Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent TV, Auto contrast can now be turned off!, May 17, 2009
First things first, THEY FIXED THE AUTO-CONTRAST! I have nothing but good things to say about this TV. Do not be fooled by the 1 star ratings. All those 1 star ratings complain about the auto contrast/brightness feature which could not be turned off, but SONY FIXED IT ALREADY in the newer units or a software update via sony.com will add the controls to turn the function off.
With that biggest gripe fixed, this TV has outstanding visual clarity and the color saturation is beautiful. Black levels are excellent on this non glossy screen. You can't go wrong with a Sony and the software update shows they are listening to their customer base. No dead/stuck pixel, great viewing angles, 120hz refresh is great for sports, but in my opinion, not for movies. Excellent TV, I would buy another one of these without hesitation, superior when compared to the other brands that offer the same features. The Bravia V series lives up to the Sony name and quality standards you would expect. Deserves all 5 of the stars it's rated.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent TV, April 8, 2009
Update May 3, 2009:
My original review of the TV was negative due to a problem of dimming during dark scenes. But few days ago Sony released a software patch to correct the problem and it worked for me. Now, the auto dimming can be turned off by setting the "Adv. Contrast Enhancer" to Off. Also, even when it's turned On, it doesn't behave like it did pre- patch, it now dims gradually rather than abruptly and it doesn't dim as much as it did before. Thank you very much Sony, I'm updating my rating to 5-star.
I'm very happy with the TV now that the auto dim is fixed. If you own the TV and having problems with the dimming, go to the support section of Sony's site to download the patch and the instructions on how to apply it. You will need a USB thumb drive formatted in FAT32, but if you don't have it, Sony will mail you one if you call their customer support.
----------------
Original review:
Date: April 8, 2009
Rating: 2 stars
When I purchased this TV few days ago, there were no reviews here since it's just been recently released into the market. I, however, looked at the reviews of the previous model (KDL-40V4100) and didn't find any serious complaints so I went ahead and purchased this TV. I regret my purchase and will explain why.
This is my third LCD TV -- the others are early generations LCDs from Sharp and Sony and they are still working great, but they are no match for the picture quality of this new Sony. There are a lot of good things about this TV and I would have given it 5 stars if not for one serious flaw.
The TV dims during dark scenes. And sadly it doesn't do it gradually, it happens abruptly 6 seconds after the start of a dark scene and it returns to normal lighting abruptly about 0.35 seconds after end of a dark scene. It seems to happen regardless of the source of input (I tested it with composite, and HDMI) and it happens on broadcast channels and cable and regardless of the "picture mode" and other video settings. There is no way to disable it. If you're watching a movie with lots of dark scenes, it's going to be a very annoying experience.
Take this example, while watching a documentary on first gulf war, there was a lot of night vision camera scenes and the TV keeps dimming during the lengthy dark scenes and when it does that, you can barely make out any details even with Gamma set at max. The dimmer kicking in and out is annoying by itself, much less the picture quality when it dims.
I contacted Sony support and they seemed clueless and recommended I initiate a repair request. I did an internet search only to discover many Bravia models suffer this problem. I initially thought I had a defective unit, but now I think it was intentionally designed like this.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
71 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointed in Sony, May 16, 2009
We bought the V5100 2 weeks ago. After getting it home we were a little disappointed with the picture as we didn't have HD yet, so we got the HD dish installed. Picture on HD was perfect, other channels good but not great. When watching DVD's we noticed the dimming issue, dark scenes getting darker and darker. After reading a few review sites I discovered there was a fix from Sony so I called the customer support and asked to be sent the software update. That took about a week, and the USB would not download, it went to a blue screen. So I called tech support and got a guy that was really clueless to the problem. He had me call a not so local authorized dealer which wouldn't come out, we would have to take the TV there, 40 miles away, drop it off then have to go back another day to pick up!! So, I decided to try to download the fix myself from the Sony website. After a few failures I discovered you had to format the disk to FAT32, so I did and it worked. But it hasn't fixed the dimming problem, it's still there just not quite as bad. The store we bought the TV from tried to work with us saying it might be that our DVD player is not the newest or best, but I'm not sure that's an issue. We have decided to take the Sony back and get a Samsung or Mitsubishi. It's disappointing that Sony would sell TV's knowing there is a problem, and then not tell their retailers that there is a known problem. Or at least the store is claiming they didn't know. They are willing to replace or exchange it. I'd be afraid of the same problem with another Sony. Very frustrating.
Update: Went and compared the 5100 to the Samsung and did not like the Samsung as much. So asked the store to send technician to adjust, haven't heard from them. In the meantime after much research on different websites I discovered after you do the software update you have to set the Advanced Contrast Enhancer to Low or Off, I set at low. And, I set the picture setting to Standard, not Vivid, altho Vivid was brighter but maybe not better. Now it seems perfect, no shadows or shading in the dark scenes. So for now we are happy campers, hope it stays that way!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
The Sony came in a close second in the judging. Two members of the five-judge panel voted it first overall, and two rated it second. No one really disliked it. I can't say how I might have voted had I been participating blind, but I like to think I would have placed it on top, given my partiality to serious viewing in a darkened room and the resulting need for great black levels. As I noted earlier, the Sony also won raves for its performance with the lights on--although that was a very short part of the test and not included in the scoring. Read the full review at HomeTheaterMag.com.
Saving...
