Sony Bravia XBR KDL 55XBR8 55 Inch 1080p 120Hz Triluminos LED LCD HDTV
Sony Bravia XBR KDL 55XBR8 55 Inch 1080p 120Hz Triluminos LED LCD HDTV
The XBR 8-Series is pinnacle of Sony’s expertise in HDTV technology. The TRILUMINOS three-color LED backlight combined with ACE PRO technology and Sony’s best fully digital video processor BRAVIA Engine 2 PRO produces breathtaking picture quality that simply cannot be described in words.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Brilliant, but at a cost!
Not really sure if it was worth all that money, but the picture is brilliant. With my PS3 playing Bluray, this TV is the best! Am absolutely satisfied. The only thing I saw was, it took sometime (couple of seconds) to change inputs. Not sure if it was due to my Denon receiver or the TV itself. Sometimes it is a bit annoying, and also when we switch the inputs, the top information about the signal selection stays for a few seconds which I felt was again a bit annoying.
5 Stars Worth Every Penny!!!
I’ve been waiting for the price to drop on this TV for several months. It finally came down to a point where I figure the next change will be the model being discontinued.
At $4,500, it ain’t cheap, considering that you can get 120MHz 1080p large screens for not much more than $1,000 these days. Samsung is coming out with a 65″ LCD soon for about six grand, and it will probably be eye popping.
So is it worth it to buy this model. Definitely yes!
I can’t tell you about things like judder, refresh rates, or all that technical stuff. I just know what common sense tells me. One thing is, with the recent acceptance of BluRay, 1080p will likely be around as a standard for high def for quite a while. Broadcast standards may improve to 1080p from 1080i, but I doubt it will be soon. So if you’re looking for higher res sets, it will likely be a long wait.
OK. so why spend the extra $3,000 since even the cheaper TVs are now 1080p?
The answer, contrast, black levels, exquisite picture quality. Look at any LCD TV and notice that black in the picture is nothing close to the black of the bezel on the TV. With the Sony XBR8, it is black. I guess you could get a black like that on a plasma set, but LCD is much more efficient, and for the amount of time my TV is on, that amounts to a lot of electricity (and generated heat).
In the end, I think this is as nice a picture as you could get in a TV this size, and considering that a lot of people spent $7,000 or more not long ago, at $4,500 it is a relative bargain.
I’m delighted with this purchase.
5 Stars Best Picture
Pros
The best picture quality available in LCD TV
Good sound
Non glare screen, great in bright rooms.
Full range of picture adjustments to fine tune.
Sony quality.
Cons
Weight of TV.
1 Star Why Pay More
Why would anyone pay over $6K for this, when you can get it for less than $5K directly from Sony?
5 Stars xbr8 review
We now have one (1) 55inch xbr8 and two (2) 46inch xbr8s in the house. The 55 is in the living-room with all the audio equipment. One of the 46 sets is in the den and the other in the master bedroom. We have studied hundreds of other sets over the years. The Sony xbr8 technology makes the others look like they are from “Toys Are Us”. The picture is almost 3 dimentional when viewing a good blu-ray disc on a high end player. Upscaled standard definition DVDs are remarkable on this set. Good quality Film Noir is very good with the xbr8. The blu-ray of Casablanca is nothing short of amazing on the xbr8. The den set is often on most of the day (until we switch to the living room for evening viewing) and the set runs quite cool. Even viewing standard definition cable is vastly inmproved from other sets on the xbr8. Yes, it is expensive, but worth every bit of it. If watching movies is what you do–this is worth the investment. I do not thing I will be looking for another set until they “perfect” 3D for the consumer. I suspect this will be several years in the future. Now xbr8 technology in a perfected 3D format will be something to look forward to.
