REVIEWS / LED BACKLIT / SONY INDIA

Editors' ChoiceSony Bravia KDL-55HX925 Review

08 Dec, 2011, 5:20 pm IST | by Hatim Kantawalla , Rossi Fernandes | LED Backlit

LED Backlit

The 55HX925 - the best there is, from Sony

The 55HX925 - the best there is, from Sony
Very sleek, very slim for its size
The stand could've been sturdier
A very basic user interface - simple and practical

PRICE IN INDIA

Free

TECH2 RATING

8.5

AVERAGE USER RATING

7.5

How we test

CONTACT

Sony India

 sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com

 1800 103 7799

 www.sony.co.in

Movies

Blu-ray movies are an absolute delight. The HX925 shines gloriously while viewing high-definition content. When one stops noticing flaws, gets completely absorbed and forgets the passing of time, then you know. Not because there are no flaws, but because they are too few and catching them becomes a very painful exercise.

Dark Knight Blu-ray for the dark scenes

Dark Knight Blu-ray for the dark scenes

 

 

Once calibrated correctly, colours appear natural and beautiful. And even though this is a large 55-inch display, there are little to no jaggies or pixelation visible to the eye, even at close proximity to the TV. In fact, one can point-out how the content quality drops while switching from one camera to another. The scenes shot on IMAX cameras in the Dark Knight are very visibly impressive compared to the scenes shot using the regular camera for the rest of the movie. As we said before, we kept turning on and off all the noise reduction and picture enhancements settings during the movie tests. In our experience, keeping Cinema Drive to Auto-1 and Motionflow turned off gave us the best results. 

 

The local dimming feature has its drawbacks, if observed closely then you will see a bright patch move from side to side in the black-bands, if you’re watching the movie in the letter-box mode. You will also see it lag a bit, because the dimming is trying to catch up with the area that requires dimming or brightening up. These are things you will catch as you start viewing more content, and if you’re trying to catch such behaviour. It’s not irritating, nor is it visible from a slightly more than normal viewing distance, but it’s there if you want to see it.

 

Unfortunately, the consequence of seeing such phenomenal quality is that SD content looks pedestrian, and completely not worth viewing at all. We used Airtel’s digital TV HD service to gauge performance on an HD service. The DTH HD service is better, but it still does not do justice to the panel. To sum it up for normal viewing, we’d say it is no better than a Rs 50,000 TV when it comes to SD content, and probably a Rs 75,000 TV for HD DTH content. We highly recommend setting up an HTPC or subscribing to a Blu-ray rental service to really appreciate the TV’s performance.

A mix of action scenes and bright colours

A mix of action scenes and bright colours

 

 

3D performance was pretty average. The bundled active glasses are slightly painful to view through for long hours. The 3D menu is easily accessible and the real-time 2D-to-3D conversion can be enabled in a few seconds. The effect is pretty realistic, but there are issues when you tilt your head from side to side. The two layers become clearly visible. There’s also a reflection of the TV on the top of the glasses, which is noticeable and particularly annoying in the dark. Unfortunately, not the best 3D TV experience at all. If you’re in for the best 3D LED TV in the market, then the Sony will most certainly disappoint, and that’s mostly because of the tilting problem, even a minor head-tilt will make the effect go away. Keep your head straight-on and the effects are probably among the best, but try doing that for more than a few minutes.

 

Televisions rarely have impressive audio performance and it’s no different in the case of the HX925. The speakers are loud, but not necessarily clear beyond a certain point, and some level of distortion kicks in as you go up the volume bar. 

 

Verdict

No LED TV we’ve ever tested in the past has ever managed to wow us in such a comprehensive manner. Several instances during the viewing sessions are now perpetually etched in our memories and log-sheets, and will serve as reference points for every other LED TV that we will test in the future. We’ve compared it to one of the best plasma TVs in the market today, side-by-side. It’s not flawless, but it is certainly the best there is as far as HD quality is concerned, and one that you will cherish owning for a long time.

 

In our books, it is easily the best LED TV out in the market. It wins our Editors’ Choice award hands down, and we’d heartily recommend it if you are considering a big-ticket purchase.


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Would you buy it?




 


How We Test

The Tech2 Labs receives many products every single week and each of them is tested with the utmost care and highest level of objectivity. There’s a constant effort to reduce and totally eliminate subjectivity. Each product is tested according to set test processes so the same test scenario is used.

Verdict
The ratings awarded to a product are derived from a number of tests and calculations, keeping certain important factors in mind. These factors consist of features, performance, quality and value for money. In case of software and some other categories, build quality might be replaced with ease of use or ease of installation. Products are compared with other products in a similar price range or product category.


Features
The features component of the score is rated based on the kind of features present on a particular product. Features are a big part of what people look for when they’re buying a new product such as a phone or a camera.

Performance
The performance score is derived from the benchmarks and tests run on the product. In case of the subjective scores, an average of the scores given by the group of reviewers is considered.

Build Quality
The build quality of a product is important so that it doesn’t fall apart after some use. The build quality scores from the way the product is designed and the kind of materials used in the product.

Value
Value for money comes from the fact that a cheap product is able to provide most of the performance of a higher priced product. Once again, value for money is judged by comparing pricing and performance of products in a particular price range or category. 

There are many other aspects of the product that are looked at such as the bundled software and accessories. All of these scores are aggregated together to form the final score.

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.

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