Sony Bravia XBR-Series KDL-40XBR4 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

I am in agreement with the majority of the earlier reviewers that this TV is a well-made, sophisticated yet easy to use TV. When paired with HDDVR and HD service from DirecTV, the broadcast images are truly impressive. I have not spent much time to tweak the picture, but used the "standard" setting which is more pleasing than the default "vivid". I haven't purchased a Blue Ray DVD yet, but it's on my list. In the stores, the HD DVD picture is unparalleled in resolution.

The set-up for the TV is fairly straightfoward for those who are familiar with the typical AV set-up. For those who are unfamiliar, it might be worth spending the money to have a commercial set-up of your home theater system, since the coordination of audio and video connections to the AV receiver is not always intuitively obvious. I have a Denon receiver, and the instructions are challenging even for the sophisticated owner.

The delivery from Amazon was just as good as claimed by other reviewers. They take the TV out of the box and will assist you with simple set-up, and provide general advice. If you need more, then you need to get extra help.

A hint - if you upgrade your DirecTV service to a HD satellite and HD-DVR, you can pay the installer $20 to program the remote to control all the components. Not only did he do that piece (which is actually well-described in the instructions), but helped with all the AV connections. Much less expensive than having someone come out separately.

Another hint - I found that the height of the TV with the stand was actually about 1 inch higher than stated in the specifications. If you have a tight space in a built-in area for the TV, assume that you will need an extra inch or more for both the width and heighth, or you will be challenged to fit the TV in.

I did a lot of research from blogs to in store physical research on HD LCD 1080p TVs and the XBR surpassed all the others by far. It is high in price but think about it this way. It is the safe approach and you'll know that your getting an excellent TV. I read some reviews about cloudiness and loud fan noise. I was so worried about those things when purchasing this XBR and I just crossed my fingers. I've had it for about a month now and I hear no loud fan noise or see cloudiness. This is a great buy from Amazon. The picture quality is amazing especially from a PS3 blu-ray 1080p movie! It will blow your mind and you will get hooked! But the TV is not perfect though, nothing is. Be very careful with the glass acrylic bevel it scratches very, very, very easily. Take it from my personal experience do not use a used microfiber cloth unless it is brand spankin new straight from the package and only going to be using it once. Lucky for me I made a very faint minor scratches near the logo to wipe off some finger prints. It's not too bad but yes I was very upset with myself. Now the only part I have left is to find the right HDMI 1080p cable to hook up to my DVR. The cable I got from a popular site that everyone recommended because of the cheap price is not working. I still get static pics on HD broadcasting channels. I would try my HDMI cable from my PS3 but I'm hesitant because I think that the cable is only for the PS3 and I don't want to mess up anything by connecting an incorrect cable type. I hear some say you should use the same brand cable as the the TV manufacturer. So if it's Sony use Sony. All in all great TV the best!!

I can't add any further comments on the good features of the Sony Bravia XBR KDL-40XBR4 40" 1080p LCD HDTV; other positive reviews really say it all. I couldn't be more pleased. I will, however, comment on the delivery issues raised in some previous reviews.

The "White Glove Guys" in my case were excellent. They were from CEVA Freight Management (formerly Eagle, according to various documents). The on-line tracking was immediate and accurate and I was notified by phone and e-mail when the shipment arrived at their Boston terminal. I called for a delivery appointment, which they scheduled on the next available date that their truck came to my area. The driver called me the day before to confirm and again the morning of delivery to give me an exact arrival time. Having transferred the carton to a pick-up truck that could negotiate my steep, winding driveway, they arrived on time and quickly unpacked, set up and tested the unit. No problems.

I have had this TV for about 2 months now and couldn't be happier. I was torn between Sony and Samsung and couldn't be happier that I spent a little extra on the XBR4 - it has quality that is unmatched. The picture is perfect, and other reviews that mentioned fan noise don't apply to my tv.

The Bravia Theatre Sync option works well with my speaker system and blu ray player. Money well spent, Sony does it again with quality.

Had this TV about a month. I have nothing but praise for it. The picture quality is excellent. The colors are vibrant. It's tuner for over the air (rooftop antenna) is very good. I would recommend this to anyone. I did lots of comparitive shopping seeing this TV next to the Samsung 1040P and others as well. It seemed to me that the Sony XBR4 was just a little bit sharper next to the Samsung. The Sony also has better sound quality. Although the Sony was 2-300 hundred dollars more I thought it was worth it. If price is a concern the Sansung would be a worthy choice.
Shipping was fairly quick with one exception. It arrived in my state(Michigan) in 2 or 3 days from Amazon. The shipping co. called and said they received the TV and wanted to set up a time to deliver it; a week later. They explained that their truck didn't deliver to my area until the following week. The ship.co. said it might be possible to get it to me sooner if they gave it to another company they work with, whose truck came to my area more often. Also, that would'nt include the white glove service. I said yes and still got it on the original ship date. The box was a little beat up on the bottom. After unboxing it I noticed the styrofoam support pieces were broken up somewhat, but most importantly the TV was undamaged.