 AMAZING TV...But....Clouding Issues are a problem! |
| Review Date: January 4, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Woots, Atlanta, GA United States |
I have owned a 46xbr3 for over a month now. I would 1st like to say that the image of this TV is awesome. The menu options you have to tweak the look of the image is very very detailed. It helps if you run component and HDMI signals and need to have different tweaked settings to optimize look and reduce pixelization. 1080p with your playstation 3, blu ray or hd dvd players. The tv does not run 1080p component, only hdmi and vga, so your xbox 360 will have to run in 1080i (still looks great). The xbox 360 does run 1080p through vga input on this tv but xbox360 makes the screen look washed out.
Clouding Issue:
There is however a manufacturing defect that is not officially published by sony and no recall is yet in effect. The Sony LCD flatpanels XBR2/XBR3 40"/46"/52" screens have a greater then 50% chance to have a defect nicknamed "clouding". I am one of those unlucky buyers. What "clouding" basically is, is white puffy looking background lighting, when screen is black. This is not to be confused with non uniform lighting often seen in PC lcd panels; This is much worse and much brighter and heavily blotchy. For most people with this problem (including myself) you can only see this clouding during times when the screen goes black. (credits at the end of the movies, transitions between commercials to tv shows, dark parts scenes in movies and shows.) During these dark scenes they stand out like a sore thumb and make viewing distracting; due to the fact they are very bright and whitish. My experience is the longer the TV stays turned on the brighter these clouds get. When you 1st turn on the Tv they are very faint. They also have an odd habit of shifting around the panel very slowly over the course of weeks. (as strange as this may sound) I have found the clouding does not discolor or overbrighten the screen when the TV has full colorful images on it. This is why this problem is tolerable and I did not demand my money back, its still not acceptable though. I have read a few users say their clouding is so bad it effects the colors and makes them washed out. Thankfully I have not seen that.
Please do not take my word for any of this I encourage you to be a critical thinker and go out on google and seek this "sony lcd clouding" issue. I am doing my part for the small community of us who are stuck with this sad problem overshadowing what is otherwise an absolutely great HDTV.
In closing this TV is beautiful looking but when you spend this much money you don't want things like this bringing down your morale over the product. If you buy this TV you could be one of the lucky buyers and get an untainted screen and most stores give you a 30 day return policy. I have also heard (not confirmed) that the newest manufactured models have fixed this issue. I gave the product 5 stars despite the flaw, because even with this flaw I love this TV.
Best of luck with your HDTV purchases. Hope this helps. |
All round great television
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| Review Date: May 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: L. Topper, |
I recently purchased the 46XBR2 46" inch LCD HDTV. I love it. We sit an average of 8' from the screen when we watch it and it is very comfortable. It is not too close.
I have seen the clouding that some of the critics have mentioned, but I have only noticed it when the television is on, but there is no actual signal to the television. In short, it does not effect the actual viewing experience.
I have also read that some people think that the speakers are terrible, but I disagree. For television speakers, the television sounds great. It is not a theater sound, but it sounds great.
The picture is great with natural color. Not as spectacular as the Samsung in contrast and color, but ultimately easier to live with. The color production seems far more natural and easy on the eye, but not "eye candy." The Sony seems to have a picture that seems to have a 3 dimensional quality. When I looked at the Sharp and Samsung, they looked more like pretty wallpaper, but without the dimensional quality.
The LG looks like a very good television for the money, and the color production on the Mitsubishi is spectacular. I have not compared them with the Sony for the sense of depth, but they both seem to be a great television for the money and hundreds if not a thousand off the price of the Sony.
Finally, our viewing rooms have lots of window light. The plastic screen on LCD televisions do not have significant reflection like plasma televions or standard tube televisions with glass screens. Plasmas are great if you have a theater room. In many ways, the plasma produces a superior picture, but mostly in a dark room that minimizes reflection on the screen. If you have a room that has lots of light natural or from interior lighting, the LCD is a better purchase. |
Great LCD HDTV...with no clouds!
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| Review Date: February 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Theo B., Richmond,CA USA |
| After much research, I decided to take a BIG chance on Sony's 46" XBR 1080p flat panel for my family room. I knew about the cloud issues with this set and was going to pass up on it. However, this was the only set at this screen size that had the features I was looking for, specifically the three HDMI inputs. With some trepidation, I ordered it thru Amazon and it was delivered about a week later with no problems. The shipping company had called earlier to set up a delivery time. They unpacked the LCD and made sure it worked and then they were on their way. I immediately went to my local cable company and upgraded my cable box to HD. It took about a half hour to connect all the cables and to finally start watching HDTV. The standard signals look great from a distance but when I got closer to the screen, you can really see the pixelation of the reception. However, when I tuned to the HD signals, the picture was superb. I really cannot say enough about the picture quality of my set. It's difficult for me to watch standard signals now because the HD is so good. I have a build date of December 2006 on my set. I do notice some slight clouds when I switch through the video inputs with the remote and thats when there is no signal. Once the signal is connected, I have no cloud issues. I've watched the Discovery Channel HD as well as my Star Wars trilogy in HD with nothing but outstanding results. All this with using the component video cables that were included with the set. I've yet to use HDMI cables because they are so expensive but that's another issue. I will upgrade to that in the near future. In closing, I've had this set for about a month and really have no complaints. I strongly recommend this set despite the cloud issues. |
Great Blu-Ray Screen
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| Review Date: April 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Christophe, Louisville, KY |
Purchased one of these 3/7/7. Here's the deal. The "cloudy XBR" is half true. When the room is dark and the set is powering up / showing a pure black screen you will see the "clouds" which basically seem like uneven light spill over. However, it's not shown such behavior while watching real content -- at least not that I could notice. As always, look for yourself. Consumer Reports makes the same observations: that the set does demonstrate this behavior, but their engineers could not see it when the set is showing real content.
I am using this with a base playstation 3 (cheapest blu-ray player out there) to play the discs.
The 1080p content is incredible. It's like looking through a window practically. I have no idea if Sony is going to win the format war, but 1080p is one amazing experience and this screen does the job.
Watching DVDs through this rig? Not so good. Now it's a little hard to say if that's because expectations are set so high by the 1080p experience. I mean, you can sit a LOT closer to a 1080p signal without noticing blocking artifaces than you can a DVD output because there's just a lot more information in each frame of 1080p. So picture you set your sofa the right distance (indeed, buy the right sized screen) for 1080p content and then fire up a DVD at the same distance on the same screen. Clearly, there's an issue.
The sound is OK. It's not great. Chances are if you are dropping this kind of money on a TV, you can afford some 5.1 system to help that out. That said, for space reasons I'm using with the native speakers and am reasonably happy. It's not got at all the bass response desired, and there's obviously no surround going on -- but it's OK.
Just a few other comments. LCDs get dinged for viewing angle. Not this screen. Looks great. LCDs get dinged for slow response on motion. This is more true. Motion content is naturally blurry, so it's a little hard to tell, but it's pretty clear that there is panel blur on this set. You are not going to want to watch sports or fast pan action on this tube. But the picture is lovely even given all that.
Finally, if you've got the space, I'd recommend a DLP (or the Sony equivalent) rear projection box. Those have the hands down best viewing properties out there and are a load cheaper for basically the same viewing quality and size. But if you are in love with the truly thin form factor (like I am) then take a look at the KDL-46XBR2. I like it a lot. |
AMAZING TV! WORTH EVERY PENY!
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| Review Date: May 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Omar Castro, San Diego, CA USA |
| I've been saving money for a while since I'm not exactly "loaded." Since it was so hard for me to get the money, I wanted to make sure I spent it right. I spent 3 months going to different stores and looking at all different models that I might be interested in. I finally decided on this one, and I'm so glad I picked it. Picture quality is amazing! Blu-ray movies look so crystal clear, it's mindblowing. Plenty of inputs including 3 HDMI and 2 Component. The stylish design is what first got my attention, but the quality of the tv is even better! Much to my surprise, Standard Definition programming on this tv is much better than most High resolution TV's. I have not had any of the "white clouds" problems at all, and I watch it mostly in pitch black. Definately not the cheapest, but could very well be the best! |
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October 31st, 2009 | 
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Posted in Sharp HDTV | 
Tags: 1080p, 32Inch, AQUOS, gaming, HDTV, lc32gp1u, Sharp HDTV | 
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