Sony Bravia XBR-52LX900

Motion Performance

Motion Smoothness (8.38)

In order to get the best performance out of the Sony XBR-52LX900 for our tests, we found the Motionflow processing feature quite beneficial. Without the feature, the fine details of moving objects can become choppy and flickering. When Motionflow is engaged, the flickering ceases almost entirely. There are various settings, however, and some of these settings cause artifacting.

Motion Artifacting (7.25)

When the Motionflow feature is disabled, you’ll notice some flickering and ‘jaggies’ in moving objects. If you set Motionflow to a low setting, the flickering will disappear, but you’ll notice some color banding. If you turn Motionflow up, the color problems will escalate – more banding and some instances of color trails in high contrast patterns.

Using Motionflow clearly has trade-offs. In addition to the more obvious artifacts described above, the feature creates an odd look images, making film-based content look like cheap video. More on how we test motion performance.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps (8.00)

The Sony XBR-52LX900 can display native 24fps content with little problem. For best results, you may want to switch the CineMotion to Auto 1 or Auto 2 if you’re watching 24fps movies (i.e., Blu-Ray and others). Otherwise, the motion can appear choppy. More on how we test 3:2 pulldown and 24fps.

Resolution Scaling (6.42)

The Sony XBR-52LX900 has a native 1080p resolution, but most of the content you consume will probably be of a lower resolution. It’s up to the LX900’s processor to upscale that video to fit the screen. Overall, the XBR-52LX900 is not very good at this task. When it’s not 1080p video, the images look noticeably less sharp. Other problems are created as well, described below. More on how we test resolution scaling.

480p

The 480p footage we tested lost a lot of the image due to overscan: 4% from the top and bottom, and 3% on each side. However, high frequency patterns looked alright.

720p

The 720p footage lost 2% on every side due to overscan, and showed some noticeable – but not terrible – problems with high frequency patterns that resulted in Moires.

1080i

The 1080i footage was the worst. It also lost 2% all around, but had a very hard time with high frequency patterns – Moire patterns all over the place. Fine details like text were also harder to read, and there was a general fuzziness to the image compared to 1080p.

Other Models in the XBR-xxLX900 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Sony Bravia XBR-60LX900 60 in.