Sony BRAVIA KDL-46HX923 Pro Reviews

When the Sony HX923 delivers, it does so in spades, offering glorious HD with an outstanding level of clarity and pop. Were it not for the rather large annoyance of a dirty screen effect, particularly noticeable on panning shots, then we’d almost certainly have gone higher than the ‘Recommended Badge’ awarded. By today’s standards it’s also quite expensive but the money will net you arguably the most gorgeous looking TV on the market. We were quite disappointed that the full array backlighting wasn’t really effective for the local dimming system – in fact we left it off owing to the excessive haloing it induced but overall uniformity was improved over the edge-lit examples we’ve seen from Sony recently. And there was no dreaded ‘crease’ evident!

Sony will tell you this, the flagship model in its 2011 range, is the best TV in the world. Not sure we’d go that far, but this 46in, LED-backlit LCD flatscreen is quite possibly the best Sony television we’ve yet tested. There’s certainly a boatload of reasons to get excited about it. From upgraded features to new technology, plus the Monolithic design and stand that makes the sound actually quite decent, and new 3D glasses, the screen represents a formidable statement of what Sony’s TV division can do. The 46HX923 looks every bit the hero. The set measures a slender 3.8cm deep, thanks in part to a new OptiContrast panel made with the same Gorilla glass you’ll find on the iPhone 4.

The 46HX923 mostly does a good 'flagship' job of showcasing Sony's TV talents this year. Its design oozes understated elegance, its connectivity is excellent, and its feature count is long, headed up by such key findings as direct LED lighting, active 3D support, a high-level video processing system, and what remains in some ways the best online video service in town. Its 2D pictures are mostly outstanding, meanwhile, with vivid colours, a deep black response, a wide contrast range, excellent sharpness and good motion handling. The 46HX923 falls frustratingly short of bagging an unqualified recommendation, though, on account mostly of crosstalk with 3D and some curious 'shadowy lines' down each of the TV's sides.

There are times when we loved the 46HX923, as it served up pictures of rare punch, sharpness and vibrancy. At its best the 46HX923 is comfortably Sony’s best-performing set of 2011, and so we hope Sony perseveres with direct LED technology in 2012. We’re big fans of Sony’s BIV online system too, and the free PS3 deal in place at the time of writing is a boon. Ultimately, though, when you’re talking about a flagship 46in TV costing more than £1600 even after the current £150 cashback offer has been taken into account, the appearance of at times quite severe crosstalk with 3D is unfortunate to say the least, and the slight cloudy haloes around bright objects and vague lines down the picture’s sides don’t help either.

It’s encouraging to see that unlike many TV manufacturers, Sony hasn’t given up on local-dimming LCD displays, and has managed to build this technology into a slim HDTV design so that it can still appeal to size-zero-inclined buyers. The KDL-46HX923 is a fairly capable 2D HDTV, its biggest strengths certainly being its local-dimming-assisted contrast performance and its impressive viewing angle quality; with colours retaining a good amount of richness even when the TV is viewed from the sides. However, even these impressive attributes still aren’t on the level of considerably less expensive Plasma TVs.