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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 10 reviews
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Product summary
The good: Ultrastylish design; good video processing with 2:3 pull-down; decent black-level performance; DVI input.
The bad: Nondefeatable edge enhancement; subpar out-of-box color decoding and color temperature.
The bottom line: This high-end LCD requires a pro's touch to look its best for a home theater, but with style like this, do you really care?
Specifications: Product type: LCD TV; Diagonal size: 32 in; Resolution: 1280 x 768; See full specs
Price range: $2,999.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 06/07/2004
Editor's note: We have changed the rating in this review to reflect recent changes in our rating scale. Click here to find out more.
Like an inches-thin genie, the KDL-32XBR950 magically hovers between two speakers and conjures images from thin air, just for your entertainment. At least that's the effect Sony has created by mounting the panel on a pane of glass. It will also make your choice of wall covering that much more important, though the black border surrounding the screen should prevent any ill-chosen colors from adversely affecting your viewing experience.If you choose to set the TV on a table, Sony offers an optional stand for $299. Like its flat-panel brethren, the 3.8-inch-thick panel also mounts on the wall with a variety of optional brackets. The KDL-32XBR950 measures 41 inches wide by 22 inches high and weighs 49 pounds. Because of the glass bezel and the wide speakers, it's somewhat wider than panels with similar screen sizes, such as Samsung's LTN325W.
The solid, metallic remote takes its batteries through a caddy that slips in from the bottom and locks into place with a special screw. This keeps the batteries from falling out when the remote is dropped. It will also hold things together when you hurl it to the ground in frustration, as it is neither illuminated nor intuitively laid out. For this kind of scratch, we expect light-up keys and maybe a dedicated button for each input; the Sharp LC30HV6U's remote puts this one to shame. Still, Sony's silver wand can be programmed to operate other components in your theater.
Like the Sharp, this LCD comes with an external VCR-size media receiver unit, identical to the one that ships with the 42-inch KDL-42XBR950, to which you connect all external gear. This allows you to stash the unit in your equipment rack and run just a single cable to the panel itself. The proprietary cable that connects the receiver unit to the panel is only 10 feet long, so for some installations, you may have to shell out an extra $299 for the 30-footer. Like other large-screen LCD HDTVs we've seen, the KDL-32XBR950's native resolution is 1,280x768, so it can display every pixel of 720p HDTV. All incoming signals, including 1080i, are converted to match the panel's exact pixel count. The media receiver includes a built-in ATSC digital tuner, so you can watch high-def over an antenna.
As we'd expect from a multithousand dollar panel, this LCD includes picture-outside-picture--Sony calls it Twin Pictures--as well as three picture presets, three color temperature presets, and four aspect ratio modes. Unfortunately, none of the aspect modes function with HDTV material.
A selection from the Advanced Video portion of the Video menu ostensibly lets you adjust levels of red, green, and blue in bright (gain) and dark (bias) portions of the picture, but it didn't offer nearly enough range to overcome color temperature issues (see the Performance section for details). Sony's three picture presets are all adjustable, and each can remember the basic picture settings, such as like brightness, color, and so on. New for this year, the KDL-32XBR950 "remembers" which of the presets you last used with an input. So if you set up Pro for your DVD player on the Video 5 input, switching to that input automatically reverts back to the Pro settings.
While in the Advanced Video menu, we discovered that 2:3 pull-down detection, essential for nonprogressive and non-HD sources, is active only when the DRC Mode is set to CineMotion. We also noticed that the DRC Palette, a control exclusive to XBR-series Sonys, really acts as a control for the panel's edge enhancement. The upside is that you can create a custom DRC Palette, with Reality and Clarity set to their lowest settings to minimize the edge enhancement's detrimental effects on already-sharp DVD and HDTV sources.
Connectivity, via the media receiver unit, is impressive. We counted two broadband component inputs, one DVI input with HDCP copy protection, two rear and one front S-Video input, two rear and one front composite-video inputs, and two iLink (a.k.a. FireWire) input/outputs for DV or MicroMV sources such as camcorders. Each video input includes a stereo pair of audio RCA inputs, complimented by an RCA subwoofer output and one optical, digital audio output. Two jacks, labeled White and Black, send the video, audio, and control signals to the panel. This LCD does not include a computer input.
While fine for casual viewing in bright rooms, the KDL-32XBR950's initial, out-of-the-box picture exhibited problems when we dimmed the lights and looked closely, home theater-style. Its color temperature at even the most favorable factory preset was unacceptably blue (see the geek box). Though RGB cuts and gains are available in the Advanced Video menu, their limited range meant we still had to use the service menu--accessible only to a professional--to perform a proper calibration. Post-calibration color temperature was very accurate, especially for an LCD. Grayscale variation was a similar story: inconsistent before and much better after calibration.
The drastic red push of the out-of-the-box color decoding gave most Caucasian people a distinct sunburned look which, again, could be fixed only via calibration. After we performed the requisite adjustments, the color imbalance was gone completely, allowing us to turn up the color control and saturate the image with rich hues. Like many LCD TVs, the KDL-32XBR950's reds looked a little too orange, and greens looked somewhat lime.
The second scene of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial showed this panel's surprisingly good black-level performance. This night scene actually looked real. We did notice a loss of shadow detail when we directly compared the Sony to the aforementioned Sharp LC-30HV6U, however. As the men chase E.T. through the woods, the lead man's jacket is clearly brown on the Sharp but shows up as a dark bustling mass of indistinct shadow on the Sony. In its favor, the Sony showed significantly less false contouring than the Sharp throughout this difficult scene.
High-definition material, such as DiscoveryHD's scenic tour of South Georgia Island, showed natural, saturated colors, excellent detail, and a very clear picture with little noise. Birds feasting on bloody carcasses looked great--by which we mean, quite realistic.
Overall, we give the Sharp and the Sony similar marks in after-calibration picture performance, but keep in mind that the Sharp is two inches smaller, quite a bit more pedestrian-looking, and around $1,500 cheaper than the Sony. If you have the cash for a pro calibration and the desire for floating glass, the Sony is a clear winner. But if you live on a real-world budget, the Sharp still takes the prize.
| TEST | RESULT | RATING |
| Before color temp (30/80) | 11,200/10,700K | Poor |
| After color temp (30/80) | 6,590/6,540K | Good |
| Before grayscale variation 20 to 100 IRE | +/- 4,433K | Poor |
| After grayscale variation 20 to 100 IRE | +/- 321K | Average |
| Overscan | 4.5% | Average |
| Color decoder error: red | +20% (0%) | Poor |
| Color decoder error: green | -10% (0%) | Average |
| DC restoration | No stable pattern | Poor |
| 2:3 pull-down, 24fps | Y | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | N | Poor |
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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 10 reviews
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"After a year of looking, very pleased with my decision...absolutely gorgeous!!!"
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Sony KDL-32XBR950:
