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I’ve waited long enough. For the last 3 years, I have been biting my fingernails waiting for the right time to toss out my 32″ inch 12-year old CRT and purchase a High-Definition TV without feeling like I got in too soon only to be quickly out-paced by newer and better technology. After a ton of researching the different technologies, manufacturers, and physically looking at the TV’s, I finally made a decision a couple months ago. I chose the Sony 52″ LCD HD XBR4, and here’s why.

I live at an altitude of 6,984 feet. In years past, the plasma television sets had a problem at higher altitudes due to the pressure differential between the plasma gases inside the cells and the air pressure outside. As a result, the power supply would have to work harder which often times resulted in a noticeable buzzing sound coming from the TV. I have witnessed this first hand. Three years ago, we purchased four 62″ plasma screens at my work for our video teleconferencing rooms. Once the plasma’s were/are powered on, sure enough, there was/is the buzz. I also confirmed this in the smaller sets by going to the local retail stores where I noticed the infamous buzzing noise. Granted, the newer plasma screens have improved, but not enough for me to feel comfortable dropping several thousands dollars on a nice television only to be plagued with buzzing and potential power supply problems.

I also looked at the DLP and rear-projection sets. I was not happy with these technologies right from the start. The glare was horrible, the viewing angle was extremely acute, and the sets were huge in comparison to the flat panel plasmas and LCD’s. Granted, they are cheaper, but I was not going to be happy lugging one of these monsters home only to have one chair in the middle of the room directly in front of the TV with all the window shades drawn able to achieve the best possible picture.

A projector was out of the question because I didn’t want to donate a whole wall to a screen as this looks a little tacky unless you have a dedicated theater room (which I don’t at this time).

The LCD sets seemed to be the right fit for my situation and geographical location. The viewing angle is nearly 180°, there is virtually no glare whatsoever, there is no limitation on altitude, and the power consumption is nearly half that of a plasma. But in years past, the LCD screens were nowhere near as good as the Plasmas in that they couldn’t display fast moving content without blurring. While LCD’s have improved, they still aren’t perfect and all of them have their problems.

Regular Programming (HD and SD content)

The flagship Sony 52″ LCD XBR4/XBR5 is no exception, although the extent of this is difficult to gauge. I’m a little peaved at the “HD Lite” signal quality through DirecTV (HD Lite, meaning its not quite HD). Their quality is nowhere near good enough to really produce an awesome HD picture and this is quite evident if you watch fast moving scenes; the pixelation is quite noticable and the contrast is greatly reduced. It is better than standard definition, but not when compared to other sources. For example. my over-the-air HD antenna for the local channels has a much better looking HD picture than DirecTV. So because of DirecTV’s “HD Lite” content quality, this makes it difficult to really gauge how good of a TV the Sony XBR4 really is unless you have a BluRay player which utilizes maximum video bitrates (and for the record, BluRay content looks phenominal on this TV!) or an over-the-antenna in which your local channels have a better picture quality than DirecTV (like mine do in Colorado).

Anyhow … the XB4 does have a bit of a ghosting problem (Some call it blurring, others call is smearing) with some fast action, specifically hockey. Granted, it’s not horrible, but it’s there and it’s not just on my set. I have seen this on the 46″ XBR4 as well as another friend who has the 52″ XBR5. When the camera pans or the player skates fast, there is a noticeable blurring that trails or sometimes is in front of the player. It doesn’t matter if the signal is in 480i, 720p or 1080i. As the TV warms up it seems to diminish quite a bit, but it never goes away. It has nothing to do with the TV settings. I have tried every combination of cinemotion, motionflow, sharpness, color, MPEG noise reduction, noise reduction, DRC … you name it. I even turned the color to 0 such that the picture was black and white and the ghosting was still present. I also have a very expensive HDMI cable connecting my HR20-700 DVR to the XBR4 so that can’t be the problem. It also has nothing to do with the source of the material (although I can’t be for certain unless the bitrates for each channel are increased). I can pause the DVR and the ghosting isn’t there so it’s not a function of the material being viewed. Once you un-pause the DVR, the ghosting is back. Despite this, the HD signal really has improved the overall fun in watching hockey games as compared to my old 32″ CRT. I’m not suggesting this is a horrible TV and you shouldn’t buy it. But I would like to let other potential buyers know that there is a bit of a ghosting, blurring or smearing problem with fast action on the Sony XBR4 and the Sony XBR5. My guess is, though, you will see some form of blurring on any LCD set. That’s just a function of the technology. On a side note, I rarely if ever, notice the ghosting problem when watching regular HD programming. I have a feeling that the hockey player’s jersey’s in relation to the size of the screen and the contrast with the white ice makes it easier to notice. But again, it could also be a function of the DirecTV lower bitrates. A hockey game on a BluRay DVD would probably answer this question.

Sony will deny there is a blurring problem, but it’s there. Just read this thread in the AVS Forums or do a Google search on “XBR4 hockey” and you’ll see this is a very common problem with the Sony XBR4/XBR5. Some can live with it, some are utterly annoyed by it. The people that can’t live with it will find a problem with LCD technology no matter what brand of TV they buy. I can live with it, and in fact don’t even notice anymore. It is such a vast improvement from my 32″ CRT I can’t complain. Again, I just want to let potential buyers know that the Sony XBR4 isn’t perfect, but it do produce one heck of a great picture with most content.

Blu-Ray Content

I just recently purchased the Panasonic BD-30 Blu-Ray player and connected it to my Sony XBR4. I will say that Blu-Ray content on this TV is phenominal. I started re-watching the Planet Earth series and I’m just blown away at the clarity, picture quality, brightness, and color that this TV can produce. Most of the settings are fairly neutral too, meaning I don’t have the brightness or contrast cranked up.

The Motion Enhancer works very good with the “Standard” setting. In the “High” setting, the motion is very fluid and smooth, almost like there are 100 frames per second. It’s sort of bizzare at how good it looks. But even in semi-fast moving scenes, a lot of artifacts start showing up around the edges of objects so it is unlikely one woud leave their TV in the setting. The Standard setting is best as it produces no artifacts at all and helps reduce jutter. I have yet to watch a Blu-Ray movie that utilizes the Deep Color capabilities, so I can’t comment on that yet.

My Conclusion

It’s fair to say LCD technology is far from perfect and I knew this before I purchased my XBR4. But the technology has improved greatly from years past and I just figured this was a good time to jump into the martket because it was good enough for me and it was a big enough improvement from my 32″ CRT to justify the purchase. If you’re super picky about your picture quality when watching sports like hockey or football, you probably should stay away from the XBR4 and perhaps LCD’s in general. Take a look at the plasma screens as they can handle that sort of motion better, although their brightness and contrast won’t be as good as the Sony XBR4. As I mentioned before, I live at 6894 feet and the noisy plasmas and the lower contrast were a worse trade off than an LCD.

My Setup

• Sony XBR4
• Denon 2808ci AVR
• Panasonic BDP-30 BluRay
• DirecTV HR20-700 HD DVR
• Klipsch RS-35 series 7.1 surround speakers
• HD-Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD compatible