HDTV Reviews Blog

Sony Bravia S Series KDL 32S5100 32 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Black

Step up to Full HD 1080p resolution and stunning contrast without breaking the bank. The KDL-32S5100 32-inch BRAVIA S series LCD flat panel HDTV features Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE) for an impressive dynamic contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and BRAVIA Engine 2 digital video processor for superior resolution. Plus, 6 HD inputs are provided to connect all of your HD devices.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Sony Bravia sound quality
I like the TV, but I wish I would have saved for a bigger one. Also, sometimes when I am watching television, the sound just goes out on me and it’s not muted. I hope the speakers are not going bad! It is supposed to be brand new. I’ve considering sending it back for a refund.

5 Stars great tv
I bought this tv for my dorm and it is awesome everything looks so nice. Great tv ands the price makes it even better.

2 Stars STOP! STOP! STOP! Serious Audio Issues. Recall?
I love Sony TV’s. They have always had a superior product but this time, this set is highly flawed and Sony is doing its best to still sell the inventory left at lower prices leaving you with an item to return or to tolerate.

The audio is DEFECTIVE on units dated thru AUG 2009. The sound bar on the screen will reflect this distortion on level 1-3. Beyond 3 and up, the louder audio mixes in with the distoration so that you hear less of it. It’s ultra annoying at lower sound settings.

I went into the menu trying various sound settings but was not unable to correct. I then called Sony who said they would make a case number and that a Sony repair agent would have to insert a USB correction device. Wait time was 2 months!

I took mine back to Best Buy and the manager at the store said he could give me another set but that all of them were being returned with sound issues. He said that Sony was almost ignoring the issue trying to avoid a recall.

Another feature missing was a zero 5.1 set up and only 1 HDMI on the rear JACKPACK. One terminal for HDMI is insane in design but Sony does add two more HDMI inputs on the side of the TV for camera or camcorder connections. You could use those if you didn’t mind the wires.

Avoid this Sony.

1 Star 2 Replacements, Various Critical Problems
(I urge you to read this review before making a purchase, I know I wrote a lot, but they outline some very critical deal-breaking issues.)

My first HDtv, a Sylvania broke about after 2 years, and I decided to get this Sony after doing a bunch of HDtv research. I’m using the HD capabilities for gaming (Playstation 3 at 1080p, Wii at 480p) and just getting a regular coaxial cable signal for my TV shows.

1) First, as can be seen in various reviews for this TV, there are some sound issues. The one I experienced was that, sometimes, the speakers would get very pop/crackling sounding and also have an echo on top of that. This issue happened when you changed channels. You’d land on a channel, and the issue would begin and would not go away unless you changed channels (I left it on for a couple hours just for testing purposes). However, this TV has a new firmware on Sony’s support site which apparently directly addresses this issue. The first iteration of this model had the sound issue, but I got it before the new firmware came out, so I sent the first model back, and received the second one. The second one came with the new firmware and there was no more sound issue as far as I could tell.

2) This one bothered me more than the sound issue, as the sound issue only happened about once every 20-50 channel changes, and you could simply remove the echo sound just by changing channels. It’s a visual issue that was not fixed between my first set and the replacement one. It’s hard to describe; when a color would transition from a light color to a dark color in an image, you could see the actual separation lines of each gradient change, rather than just seeing a smooth transition of, for example, light blue to dark blue. It looked sort of like when you throw a stone into a pond, and the water ripples out in a circle from where the stone landed in the water–so the outer ripple would be dark blue, the next inner ripple would be a lighter blue, the inner ripple after that would be an even lighter blue, and so on. I thought maybe it was my PS3, my Wii, or possibly the HDMI/component cables I use for them, so I brought all of my equipment over to a couple friends’ houses and tested my stuff on their Sharp HDtv and a different model Sony Bravia–the issue was not present on my friends’ TVs. However, the issue is present on both KDL-32S5100 sets I had. This issue became very obnoxious when gaming, because it was very noticeable and pretty abundant. It would appear in skies (drastically in skies for some reason), smoke, floors, walls, etc–anything that’s mostly comprised of a solid color that has gradient changes–however, it does not appear on a static image (such as a wallpaper), only something animated. It also appeared when using composite cables, and appeared on every display signal (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p).

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If you have a PS3 and this model TV, change your system theme to “Original” then change the color to blue–this is a pretty easy way to notice the gradient issue. Generally on the blue color, the bottom left hand corner starts out dark blue, then going to the top right, it changes to a light blue. Around the bottom left hand corner when everything is dark blue, the gradient issue is very noticeable. I asked my friends and family to see if they noticed anything, without telling them what the problem was, and every single one of them (even non-gamers who have no idea what the PS3’s original theme or games’ skies should look like) noticed the issue right away. On any other HDtv I’ve ever seen, this issue is not present. It may not be a big issue for some, but if you’re getting an HDtv, it’s probably because you care about the quality of your display, and you won’t be getting decent quality with this issue present.

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I had a Sony tech guy come out to look at the issue, and he said he’s never seen the issue before (what a Sony rep would say anyway, whether or not he has seen this issue before ) but said he wasn’t sure what was causing it, or even how to fix it. He did confirm, almost immediately, that this is a problem and shouldn’t be happening. Considering this happened on both sets of this model I received, it’s either a) a problem inherent in this model, b) a problem inherent in a certain batch of this model, or c) I’m ridiculously unlucky to get two brand new sets of this model and have the same issue in a row, which is unlikely.

3) After all of this, last night the TV stopped being able to receive signals from all 3 of its HDMI ports. It was very, very odd. My friend and I were playing around on the PS3 and everything was fine (not counting issue 2 described above). We finished, shut the PS3/TV off normally and went to get some coffee. Twenty minutes later we came back and turned on the PS3/TV, except the TV said it wasn’t getting a signal. So, everything was fine->we leave->we come back 20 minutes later->all 3 HDMI ports stopped working. The composite ports work fine as do the component ports. We had 2 different PS3s with 3 different HDMI cables to test out, and none of them worked on this TV, but they both worked on a friend’s Sharp directly after. Totally ridiculous.

I’ll update if I decide to give this model one last try and get yet another replacement, but right now, I’m looking into other brands.

5 Stars Great value!
I’ve always been a Sony fan, and this is our 4th set. Amazon had the lowest price, and the delivery was prompt and professional. Our TV arrived as promised, on schedule, undamaged. The wait was only a few days, and we saved over $200.

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