Sony KDL-55HX823 LED LCD 3D TV Review

For a short time in the mid-2000s, Sony (which was transitioning away from CRT televisions) was one of the top names in LCD performance. Using panels produced in a joint venture with Samsung (who, at the time, were still inflicting questionable picture “enhancement” on their own HDTVs), buying a Sony LCD TV guaranteed the happy combination of a high-contrast Samsung LCD panel coupled with Sony’s taste in design, and video processing know-how. A lot has changed in 7-8 years though, and the competition is now tougher than ever (that’s our polite way of saying that Samsung HDTV displays have improved by an astronomical amount since then). So, with all that in mind, do Sony BRAVIA LCD TVs still have a place in the market?

Today we have a Sony KDL-55HX823 in for thorough analysis, so we can find out. The HX823s are high-end displays, sitting just one rung below the top-end HX923 models. They include a 1080p LCD panel with LED side-lighting as a light source, 4 HDMI inputs, and the company’s Motionflow XR 400 motion processing for fighting the dreaded LCD motion blur. Unlike the step-up HX923 models, the KDL55HX823 doesn’t ship with any 3D glasses (or Skype webcam unit) in the box, and doesn’t feature any local dimming technology for improving black level performance in dark scenes (in fact, Sony appears to have given up on local dimming LCD by choosing not to announce any new models using this method at CES earlier last month). Let’s see if this ultra-slim LED LCD TV can find its place in the market, and in the homes of video enthusiasts…

Note: The specific model we tested was the Sony KDL55HX823BU, which denotes the 3-pin-plug United Kingdom version. While we did not review the smaller, 46-inch Sony KDL-46HX823, there shouldn’t be any significant difference in picture performance given similar specifications.

Design

Sony KDL-55HX823

Like many edge LED TVs, the Sony KDL-55HX823 is incredibly slim, and features an attractive “one sheet of glass” design (although it’s not actually traditional glass, but lighter and sturdier “Gorilla Glass”), meaning that the front of the unit is completely flat with no protrusions. The design is nowhere near as distinctive as Sony LCD televisions of the past (we’re thinking back to older high-end displays like the X3500), the new look being sleek, stylish and inoffensive, rather than bold. A blue-white illuminated “SONY” logo is the only real point of note; Sony has definitely gone for an understated design. The supplied table-top stand is equally sleek.

Connections

The Sony KDL55HX823 features 4 HDMI inputs, which is fairly standard now, as well as inputs for Composite, Component, SCART, and analogue VGA (“PC”) interfaces. Of course, there’s an aerial input for the Freeview HD tuner, two USB inputs for media features, and an Ethernet socket for connecting to the internet. Fortunately, it also has a wireless receiver built in.

Rear connections
Rear: 4 x HDMI, VGA, Component, SCART, aerial, ethernet & audio outs

Operation

Like most (or all?) of the company’s displays, the KDL-55HX823 uses the XMB (Xross Media Bar) interface. We think Sony should do a total overhaul of this next year, because while there is not much wrong with the XMB design in theory, the interface is inconsistent and worse still, is often slow to respond to user input. Turning the HX823 on and attempting to jump quickly to an HDMI input can often be a frustratingly slow endeavour, for example.

An example of why we think a re-design is in order: pressing MENU shrinks the TV image and adds horizontally scrollable icons to the bottom of the screen, and then adds additional sub-options, which are navigated vertically, at the right of the image. That’s all well and good, but selecting one of these options will either display more options, this time in the middle of the screen, or in the case of picture setup controls, at the left of the screen, returning to the interface used on 2010-era models. If you’re like us and will only really use these menus when first configuring the TV, this scatteredness or slow operation might not bother you too much, and will only really affect hopping channels and changing inputs. It has more serious ramifications for the plentiful network/internet features that Sony provides on its HDTV sets – given how painfully slow the user interface can be, it doesn’t really make us want to actually use them. As for the built-in web browser… using it is frankly like pulling teeth.

[Picture] menu
[Picture] menu

Like the user interface, Sony’s picture modes can appear somewhat complicated, and from our view as enthusiasts who just want to see accurate, high quality pictures, we’d say this is unnecessarily so. Pressing the SCENE button on the remote displays a gaggle of different viewing modes which change the picture and sound output in various ways. Within these modes, the [Picture] menu houses a separate [Picture Mode] function which often contains a choice of two sub-modes, making more subtle adjustments. The two useful [SCENE] modes are “Cinema” (which produces the most accurate image) and “Game” (which cuts out extra processing to reduce input lag). From our view as video enthusiasts just wanting to see film and TV content as-intended, the rest of the modes are redundant.

There are a number of useful controls within the [Picture] menu, some of which are unique to Sony. There are noise reduction systems for smoothing analogue-type moving noise, as well as an MPEG compression reduction system which attempts to reduce visible block edges in overcompressed digital TV material. There’s also a [Dot Noise Reduction] system which reduces the “crawling ants” effect which appears with old-fashioned Composite video material (which often re-appears even on today’s Digital TV, in repeats of older shows).

Moving on, [Reality Creation] is somewhat similar to Toshiba’s “Resolution+” feature, and is basically a combined Sharpness and Noise Reduction control. [Smooth Gradation] is a nice feature which detects contouring (most frequently found in grain-free digital animation) and, making use of the TV’s high bit-depth video processing, smooths over coarse tones in the image, returning them to their pre-compressed smoothness.

For motion clarity, there are several [Motionflow] modes, and an “Off” switch. The most relevant to us was “Clear”, which combines a barely noticeable amount of motion interpolation with LED backlight scanning, in order to improve motion sharpness. The other options are “Clear Plus”, which causes a more pronounced darkening of the picture for almost no gain in motion clarity, as well as “Standard” and “Smooth”, both of which use fairly high amounts of motion interpolation but don’t increase motion sharpness as much as “Clear”.

The Advanced Settings sub-menu contains a Greyscale calibration screen (“White Balance”), as well as [LED Dynamic Control]. Enabling this instructs the Sony KDL-55HX823 to dim its LED lights in areas of the screen which contain black, or nearly black video, in order to improve the black depth. Like all LED side-lit LCD TVs, though, it’s a very approximate form of local dimming, with not many zones controllable. There’s control over the [Gamma] curve (see the calibration section for an explanation), [Clear White], which distorts whites towards blue (no thanks!), [Live Colour], which enables non-standard colour reproduction for a more punchy, but less accurate picture, plus [Detail Enhancer] (which sharpens textures) and [Edge Enhancer] (which sharpens edges). We’re all for control, but it seems that with these options and the other two previously mentioned, Sony has no less than four sharpness controls on the HX823!

 

14 comments

  1. I live in Japan and I’m planning on buying this TV next month. Is it possible to change the language of the menus? My Japanese isn’t up to par :|

    Also, I know it’s a completely different topic/model but how is the input lag on the LG Infinia 47LW650T?

  2. Hi Mo

    I own the 46HX823 and when your first set up the tv you get a choice of languages which i am pretty sure is for the menus. As for the LG the input lag even after an update is bad.It was 100ms in game mode and LG released an update, it is now at 80ms so don’t expect to win an multiplayer games or enjoy games at all being honest with that amount of lag.

  3. Hey Aaron,

    Thanks for the reply. I hope you’re right about the language setup. I actually just came back from an electronics store in Tokyo and checked it out. I flipped through the menu but couldn’t find any language settings and asked the salesman and he said it wasn’t possible. I wasn’t too convinced that he fully knew what he was talking about, though. Hopefully there is a way to change it up but if not that’s okay too. It will make fiddling around with the settings that much more interesting.

    As for the LG, it’s unfortunate that the input lag is still that bad. I’ve been reading a lot of forums and have been getting mixed reviews. All say that initially it was terrible but after a recent update some have said it was still bad, others have said it was fine. I also read about that changing the name of “HDMI 1” to “PC” will work. Anyways, I’ll take your word for it.

    I can’t wait to pick up the HX820! Thanks again, bud!

  4. Hi Mo

    No worries, there is an option in the menus i believe. But i am talking about during initial setup ie when you first turn the tv on. If you go into the menu and do factory reset it it takes you to the setup again as well. I cant remember where in the menu, but as i said during initial setup you will get the option to change language.

    Take care,

    Aaron

  5. Not too sure you will get the same languages to choose from as Mo. The TVs are divided into regions, so to make things simpler you can only choose languages from nearby countries (from where you bought it). English being an international language, chances are still good though. Worst case you should be able to activate english through the service menu. In case you go into the service menus you should be warned that there always is a faint chance of screwing things up…

  6. Hello all.

    Firstly, nice review on the HX823. :)

    I will be buying one of these next week in time for the F1.
    I was hoping someone might be able to share the optimal picture settings that they ended up with? as I know from the review that the out of the box picture is a bit rubbish.

    Many thanks in advance.

  7. Hi Chris,

    Here are my settings. (46HX823)

    For tv

    Scene Cinema
    Picture mode Cinema 1
    Backlight 5
    Contrast 90
    Brightness: 48
    Colour: 50
    Hue: 0
    Sharpness: 40
    Colour temperature Warm2
    Noise reduction Off
    Mpeg noise reduction Off
    Dot Noise Reduction Off
    Reality Creation Off
    Smooth Gradation Off
    Motionflow Clear
    Film-mode Off
    Black corrector Off
    Adv. Contrast Enhancer Off
    Gamma 0
    LED Dynamic Control Standard
    Auto Light Limiter Off
    Clear White Off
    Live Colour Off
    Detail/Edge/ enha. Off
    R Gain -3
    G Gain 0
    B Gain 0
    R Bias 0
    G Bias 0
    B Bias 0

    20 appears to be the sweet spot sharpness wise for HD content on Sony tvs in 2011. (based on several thorough reviews)

    For blu ray i have motion flow off as this adds the soap opera effect, and sharpness 20 for the reasons mentioned above.

    For gaming i use Game scene and have everything the same as tv except color neutral. Also in the advance options on game Scene turn LED Dynamic Control on as this adds negligible input lag and improves the black level no end.

    Hope this helps,

    Aaron

  8. The slim design has also his disadvantages. There is no space available for an IEC connector and the loudspeakers are at the back sounding with very thin. I have a Sony KDL-46HX700 LCD TV with a shield power cord and a high grade Furutech Schuko and IEC connector which give a much better, clearer image with less distortion.

  9. @johan if IEC connectors gave “much better clearer images with less distortion ” we’d all be using them,rubbish.There may be a slight advantage,but not a notable advantage.I splashed 85 quid on one & a new fancy 40 quid lead for a 46-W5500 tv & i might as well as well have burned my money.

  10. @john I have power cords with Furutech’s new rhodium-plated Fl-E38 Schuko connectors and 3-layer gold-plated (Cryo) Wattgate 350i IEC connectors. The power cables are HanzeHifi Blue with double shielding. Line Conditioner is Isotek Orion 6-ways. Good audio and video starts with a good power supply.

  11. @johan i rounded my cabling off to a tacima €35 mains block as the power cables are 2way connections again due to the screen being 27mm in depth,are there adaptors for say a powermax line 3way,no iec?or maybe a classic powerkord with wattgate iec… still think it would make little difference to untrained ears. once the power & clarity is there,with good visability & above all simple musicality,with no grinding treble, that these accessories can sometimes add. Iagree with your good a/v starts with…though. I can see where your hx700 power combo would have advantages for a 2way mains connection too.

  12. BTW this hx823 gives way above its station with current prices. It has the best uniform screen for an edge LED LCD Tv. Even compared to Samsungs ES range.As soon as Sony splits from them,better things are happening. The last of these panels are supposedly Sony finished (calibrated v.minor corner leakage) pva with later hx7/85 Sharp asv panels.

  13. @johan,the last ccfl backlit tv i had was a 46W5500, the monolithic styling of the hx700 would prob make it the last great ccfl LCD sony have made,the best quality non-led LCD out there of course with 3way mains. I reckon it would be at least worthwhile to gat a decent figure8 mains lead to replace the 1 i got with the hx823. thanks for link,some good quality gear alright.:)

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