Sony BRAVIA KDL-37XBR6 37" HDTV LCD TV

Overall Quality for the Price:  The Sony Bravia XBR6 LCD televisions are members of what is considered the best available top of the line LCD televisions, part of Sony's top end XBR line.  At the top of their product line, Sony produces the XBR6, XBR7 and XBR8 models.   The XBR products are priced a notch above the other Sony lines, and other brands; this upper end pricing, ranges from 50 to 200 percent higher starting at the XBR6 level.  Usually, the XBR6s are what you will find at big box retail stores; you will have to order on line or buy from a speciality store to find XBR7 and XBR8 models.  The XBR line lives up to their top end reputation.  This 37 inch model, being reviewed here, gives you crystal clear, brighter and sharper pictures than any other Sony line or other brand, thus you get the impact and impression of having a 42 inch television in the room, when in fact, you have the smaller model.  We have owned CRT Sony TVs, and when buying our 42 and 56 inch televisions considered Sony, but never bought a Sony because we could not afford the XBR line and considered their lesser models not as good a picture as we were seeing from LG and others.  

You can now get this XBR 37 inch model with an original $1500 list price from Best Buy for $999 off the floor, it's not priced that way on line, and it's being sold as refurbished by Sony directly at $1090.  This was the tipping point for us to go for the XBR at this screen size for a smaller apartment living room.  If you are going to go for a Sony, make sure you get the XBR model designation, there is lettering along the upper right top edge of the unit. 

The XBR7 and XBR8 lines offer some different technology that isn’t critical for the average homeowner; the XBR7 offers a different set-up port for professional installers and picture “engine” is different.  The XBR8 offers LCD backlighting.  Again, it is the XBR6 line which is more readily available at retail stores, and since picture quality struck us as better than all other brands and lines, the XBR6 was essentially buying the best at your big box retailer location.

Sound Bar Audio Design:  Along the base of the unit, there is what appears to be a gap in the lower bezel, but it actually is filled with strong clear plastic, supporting a lower sound-bar style speaker system.  The sound bar design provides far better than typical sound quality, capable of providing an undistorted volume that easily fills a 12 X 15 room.  This is a very attractive design.  At the lower right, the power-on light glows green, suspended within the clear plastic – cool.  Also visible in the clear plastic are the timer and standby indicators.  The narrow bezel design is carried all the way around the picture

Set Up:  During set up, the commands to select signal input are not as intuitive as we would have liked; but following the owner’s manual, set up is clear, direct and simple.  Including the time to identify the set up command to select cable input, we had a quality picture with a total set up time of two minutes.

On-wall Bracket Mounting:  This model has 4 bolt holes in a 12-inch square pattern.  This can be a problem for some mounting brackets, particularly the articulating arm type that usually have a square mounting block that is much smaller than the larger fixed position mounting bracket.  So if you are planning on mounting this model (or any of this line) on an articulating arm bracket, make sure that the bracket you purchase is suitable for 12-inch separation between mounting holes, or has a suitable adapter.  We found that many brackets only support 8-inch separation even if they are rated for a TV up to 40 inches; we had to purchase a higher-end more expensive bracket to accommodate the 12-inch pattern and avoid the waiting time for adapter bars that the store did not carry (and would place the TV further out from the wall. 

Also, this is a rather heavy unit, and thicker compared to others available in this size.  It is rated at 47 lbs. and has a thickness of nearly 4 ½ inches; both measurements are larger than the slimmer, lighter models being made today. However, the weight and thickness did not pose a problem mounting the unit, holding it safely, or getting it to be tight to the wall.

Making the unit level is critical for a good installation.  Articulating arm mounts typically come with a level adjustment while fixed mount do not - even if you perfectly level the bracket on a wall, sometimes the machine cutting of the bracket causes a little off-level position of the TV that the eye can catch; so plan to check level before your final lock-down of the TV to any mounting bracket - if you don't get it level, you lose the whole joy of a great mounting job.  Hint - sometimes just a small thin piece of cardboard under one of the mounting bracket arms attaching to the wall bracket fixes a minor off-level situation.

Inputs and Outputs: The unit offers a panel of side-inputs on the lower left side, and a larger panel of more inputs/outputs on the back (lower right corner looking at the back).  If you need just one HDMI input jack, the small side panel on the left edge works fine, but also makes your cable more visible.  There are also Composite input set of jacks at that location.  On the back panel, there are three HDMI inputs, and one of them has stereo left/right inputs associated with it.  There are two Component inputs with matching stereo Audio Ins, one VGA 15 pin with a minijack Audio In, one S-Video, two Composite inputs with Audio, an optical digital Audio Out and a stereo analog Audio Out.  There is one RF antenna input that connects to integrated NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners.  The tuner is Clear QAM compatible, therefore you can attach your cable TV signal directly into the RF connector and tune in unscrambled cable stations.  Finally, there is a USB port that allows you to connect special accessories from Sony for internet, wireless and DVD signal input.

Remote Control:  Sony provides a compact, narrow remote with all of the typical features found today in a comprehensive remote control.  The control is not backlit which can be a frustration in the dark.

Once mounted, this unit has a great, slim and modern look.  We did not use the pedistal stand provided, and can not comment on how well it provides support.