Sony Bravia KDL-46HX800

Black Level (8.48)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 produced an excellent black level, measuring all the way down to 0.08 cd/m^2^. Granted, it’s not as good as the 0.03 cd/m^2^ result from the Panasonic TC-P50VT20, but the Panasonic is a plasma display and is expected to go down that low. The Sony KDL-46HX800, as an LCD display, is impressive. More on how we test black level.

Read Reviews of Comparison Products
Samsung UN55C7000	Samsung UN46C8000	Panasonic Viera TC-P50VT20

Peak Brightness (8.42)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 produced a peak brightness of 309.26 cd/m^2^. The two Samsung 3D TVs we’ve reviewed both managed slightly better scores, but all three models rolled on the Panasonic TC-P50VT20. The Panasonic fell prey to one of a plasma’s biggest weaknesses, which is a dull white. More on how we test peak brightness.

Contrast (8.56)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 produced a contrast ratio of 3865:1 in our lab tests. Sure, you might have noticed on the official specs sheet Sony released that this TV supposedly has ‘infinite’ contrast. We just have two notes about this exceptionally bold claim. First, you have to have the Dynamic Contrast Ratio setting on, which automatically adjusts the backlight based on the screen content from moment to moment. Do yourself a favor and leave it off – it’s annoying. Secondly, if this feature is on and the screen content suddenly becomes all black (i.e. a fade to black in a movie), the backlight shuts off completely.If the backlight is off, the brightness level is zero cd/m^2^. Divide anything by zero and you’ll get an ‘infinite’ contrast ratio. Trust our numbers instead. More on how we test contrast.

Tunnel Contrast (8.16)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 managed a good performance in the Tunnel Contrast test, which measures how well the TV can maintain a consistent black level as the black patch shrinks, increasingly surrounded by bright white. As you can see from the chart below, the performance isn’t perfectly even, but it’s good overall. More on how we test tunnel contrast.

White Falloff (9.98)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 was near flawless in its ability to maintain consistently bright whites, no matter how little real estate the white occupied on the screen. More on how we test white falloff.

Uniformity (4.00)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 has very poor screen uniformity. There was a substantial and obvious amount of blotchiness on the screen, particularly when viewing a black screen. When the screen is dark, the corners are brighter, and when the screen is bright, the corners are darker and yellower. It’s not such a problem that it will ruin your everyday viewing, but it’s far from ideal. More on how we test white falloff.

Greyscale Gamma (6.82)

The Sony KDL-46HX800 has a decent, but not perfect, greyscale gamma performance. What you’re seeing below is how the TV transitions from black to white in the greyscale. The lower-left portion of the line represents the shadows. The line is a little flatter (horizontal) than we like it to be, meaning it’s having trouble seeing details in the shadows. We also look at slope of the curve. An ideal curve is between 2.1 and 2.2. The Sony KDL-46HX800 had a curve of 2.73, which is a bit steep. Overall, though, we like the smoothness of the curve. It’s just going to miss some of finer details in the greyscale. More on how we test greyscale gamma.

Other Models in the KDL-xxHX800 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Sony Bravia KDL-40HX800 40 in.	Sony Bravia KDL-55HX800 55 in.