The Short Form

$7,000 / SONYSTYLE.COM / 877-865-7669

Snapshot

Though pricey, Sony’s LED-backlit XBR8 establishes a new performance benchmark for LCD TVs

Plus

• Deep blacks and strong shadow detail • Accurate color • Clear, smooth 120-Hz picture with most Motion Enhancer settings enabled

Minus

• Expensive • Picture contrast shifts when set is viewed from off-center seats • Bulky, too-wide cabinet

Key Features

• 120-Hz display • RGB LED backlight • LED Dynamic Control (local dimming) • Motion Enhancer processing to reduce film judder • Side-panel HDMI and USB inputs • DLNA-compliant for home-network connection • DLNA-compliant for home-network connection • 58 5⁄8 x 33 3⁄4 x 14 1⁄8 in, 120 lb (with stand)

Even though flat-panel LCD TVs continue to sell better than plasma sets, the best plasmas still outperform the best LCDs. But during the past year, both Samsung and Sharp introduced LCD models that use LED backlight arrays with “local dimming” to deliver deep, film-like blacks — the technology’s traditional shortcoming. And while none of the ones we’ve tested has yet managed to topple Pioneer’s Kuro plasma as our reference-standard TV, some have come close. With LED backlighting now in the picture, plasma’s got a reason to watch its back.

At $7,000, Sony’s 55-inch KDL-55XBR8 LCD costs 2 grand more than the Samsung LN55A950 reviewed in our December 2008 issue. But it’s also $5,000 less than the Sharp Limited Edition LC52-XS1U we covered in January. (The Samsung and Sharp reviews are available on our Web site.) As with the Sharp, the Sony’s backlight uses an LED array consisting of separate red, green, and blue lamps, as opposed to the Samsung’s colored-filtered white LEDs. Unlike the Sharp, which sports a slim 21⁄4-inch-deep panel and a brushed-stainless-steel frame, the Sony TV is something of a design throwback. Its gloss-black bezel is the same standard-issue one seen on other LCDs, while its side-mounted speakers, which can’t be removed, extend the TV’s width a full 6 inches (although they do sound uncommonly good for TV speakers). And at 6 inches deep, the 55XBR8’s cabinet is also unusually bulky for a flat-panel model.

Along with its locally dimmed RGB LED backlight (a feature called LED Dynamic Control), Sony’s flagship TV has a 120-Hz display and numerous Motion Enhancer modes to reduce film-judder/motion-blur artifacts. The TV’s DLNA-compliant (Digital Living Network Alliance) LAN and USB ports extend its appeal to photographers looking for a big-screen set for viewing their digital pictures.

The 55XBR8’s other connections include four HDMI slots, a pair of component-video inputs, and an RGB PC jack for a computer. There are also some Sony-centric connections like the Digital Media Port and DMex inputs, which connect a video iPod (through an optional adapter) or a Sony Bravia Link module for things like Internet video streaming.

The largish remote control has a backlit keypad and a clean button layout. Pressing Input calls up an onscreen menu showing connected devices; you can toggle or scroll through the menu to select the one you want to access. Display options called up by the Wide button include Normal (4:3), Horizontal Stretch, Zoom, and Wide Zoom, all of which can be selected for both standard- and high-def programs.

SETUP

The 55XBR8 has a huge number of setup options and picture adjustments. My first step was to hit the Screen menu and choose Full Pixel in the Display Area submenu. With this option selected, the TV displays 1080i/p programs “pixel for pixel” with no screen overscan to lop off the outer edges of the image.

My next step was to select the Custom option in the Picture Mode menu. The Sony offers eight picture presets, including a Cinema mode that delivers a natural-looking image for watching movies in a dark room. Settings for each preset can also be modified on a per-input basis, and the TV remembers your adjustments. Other tweaks I made in Custom included choosing the Warm 2 color temperature, pulling the Backlight level adjustment down three notches from its default, and selecting both Standard Color Space and Low LED Dynamic Control in the Advanced Settings submenu.

Motion Enhancer and CineMotion are two other Picture menu items worth visiting. These let you adjust how the set upconverts film-based content to its 120-Hz display rate either by adding various processing to remove motion judder from film-based programs or by applying a simple 5:5 pulldown when viewing Blu-ray movies with your player set for 1080p/24 output. Both options can be configured separately for each of the Sony’s inputs. With either the Clear or the Standard Motion Enhancer modes, the Sony’s picture appeared blur-free and onscreen motion appeared natural. But when I used the set’s Smooth Motion Enhance and Auto 1 CineMotion options, the onscreen action looked too smooth and was marred by occasional motion-trail artifacts.

PERFORMANCE

Before I jump into describing the Sony’s performance, let me say that it’s capable of displaying a deep black. And I don’t just mean that its blacks are good for an LCD; they’re as deep as I’ve seen on any TV, period. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, a reference Blu-ray Disc for judging picture contrast, the outer-space shots at the start of the Jupiter Mission section revealed inky-black backgrounds and punchy highlights in the white Jupiter ship. The Sony’s ability to flesh out above-black shadows was also impressive. For example, when viewing a shot from the Baraka Blu-ray in which a priest descends into a dim underground church, I could see a wide range of details in the altar and in the ornate constructions lining the walls.

The Sony’s picture sharpness and color accuracy were also striking. In a shot from Baraka of the Ryoanji temple rock garden in Kyoto, Japan, the texture of stones lining the ground looked remarkably clear. And in a shot of a worshipper placing an offering in the carved forehead of a deity, the red material appeared vivid, with skin tones also coming across as completely natural.
One issue I did see with the 55XBR8 occurred when I slid over to one side of my couch (about 15° off-axis). Picture contrast dropped off noticeably, with the problem worsening at more extreme angles. Otherwise, the Sony’s screen uniformity was for the most part excellent. Red fringing sometimes showed up on dark/light edge transitions in shots with horizontal motion, but there were only a few times when I was distracted by it.

BOTTOM LINE

Sony’s KDL-55XBR8 delivers the best performance of any LCD TV I’ve tested. But it’s not perfect. Its narrow viewing angle restricts optimum picture contrast to viewers sitting front and center of the screen, while its bulky 6-inch cabinet depth and non-detachable side-mounted speakers make it a less sleek option than other LED-backlit models. Putting those considerations aside, the 55XBR8 goes far toward eliminating any performance differences between LCD and plasma.

TEST BENCH

Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard

Color	Target X	Measured X	Target Y	Measured Y
Red	0.64	0.64	0.33	0.33
Green	0.30	0.30	0.60	0.61
Blue	0.15	0.15	0.06	0.06

Of the Sony’s various picture presets, Custom delivered the most accurate color when the set’s Warm color temperature mode was also selected. With those settings active, its grayscale tracking ended up being +/- 509 degrees K of the 6,500 K standard from 30 to 100 IRE — below-average performance. Making adjustments to the red, green, and blue gain and bias controls in the set’s White balance menu improved grayscale tracking to +/-257 degrees K from 30 to 90 IRE. Color decoder tests revealed a -12.5 percent red –5 percent green pull for HDMI. The results here were slightly better on the component-video inputs. With the TV’s Standard Color Space mode selected, its red, green, and blue color points all showed mild oversaturation as compared to the SMPTE HD specification.

Overscan — the amount of picture area hidden behind the edges of the TV’s screen — measured 0% for 1080i and 720p-format high-definition signals with the Full Pixel mode active. The set fully resolved 1080i and 720p test patterns via its HDMI and component-video inputs, although a 480i-format pattern looked notably soft over an HDMI connection. Screen uniformity was excellent, with no sign of tinting, screen clouding, or uneven brightness on gray, black, and white full-field patterns. Viewing angle was poor as compared to other LCD TVs, with picture contrast dropping noticeably at seats 15-degrees off from the screen’s center axis. Gamma measured in at 2.0, a level that was slightly off from the 2.2 target.

The Sony’s video upconversion was for the most part good. In several instances, the set’s Digital Reality Creation image enhancement processing affected performance. For example, the set failed the film resolution test on the Silicon Optix HQV high-def Blu-ray test disc with DRC turned off, but passed with DRC set to Mode 1. When the same setting was enabled, the Sony also managed to pass the Jaggies 2 and Flag standard-definition video upconversion tests on the DVD version of the HQV disc. DRC processing also made standard-def images look mildly crisper without adding edge enhancement, so I’d minimally keep switched on when watching standard-def programs on DVD or regular TV. The Sony’s regular noise reduction mode worked well and didn’t introduce any detail loss at any setting, but its MPEG noise reduction modes created noticeable blurring when they were switched on.