Review: Sony Bravia KDL-46X2000
The propaganda
Sony's Bravia range of LCDs enjoyed a decent amount of commercial and critical success in their first generation, but now Sony has aimed to set the bar even higher with its second generation sets, especially its new flagship Bravia 'X' Series. There are a few good reasons to get excited about the 46X2000 from its specs alone: at 46" it is currently the second largest set Sony sells in the UK, and it is has its very own, exclusive, picture processing technology, courtesy of the X series branding, called Bravia Engine EX. Furthermore, it boasts 'full HD', 1080p resolution, which Sony is intent on using to show off the full potential of the PS3 and other Blu-ray devices.
The 46X2000 uses an S-PVA (Super Vertical Pattern Alignment) LCD panel that is designed to improve the viewing angle without causing a noticeable drop in picture quality or colour. It also comes with an in-built digital and analogue tuner and an enhanced contrast ratio - now up to a very respectable 1300:1.
The good
Before you even turn it on, this telly is gorgeous to look at. The design reeks of the kind of technological decadence that only a really high-end telly enjoys. It has a grille-effect silver screen frame (another distinction of the X series) and its visual appeal is only enhanced by the smart glass outer frame, which is fast becoming a trademark for Sony's flagship products.
Gone are the days when TV manufacturers thought that sticking in a single HDMI input would suffice - the 46X2000 actually has two HDMI inputs, accompanied by a further two component video inputs, thereby giving you the chance to attach up to four separate HD sources. Nice. Alongside them, there is also a D-Sub PC jack, three Scarts, a CAM slot and an optical digital output for Dolby Digital 5.1.
On to the picture quality: it wasn't much of a surprise that on a range of HD video sources the 46X2000 performed admirably and the extra benefit of its 'full HD' capabilities won through as well. Pictures were perceptibly sharper, smoother and had better colour toning than any lower resolution sets.
One example of what this means for ordinary viewing is that on faces shown in a crowd, it is possible to distinctly make out facial features, even at a really long distance. Colour, especially for more subtle facial tones, has previously been a problem that LCDs have struggled to overcome. Here, it is much more clearly defined than ever before and is helped enormously by the impressive contrast ratio and black levels
Attaching an Xbox 360 meant we were able to get a clearer idea of how well the set could handle less natural, brighter colours. Again the 46X2000 did itself proud by revealing an outstanding colour vibrancy and brightness.
The bad
Part of the Bravia Engine EX's main task is processing the resolution of standard definition pictures to fit the 1920x1080 panel by reducing noise and improving colour toning and contrast. Unfortunately, Sony hasn't quite managed to iron out all the creases yet and we were still able to pick out signs of smearing during fast-moving scenes, as well as picture noise. Despite the specially designed picture processing engine, it isn't quite up to the standards set by some of the better 768-line panels we've seen.
Menu navigation and general operation is definitely a strong point of this set, and the onscreen menus do reveal a wealth of handy features that you can scroll through including: a very well laid out seven day programme guide, backlight adjustment, MPEG block noise reduction, horizontal and vertical image shift, film mode and adjustable Digital Reality Creation processing control. On the down side, there were some instances when there seemed to be bugs in the system, such as picture ratios changing on their own when changing sources and resolution information appearing unprompted. These are pretty minor gripes and could well be ironed out in models manufactured later.
Geek Sheet
HD Ready: up to1080p (1920x1080)
Progressive scan: PAL and NTSC
Integrated Digital TV tuner (with analogue)
Inputs: HDMI x 2, Composite video x 2, S-Video, Scart x 3, PC input
Brightness: 450
Contrast: 1300:1 (claimed max)
Dimensions (on stand): 1262(w) x 795(h) x 322(d)mm
Weight (inc stand): 39.1kg
Overview
So has Sony created the ultimate high definition telly? Not quite, but it was a very, very close run thing. Our biggest gripe was with the standard definition image processing but, in the end, if you're looking at coughing up £3,500 for an HD Ready, 1080p set, it will be the HD picture quality that counts the most. Here the 46X2000 really showed its true colours and is amongst the very best LCDs we've ever had the pleasure of testing.
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Related sites: Sony
