HDTV Reviews Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Digital Video Processor’

Sony BRAVIA V Series KDL 52V5100 52 Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV Black

Keep pace with fast-action movies, sports and game play. Equipped with Full HD 1080p and Motionflow 120Hz refresh rate technology, the KDL-52V5100 52-inch BRAVIA V series LCD flat panel HDTV provides a more fluid, natural and realistic viewing experience while enjoying fast-paced entertainment. Additionally, every scene will be sharp, vibrant and life-like thanks to BRAVIA Engine 2 fully digital video processor. Plus, a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio yields deep blacks in darker scenes. The V series also includes 7 HD inputs to ensure you get impressive image quality from all your HD components such as PlayStation 3, Blu-ray Disc player and your PC.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Very good for a “Introduction To HD” TV
I’ve had this TV since the middle of June 2009(reaching the 6 month period). Before this TV, I’d never had an HDTV or a TV anywhere near this size either. I am pretty tech savvy but HDTVs were not my specialty. With that being stated, I will give you my experience with this particular HDTV.

Since the beginning of 2009, I’d been looking at TVs off and on with the help of “CNET”, just google it, and I’d heard that Sony had an impressive line of entry HDTVs. But I put off the thought of buying one until the middle of June. I was fumbling around on BestBuy’s website (sorry Amazon, at the time, I found a better price. BTW, its just a product review.) and in the “weekly specials” I found this TV on sale for $1499.99, down from its original price of $1999.99. It was the HDTV that I had favored the most from CNET’s reviews, so I made some calls around and none of the stores close had it. I managed to find a store about an hour away that had 2 left, 1 in stock and 1 on display. Drove an hour to check it out and loved it. I added the 3 or 4 year “bring it back no matter what” warranty and after taxes came out to just under $2250, which I paid on the spot in cash, I had not-so-great credit.

Brought it home and set it up and it was a beauty. It took about 30-45 minutes for the TV to recognize (it did something to find all the available cable channels) the channels and our first DVD experience was through our Xbox 360 and it was the Dane Cook’s HBO comedy special. The show wasn’t that greatest thing I’d ever seen BUT the freaking picture was. BTW, the HD cable, Xbox 360, and our Wii look superb on it as well. (Now if I can just get my hands on some Blu-Ray material.)

***PROBLEMS***

I guess every rose has its thorns (haha, cheesy), well this one has (2) of them, and they aren’t really thorns.

1st – MOTION FLOW: To my knowledge(I could be wrong), the MotionFlow feature is the HDTV’s way of enabling the 120Hz refresh rate, which is AWESOME, BUT you can’t just quickly toggle between the 3 options they have for the MotionFlow,(Off, Standard, Full) I mean, you can preview them on the MotionFlow screen, but no quick adjustment feature/button. You have to go into the picture settings every time and slowly make your way to the advanced settings at the bottom of the screen.

2nd – When you have the MotionFlow on “Full” there are still parts during whatever you’re watching that don’t continuously show in that “smooth frame experience”. I’m thinking that the 240Hz HDTVs are probably more dedicated to the continuous MotionFlow. It’s nothing to cry about.

Other than that, the TV is great. The sound is great, it ranges from 0 to 100 and at 60 its good enough for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’d go with a home theater system, but for now its nice. The remote is easy to understand and navigate. I would recommend it to anyone else who was in the same shoes that I was in. To say the least…(haha since I wrote a bibles worth of information) I am satisfied.

Feel free to ask any questions.

5 Stars great tv; great cost
amazon was great. terrific product at a very competitive price. also, easy delivery and installation

5 Stars Totally Happy
Have had the TV now for about 3 weeks and couldn’t be happier. Picture resolution in awesome. Sound is actually really good because Sony has a speaker bar type speakers across the bottom of the TV so the sound actually comes out at you instead of being aimed down and bouncing off the stand like some other brands.

The 120hz motion takes some getting used to after upgrading from 60hz. Otherwise I highly recommend this TV even if it is considered an entry level TV, you’ll never even know otherwise.

5 Stars Quality Television Set
This is a quality television set. The picture looks crisp, football is what I use the tv for mostly..that and xbox 360. This tv is awesome for both of those things. Also, blu rays are fantastic on it….this tv is the total package pretty much.

5 Stars Great TV
I did a lot of research before purchasing this TV. It’s one of the best one out there for the price. The picture is great and has a lot of features. It’s 120 HZ which good for watching sports. The sound quality is JUST OKAY -I recommend attaching a sound system to the tv or (just a couple of mini BOSS speakers which u can get for less than $100.)

Buy/More Info

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.

Buy/More Info

Sony BRAVIA XBR Series KDL 40XBR9 40 Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV Black

Powerful performance and superior design come together with the stunning 40″ BRAVIA XBR9 HDTV. This flat panel TV features Motionflow 240Hz refresh rate technology for maximum motion detail and clarity. There’s also broadband Internet connectivity with built-in BRAVIA Internet video capabilities that let you view select on-demand movies, TV shows, music and more. You can even personalize your entertainment experience by selecting and positioning widgets containing the latest news, weather, sports and more directly on your TV screen. In addition to BRAVIA Engine 3 digital video processor, the 40″ XBR9 incorporates advanced power saving features and comes with 7 HD inputs.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars High style and high performance
I will admit up front that I am a complete HDTV newbie. I hung on to a 20 year old, 22 inch CRT color “monitor television” for far too long, in part because I do not watch much television programming (a bit of baseball, PBS, occaisional Law & Order reruns, that sort of thing) and in part because the whole HDTV techno nerd thing was too intimidating. After much online research and a few surreptitious visits to Big Box electronics stores, I finally settled on the 40XBR9 and bought it from an Amazon seller — and could not be more pleased with my selection. The picture quality is simply riveting. The menus are reasonably user friendly and I have not found it all that difficult to calibrate for optimum results in a softly lighted room. With minor tweaking, the factory defaults work well for most cable television programming. I used the CNET suggested calibration for movies on the 52XBR9, and it works very well on this 40 inch unit.

This is a beautiful television. The bezel is as slim as they come and is an unadorned, moderately glossy black. While it is not a small television, it is not too overbearing for a medium sized bedroom or office. Considering its slender bezel, and the fact that there are no visible speakers, the sound is more than adequate for watching most TV programming. I purchased a ZVOX 525 sound base and an OPPO blu ray player to go with it. I have yet to watch a blu ray disc, but upscaled DVDs like Ratatouille and Wall-E, with sound from the ZVOX, are incredibly crisp, vivid and detailed, with wonderfully natural color, deep, pure blacks and brilliant whites and grey tones.

The one down side is that the XBR9 is not very forgiving of poor quality source material. My local cable provider still offers a limited selection of true HD content. SD television does not fare well on this set, although with some tweaks you can get acceptable picture quality — ratchet down the sharpness so the poor resolution is not obvious, use a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than ’stretch’ the image to fill the screen, so the perspective is not distorted, turn down the brightness and restrict the color range to avoid the exaggerated and artificial hues that seem to be part and parcel of SD TV, and you get a reasonable picture on par with a decent CRT. But once you’ve seen good quality 16:9 HDTV content, you will be somewhat disappointed with SD sources.

This competes head to head with the high end LCD and “LED” TVs from Samsung. I think it beats them for at least two reasons. First, the Samsung models have a very glossy, “wet look” screen, which is really a distraction. Under some conditions, it gives the picture more “pop,” but except in a darkened room, the glare problem is insurmountable. Second, the comparable Samsung televisions have wider and more obtrusive bezels with a brilliant piano black finish, which is made even more garish by Samsung’s somewhat ludicrous red “Touch of Color” gimmickry. The Samsung design is like over the top prom wear. The 40XBR9 is the electronics version of the perfect, simple and refined little black dress.

Prices seem to fluctuate wildly — the prices quoted on the date of this review are about 15% higher than they were when I made my purchase ten days ago. You may want to keep an eye on the market and catch the next wave of “sales.” But you won’t buy this TV because it is an inexpensive “bargain” — you may buy it because dollar for dollar, it will give you the most pleasure during the years it will be in service.

5 Stars Simply Amazing
In searching for a HDTV for our new videoconference set up I had many options and many vendors but by far this was the best TV at an amazing price. I will definitely be returning to Amazon.com for future TV purchases.

5 Stars Great TV – Worth the Money
While this TV costs a bit more than your Vizio or some other Sam’s Club special it is well worth it. I bought it about a month ago and have loved it ever since I first hooked it up.

I have it hooked up to a Sony Blue-Ray BDPS360 player as well as my Bose Lifestyle V30 Surround Sound and various other equipment. The extra HDMIs are really nice and the ethernet capability is easy to set-up and use. It saw my Buffalo LinkStation Media Server without any problems and streams music perfectly. I look forward to streaming movies later this fall from Netflix. I was really impressed with the audio output as whenever you stream anything into it, the quality is nearly identical to if I hook my ipod up directly to my surround system.

I also have a friend that has the 52″ XBR9 and we both enthusiastically recommend any xbr9 Sony product.

The only problem I had was the first update that I needed to make on it, I had to use a USB flash drive instead of just using the network. After that though, I was able to make the next update over the LAN.

Please note while I have not tried it with this TV, my 32″ XBR 9 is not able to see my ipod when directly hooked up to the USB. I think Sony has a cradle you have to buy. Maybe this will change with future firmware updates.

5 Stars Beautiful!
I appreciated how easy it was to schedule the delivery – however the delivery itself was a little rough. Item was scheduled to arrive between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., when I called at 11 to check the status the driver hadn’t checked the paperwork and was back at the facility for ‘a meeting’. Still – he was back on the road and had delivered the telly by 11:45, not too bad.

Delivery aside, the product is great. Crisp and clear, and the perfect size for the room. I haven’t used all the bells and whistles yet, but so far the Sony Bravia and Verizon Fios are providing enough entertainment!

5 Stars Sony Bravia xbr9
From the day we received this tv we have loved it. We did a lot of research and felt that the natural colors, the very fast and smooth motion flow and the crisp picture would be just right for us and we’ve not been disappointed at all.

Buy/More Info

Sony BRAVIA XBR Series KDL 52XBR9 52 Inch 1080p 240 Hz LCD HDTV Black

Powerful performance and superior design come together with the stunning 52″ BRAVIA XBR9 HDTV. This flat panel TV features Motionflow 240Hz refresh rate technology for maximum motion detail and clarity. There’s also broadband Internet connectivity with built-in BRAVIA Internet video capabilities that let you view select on-demand movies, TV shows, music and more. You can even personalize your entertainment experience by selecting and positioning widgets containing the latest news, weather, sports and more directly on your TV screen. In addition to BRAVIA Engine 3 digital video processor, the 52″ XBR9 incorporates advanced power saving features and comes with 7 HD inputs.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars AWESOME TV!!!
This TV is more than I ever expected. It was a great purchase at a great price.

5 Stars I can see clearly now!
Picture is bigger than my 46 inch SONY, but just as clear with even better color. With all the XBR features offered, it’s a great bargain.

5 Stars A top tier TV with gorgeous picture and plenty of sweet features.
This TV was a recent upgrade for me from my Toshiba 42LZ196. It was a 2 and a half yr old TV which is still good looking and still treated me well but seeing this TV at the display really convince me that the 2099 price tag was well worth it. There were several features that I was looking forward to, mainly the Motionflow 240Hz and the 3800:1 contrast ratio compared to my previous set. I was honestly pleasantly surprised by the myriad of features that this set is packed with.

First off, this 52 in beauty was a little bit thinner than my previous set. The number of connections for external devices was also great. 4 HDMI connectors and even several different inputs for additional devices. This works great for someone like me. I have a X360, PS3, and Wii, along with my cable box and there’s still plenty of other connectors for other devices. I can even hook up a PC for anything else. Not only is this TV functional but operationally well designed as well. For PS3 owners, you’ll notice that the main menu will resemble the XMB interface just like a PS3/PSP. Most features are easy to find and also customizable. There are plenty of features to excite advanced users, but it’s still simple enough that most novices should be able to figure the main functions out. My only real issue was having problems connecting this TV to the internet. Unfortunately, my network was not DLNA compatible so I have not had the change to try the advanced features like internet video and widgets. I’m hoping to find a work around soon. I wouldn’t really penalize this TV for this because those features are just icing on the cake. Even without them, the TV still has plenty of options and functionality for the geeks to enjoy.

Now, for the main part. The video playback is absolutely gorgeous. I have the HDDVD addon for my X360 and my PS3’s BluRay also and the playback is just amazing. I have One Six Right, a flight documentary and it looks absolutely amazing. You can see the little details in the parts of the aircraft, see the indivitual rivets on the bodies and really appreciate the beauty of the landscape as the some of the planes make some quick manuevers around the screen. The colors are just amazing. From watching sunrises to the camera panning around a particular environment. One really important part of this TV was how the games looked. I’m a big gamer the playback is just very eye pleasing especially with the 240Hz refresh rate. Ninja Gaiden II look amazing, considering how much activity and motion is going on in the screen. To the detail in the bumpmapping and textures in the characters and environment. I will say that I did see a few splotches that appear to be darkness irregularities in the screen where some areas look brighter and some darks but this really only happens when the screen is blank. You never notice it on regular playback. I’ve seen plenty of TV’s in the past several months and this has to be one best displays for the LCD market. My father’s Sony Bravia 40V2500 and my previous Toshiba HD TV’s are definitely not slouches, they were really good TV’s for the price and even now, they still look great, but you can definitely see how these XBR TV’s are a cut above the rest. It’s like almost looking out a window. They make the eye candy in games and movies that much sweeter.

Even the sound is great for TV speakers, good volume output and good clarity. You can hear some of the little details such as the sound engines revving or swords clashing with each other, even the little clicks in the X360 NXB are vibrant. There’s even a demo piano track that showcase the sharpness and clarity that can be produced for built in TV speakers. Definitely not the same as separate sound setup but still great sound for built in speakers.

My final thoughts on this product is that this is definitely one of the best sets that I’ve see with the current round of tech that we have for TV’s. The 2099 price tag is well worth it not only for all that this TV can do feature wise, but most of all, the picture quality, it top notch. As of now, this is as good as LCD gets.

5 Stars SONY NO BALONEY !!!
SONY NO BALONEY !!! if you remeber that line, you are showing your age. GREAT TV. Nice that it is 95% screen and not a lot of trim, Picture quality is great and it has so many geek gadgets.

5 Stars Sony Bravia Review
Great TV! Arrived in perfect condition and delivery was as we arranged. HD picture quality is great. So easy to hang on the wall that my wife and I were able to do it.

Buy/More Info

Sony Bravia S Series KDL 40S5100 40 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Black

Step up to Full HD 1080p resolution and stunning contrast without breaking the bank. The KDL-40S5100 40-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 including PlayStation 3, Blu-ray Disc player and laptop or desktop.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars I love this HDTV
This TV is the best I have ever owned. The 2nd best was my old Sony trinitron with picture/picture. Sony is the best.

1 Star Poor Sournd Quality at low volume levels from internal speakers
First – I like the video. I installed the firmware upgrade and the auto-dimming problem is gone.

Second – the Sound out of the internal speakers is terrible at low volume levels (10 on the TV’s scale). This TV is used in a bedroom – usually at low volume levels with its internal speakers. There is a lot of background noise so that at low volume settings the noise is louder than the programming audio level. My 15 year old NEC had better audio than this box.

Doesn’t matter what programming source : DVD or QAM HD cable on the internal tuner.

A tech is coming over to look into it.

I have not tried this with a receiver yet.

If this is the way the Audio was designed, then don’t buy it for standalone use.

Updated 9/9/09

Tech was here today to work on the TV. He replaced the main board with one that was overnighted from the factory. No change. It still has an annoying amount of static on the audio at low volume levels (10 and under).

2 Stars Is it a Sony?
Is this really a Sony product? I’ve had some excellent TVs over the years from Sony, including a 42″ LCD that I purchased in 2008 with great results. However, this set has had issues from the beginning that were not resolved by the patch and numerous calls to Sony’s tech help service. The problem with the auto dimming feature only bothers me some of the time but what is perhaps the most irritating is the terrible internal speakers with this unit. It really gets mushy sound performace and I will eventually have to connect it to an outside receiver to get past this issue. After the patch did nothing to correct the problems I had this in a Sony repair facility for two weeks to replace parts and make things right with the picture and the sound. Upon return, it was simply more of the same. I’ve noticed that Amazon is no longer selling this model. Maybe they’ve recognized the issues. For those that are getting good performance, you’re the lucky ones. This will be the last time that I buy a TV on reputation alone, sight unseen. I really wonder if the apparent lack of quality in this model comes from Sony simply slapping their label on some low-end manufactuers work?

5 Stars new era of watching
The new Sony we purchased fulfills or exceeds all our expectations. We have looked at a lot of different LCD-TVs and we found this to have the overall best picture in all different environmental situations. The picture is warm and bright and shows no weaknesses even with fast moving pictures. You can get less expensive LCDs but we find this Sony to be worth its price. I used to have a Samsung LCD back in Europe. This one rocks.

5 Stars Amazing television…
This Sony 40 inch 1080p tv is amazingly beautiful. I had a Panasonic 52″ 1080i rear projection lcd for years that I thought looked pretty good, until it died. I set a budget of $1000 to get a replacement, and came home with this Sony. The 1080p picture immedietly blew me away. Though slightly smaller than my old hd tv, the clarity and vibrant imagry more than make up the difference. I watched an hd feed of “Quantum of Solace” and was amazed at the detail and the crisp picture, no matter how fast the action on screen. No hint of the auto-dim feature from earlier models that bothered so many. I work in the movie industry and a fiend for detail and picture quality; this Sony Bravia has proven itself to be professional grade in every way.

Buy/More Info