Sony BRAVIA XBR KDL-V40XBR1 40" LCD TV

Best LCD in 40

Posted Dec 16, 2005 - I had previously replied to other reviews here while I was researching HDTVs, but now that I have this TV in house and hooked up to Digital HD Cable, I'm finally reviewing it. Starting with the bottom line: I love the TV. It has a great picture; the clearest and cleanest one I've seen in the general 37" - 45" range, of any TV technology. Viewing a real HD broadcast makes a big difference. The Discovery HD channel is now my favorite channel to watch, followed by INHD/INHD2, and the HD broadcasts of TNT, ESPN, PBS and the local channels. The colors are strong but not over-saturated, and the clarity is incredible. I now dislike watching non-HD broadcasts. I also purchased a Denon DVD-1920 player that upconverts DVD signals to HD. Using the HDMI output, the picture on DVDs is very good, but not quite as good as true HD. It's close, but you can tell the difference. The only negative comment I have applies to all of the larger LCD TVs I saw, not just this one. If you sit too close (rougly six feet away or less), you can see the pixilation (I think it's referred to as the screen door effect) in certain lower lighted scenes. The larger the LCD TV, the further away you have to sit to avoid noticing it. I didn't watch enough other TVs to say whether this effect is any more or less noticable on this TV vs. the others. It's more prevalent in non-HD broadcasts, but I've seen it on HD as well. This pixilation effect is not bad, but if you can't position your seating more than five or six feet away, you should consider it a factor. This TV does not have PIP. It's a non-issue for me, but a couple of people here asked about it. I believe the picture quality is by far the most important factor to consider. Sound is equally important to me in the "viewing" experience, especially for movies and concerts. The sound of the TV speakers is surprisingly good. I take the optical out of the TV into my surround sound receiver. The HDTV broadcast digital sound is excellent when pushed through a good surround sound system. The reason why I didn't consider the other technologies like DLP or LCOS is that I am going to mount this TV against the wall, so I needed a flat panel technology. I plan to spend considerable time using this TV for gaming and as a computer monitor, so this favored LCD over Plasma. Again, overall, I am very happy with this TV and recommend it.

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sony bravia xbr

Posted Nov 24, 2005 - cool tv, but make sure you look at the picture carefully for pixels going out, they can be in any color. They are easy to spot on a white or gray screen. The tech says It can happen to any LCD . get the warrenty, sony doesnt cover pixels

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Awesome TV

Posted May 19, 2006 - (UPDATE) *WATCH OUT, over 400,000 Sony Bravia TVs Found To Be Defective. Roughly 400,000 of the TVs which were sold in North America, South America and Asia cannot be turned off or come of out standby mode once they pass 1,200 hours of use. Go to Sony's website to find out how to perform the fix. Picked this TV up for $2,800 through a special place where I live. $2,800 is alot to spend on a TV but it's worth it. If you drop that much money on a TV you better be sure you're getting the most out of it and have good video/audio equipment to get the most out of it. Buy a Progressive Scan DVD player with a HDMI output that can upscale your standard DVD resolution of 480i (480p if you're running progressive) to 720p and 1080i, only then can you maximize this TV's potential. I was going to buy a regular HDMI DVD player but couldn't find one that plays DivX files, X-Vid, MPEG 4 movie files...I wanted a DVD player that could also play these formats as I download alot of video files online that are in these formats so I ended up buying a Philips HDMI player that can play everything. If you buy this TV you must ABSOLUTELY buy a DVD player that can "upconvert" or "upscale" the picture to the higher resolutions of 720p and 1080i that this TV was built for. If not it would be such a waste like buying a Porsche but only going a maximum of 75mph because you're crappy tires aren't rated to go higher. I'm assuming anybody looking to buy a several thousand dollar HDTV has done their research but I just wanted to make sure people know you must buy a "upscaling" DVD player, Sony has the DVP-NS90V HDMI upconverting DVD player that is rated really high here on pricegrabber. I'd buy that if you wanted to match a Sony TV with a Sony DVD player. This TV does not have a DVI port but if you want to run something using DVI you can just buy a HDMI to DVI converter cable for cheap. All new techology coming out will be HDMI capable though so forget DVI. This TV does have a HD-15 PC video input and PC audio input connection on the back. The TV came with a HD-15 monitor cable so I plugged in my laptop to the TV and plugged in the headphone port on my laptop to the PC audio input on the back. Switched to Video 7 on the TV and everything worked great, all the xvid/divx videos I have on my laptop played right on my TV. I use to burn all my divx videos to disc then put the disc in my DVD player to watch them but it is so much easier now to just plug my laptop into the TV and watch them that way. Read the TV's manual on how to maximize the video quality. You're suppose to use 60 Hz refresh rate and some other stuff, it's all in the back of the TV manual, sit down and read the entire thing, you'll learn alot. I have to say this TV does one of the best jobs of displaying the color black correctly unlike alot of LCD's. I'd expect nothing less of Sony. Just go to Best Buy or whatever nearby store and look at the picture quality of this TV compared to other HDTV's. Overall, I'm very happy with this TV. 40" for a LCD is a perfect size, any bigger and it would be way to expensive which is why most sites and people will tell you if your looking for a TV larger then 40 inches go with a Plasma. Get the most out of this TV by getting digital cable, HDMI Upscaling Progressive scan DVD player and a set of good surround sound speakers. After everything is hooked up you'll be amazed how awesome your home theatre will be. Awesome TV, awesome picture, displays blacks really well. Movies look awesome, you'll be very satisfied with this TV if you do decide to buy it. Reviews on the internet give it really good ratings as well. What's not to like?

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Sony Bravia V series 40" LCD

Posted Jan 24, 2006 - I notice a lot of comment that this TV does not have Picture in Picture, but it does have a "Twin Picture Menu" which is just as good as PIP, if not better.

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Great flat panel!!

Posted Nov 2, 2005 - If you want the best picture available, and a 40" TV is the right size for your needs, get this TV. Really, it is that good. Plus, it has all the hookups you will ever need or want, a great remote, and a really nice interface (WegaGate). Also, pick up Sony's upconvert DVD player and an HDMI cable. Yes, it does make a difference in your DVD viewing. I can't comment on the audio, I use a receiver.

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Incredible picture quality, reasonable feature set, somewhat expensive

Posted Jun 19, 2006 - I spent months researching large (~40") LCDs and countless hours dragging my fiance to Best Buy, Circuit City and local high quality AV stores and staring at all the LCDs and asking salespeople questions. One thing I learned is that in most cases, especially at the large electronics chains, you should take the salesperson's advice with a grain of salt. Reviews on the web and using your own "trained" eye is the way to go. First off, this unit comes very well packed with a hard and thick cardboard base and styrofoam to keep the base of the tv centered. Then a large cardboard box is slipped over the top, an incredible amount of air cushion packaging is piled in, then it's topped off with a couple of styrofoam corners and cardboard cap to keep the top of the display immobilized. Finally it has 2 durable plastic straps around that outside that holds everything together. Someone else had commented on the packaging so I opted not to pay the shipping insurance. I was a little nervous but confident that I did the right thing after taking delivery. It unpacks and hooks up quite easily. I already had a HD cable box from my previous projection HDTV and used the component input on the tv. When you first fire the tv up it asks some setup info, like language, and then asks you if you want to scan all the channels with the built in tuner. Naturally I chose no because I wasn't planning on receiving any over-the-air channels and I went straight into the menu to choose my HD cable box source. Low and behold each time you turn the tv on it will ask you yet again to scan the channels. You actually have to complete this process to make this nagging setup step go away. Once connected I tuned to my HD channels such has INHD and DiscoveryHD and was blown away. I had seen the TV many times in the electronics stores which had everything from horrible analog SDTV signals to pretty good HDTV signals, but none did justice to what I receiving through my cable company - especially on the high quality signals such as INHD. If you read the editorial review on CNET you'll notice that they complain of a red push, and I do notice this from time to time. It tends to happen on very bright red colors, but not so much on skin tones and the like - so it's not much of a bother. The unit has an incredible ability to display true blacks, and gradients from black to gray, which LCDs are notoriously poor at doing. This was one of the biggest selling points for me, and it paid off. I've seen lots of LCDs, and even poor plasmas, that have trouble displaying blacks, and especially gradients from black to lighter darks like gray. On poor units you can literally see "bands" where the color visible changes as it transitions from black to the lighter darks. This Sony rarely does that, and only seems to when you are receiving a poor quality signal such as SDTV, or perhaps one of the poorer HDTV signals like HBOHD. The resolution is simply amazing and brings out incredible detail when viewing a high quality HDTV signal. I stress high quality HDTV signal because this is the key to being blown away by this unit. SDTV of course looks very poor, especially when you have the fortune of comparing to a high quality HDTV signal. Some people may complain about poor SDTV picture quality, but that's simply because the unit can only display a picture quality that is as good as what it's getting from the source. And if you go from a small tv viewing SDTV to a larger 40" you will really notice the flaws in the signal that the larger unit brings out. The processor performance on this unit seems very good to me. I've seen a few people complain about it not being able to keep up with fast motion or high movement programming such as sports, but I honestly thing they don't understand how MPEG compression works. They observe pixilation blocks when there's a lot of movement on the screen, such as during sports or action sequences, and they blame it on the tv. In reality the large pixilated blocks that are observed are an artifact of MPEG2 compression and your cable or satellite signal's limited bandwidth, and not a lack of processor speed in the tv. True, there is no PIP on this unit, but I don't use it, so no big deal. Another nice feature that I enjoy is the auto-backlighting feature that adjusts the backlight according to ambient lighting. If read a few reviews talking about backlight life, and how it can be shortened by running it at the max setting all the time. It's nice to have an auto feature to adjust it. Seems to work pretty well to me. In a nutshell, this is an incredible LCD tv and while it used to be quite expensive it has come down A LOT. I'm assuming this is because the 1080p units are coming out next year, but it'll be a while until we get 1080p sources. Think about how long it took for your cable/satellite company to support 1080i.

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KDL-V40XBR1

Posted Nov 16, 2005 - This TV has no DVI port, but neither does the LN-R409D by Samsung, which raises the point that DVI is replaced by HDMI as industry standard. The best LCD TV you can buy. I have considered the Samsung LN-R409D, but decided on Sony based on the strengths listed above. Get yourself a HD upconverting DVD player and HD programming from local cable company and prepare for a whole new experience.

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When it works--it's the best!!

Posted Feb 23, 2006 - Service problems with Sony standing behind their product. Three service calls; LCD panel replaced; escalated but no resolution...90 days later, no one cares if I've paid $3500 for a TV that doesn't work!! When it does work, great picture!! Thoroughtly disappointed in Sony's customer service and Circuit City's warranty serice...no one really wants the best for the customer! 90 days with out a TV is the pits!! If Sony won't stand behind their products, who pay the premium price??

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SONY KDLV-40XBR1 - Best investment in my life!

Posted Jan 7, 2006 - I am retired with a disability that keeps me bedridden most of the time, as you can imagine, my world revolves around my TV and computer. When I finally received my settlement I wanted to make the smartest buy possible because I knew it would have to last - with the SONY Bravia, I believe I have. I'm not the smartest, or most technical-minded guy, so I can only review from my "gut". The picture on this TV is outstanding - right from the box, as I upgraded my cable and added HD, the results became so outstanding, it was to a point I didn't think possible. I also purchased a SONY DreamSystems Home Theater and the combined results "bring the world to me". I've owned both now for 7 months and there are still times when I'm watching something and I am just awestruck. I don't see how there is any room for improvement unless maybe the next generation brings us some type of futuristic 3D system, which isn't too farfetched, as this technology would have been hard for me to envision 20 years ago. The TV is pretty easy to set up and get full use from all it's functions - if I can do it, anybody can - the only problem I encountered was when I was connecting the SONY Home Theater system - some of the instructions (in BOTH owners manuals) weren't too clear to me - but that was easily remedied and I'm confident that the problem was with my ability to understand the instructions - to someone more savvy it is a piece of cake. The TV is a little pricey for some of us, but I see it as a long term investment - my 27" SONY Trinitron is 13 years old and STILL performing flawlessly, I have never received anything less from any of my SONY products. There are a LOT of brands and models to choose from out there, but speaking from my heart and my life's experience - dollar for dollar, you can't go wrong with this TV - I mean, like with anything else in life, there is always that rare defect that slips through the system, so nothing is ever 100%, but if you catch it right away, and exchange it for a proper one, it gets handled - but in 40 years, I have NEVER encountered a flawed SONY product - and "NO" I have never worked for that company. Thanks.

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Plus & minus on Sony XBR1

Posted Mar 20, 2006 - This LCD flat panel tv, again, re-enforces my great expectations from Sony. It was easy to connect to our other components, the operating instructions were fairly streight forward and understandable. I think Sony has a winner. (but not the remote)

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Sony Bravia XBR

Posted Nov 27, 2005 - This is a great tv , superb quality , i hook it up to a dish 942 HD-receiver and i got PIP with no problem at all , lightsensor is very nice feature , colors are great and vivid

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SONY Bravia 40

Posted Mar 11, 2006 - After countless hours of research on the net and physically comparing LCDs in the stores, there really was only one (1) answer: The 40" BRAVIA. This of course assumes, you have already eliminated Pioneers Plasma screens from the equation. The color contrast is beautiful. The black(s) are true. No evidence of ghosting with fast moving scenes (8ms response time). Design and aesthetics: just hang it on the wall and let the compliments flow in from all the neighbors. If you are looking for TV / monitor to display multiple inputs with the highest picture quality available such as DVD movies, HD games, HDTV viewing, computer VGA (surfing the net), look no further. This product is definitely the center piece our my multi-media entertainment family room. I now ignore those who boast they own a 50" or 60"+ rear proj., DLP, LCD rear proj., etc. This thing is high society. Sales of the BRAVIAs indicate I'm not the only one who thinks this.

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Super Television

Posted Nov 22, 2005 - No dvi input but has pc compatibility and a usb port. The set up was very easy. The picture and quality is flawless. It is a great television. I couldn't decide between this tv and the sharp so I bought them both. They are both delightful. If I had to get only one I would get the sharp. But I am glad I was able to buy both because this tv is great in my master bedroom. Nothing to question about owning this tv it is first class all the way.

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Expected better

Posted Apr 11, 2006 - I returned a LG 42"LCD in exchange to SONY Bravia and was a little bit disappointed. I got it for $3000 from Best Buy ,but the LG with DVR was better than SONY,which I bought after some research on line ,when found out that this model was number one LCD at several websites. I can't believe - this TV has no PIP !!! Even my 10 years old SONY 32"Sony had this feature . The strange thing is- all my life watching TV I never used PIP feature ,but LG LCD had a really great PIP - two separate screens ,also one bigger screen and three live screens constantly exchanging channels on the side etc...So when I got Bravia home first thing that I checked - was PIP :( I also missed separate CC button on remote . Some digital cable channels has no sound. I really like LG better than Sony

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Bavia Bravo

Posted Dec 8, 2005 - Best LCD image I've ever seen. Walking the isles, compairing LCD TV's side by side, the Bravia was a clear winner. I also picked up a 26". I am not a big Sony fan and wouldn't have considered the TV if I hadn't seen it in person but Sony's BRAVIA's image is the best I've seen - I didn't have a choice after seeing it. Only 1 HDMI slot. I bought a HDMI switch box and have multiple HDMI inputs...

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