Sony BRAVIA KDL55HX820 55-Inch LED HDTV with Built-in WiFi Review
Got the tv for an amazing price (800 less than regular price) and couldn't be happier. I am upgrading from a 40 inch Sony v3000 that I nought 4 years ago. That tv was amazing. But granted I didn't know much about tvs back then. Later I learned all about ghosting and clouding and found out my tv had it too except I am not really sensitive to it. But I decided the next tv I am gonna get, I will make sure it's as flawless as it can be. Wanted to get the hx929 but it was a bit out of my price range so I went for the hx820 instead. I saw the previous version hx800 last year and got that one for a friend. That tv was the best tv price vs performance wise according to many pro websites, and hx820 is supposed to improve over that too. So it was a blind purchase for me. Never saw this tv at a store and directly ordered it from amazon. Got it a week later with no shipping damage. They helped me to unpack it and plugged it in too to check if it's working. The first thing I said after looking at the tv was damnnn that looks soooo sexy. The monolithic design is just amazing. Anyway I set it up and started watching some local hd channels over the antenna and found the picture a bit too over saturated and grainy (and I am not picky at all so I was surprised at how bad the picture is to even make me notice..he'll even my mom noticed it and said something is wrong with the color. And thus began my very first try to calibrate a tv.
The few reviews that came out for this tv, only one of them mentioned calibration settings tvinfo.com or something. And there settings sucked even more (no wonder they rated the tv low since they didn't know how to calibrate themselves). So I went to cnet's hx929 review and used it's setting. And wow..the improvement was just mind boggling. But I knew that's a local dimming tv and I have to calibrate it more to make it look even better. But I decided to do it at night with lights turned off so that I can check the clouding and flash lighting too.
So in the dark I was able to see some flash lighting and very little clouding but wasn't alarmed coz I know every edge lit LCD and LEDs will have it. It's inherent to the technology they use.. So I started playing with the settings again..specially backlight and brightness and I got rid of 99% of the flash lighting and all of clouding. And then I wanted to see how this setting look in the morning and found out it's a bit too dark. So more playing with settings again and finally I was able to find that perfect balance in black level...color..no flash lighting and clouding ...in short AMAZING PICTURE.
Among other things..I believe it handles motion well although I am not sensitive to it. The viewing angle isn't the best, it tends to lose contrast at 30 degrees and at 60 degrees it's quite noticeable but it's true for all lcds and not a big concern for me. Some pro reviews mentioned problems with fast motion in blu ray at 1080p 24p although no USERS
3D looks amazing although I am not a big 3 D person. S will hardly use it. Sound is terrible. Even my mom noticed it. So u probably need some external audio system. The extra Internet features are handy and there are plenty of them if you want to use them. I don't. I have it connected to my Mac (htpc)with hdmi and it works flawlessly in 1080p.
All I will say is spend some time adjusting settings and it will look like a million bucks. If you are scared to mess with the settings get a pro calibrator. It will be worth it to extract 100% from what this tv can offer. Hope I have covered anything. Lave a comment if you have other questions and I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge.
The few reviews that came out for this tv, only one of them mentioned calibration settings tvinfo.com or something. And there settings sucked even more (no wonder they rated the tv low since they didn't know how to calibrate themselves). So I went to cnet's hx929 review and used it's setting. And wow..the improvement was just mind boggling. But I knew that's a local dimming tv and I have to calibrate it more to make it look even better. But I decided to do it at night with lights turned off so that I can check the clouding and flash lighting too.
So in the dark I was able to see some flash lighting and very little clouding but wasn't alarmed coz I know every edge lit LCD and LEDs will have it. It's inherent to the technology they use.. So I started playing with the settings again..specially backlight and brightness and I got rid of 99% of the flash lighting and all of clouding. And then I wanted to see how this setting look in the morning and found out it's a bit too dark. So more playing with settings again and finally I was able to find that perfect balance in black level...color..no flash lighting and clouding ...in short AMAZING PICTURE.
Among other things..I believe it handles motion well although I am not sensitive to it. The viewing angle isn't the best, it tends to lose contrast at 30 degrees and at 60 degrees it's quite noticeable but it's true for all lcds and not a big concern for me. Some pro reviews mentioned problems with fast motion in blu ray at 1080p 24p although no USERS
3D looks amazing although I am not a big 3 D person. S will hardly use it. Sound is terrible. Even my mom noticed it. So u probably need some external audio system. The extra Internet features are handy and there are plenty of them if you want to use them. I don't. I have it connected to my Mac (htpc)with hdmi and it works flawlessly in 1080p.
All I will say is spend some time adjusting settings and it will look like a million bucks. If you are scared to mess with the settings get a pro calibrator. It will be worth it to extract 100% from what this tv can offer. Hope I have covered anything. Lave a comment if you have other questions and I will try to answer it to the best of my knowledge.
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Sony BRAVIA KDL55HX820 55-Inch LED HDTV with Built-in WiFi
*** Product Information and Review : Sep 20, 2011
Sony BRAVIA KDL55HX820 55-Inch LED HDTV with Built-in WiFi
*** Product Information and Review : Sep 20, 2011