Introduction

Front

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The Sony KDL-55HX820 features Sony's "Monolithic Design," which means its front is one unbroken sheet of glass. The TV still does have a bezel, but it's behind the glass.

Back

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We unfortunately couldn't get a shot of the back of the TV.

Sides

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We were only able to get a shot of the right side, due to how the display was set up. The right side, towards the bottom, is where you'll find the TV's on-set controls. The left side features a few ports, but the ports aren't yet finalized.

Stand/Mount

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The KDL-55HX820 was displayed on Sony's fancy speaker stand, which lets you tip the TV forward and backward. The TV will come with a normal stand, but you can purchase additional stands, like the speaker stand, separately. The TV can also be wall mounted.

Aesthetics

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Really, once you get past the monolithic design—which does look good—all the TVs at Sony's booth looked the same. It's like seeing identical quintuplets minus the novelty. Sure they might be attractive, but by the time you get to the last one the aesthetic feels kind of samey.

Display Size & Technology

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The KDL-55HX820 is a 55-inch LED backlit LCD. The series also comes in one other size, the 46-inch KDL-46HX820.

Formats & Resolution

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The KDL-55HX820 has a native resolution of 1080p, which is 1920 x 1080 pixels. That's currently the highest HD format supported, but with several manufacturers releasing 4000 x 2000 pixel panels, that might change in the future.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

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We had no qualms about the KDL-55HX820's picture performance. The blacks looked dark, likely because there was some local dimming going on. The TVs didn't, however, have the brightest whites. They were bright enough to give a good sense of contrast, however.

In any case, we'll reserve judgment for after we've put the TV through our lab testing.

Color

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The colors on the KDL-55HX820 looked fine, if oversaturated. It's hard to say how accurate the colors will look once the TV has been properly calibrated, however.

Motion & Refresh Rate

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The KDL-55HX820 features a 480Hz refresh rate, which will allow each eye to see 3D in 240Hz. In terms of non-3D viewing, it's just overkill.

Viewing Angle

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We were able to walk out to about 50° or 60° before we noticed a significant drop in the contrast ratio. The picture held up pretty well after that point, though: even though it wasn't great, even at almost 180° we could still see a picture with passable contrast.

3D Glasses

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Sony hasn't done much with their 3D active shutter glasses design. The weight is still in the front, and the glasses are still a bit bulky to wear. Looking at what other manufacturers have done to retool their glasses, we're left wondering why Sony hasn't redesigned them as well.

3D Effect

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We thought the KDL-55HX820's 3D effect was a bit better than what we saw from 2010 Sony 3D HDTVs, but not by all that much. The motion was a bit better and there was slightly less crosstalk, but there were times when the glasses didn't feel they were synchronizing correctly, leading to a stuttering effect. Given the high framerate, that shouldn't have happened.

3D Motion

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As mentioned above, 3D motion is improved over Sony's 2010 3D TVs. It still wasn't perfect, however, and fast motion still caused the 3D to break down a bit.

Audio & Video Ports

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We could only snap the below shot of the TV's ports due to how Sony's booth was set up.

Internet & Other Media

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The KDL-55HX820 features built-in WiFi over the 802.11n band and also has an ethernet port for a wired connection. Either one will allow users to connect to Sony's typical stable of online content. This year that expansive list of content providers has some additional company, however, in the form of Sony's own premium content service, called Qriocity.

Placement

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The ports on the KDL-55HX820 are arranged in the L-shape typical of TVs that want to be wall mounted. This unfortunately means down-facing ports, which are awkward to access for those who aren't mounting the TV.

Remote

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The KDL-55HX820's remote wasn't available on the show floor. We'd guess it's similar to the 2010 model, since Sony didn't come right out and boast about some new innovation.

Controls

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The TV's on-set controls are located towards the bottom of the right-hand side and cover the basic functionality.

Menu

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While we couldn't get a good glimpse of the KDL-55HX820's menu, we see no reason to suspect any huge changes from last year's design.

Conclusion

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With built-in WiFi, 3D, and 480Hz, the KDL-55HX820 has all the trappings of a high-end set. The problem we have, however, is the TV is almost indistinguishable from other units in Sony's line-up. Almost all their series feature WiFi and 3D. The only things we can assume make the KDL-55HX820 stand out are picture quality and price, neither of which we can speak about in definitive terms. We'll keep you up to date on more info as it's released.

Specs

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