46in LCD Picture Sound Features Usability Value Breaks new ground for LCD performance, but at a price. Rating: 92%

  Picture quality

  Price

Design

Mention the presence of side speakers on a flat TV and our minds hark back to clunky looking panels of some years ago which appeared far too wide for their screen size. Not so the KDL-46X4500 which presents the illusion of ultra slim strip speakers floating either side of the screen (with sections of glass separating main panel and speakers) - an effect Sony carries off with their customary style.

Integrate some LED lights into one of the glass separating panels and add some legendary Sony build quality and the result is a startlingly attractive piece of audio visual kit.

Features

LCD TV's have traditionally required an always on backlight to illuminate the display, a system which makes it difficult to achieve high contrast ratios. Sony have not only replaced the traditional always on backlight used by the majority of LCD manufacturers, with LED technology, they have gone one step further with their own refinement of the system. Instead of a static edge-based LED backlight, Sony use clusters of LEDs which can be controlled individually.

	Screen: 46in 16:9 Tuner: Digital Sound System: Nicam Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Contrast Ratio: 1,000,000:1 Other Features: Bravia Engine 2 Pro, 100Hz processing, DNLA compatible. Sockets: 4 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input, Ethernet port, 2 USB ports, Common Interface Slot.

 

Additionally, Sony use LED clusters which employ RGB rather than "Black & White" dimming. Sony claim that these RGB clusters "significantly elevate colour purity".

Various incarnations of LED lighting are starting to appear on a number of LCD TV's from different manufacturers. The primary goal behind the various implementations of the technology is broadly similar - to improve on the mediocre performance of LCD TV's in their ability to produce really deep black levels.

You won't find a much better connected TV in the KDL-46X4500 with its 4 HDMI's, a USB 2.0 port for playback of a variety of multimedia files along with an Ethernet port which is DNLA enabled. It is worth noting that Sony have not enabled access to their own internet portal (a feature enabled on other Sony LCD TV's via 'Applicast' technology) through the Ethernet port.

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a simple to use standard used by manufacturers of a wide range of consumer electronic devices, enabling those devices to share their content with each other across a home network.

The 46X4500 gains the benefit of Sony's 100Hz 'Motion Flow' system along with 'Image Blur Reduction' technology. Reflecting the presence of LED lighting, Contrast ratio is a massive claimed 1,000,000:1. Sony's Bravia Engine 2 Pro picture processing technology has been designed to complement the Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution.

Performance

Although it has taken more time than many of us envisioned, the huge investment in LCD TV technology over the past few years is beginning to pay big dividends. The inexorable advance of LCD technology is no better illustrated at this time than with Sony's ground breaking X4500 series. Even dyed in the wool plasma enthusiasts may want to explore in more detail what this TV has to offer.

For many, the justification for shelling out a not inconsiderable amount of money on the 46X4500 rests on the screen's ability to produce Plasma rivaling black levels. Those of you who are contemplating buying this screen will be pleased to know that on the whole Sony have produced an LCD TV which can be considered a match for any flat panel technology in terms of black level competence. Along with deep rich blacks comes a subtlety of shadow detailing that places the 46X4500 apart from the vast majority of LCD TV's. LED technology now enables the 46X4500 to produce and blend bright picture areas alongside the deepest blacks.

Sony have always managed to produce a range of flat panel TV's which enjoy a gloriously vibrant colour palette, but what they haven't always managed to do is produce screens which present that colour palette with subtle, accurately blended tones. The KDL-46X4500 changes all that with the colour vibrancy we are used to but with a subtlety that we have only previously seen on the best plasma screens.

With Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolutions abound we now expect LCD TV's to produce strong High Definition performances. What the KDL-46X4500 manages to do is join an elite group of flat panel TV's that gives home entertainment a new dimension. The HD pictures are so engrossing they almost compel you to reach out and touch the screen - the sharpness and clarity giving such a sense of reality - quite possibly the best HD picture we have come across.

We would still consider the best plasmas to be capable of producing a more accomplished Standard Definition picture, but not by much, and for a 46in LCD screen the SD performance on the 46X4500 is a revelation. Sony's renowned Bravia picture processing technology keep 'noise' to a minimum and although fast on screen action suffers ultimately from a loss of resolution and clarity, it is to a much lesser degree than any large LCD we have previously come across.

The acoustic ability of the KDL-46X4500 will not stop home cinema enthusiast contemplating a separate system but those slim line speakers are still capable of knocking out a more powerful bass than the majority of flat screen TV's.

Conclusion

If you like LCD technology you will love the 46X4500 and if you are a dyed in the wool plasma enthusiast this TV will challenge some of your LCD  preconceptions. The only real drawback is the price ...

Sony KDL-46X4500