 Great Picture and Features, plus it's eco-friendly |
| Review Date: July 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: J. Shope, |
This is an excellent TV.
Picture Quality:
The picture quality of this set is superb. In the setup menu, I set the picture to "vivid" mode and the HD quality is simply life-like. The color and contrast are excellent. It also uses something that Sony calls MotionFlow which helps to smooth out the image when you are watching fast-action pictures.
Backlight Technology:
It is an LCD set, but uses a hot cathode fluorescent lamp for its backlighting. This technology allows it to be much more energy efficient and close to par with the energy usage of LED backlit LCD TVs. Most LCDs use cold cathode fluorescent lamps. The 40" model uses a maximum of 140 watts, the 46" uses a max of 160 watts, and the 52" uses a max of 180 watts.
Eco-Friendly:
It has a sensor called a presence sensor that does two things. First it senses the ambient (room) light and if the room gets darker, it will automatically dim the picture of the TV. This works well if you are watching TV in the bedroom at night and you want less light output. The second thing that the sensor does is senses the room for motion and body heat. If you leave the room for a preset amount of time (5 min, 30 min, ...) and the TV doesn't sense anyone around, it will turn off the picture. If you walk back in the room, it senses you and turns the screen back on. The sound stays on for another 30 minutes or so, then the whole set will go into stand-by mode if it does not sense you. Both of these features can be turned off via the setup menu and help to conserve energy.
Features (just a few of them):
The TV is loaded with features. It will automatically sense if you have something connected to an input (for example HDMI2). This is great when you want to hit the input button on the remote because it will not select items that aren't currently sending out a signal. This means you don't have to scroll through 10 items if you only have two components connected to the TV. In the setup menu, you can set each input for always on, always off, or auto. I used the always on setting for the PC input because the cable I used to connect the PC did not send a power signal so the TV did not sense it. By setting it to always on, the PC input will always be available when I scan through the inputs.
It also has a lot of inputs. There are 4 HDMI inputs. If you have a DVI port on your PC, then you can connect it through HDMI port 1 which also has an analog audio input. There is one dedicated composite (with S-video) and one dedicated component input, but there is another switchable composite/component input that you can use if you have two composites and one component, or vice versa. There is a PC input to connect via VGA connection. The audio outputs are one optical digital out and one analog out.
Dislikes:
1. All of the Inputs and Output are on the left side (when looking at the front of the TV) of the TV. This is unfortunate for me since my A/V cabinet is on the right side of the TV. It is a minor inconvenience, but something that I did not think about until I got the set home. I would say about half of the inputs are one the left side and the other half are on the back, next to the side inputs.
2. The presence sensor is right where I have my center audio speaker. I will have to raise up the TV to still have that speaker front and center.
Overall, this is not a cheap TV, but I think this is a case where you get what you pay for. It is a really great set.
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Great Deal On A Great Television
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| Review Date: August 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Funky G Mac Man, Ypsilanti, MI |
I bought this television after doing some pretty extensive research. I had almost decided on a Samsung, but after going to the store and looking at some of them, I decided that the Samsungs were way too glossy for my taste. I saw the 40" version of this television on display at a store, and it looked fantastic. Very sharp picture, not glossy. The power saving features and having seen how good it looks in person got me very close to a decision, and the final piece of the puzzle was that it would fit on the stand I already have. That might sound silly, but it's another $200-$300 for a decent stand. My stand is 20" wide, and has about an 3/4" lip on the edge. The stand on the Sony is about 18" wide, and lifts the TV up over the lip, so it worked out quite nicely.
The service from Amazon was great on this. The free scheduled delivery worked out great. The company that delivered it (CEVA, I beleive) showed up early, and carried it up the stairs to the third floor for me. They offered to unpack it, which I declined, wanting to do it myself to make sure I could save the box for moving purposes.
It took me about 30 minutes to get the TV unpacked, the stand attached, and the TV up and running. Keep in mind, I was doing this by myself...it would have been quicker with a helper.
The picture on this TV is simply awesome! I watched The Descent on Blu-ray as my first movie, mainly because it's a very dark movie, and I wanted to see what the black levels were like. The Sony did not disappoint. Most of the movie is set in dark caves, and most of the time, I couldn't even see the edge between the dark movie and the edge of the letterbox.
The only bit of weirdness I've had, was at the very beginning of the movie, there's a white water rafting scene that looked very strange to me at first. It turns out it was because the director of the movie had been using camera movement for dramatic effect, and the MotionFlow technology was canceling it out! It was easily fixed just by turning off MotionFlow. I plan on leaving it off, as I have noticed no blurring issues even with it off.
The only thing a wee bit lacking on this TV is the sound, but it's not horrible, and honestly, if you're willing to shell out the cash for this TV, then you should be willing to shell out for a good sound system too. Overall, I highly recommend this TV. |
one fine TV!
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| Review Date: January 31, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Eugene Y. Sul, Syracuse, NY |
| I generally agree with the reviews already here. This 46" HDTV replaced a 20-year old 21" CRT TV so needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed with the viewing experience after I got it up and running. (Unlike a previous reviewer, the delivery service Amazon used refused to deliver the TV past my garage door.) The assembly/wiring instructions provided with the TV were relatively straightforward. The only agonizing aspect of the setup was when it was searching for channels when the TV is first powered up; it took about 15 minutes. I've had it for about a week now and am immensely pleased with the product. It took a while to get used to watching a screen this large in my family room. I was planning on purchasing a smaller screen size, but I went with the guidelines with the product description on Amazon for 12 feet viewing distance. The HD channels available through my cable service (which provided an HDMI cable for me) look fantastic. The DVDs I've played look fantastic as well; I have it hooked up through the yellow Video 2 port (which from what I am told is the worst way to configure my DVD player which does support 1080p). Nevertheless, like I said it still looks great. I can't really evaluate the sound quality as I have the TV set up through my home theater system. When I have had the volume on the TV on, it didn't seem all that special. The TV seemed a bit pricey overall and only modestly less expensive to purchase from Amazon than from the sony.com website, but I think my investment overall was a worthy one. The Eco-friendly features were just icing on the cake as I always try and shop for energy-saving products. (And yes, I own a hybrid car too!) I would definitely recommend this TV. |
Sony BRAVIA VES 46inch HD TV Review
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| Review Date: February 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: JJ, Mitchellville, MD |
| This baby worked perfectly right out of the box. I didn't have to make any color adjustments at all. I was also impressed with the delivery arranged by Amazon. The delivery man stayed with me as we removed the set from the box, inspected it for damages, and made sure the set powered up. He even helped me move the set to the bedroom. This was a gift to my wife, and she loves the picture quality, as do I. I'm seriously considering buying another, to replace a large screen projection set that has nothing wrong with it. I connected the Sony to a stereo system, but we rarely use it. The internal speakers work just fine. You can't go wrong with this Sony. |
I Love this TV
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| Review Date: April 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Spankda, Spokane, Wa |
| This is the forth Sony TV I have purchased in the past 20 years and all four have been exceptional for both picture and sound quality. I have had this one for a little over a week now and the picture is amazing. I can't wait until DirecTV gets to the house this week to hook up the High Def. I may not leave the couch, EVER! |
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