Customer Reviews

Sony Bravia V-Series KDL-52V4100 52-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I used to think of a TV purchase as a VERY long term commitment, like marriage. And at $2k and up there's a lot of truth to this. However in this case I was faced with a difficult decision, one that I would probably repeat given the opportunity.

First let me say that I love just about everything about this set. The picture quality (as long as the scene or people aren't moving) is super, the audio is really good out of the bottom-front speakers (although an add-on stereo makes it even better), and the flexibility from an input/output point of view is outstanding.

All that being said, there are some compromises, and thus my quandary. I bought this TV fully knowing that for a *mere* $500 more I could have the 120hz scan mode. It just wasn't worth it to me...I think. I would have been better off if the 120hz model didn't exist, then I'd look at the set and be amazed. Maybe I'm nuts, but now I find myself looking critically at scenes where there's fast motion and wondering whether the "better" model would be noticeably smoother.

The fact of the matter is that over time I will just accept how it looks and allow myself to enjoy the many fine aspects to this set. Moving on, you probably want to know some of the other things that are also not so wonderful. Here goes.

1. Unlike some sets that have a base that allows rotation, this one just sits. No pivot at all, and very hard to move. I ended up making my own pivoting base out of a couple pieces of (nice) wood and a $10 rotary table. Wonderful, but took some effort.

2. Even though this set has the ability to have the screen turned off with the audio still on (nice!) it's buried down really deep in the menus (not nice!). I don't want to always burn 300 watts to listen to the music channel on our cable box, I wish it was easier. Yes, a very minor point, until you have to do it once or twice every day.

3. I'm not a fan of shiny ANYTHING on the front surface of TVs. At least the screen has a decent anti-glare finish, but the edge is the now-mandatory patent leather black shine. Why oh why!!!

4. The remote is a TV remote. Period. Which means either you have to use some other remote for your other stuff or buy and program a multi-function. Cheat, really cheap.

5. When switching between modes (1080i, 480p, 4:3, 16:11 or whatever) the tv and sound go dead. Seems like an eternity, but it's probably only a second or two. Should be faster.

I could probably come up with a few more, but those are the biggest ones for me. Not very big really. Nice set, now if they could only give me a way to upgrade it to 120hz without buying a new one...

I have waited a bit before writing a review on this television. I wanted the honeymoon period to phase out a bit before I made any comments on it. Also, I thought I give it some time to notice any downsides to having purchase this t.v.

First things first, I have read some reviews (regardless of brand) that complain about regular televisions (CRT's) looking better when watching shows transmitted without HD or analog.

This has nothing to do with the television, it has to do with the signal it receives. It is a television, not a magician.

I changed my account with dish network to receive HD as well as whatever else is digital and be able to stablish a comparison betweeen the two.

HD looks amazing. Period.

There is a firmware through Sony that would address the "sparkle" issue that has been addressed in other posts for Sony tv's.

Let me tell you that we have not had to download the firmware, there is no sparkle. I even called Sony to have them send me a usb adaptor with the firmware and they told me that if I did not have the issue, it would actually harm the tv to use the firmware. I'll take their work for it, because I believe that if something is not broken, there is no need to fix it.

Colors: Vivid setting is almost ridiculous in term of vibrancy. Nice feature to have and very appropriate for a lot of movies, shows, etc and maybe too much for other things.

Standard: Less bright but still sharp and well defined picture.

Cinema: Personally, I don't care for this feature. It recreates the "feel" of watching a movie in the theater, but theater colors and shapness are not much to talk about, so we don't use it.

Custom: Exactly what it means. You create it to your liking and change it as you want it.

Controls: Extremely easy to use.

Remote control: Nothing to brag about. It does what it is supposed to do and it is not a universal remote.

Sound: without hooking it up to external speakers, the sound is very good. There is no distortion and we have noticed that we can keep the volume low because everything is clearly understood. The front speakers do have a "surround sound" type of effect where you can actually hear things happening behind you as well as in front and sides while you are watching. It is not for audiophiles who like to hear every single thing that is going on, but it far surpasses the built in speakers on most t.v.s

HDMI and Analog inputs galore. Surround sound systems and consoles can be hooked up without having to purchase extensions and connectors.

Video play: Probably the worst game console in terms of graphics is the Wii console, it certainly cannot compete with the playstation .... or so I thought... After having played the wii for a year on a CRT, the same games are fantastic when hooked up to this t.v. I did not think it would make a difference, but even simple games like tombraider are sharper and clearer. Colorful ones like Mario are, in my opinion, seizure inducing but the kids love it.

60hz vs. 120hz. Honestly, we have watched Hockey and football and we see no blurring of motion. I honestly thought we'd have buyers remorse for not going for the W series, but the fact is, we don't. We are extremely pleased with this set and the price from Amazon at the time came under 1500k and feel that we got a very good price on a very large set.

My only complain now is that we need a second television and I can't see us going with anything smaller or lesser quality after having been spoiled rotten by this set.:)

PEACE

Bought it from Amazon. Delivery was flawless.
First I got a Samsung A650, but I really did not like it, so I exchanged it for Sony 52V4100, and it was love at first sight. Great looks, easy menu, good remote, amazing PQ. To be fair - Samsung's PQ was VERY good, but the TV itself had way too many annoying little things for me to ignore.
I have my PS3 hooked up via HDMI, and also an over-the-air hi-def antenna. Like I said - the PQ is excellent, and I really like this TV.

like the other reviewer, I made my decision based on economic factor (vs 120hz. if you add up the differences between costs of TVs and insurance, it is close to $700 difference. i am not a trained a broadcasting specialist, but one of my friend in broadcasting industry told me that he could not see the difference between a regular vs 120hz.

This is a great TV and delivery is flawless.

Typical Sony dependable & perfoms well, on a 1 - 10 scale overall satisfaction "8", picture "7", sound "9", ease of use "8". Also amazon.com gets an "8" on customer service for a Samsung LCD I recently sent back because of sound problems. They sent out a new TV within 5 days and picked up the old one. I never was without a TV.

I did months of research which involved comparing and reading reviews on 1080p LCDs. If I was going to make such a big purchase I wanted the best. I brought it down to two of the most popular and best which were Samsung and Sony. Samsung received higher scores from Consumer Reports Magazine. Also, you will hear that both TV's are built by the same company which means the screen is similiar. However, after reading reviews and comparing the screens there is less "glare" in the Sony which is very important since I live in LA and my TV room is filled with sunlight. Also, the Sony is a sexier TV in my opionion. It has less of that annoying black glossy side panels that both television screens have. Seriously why have a non glare TV when the glossy panels that surround the screen is distracting.
Now if your debating between the 52" and something smaller due to the price. Don't waste your time! This 52" Sony is the most incredible/gorgeous "toy" I have. Life is too short to be watching HD blueray movies and HD tv on anything smaller. So just go for it. The color is incredible. Straight out of the box the picture was just breathtaking and watching movies from my PS3 blue ray is beyond words. No more crowded over priced movie theaters for us!
Connecting the TV was a breeze especially with the use of HDMI cables. I connected my Sony theater sound system (so I will not comment on the TV speakers), PS3 and cable box. By the way please do yourself a favor and order you HDMI cables from Amazon. So much cheaper. I paid less than $5 dollars for the best quality Category 2 HDMI cables on Amazon. There about $25-$100 dollars every where else. I ordered three Category 2 6ft HDMI cables. One for my PS3, one for my audio system and the other for my cable box. I also ordered a digital audio cable for less than $2 on Amazon. CRAZY money saved there.
NOTE: The BEST picture is when you're watching blu-ray movies or HD TV. This means that you must have a cable box that supplies HD TV. This tv recieves 480p channels which are non-HD channels but there is an obvious decrease in picture quality (grainy). Also, when you switch to 1080p HD channels there is annoying delay in the switch. Literally the TV goes black for a few seconds. Kind of scary if you don't that happens. But I had already read about it. But seriously folks almost all the popular channels are in HD or will be in HD (c'mon VH1 and CMT get with it).
Also, one of the reasons I chose the Sony tv was the BRAVIA Sync option. Which means that any Sony product you connect via HDMI can be controlled with one remote control. Which is great for those of you that have a Sony audio system or DVD/Blu-ray player. However, if you have the Sony PS3 it doesn't work! Since the Sony PS3 blu-ray is controlled by a bluetooth remote, it doesn't sync. Too bad!!
Finally, I must say that I was truly nervous about purchasing a 52" TV from Amazon. I have purchased other smaller items from Amazon crossing my fingers that it doesn't break or get lost in the mail. However, after comparing prices for months Amazon had the best deal for this TV--even during the Circuity City close-out sale. Amazon had free shipping, no recycling fee etc. I saved almost $200 dollars purchasing this TV from Amazon. Delivery was faster than I expected. No problems there. The man said if it doesn't work just call Amazon and we will pick up the TV and deliver a new one. After two weeks of having the TV it works perfectly! The best part is that I received all the cables I ordered before hand so when the TV was delievered days later I was ready to go.
Also, if your one of those that need to purchase an extended warrantee that many stores offer, Sony has a two year warrantee that is cheaper than many big stores. Go to their website.
ENJOY! This will be the purchase of a lifetime!

Decision:

The Sony 52V4100 is an outstanding LCD for the money. My wife and I went to Best Buy and compared the difference between the W4100 (120hz) and the V4100 (60hz). Nil...

We then went to the Samsung display in Best Buy that showed the 120hz vs 60hz on the same screen and couldn't tell much of a difference. That validated our decision to go with the V4100.

Research:

Before I got to the point of deciding on a Sony, I had reviewed Comsumer Reports (March 2009 edition) on the best 52" LCDs: Below are the top 10 rankings:

1. Samsung LN52A650 (Recommended)
2. Samsung LN52A750 (Recommended)
3. Samsung LN55A950 (Recommended)
4. Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR6
5. LG 52LG50 (Recommended)
6. Toshiba Regza 52XV545U (CR Best Buy)
7. Sony Bravia KDL-52W4100 (Recommended)
8. Toshiba Regza 52F55OU
9. Mitsubishi LT-52149
10. LG 52LG60

I went to Best Buy, the Military Exchange and Circuit City to see if I could pick out the best picture. The Samsung 650's picture was good, but seemed a bit bright to me..oh and don't be afraid of the 650's "touch of red"; it was not that noticeable.
I kept picking the Sony W4100 over all the other models. The picture quality seemed better (the blacks seemed darker and the colors more vibrant). Also, I wasn't looking for a bunch of "bells and whistles" on a LCD. I was going to mount the LCD above the fireplace and watch TV and sports.

Purchase:

I made sure the LCD was "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com." so that I got the White Glove treatment. I made the purchase (credit card) with no sales tax and free shipping. Seven days later I received a call from a local shipping company to set up the next day delivery. The LCD arrived the next day and two guys carried the box into my house, took it out of the box and set it up on the floor (stand comes attached). Even though I had the HD Cox box with HDMI cable ready for them to hook up, they said all they do is turn on the TV with the remote to ensure the menu comes up and that there is no damage to the TV. Everything worked and they hauled the shipping boxes away.
I hooked up the HDMI cable and was very impressed. I also hooked up the PS-3 and was equally impressed.
Later that night I had some friends help me install the TV on a tilting wall bracket (you have to purchase this separately) The Sony 52" V4100 looks great. The sound is pretty good, but a sound system definitely makes it better.
I use a Cox Cable HD DVR box, so I only use the Cox remote control. One option that I saw when I was performing the initial set up was if you were using an antenna, this model has a TV guide that resembles the cable guide.

Overall:

Would recommend this LCD to anyone. Amazon was cheaper than Crutchfield and the service was just a good!

amazon was $300 less than any chain store and did not charge tax or shipping. the delivery was ontime and curteous. could not ask for a more flawless transaction.

PROS: Wow. Clearer than other brands and no screen flicker like Samsung 120Hz. Includes pc input jack unlike Sharp. Blacker screen than Philips (I also heard Philips is getting out of the tv business so I wouldn't buy one because there won't be parts). As with all LCD tvs, be sure to buy a Sony upconvert DVD player to smooth out diagonal lines or they will look pixelated.

I think Sony is also more reliable than Samsung because at work, I bought 2 46in Sony LCD a year and a half ago and they've had no problems. In contrast, I bought 3 Samsungs 32inch tvs and 1 was bad out of the box due to no audio for analog channels and Samsung tech had to come out to verify the problem then he replaced the motherboard instead of just coming out with a new tv -- what a pain in the butt; a 2nd Samsung died after 2 years because of a bad power supply.

The Sony's sound is also very good so when I watch TV, I only use the built-in speakers as opposed to using my Onkyo stereo receiver because the Onkyo gets really hot. We had a 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony party at my house with 10 people and the built-in speakers were loud enough for everyone to hear in a 20'x15' room.

CONS: It's a little thick so it doesn't look as flush against the wall as I had hoped after I hung it on my wall above the fireplace.

7/6/09 Update: SONY TV is still reliable after 1 year!

2/16/2011 Update: Still working! That's reliability!

I would recommend this TV to anyone who is thinking to buy it. Bought this from Dell and they have a great Customer service and also shipping was great. No problems from all sides. This is our first LCD and we are so pleased we bought this set. Great Features and Beautiful crisp clear picture. HD looks great..