the TV since it is located behind.
