Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 – great monolithic looks

Thumbs Up:

Ergonomic remote control; good menu navigation; inbuilt Wi-Fi; accurate colors; monolithic exterior; excellent stylish design; energy-efficient; Yahoo! Widgets; and internet services like Amazon VOD, YouTube and Netflix.

Thumbs Down:

Glossy display screen reflecting ambient light; low screen uniformity; unable to adjust much de-judder processing; darker areas distorted with blue; reproduces light black level; expensive price tag; worst Netflix picture quality.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is 46 inches wide-screen LCD HDTV based on LED backlight technology. Its 1080p display has 1920×1080 pixels resolution, 16:9 image aspect ratio, progressive scanning and 240Hz refresh rate. The horizontal and vertical viewing angle is 178 degrees. The 46NX800 has V-chip control, 3D digital comb filter and composite video analog signal.

The additional features of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 are Auto power off, LightSensor technology, Motionflow technology and Sleep Timer. Display Menu languages are English, French and Spanish. Television has one analog/digital combo tuner, secondary audio program, MTS stereo reception system and Picture-in-picture multi-channel review. Analog tuner is NTSC and digital is ATSC and QAM. The channel coverage is Cable:1-135, UHF:14-69 and VHF:2-13.

The video interfaces of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 include Composite, Component and HDMI. The television features invisible speaker system, SteadySound audio volume, stereo surround sound, closed caption capability, parental channel lock and onscreen TV guide. Input video format options are 1080/60p, 1080/60i, 1080/24p, 720/60p, 480/60p and 480/60i.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has two inbuilt 10 watt left/right channel speakers. The connectors are 1 x Network ( RJ-45 ) – Rear, 1 x USB 2.0 ( 4 pin USB Type A ) – Side, 2 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Side, 2 x HDMI ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Rear, 1 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) – Side, 1 x VGA input ( 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) ) – Side, 1 x Digital audio output (optical) ( TOSLINK ) – Rear, 1 x Composite video input ( RCA phono ) , 1 x Composite video / component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ), 1 x Audio line-out ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear, 1 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Side and 2 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 supports JPG images; MPEG4, AVCH and AVC videos; and MP3 audio. The PC connectivity options are: wireless, Ethernet and USB. Connectivity protocols are: IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b Wi-Fi and USB.

The television has Sony RM-YD037 remote control and swivel stand. The operational power consumption is 158 watt and sleeping/standby consumption is 0.17. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is complaint to the EPA Energy Star and HDCP. Sony provides one-year limited labor-and-parts warranty with the television.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 is 28 inches tall, 44.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep and weighs 54.7 lbs. With stand, it is 29.2 inches tall, 44.5 inches wide and 12.6 inches deep and weighs 63.5 lbs. Sony has revamped the exterior in monolithic style of some space theme like orbiting Jupiter or Tycho crater. The backside is glossy black. The input connector panel is hidden behind removable cover at back. The swivel base stand is attached at the bottom. Moreover, you can mount the television on the floor or table using stand at the back.

Inside Dope:

Sony has launched its LED-based Bravia KDL-NX800 series LCD TVs. The LED backlight technology comes in some different varieties. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performs better than other LCD TVs in its class including Samsung’s UNB7000 series. The KDL-46NX800 has inbuilt Wi-Fi to access Internet services as found on Sony’s 2009 models. It designed for people for whom style comes first.

Sony has also revamped the remote control of its Bravia KDL-46NX800 and this remote is the best one we have ever used. It has perfect arrangement of buttons with their logical size. All the keys are sleek and flush. The remote control has concave shape which makes the buttons easy to use. The company has also added blue backlighting to the remote control.

The company has added its XMB interface to Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 with some new features. This interface offers inputs, settings, widgets and Internet services in logical fashion. We would prefer to more customizations in this interface. In addition, the dashing navigation looks reminiscent of the PlayStation3. We like that manufacturer has included separate Favorite section that consists of frequently accessed inputs. You can also manually add some options to this section. There is an Options section that provides instant access to Netflix options, MotionFlow settings and scene modes.

Sony has used energy-efficient LED edge-lit technology instead of CCFL backlights, which also helped in keeping thin TV panel. But it has affected the picture quality and performance as compared to local dimming technology in Sony XBR-NX800 series.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has inbuilt Wi-Fi to connect to internet via your local wireless network. The company had started offering Netflix in 2009 and it did not have any new addition. On the contrary, Samsung, LG and Panasonic announced to include Skype service in 2010. Vizio and Samsung are also going to introduce platform based applications. Following the same tradition, Sony is going to launch QRIOCITY – online movie service.

Netflix will draw main attention in various features of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. But it did not produce appreciated image quality in our tests. While playing one streaming video, it provided soft video with more artifacts and pixilation than LG 47HL50 and Roku Player. Moreover, the streaming bit rate was also low. These results were same for both wireless and wired network. We also tested Amazon VOD and YouTube. The streaming video quality for Amazon Video on Demand was good, but not for YouTube contents on viewing at full screen.

Sony has also added keyword search for extracting the information from TV Guide EPG. It will be more useful if company encompasses the search for Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. You will also find Yahoo Widgets for Dallas Mavericks, FrameChannel, TV Guide, USA Today Sports, Quizzmaster, Sudoku, Yahoo sports, Yahoo video, finance, news and local weather. We did not see first two widgets on any Yahoo specified TV. FrameChannel provides contents from numerous outlets such as CNET Crave blog, BBC, NewYork Times, People magazine, Picasa, Facebook and forth. Sony had not updated the Yahoo! Widgets which resulted in slow performance. You can move Yahoo! Widgets around the screen without any problem. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has more widgets than LG, but still lesser than Samsung.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has Slacker Radio – music service instead of having Pandora found on Mitsubishi LT-249 series. But it is capable of streaming videos, music and photos from networked computer via their DNLA standard software like Windows Media Player 11.

Like Vizio, Sony is providing inbuilt Wi-Fi and Ethernet on its KDL-NX800 series including Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. It was child’s play easy to setup both Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks. Most of other televisions require USB or Ethernet connection to setup wireless network, but the 46NX800 performs it directly using integrated Wi-Fi antenna.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has 240Hz refresh rate like other high-end LCD TVs launched this year. Unlike the implementation of Toshiba and Samsung, you cannot take its benefits to reduce blur without engaging de-judder processing also. Sony includes and calls the de-judder processing as MotionFlow that is available in two types. You can also turns off the MotionFlow.

Sony had also re-structured the picture setup memory scheme and added a capability to apply user-defined settings to either all inputs or current input. The user-defined customizations will be applicable to any one of basic picture modes including Standard, Vivid and Custom. For each input, you will have three different selections of picture options. Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has seven Scene modes including PC, Cinema and Game. However, these modes cannot be accessed via main picture menu. You can press the Theater mode button for entering Cinema scene mode.

You will also get various advanced picture settings such as seven step gamma control, CineMotion option, two noise reduction options, full white balance, four temperature controls, a Reset option for both advanced and standard options and more. Sony has also added text explanation for each of the option.

For high-definition sources, Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has four aspect ratio options plus one Full Pixel option for displaying 1080p content without over-scan or scaling. You can use this Full Pixel option on noticing some interference across the screen’s extreme edges. The user-defined settings can be applied to only current setting or to all.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 has Eco menu – power saving option that limits the brightness level. This LED based LCD TV also has room lighting sensor, mode to turn off TV after being inactive for particular period and one mode to turn off screen without turning off sound. Not only these modes, but you will also get a power button to eradicate its power standby mode and enables to remain awake for downloading automatic updates.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 also has onscreen Electronic Programming Guide that display information about cable channels and antenna. It will be the additional benefit for the users who are only using guide of their satellite or cable box. The television also has onscreen user manual to explain all of its features. It will be useful for everyone to select the options easily. In addition, it will also provide the support information section containing phone numbers and Web site for service center. This section also displays the software version and serial number of the product.

There are plenty of connectivity options available on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. The side panel has an AV input with composite or component video, USB port for sharing, VGA analog input and two HDMI ports. Other two HDMI ports are located behind a cover on the back. You will find few analog audio ports, Ethernet jack, RF input for cable or antenna connection and composite video input on rear panel.

We were disappointed that Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 did not perform better than other LCD TVs in its class. The color accuracy was overall good and solid. The picture is equal to Samsung edge-lit LED TVs. The most accurate setting was only in Cinema scene mode. The display screen provided 2.2 gamma levels, but maintained to have smooth grayscale. Occasionally, it dove in blues in some dark areas.

We played a movie on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 and compared it with dimming KDL-52XBR9, LG 47LH90; plasma Pioneer PRO-111GD and edge-lit LED based LG 42SL90 and Samsung UN46B7000.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 delivered some light black shades after calibration, whereas SL Sl90 was worse overall. The B7000, the XBR9 and Pioneer plasma delivered darker shadows and black areas than the 46NX800. Moreover, Sony model provided more natural look in details than the XBR9, but not better than others.

On disabling Auto Contrast Enhancer, we noticed an improvement in black level performance of Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800. It provided dim backlight in dark scenes, but increased in bright light, like Samsung B7000. The bright areas and lighting looked dull in dark scenes.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 provided solid color accuracy except bluish black areas. This problem was similar to other LCDs during test, but the 46NX800 displayed blue tinge crawling only into extreme dark areas and shadows. On the contrary, the colors and skin tones looked natural with rich color saturation. Its secondary and primary colors were solid.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 provides only High, Standard and Off options for MotionFlow de-judder processing. We preferred to turn off this processing for Blu-ray movies. Like Samsung and LG, the lowest mode – Standard provided less video like look. Unlike Sony NX800, Samsung allows to tweak the smoothness. There were noticeable artifacts in each de-judder modes; still the Standard mode had less artifacts.

The motion resolution tests revealed that Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed better than other 240Hz TV sets like the XBR9. The KDL-46NX800 registered 900 to 1000 lines with MotionFlow engaged in any mode. On turning off the MotionFlow, it resulted in 300-400 lines. The 1080i de-interlacing handled both video and film based sources.

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 could not maintain the same image across the display, unlike its competitors. Sony has selected glossy screen instead of matte one. As a result, it shows the reflections of room objects, unlike LG LH90 and the XBR9. This reflection was less than that of LG SL90 and Samsung screens. Moreover, the KDL-46NX80 preserved more black levels than LG SL90, but lesser than the XBR9 or Samsung.

For standard-definition sources, Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed average. The details were softer than Samsung UNB7000 while playing a DVD video. The noise reduction was good to remove artifacts and noise. It also engaged 2:3 pull-down with some delay as compared to others.

In high frequency test patterns, we received excellent look with a bit flicker on Sony Bravia KDL-46NX80 via analog RGB. But we did not get any flicker via HDMI output.

Nitty Gritty:

Sony Bravia KDL-46NX800 performed good in our tests. If you do not mind the light black levels, glossy and reflective screen and few settings for de-judder processing, then you can buy this LCD HDTV. We will recommend you to check other edge-lit LED based LCD TVs also.

Popularity: 100% [?]