As I sat staring at Sony’s 52-inch NX800 Bravia LCD television – a device that looks like a black hole consuming a living room table – I wondered why anyone would need this much TV.
Perhaps you like playing video games where the characters are larger and higher-resolution than you are; perhaps you have an entire wall you want to hide; perhaps you have $3000 and a fetish for black rectangles.
The NX800 is the latest – and perhaps the last great – High-definition, two-dimension TV from Sony. I say “last great” because, even though I’m sure Sony will churn out bigger and better Bravias for years to come, the company’s focus – like every other TV-maker’s – is shifting to the next big cash-grab: 3D. Indeed, Sony rolls out two new 3D TVs in Canada this summer.
The 52-inch model I tested will run you three grand. Add another grand for the 60-inch model, subtract $400 for the 46-inch.
In keeping with my ongoing war against electronics manufacturers’ joyless, letter-and-number naming conventions, I will henceforth refer to the NX800 as Frank.
The BRAVIA NX800 HDTV has Edge LED backlight, ntegrated Internet video, built-in Wi-Fi, a USB input and four HDMI ports.— Sony
The first thing you notice when Frank shows up at your house is that the box it comes in is overpopulated with logos, acronyms and other methods of illustrative bragging: Edge-lit LED! Motionflow 240Hz! Bravia Engine 3! What does this mean? Basically, that the picture quality is good.
(In truth, TV manufacturers often have a hard time explaining to consumers just why their expensive HDTV set is better than some other manufacturer’s expensive HD-TV set – while there are hard-core TV coinsures out there, a lot of people just walk into the nearest Future Shop, see a wall of similar-looking sets and make a bee-line for the biggest “Sale” tag. As such, manufacturers have to make their sales pitches simple, memorable and easy to differentiate. Case in point: At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, Sharp ran a massive ad campaign claiming that you should buy Sharp TVs because ... they are the best at reproducing the colour yellow. Do you like Spongebob marathons? Documentaries about corn? Sharp is the TV for you).
But good picture quality is nothing new: Sony is responsible for some of my favourite TVs in recent years, even though these one-week loaners are the only way I’ll ever get my hands on any of them. Last summer I reviewed the 52-inch KDL-52XBR9 LCD television from Sony, and the (admittedly excellent) colour quality, black levels and general contrast all feel similar with Frank (of course, the XBR9 went for $4100 last summer, so there’s a pretty big price gap). The refresh rate is crisp enough that you aren’t likely to ever see any blurring on screen.
A couple of differences: the screen seems a bit more shiny on this new model, and as such I got a bit more glare off of it. It’s a minor issue, but the glare did add to a feeling of colour inconsistency across the screen. This probably also has to do with the decision to use edge-lit LED, which allows Sony to make a thinner set at the expense of picture consistency.
As you’d expect, Frank comes loaded with every input port out there, including four HDMI slots, an HD PC slot and Ethernet. You get two speakers in all, but if you want the full force of explosions or orchestral flourish, you’ll likely spend a few hundred dollars more on audio equipment.
Sony does give Frank another neat feature: a light sensor that measures ambient lighting in a room and adjusts backlighting accordingly. The company pitches this as way to conserve energy.
