Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9

Color Temperature (9.86)

As part of out calibration process, we set the color temperature of the screen to about 6500k (we used the warm setting on this display), but we also test how constant this white color temperature remains as the intensity decreases. In an ideal world, the color temperature of the whites would remain constant, but we sometimes see it vary, which means that grays could have a slight color tone. the KDL-52XBR9 didn't have any big problems here, though; although we saw some variation in the color temperature, the variations were only minor, and in most cases were so small that you wouldn't even notice them. On the graph below, the green area shows the amount of difference that most users would notice; if the line veers outside of this area, you would notice the color shift. However, it only does this on a couple of sports on the graph, and then only by a very slight amount.

Color Temperature

RGB Curves (8.19)

We also look at the display's performance with each of the red, green and blue components that it uses to produce colors on the screen. For a perfect TV, the response curve of the graph below would be a perfectly smooth curve, with no bumps or jumps. In practice, we usually see some bumps on this curve caused by the way that displays process signals before they display them. the KDL-42XBR9 did well here, though; there are only a few bumps on the curve, and they are pretty minor. It's certainly not trouble-free, but the response is pretty smooth overall.

RGB Curves

Below you can see the Sony KDL-42XBR9's RGB performance compared to three other HDTVs. In the simulated gradients below, the ideal response gradient should look perfectly smooth; if it doesn't, the device that you are viewing this review on has a less than perfect response itself.

Red Response Comparisons
Ideal Response
Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9
Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100
Samsung UN46B6000
Vizio VF550XVT

On the reds, you can see the effect of the higher gamma of the Sony; the reds fall off quicker from their peak.

Green Response Comparisons
Ideal Response
Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9
Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100
Samsung UN46B6000
Vizio VF550XVT

The effect on the greens is more pronounced; some of the mid tones seem to be missing completely. However, there are no major sudden jumps or any obvious banding in the gradient.

Green Response Comparisons
Ideal Response
Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9
Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100
Samsung UN46B6000
Vizio VF550XVT

Again, the blue shows the high gamma (which means that it drops towards black rather quickly), but there is no sign of banding or other problems.

Color Gamut (4.66)

The range of colors that a TV should display (the color gamut) is set by an international standard called ITU-R Recommendation 709, or rec.709 to its friends. So, we test the performance of HDTVs by measuring how closely they comply with this standard. The KDL-52XBR9 had some issues here; we found that the color gamut was slightly off from what the standard requires. In particular, the red and blue were inaccurate, with the measured colors being more saturated than the gamut. This means that things like blue skies or bright red uniforms may appear to be deeper colors than what the filmmaker intended. One thing to note here; the KDL-52XBR offers a gamut setting called wide (which expands the color gamut beyond the standard limits), but we tested this display with this set to standard.

Color Gamut

For the chromaticity geeks out there, below are the measured co-ordinates of the rec.709 gamut and the measured gamut for the KDL-52XBR9.

Compare the Bravia KDL-52XBR9 to other HDTVs
Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100 52 inches	Samsung UN46B6000 46 inches	Vizio VF550XVT 55 inches