Customer Reviews

Sony Bravia M-Series KDL-19M4000/D 19-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, White with Orange Accent

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This tv is beautiful and easy to set up.The worst of it is that it's best viewed when fully vertical, and the prop in the back isn't long enough for that, so I needed a piece of wood under it to raise it. It doesn't have its verticality worked out - unless you mount it on a wall. It has outlets and inlets for seemingly any device, and suggests hookups. It's been a daily part of my life for a month, and it's beautiful, and easy to control and hook up. I would highly recommend it.

This is a great little TV! It took me 10 minutes to set up, and I have had no problems. I could see how some people might think the instructions are confusing, especially if you have a complcated set up. The picture is great. I have it sitting on my kitchen counter using the little stand provided, and I have no problems with instability or the vewing angle.

This television has some great features and some which are not-so-great.

THE GOOD:

Construction: This TV is sturdy - about 5 lbs heavier than competing 19 inch LCD TVs. That's a plus - this is the third 19 inch LCD I have purchased (having returned the other two) and this is, far and away, the best built 19" on the market. Less cheap plastic.

Sound: The sound quality is outstanding. Many 19" LCDs have audio with a "tinny" quality. The speakers on this TV blow away the competition, hands down. You will not confuse this with a Bose home theater system, but the sound is surprisingly good.

THE O.K:

Picture: As a general rule, the smaller the LCD, the less of a difference HD makes. So, the picture on any 19" 720p model will be far less stunning that what you'd see on a 40" 1080p. That said, the picture on the Sony Bravia 19" is between decent and good. The picture on the Samsung LN19A450 19" is noticeably better. However, the Samsung is full of cheap plastic and the sound is tinny. Other than the Samsung, I think the picture on the 19" Sony Bravia is at least equal to any other 19" on the market

THE BAD:

Aesthetics: This is one ugly little TV. The front panel is black and the sides and back are white (or, in the alternate versions, the front panel is white and the side and back are a gaudy color such as pink, orange or lime green). The two tones are awful and distracting. Furthermore, the TV has an ugly shopping-bag-like handle that protrudes from the back of the TV and is visible while watching the television. Also, the base of the TV is not a pedestal like other models. It resembles the back of a picture frame. This unit will never win any beauty contests. I seriously wonder what the people at Sony were thinking when they came up with this. I think this is my biggest gripe with the TV.

Some reviewers have complained about the base of the TV. If that is your only concern, do not let the base prevent you from buying the TV. It is sturdy and I have no fears that my TV will fall over - either forward or backward.

Finally, I also own 32" and 40" Sony Bravias and, quality-wise, I think Sony TVs stand out among the competition. That said, the 19" version has its flaws. However, Sonys TVs are reliable and the sound on this little TV is great. 3 1/2 stars.

I bought this TV at a Sony Store "On sale" for $259, brand new.
After hooking it up, I was a bit disappointed with the picture quality but decided to keep it anyway.

The Pros:
Beautiful styling, compact, light weight and (cheap)
The picture quality form analog channels appear almost the same as the digital channels. Colors are vivid with little noise....... It has tons of inputs including HDMI, PC, RGB, etc....

The Cons:
The problem is the picture quality from the digital channels are not really that good, (like I said, they are similar to the analog channels.) Colors are smeared and blotchy and appeared to have been highly "processed" by the Bravia Engine. There is little or no tonal detail or gradation in any image. The noise reduction is so strong that all details are wiped out, even the HD channels have a harsh, artificial look to it. No amount of adjustment in the picture controls yield anything as good as my Sharp Aquos with a side by side comparison off the same cable feed.
Using an HDMI feed from a Upscaling Samsung Player, the DVD quality is again soft and lacking in detail, certainly not at par with the Sharp. It looks best at 720p even though it claims to do 1080i. I did not try it with Blue ray.
Using the PC input was the biggest disappointment. I tried 2 PCs and a Mac laptop with it but The screen will support only up to a 1024x768 resolution, pretty low for a 19 inch screen. Forget connecting a PC to it as a monitor screen.
I tried using the antenna with the built in ATSC tuner but was not able to get any decent channels in my area.

To be fair, it is better than my 4 year old 480p Samsung at half the price. View from 5 feet or more away, the picture is pretty good.
Overall I give it 3 stars, recommended only if less than $300.

Sony's 19-inch Bravia TV produces an outstanding picture in HD, but it is the sound quality that distinquishes it from the other very good TVs. This set replaces a 12 year 15-inch Sony, that sits on a kitchen counter, and we wanted the new HD set to have the same rich, warm sound. Other small screen sets seemed to have the tiny, cheap speaker sound. The remote is very user friendly and easy to use.

But there is one knockdown. Although the screen is only 19-inch, the wide frame makes the set much bigger. The set is kept upright by a small leg in the back, very unstable.

I recently purchased this for our kitchen. I paid $249 for it. At this price, it is a no brainer. Picture quality of digital channels is very good. Color is very good once you tweak it a bit. Play with the settings and you should be very happy. Vivid is not useful as it is preset. As for analog signals, well, it all depends on what kind of signal you are getting. I did not get a box and ran a cable line that has been split twice to the television, and it's not very good. I was impressed, however, that the television found so many digital channels. Be warned, the menu says this procedure could take up to 50 minutes. The only thing that is REALLY annoying, is that it does not set the channels up as I am used to. For example, I will get the analog channel listed as 7 and the digital one as 7.1.....and things get crazy from there (which means I will now have to order a box). The remote is VERY basic, and not really what I expected from Sony. Take off 1/2 a star, and this should really be a 3.5 star rating. Set-up is VERY easy, and the menu is great, and actually asks you to pick a language first. Sound quality is really pretty good for this size, and is best in Stereo (IMHO). There is no surround simulation (not that we need it, but others may expect it). As for mounting, we looked at the Samsung, and the one I saw could not be wall mounted. This can. Also, the stand is fine. I suspect if your house is so out of level that you have to worry about this TV falling over, you have other, more pressing problems to deal with. I was a bit surprised at the weight of this TV, as I expected it to weigh less. It's not that it is heavy, I just expected it to be lighter.....not that it will be a problem. I used an articulating mount, and it was a piece of cake. Keep in mind this is available in a variety of colors. I will update again after I get my box, to let you know how things are working, but that may take a while. I still say that at this price, it is a good bargain! I am happy with my purchase. Lastly, this is 780p, not 1080p, but keep in mind that your eyes probably wouldn't know the diffeence at this size, no matter how close you are to the set.

This Bravia replaced a Sharp Aquos counter top model which developed a shadow on the screen after about two years of use. It is larger (about 4") picture wise than the Sharp and was the largest set I could find that would stand on the counter and fit under an overhead cabinet. It runs off a Direct TV, non-HDTV signal.

Factory preset picture settings were just awful with a very dark picture and odd glossy flesh tones. I tried to adjust the picture a number of times but finally realized I was trying to get the colors and resolution I was used to on the Sharp, which the Bravia apparently won't do. If my set had true factory picture presets I can guarantee anyone else buying this set will be spending a lot of time trying to adjust the picture.

In addition, unless you are viewing the set from directly in front and at set level the picture washes out excessively which is annoying since a kitchen set is usually viewed from a number of angles.

I would definitely recommend viewing and comparing this set in a store before purchasing. I will probably be looking for a replacement set and relegate this one to a guest bedroom.

Recently the manufacturers of the latest lcd tv's have placed their headphone jacks in the rear and in difficult spots to insert a head phone jack when needed. Our household has some very early risers as well as a husband who watches late night tv when the wife wants to sleep thus head phone jacks are a necessity. This tv unlike other newer models has a headphone jack on the side but more importantly if you insert an RCA component jack into the rear (Audio 1) and a headphone jack adapter to the RCA jack (available at Radio Shack etc.) you can leave the jack in all the time and watch and hear the tv normally. However when you want to have sound only thru the headphones you only need to mute the sound on the tv and the only sound you hear will be thru the head phones thus eliminating the need to constantly insert the head phone jack etc. To return to normal tv sound/viewing you just stop the muting function and it's back to it's normal audio thru the speaker system. This reason alone aside from great visual, ease of use etc. is wonderful and may help many others who need extra sound due to hearing loss etc. This type of set up works great even with wireless headphone connections.

This 19" Sony TV has an excellent picture and great sound. It is perfect for a kitchen or bedroom. Setup was easy, and the unit found all the HDTV channels on our cable that are available without a cable converter box. They are mainly the networks and a few other channels. The HD channels look great, and the standard channels look fine. We also think the unit itself looks nice.

This TV does not have a pedestal base like some of the larger flat screens; it has a stand that folds out from the back, and the unit sits in place slightly tilted back. Although some of the reviews expressed concern about the base, we found that it works fine, even without attaching the included tethering belt. I guess if you had a bunch of kids running around the house bumping in to things, you might want to fasten it down as described in the manual, but we have not found it necessary.

The screen proportions are 16:10, and HDTV has a 16:9 proportion. Therefore, when HD channels are viewed, there are small bars at the top and bottom of the screen. At first we thought that this was a disadvantage, but we noticed that normal channels look much better and less distorted when the 4:3 proportion is stretched to 16:10 to fill the screen than they do on TVs whose screens have a 16:9 proportion where everyone is made to look fat. The minimization of distortion on this TV may also be the expansion method that Sony uses, but the people do not look nearly as stretched and distorted as they do when they are stretched into a 16:9 proportion. The bottom line is that both HD and normal broadcasts look great on this TV. We are very satisfied with this TV, as we have been with all SONY products we've purchased.

We purchased this 19" Sony Bravia Television to replace an old analog television in the bedroom of our 5th Wheel RV (mounts in a swing out cabinet). The picture and sound are great and passed our expectations but the best part is that the installation was a perfect fit with no pedestals to deal with. All we have to do is un-snap 2 clips and it becomes portable again and we can take it anywhere. We highly recommend it.