Sony Bravia KDL-46X2000 4,000 (approx) www.sony.co.uk
A Bravia with the X factor
Sonys X-Series Bravia screens represent the pinnacle of its atscreen LCD aspirations. Does this 46in debut live up to the hype? John Archer gets X-cited
t took some time, but Sony is nally enjoying the kind of commercial success with its LCD
stores this Summer. Smaller screens are to follow in the Autumn.
1080i/720p. Also a boon are two HD Ready component video inputs. Elsewhere, theres a D-Sub PC jack, three Scarts (all RGB capable), a CAM slot, and even an optical digital audio output for system hook-up. Naturally a Freeview tuner comes as standard. And as youd expect, its bolstered by a well-presented 7-day electronic programme guide, with the option to set timer events simply by selecting them from the listings.
screens that it once had with its Trinitron CRT TVs thanks to the successful roll-out of its Bravia LCD brand. Now the company is gunning for critical acclaim in the shape of its eagerly-awaited high-end range, the X-series. The rst of these, the agship KDL-46X2000, complete with state-ofthe-art picture-processing technology and Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, hits UK

Design

The 46X2000s design oozes high-tech opulence. The grille-effect silver screen frame is eye-catching, and its impact is heightened by the transparent glass outer frame that has almost become a Sony high-end at TV trademark. Connectivity is the best Ive yet seen from Sony it sports two HDMI inputs able to take 1080p HD signals as well as

Features

SPECIFICATIONS
ITEM HD Ready Progressive Scan Digital TV Tuner Composite video S-video Scart Component video HDMI/DVI PC input Headphone SUPPORT DETAILS With 1080p thrown in too! All the formats handled And analogue too 1 phono input 1 input 3 connections (all RGB) 2 inputs 2 HDMI 1 D-Sub connection 1 output
The set does not incorporate the brands latest DRC-MFv2.5 picture enhancing technology, which is able to deliver a 1080p picture from any video source, but does employ a version of the Bravia Engine EX suite of picture tweaks specically for the extra resolution of the X series. Also onboard the 46X2000 are two key new technologies sported by Sonys lower-specication S and V Bravia series: Super Vertical Pattern Alignment
Sound: Nicam stereo with Virtual Dolby 2.1 and built-in subwoofer Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Brightness: N/A (No claim made); Contrast: 1300:1 (claimed) Dimensions: 1262(w) x 795(h) x 322(d)mm (on stand) Weight: 39.1kg (on stand) Also featuring SPVA, WCG backlight, Bravia Engine EX, Backlight adjust, Live Colour Creation, DRC with standard-def sources, including two preset modes and sliding scale adjustment; Block noise reduction; standard noise reduction; black level correction; advanced contrast enhancer; gamma adjustment, clear white setting; white balance adjustment; detail enhancer; edge enhancer; BBE audio processing, Dolby Virtual audio; Normal, Pixel and two zoom display area settings; power saving mode

RATINGS

Highs: HD picture quality; features; sound; connectivity Lows: Struggles to deliver absolute clarity with standard def
Picture Sound Features OVERALL
Watch 20th Century Foxs X-Men: The Last Stand on Sonys KDL-46X2000. Check out our DVD preview on page 23

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Tried&Tested. LCD TV

With 1080i high-denition from my Sky HD receiver the Sonys picture proved jaw-droppingly good
(SPVA) refracts the angle of the backlight so that the picture retains its integrity over a viewing angle, while a Wide Colour Gamut uorescent backlight enhances the colour range. The 46X2000s intuitive onscreen menus are rammed with other, user-accessible features including MPEG block noise reduction; backlight adjustment; horizontal and vertical image shift; a lm mode for improving motion-handling with lm sources; and an almost innitely exible sliding scale adjuster for the potency of the Digital Reality Creation processing. more consistent results than the rst HD DVD and Blu-ray decks), plus 1080p from a Marantz DV9600 upscaling DVD deck, the Sonys picture proved jaw-droppingly good. The 1080 mode typically offers four picture benets: extra sharpness, less noise, smooth, unjagged contours, and slightly subtler colour toning. And the 46X2000 delivers all these advantages with aplomb. Its sharpness is particularly remarkable as it became possible to make out the features of faces in the crowd from hundreds of yards away during the BBCs HD coverage of the Trooping of the Colour. The edges of the soldiers black hats looked immaculate too, suffering no bright haloes or stepping. My well-worn D-Theater tape of Alien, meanwhile, shows the worth of the Wide

Excellent

46X2000s outstanding brightness and vibrancy, as well as suffering seemingly zero colour noise. The only negative thing I can see in the 46X2000s HD pictures is slight and occasional signs of motion smearing. But, in every other way, the 46X2000 is not only a powerfully persuasive argument for high-resolution LCD, its arguably comparable to Pioneers stunning 1920 x 1080 PDP-5000EX plasma monitor (reviewed in HCC #132 issue). The 46X2000 is not, however, as successful as the Pioneer at handling standard-denition sources. During the switch down to these, its noticeable that the sets colour tone loses some naturalism, motion smearing increases, and noise becomes more pronounced than it does on some of the better 768-line panels out there. I spotted a couple of small operational niggles during our tests too. First, for some reason, our sample often defaulted to 4:3 mode when switching to an HD source. Second, during Xbox 360 gaming the component-fed signal kept triggering the TV to ash up the 1080i resolution information bar on the screen. But I would rate neither of these as really serious glitches. The 46X2000s audio, sourced from an integrated S-Master digital amplier, is undeniably accomplished. Theres a vast amount of power on tap, which is put to superb use in combining convincing bass rumbles with clear and natural speech tones and a stunning wealth of harshnessfree treble. The TVs soundstage is engagingly wide too, perfectly matching the scale of its 46in pictures.

Performance

With 1080i high-denition from my resident Sky HD receiver and a JVC D-VHS DTheater deck (which for my money gives

LAB REPORT

Colour Black Level Contrast Resolution Colour temperature (pre-calibration) (post-calibration) Luminance (pre-calibration) (post-calibration) Contrast ratio (pre-calibration) (post-calibration)

Average

Colour Gamut technology; the lm enjoys an expansive but natural colour palette, especially where eshtones are concerned. This movie also reveals that Sony has made great strides minimising those traditional problems with LCD black levels, as the 46X2000 delivers the darkest corners of deep space with outstanding

8000K 6400K 84fL 87fL 1060:1 725:1

Conclusion

This X-series debut is a great harbinger of things to come for Sonys TV division. Its a pity that the 46X2000s merely solid standard-denition performance doesnt stop its performance from feeling like a game of two halves. But then I suspect that its HD talents will be what really matters to its likely target market, and in that respect its nothing short of imperious. So X really does mark the spot
depth and plenty of that subtle grayscale delineation that gives shadowy areas tangible depth. This makes it an unusually good friend of gloomy Xbox 360 HD games like Prey or Condemned. Brighter, more colour rich Xbox HD fare like Kameo, meanwhile, shows off the
Analogue connectivity includes three RGB Scarts and component
The Bravias remote lacks the sets air but is easy enough to use
With an eye to the future, theres not one HDMI input, but two
The oating glass design and detailed bezel is a designer dream

48 HOME CINEMA CHOICE

OCTOBER 2006

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Brussels, 2nd February 2007
Sony wins Sustainable Energy Europe Award from the European Commission
Committee rewards Sony's outstanding efforts as partner of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign
Sony Environmental Affairs Europe wins a Sustainable Energy Europe Award. This is the first time a consumer electronics entertainment company has been given this prestigious recognition by the European Commission. Launched in 2005, the European Commission's Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign aims at raising public awareness and promoting sustainable energy across Europe. The campaign will contribute to the achievement of EU energy policy targets in the fields of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, clean transport and alternative fuels. "The competition for the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards is an integral part of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign," says Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy. "The Awards are aimed at highlighting the successes of the most outstanding projects and rewarding the Sustainable Energy Partners most worthy of recognition and praise."
In an award ceremony held at the Residence Palace in Brussels on 1s t February 2007, the European Commission awarded Sony for its voluntary commitment to energy efficiency. Sony was nominated for its excellent results in maximising the energy efficiency of its products, especially of its BRAVIA LCD TV models. The standby power consumption of all Sony BRAVIA TVs is below one watt, while currently 30 of them achieve a standby consumption of only 0.3 watts, well below the market average. Out of a total of 133 registered projects, an independent committee appointed by the Commission selected an award winner in each of the four categories Awareness Raiser, Corporate Commitment, Public-Private Partnership, and Sustainable Community. "We are very honoured that the European Commission rewards our continuous efforts to increase the eco -efficiency of our products by the Sustainable Energy Award in the Corporate Commitment category," says Serge Foucher, Executive Vice President Sony Europe. "Sony recognises the importance of preserving the natural environment that sustains life on earth for future generations and therefore seeks to combine ongoing innovation with environmentally sound business practices." ENDS
For further information please contact: Nicola Mertens, Sony Corporate Communications Europe, Tel. +49 (0) 5314, email: Nicola.Mertens@eu.sony.com Sylvia Shin, Sony Corporate Communications Europe, Tel. +49 (0) 5156, email: Sylvia.Shin@eu.sony.com
About Sony: Sony manufactures audio, video, communications and information technology products for the global consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, game and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be one of the Worlds Leading Consumer Brands. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 54.96 billion (yen 7,475 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 and it employs approximately 158,500 people worldwide. In Europe, Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of EUR 12.61 billion (yen 1,715 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, based on an average market exchange ra te for the same period of yen 136 to the EUR. Sony Europe, headquartered at the Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, is responsible for the company's European electronics business and registered consolidated sales of EUR 8.22 billion (yen 1,118 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. For more information on Sony Europe, please visit http://www.sony-europe.com and http://www.sony-europe.com/presscenter. For details on Sony's Environmental Vision, please visit www.sony.net/csr. About the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign Sustainable Energy Europe is an EC communication tool that complements financial support with awareness raising and marketing. With an annual budget of 0.9 million, its key instruments are voluntary commitments and promotional actions. Currently, the Campaign includes around 150 Partnerships and 66 Campaign Associates representing the key sectors with influence on sustainable energy approaches. For more details about the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign, please visit
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/index_en.html.

Notes to Editors:

Award application details Sony's voluntary commitment to energy efficiency Sony's approach to energy efficiency - like.no.other Sony has successfully committed to: * Code of Conduct on Energy Efficiency of Digital TV Service Systems (signed for entire scope on 16 March 2001) * Commitment by the Consumer Electronics Industry on Reducing the Energy Consumption of Audio Products in Standby Mode (signed for entire scope in April 2000) * Agreement by the Consumer Electronics Industry on Reducing the Energy Consumption of Televisions and Video Recorders in standby Mode (signed for entire scope on 10 March 1997) * Industry Self-Commitment to improve the energy performance of household consumer electronic products sold in the European Union (signed for DVD players and CRT based TVs on 25 August 2003) Sony promotes energy efficiency and informs consumers on energy consumption of Sony products through different campaigns. Energy & environmental results: TV standby passive mode (on sales weighted average) from 7.5 W ( in 1996) to 0.5 W (in 2005). CRT TV Energy Efficiency Index from 1.013 (2002) to 0.88 (2005). Target = 0.947 (2007). FTV TV Energy Efficiency Index: 0.83 (2005) DVD Player standby passive (sale weighted average): 0.18 W (2003) -> 0.1 W (2005) All Sony TV models are below 1 W in standby, with most being 0.3 W. Below is an overview of Sony Bravia TV models with 0.3 W standby energy consumption introduced on the European market (April - November 2006): KDL-26S2000 KDL-26S2010 KDL-26S2020 KDL-26S2500 KDL-26S2510 KDL-32S2520 KDL-32V2000 KDL-32V2500 KDL-32S2000 KDL-40S2000 KDL-46S2000 KDL-32S2010 KDL-40S2010 KDL-46S2010 KDL-32S2020 KDL-40S2500 KDL-46S2500 KDL-32S2500 KDL-40S2510 KDL-46S2510 KDL-32S2510 KDL-40V2000 KDL-46V2000 KDL-40V2500 KDL-46V2500 KDL-40W2000 KDL-46W2000 KDL-40X2000 KDL-46X2000 KDL-52X2000

Additionally all Sony TVs placed on the market in 2006 have integrated terrestrial digital decoders (IDTV), thereby eliminating the need for separate set-top boxes and saving more power, especially in standby mode.
Massive reductions of the standby passive power consumption of Sony products and improved energy efficiency of TVs have resulted in a substantial decrease of CO2 emissions during the use phase of the product and, as a side effect, in reduced life-timecosts for the consumer.