Sony KDL-46HX820

In addition to fantastic 3D high definition picture and sound, the Sony Bravia KDL-46HX820 offers style, performance and the promise of future enhancements. A 46-inch class edge lit LED-LCD 3D HDTV; the KDL-46HX820 provides active 3D video and sound for any video source at full 1080p HD resolution. With its Dynamic Edge LED Backlight and Ambient Sensor, a crisp, vivid picture is dynamically delivered regardless of where you place the HDTV or the room lighting. The Sony KDL-46HX820 is a superior High definition 3D set that offers even more features after installation and a firmware upgrade.

Sony KDL-46HX820

Picture

This Sony 3D-ready HDTV when used with the Sony’s active shutter glasses provides a unique 3D view of your video action library, gaming or streaming video. To utilize the 3D technology, you need to separately buy Sony’s 3D Active Glasses (TDG-BR50 or BR250). The full 46-inch (diagonal) screen runs Sony’s Motionflow XR 480 blur reduction (240Hz refresh rate combined with backlight scanning) to provide super smooth video sequences during fast paced video action.

Their X-Reality Pro Engine intelligently processes every frame to produce a dramatic, clear picture at full 1080p High definition for digital 2D and 3D sources and provides the best optimal picture for analog components. This TV is engineered with Edge-lit local dimming. In case you don’t know what that means, the idea is to allow some dimming of the screen in various areas across the screen without having to place LEDs behind the LCD panel, just along the edge. This really slims down the depth of the TV cabinet. In this case, this Bravia cabinet bezel is only 1-inch thick. When the TV is off it appears to be “bezel-less”.

Sound

Sony provides a virtual surround sound experience via this Bravia HDTV’s three rearward facing 10-watt speakers featuring left and right channels and a central woofer. It is programmed with preset sound profiles depending on whether the set is wall or stand mounted for optimum surround sound quality. The set also features an audio equalizer capability for custom sound profiles.

Internet Applications

The KDL-46HX820 comes preconfigured with Sony’s video and music Internet streaming content as well as social application widgets for Facebook, Twitter, etc. The selection is generous including Amazon On Demand, Hulu Plus, Netflix, NHL Vault, Pandora and YouTube. There are widgets you use to connect to eBay, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Weather, and Yahoo. This HDTV can also run Skype in full after separately purchasing Sony’s compatible camera/microphone. Sony also supplies a Web browser for connecting directly to the Internet, but it’s rather cumbersome to use. Sony’s solution for entering text is a number-pad-to-alpha translation to enter text characters. Sure you can adapt, but why? Just download Sony’s free Media Remote app for your iPhone or Android. Then you can use your Smartphone to type in URLs, login information and messages. This is lot easier to use than the numeric-pad process and a whole lot more accurate. Wireless or wired connection to your home network is required to use these apps and streaming content, but more importantly, it is how the firmware on the Bravia gets updated from Sony to provide future promised capability.

Cabinet

The KDL-46HX820 has just a 1 1/8 inch thickness when wall mounted. The panel display is seamless, with Corning Gorilla Glass strengthened at the molecular level to provide a strong yet light structure. Weighing in at 36 pounds without its stand and having a 42 5/8 inch wide cabinet, the HDTV is lightweight and should be easy to mount with 300mm VESA patterned mounting hardware. The included stand provides both 20 degree left/right and six degree up swivel capability and, if used, will require a table surface a little over 10 inches deep to hold it.

Set-Up

Setup is quick and easy with the on-screen menu and their standard remote control. It also covers speaker optimization, setting up a wired or wireless connection to your network and the automatic download of Sony’s firmware updates. While the KDL-46HX820 is ready for HDTV viewing in minutes, you will have to purchase the Sony active 3D glasses separately to enjoy the 3D picture. The remote control, while a bit large, is illuminated and the on/off button is recessed which means you can set the remote upside-down and not have it accidentally turn off the set.

Connections

If you like a clean and clear cabinet view from the front, you’ll appreciate that Sony moved most of the set’s buttons and ports behind the screen. The power, volume, input, channel, home and Energy Saving switch are on the right side of the cabinet. Connections are located behind the left side of the screen facing both left and down. To the left are two USB connections, two HDMI connections, a computer connection, headphone jack, optical audio-out, and an audio-in. Facing down are two more HDMI ports, a component connection, the cable or antenna connection, and the Ethernet port.

Energy Star

This Sony is completely Energy Star compliant. In a nutshell, that means your TV is engineered to use up to 30% less electricity than non-Energy Star televisions.

Conclusion

The Sony KDL-46HX820 is very stylistic and its performance and monolithic design add entertainment value to any room. Sony has always provided top of the line electronics and this HDTV is no exception. Future automatic software and firmware upgrades hold the promise for future functionality in applications and widgets. It also provides superior picture and sound performance right out of the box, but you will need a pair of their active 3D glasses (sold separately) to watch your 3D content.

Average User Rating:
Actual User Reviews:
• “Amazon delivered this TV exactly on time on the date promised. It arrived in perfect condition. I mounted on my pre-existing wall mount and operational within a half-hour. The picture is perfect right out-of-the-box but there are numerous options for adjusting the picture, sound, internet options. It looks pretty much like a sheet of black glass when off. The gorilla glass, similar to that used on the iPhone 4 and iPad, offers additional protection to
the LCD panel, which was a primary selling feature to me. It does have a glare factor in a bright room but is beautiful. The TV is extremely thin with a metal-paneled back. Netflix, HULU+ both stream very well.” – S.Anderson (ME,USA)

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• “The Sony Bravia KDL55HX820 thus far has been a great TV for me. Excellent picture quality, plenty of internet content (incl. 3D samples) and many adjustable settings. As others have said, the sound isn’t great but good enough for most TV shows. I also found the wireless receiver’s strength to be weak – it would pause constantly streaming Pandora. I hooked it up to a wireless bridge and it has been fine since.” – T.Wittgow (OR,USA)

• “I bought this TV after reading reviews on this model vs. the Samsung 55 Edgeless TV. This TV works right out of the box without any settings or adjustments. I’m very happy with the quality. I watched both sports and movies on this TV.” – Phi Bui (USA)

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