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75 of 78 people found the following review helpful.
Great picture, awful sound
By C. Aymar
We purchased this TV to fit into an entertainment armoire that we bought many years ago. The case size makes it a perfect fit, and with its swiveling stand, I can position it optimally.The most important thing to me in a TV is the picture - and that's where this model excels. It has amazing contrast for an LCD TV, although much of this is due to the better capabilities of the LED backlight. it's impressive compared to many other flat screen TVs I've seen, including the 37" Sharp Aquos it replaces - with much better range of viewing angles and far greater detail. The Bravia also does an amazing job with standard definition TV, which is another area where the Sharp fell flat. Although it looks a little fuzzy here and there, you just don't see the same kind of pixelation I noticed in other HDTVs. Finally, this TV comes out of the box with little need for fine tuning. It will ask you whether it's being setup in a home or retail environment and configure the picture accordingly. I spent hours setting up the Sharp with different calibration tools - I didn't find this to be necessary with the Bravia.This TV comes equipped with a plethora of connectivity options, which is important to me since we have a variety of devices connected (Blu-Ray, VCR, Wii, WDTV Live, etc) and with its swiveling stand, it's easy to reach the ports. Although I would have preferred the basic controls on the top of the unit, like the Sharp, they are not terribly difficult to access along the back of the right side of the set.The picture alone makes this TV worth the money. But I'm deducting two stars for the other half of the AV experience - the sound.I realize that modern flat panel TVs, particularly the super-thin LED variety, don't have a whole lot of room for decent speakers. However, the speakers in this TV are just unacceptable. Volume is not the problem. These speakers simply can not come close to touching the range and depth of other TVs I've used, and particularly the Sharp that it replaced. They are just stunningly bad - and I am far from an "audiophile". The sound reminds me of a cheap clock radio. Yes, you can hear it and keep up with what is displayed on the screen, but it's almost monotone, lacks any kind of depth and if there's any kind of music in the background, forget about distinguishing voices. Even my wife, who is not particularly detail oriented when it comes to technology, could notice how tinny it was.I'm not sure why this is the case as this TV does have a bit of a "bump out" for the speakers at the bottom/back of the unit. They just don't face the right way (forward) and are of poor quality. I guess Sony expects most buyers to opt for a home theater system. I have never felt the need to buy one before I purchased this TV. Now that I have, I'm glad I did - but it does stink to have to use a universal remote (Harmony 670), rather than the intuitive remote that came with my Verizon FIOS service. I plan to experiment with the Audio Return Channel and BRAVIA Sync features of the Sony HT-CT150 that I bought to compliment the TV, but haven't gotten around to getting long enough HDMI cables to accomplish this.I'm not really going to get into the "smart" or "Internet connected" capabilities of this TV, as they are rendered mostly redundant by those built into my Sony Blu-Ray player. To be frank, I wouldn't judge a TV based on that criteria, since there's a variety of much better options available via tiny set-top boxes that can be had for less than $100 and are sure to be much more readily up-to-date in terms of the ever-changing services available on the Internet.So in short, this is an excellent TV if you plan on using it with or buying an audio system for it. If you're not, be sure to experience it in person to decide whether you can live with the poor audio.
68 of 71 people found the following review helpful.
Impressive looking picture quality
By Seth Dewey
I have had this TV for a few months now and am very pleased with it. Let my preface this by saying that I used to sell TVs for a living and I am pretty particular about picture quality. (I am particular about sound quality as well, and don't believe that any of the speakers that are built into TVs nowadays are worth a darn. I have all the TVs in my house hooked into separate audio systems, so you won't see me addressing the sound quality of this unit.) Many TVs out of the box have exaggerated colors and contrast, so that they will "pop" in the bright conditions of the store showroom. When you start up this TV for the first time, the on-screen display asks if this is being setup for store display or home use. When you select the home use option, the picture that one gets out-of-the-box is really quite impressive. I fooled around with the settings a little bit, but didn't find that I had to do much in order to have a picture that I am very pleased with.The USB network adapter is easy to setup and configure. The internet apps are OK, but nothing that is going to take the place of my iPhone. On the other hand, I have streamed several movies from Amazon (both paid video-on-demand, and free movies from my Amazon Prime account) and have found the video quality to be very close to that of Blu-ray.When viewing a black (or very dark scene) one can notice a slight bit of light leakage along the corners (particularly the bottom corners) of the screen. This is something that is inherent to varying degrees with all LED edge-lit televisions, but it is not often visible with this TV and unless one is looking for it, I doubt that many people would find it to be distracting. I am not a big fan of the remote that comes with this TV, but a generally use a nicer universal remote, so I don't find this to much of an issue either.This TV is a decent value at the $1200 or so that it was going for a few months back, and at the current prices it is a much better value.One more thing I wish to add to the review. The Clear Resolution Enhancer picture engine, while not one of Sony's more advanced, still does an admirable job on standard definition material. I rarely watch standard def sources, but my wife does, and I was surprised at how much the SD picture quality was on this set was improved versus the older Sony that it replaced. I am more likely to watch SD sources now that I find the picture quality to be acceptable.
42 of 43 people found the following review helpful.
A great choice!
By Chauncey
I did a lot of research leading up to this decision. I was originally leaning towards the "top" brands that consumer reports and cnet were recommending. Those brands are Samsung, Panasonic, and LG. To be fair, this Sony rated well with consumer reports, but you can't just go by reviews, one has to go see the t.v. on display at a store, and that's what I did. After 3 visits to a big electronics store and observing the various models for a long period of time, I was leaning towards the 40 inch Samsung. Right next to the Samsung I noticed a t.v. that had a great picture and much more natural and richer color. In fact, the colors were much better! It was this Sony. When the Samsung demo was showing human skin tones, they were just not right. One darker toned woman looked orange but on the Sony, her tones were just right! After watching for a while I noticed that all the colors represented by the Sony were much richer and more natural. I was pleasantly surprised. I also noticed that I never observed any motion blur on fast motion scenes like a football game. I also noticed that Sony's use of LED lighting was better than Samsung. The Samsung model made people look too pasty. I went home and looked at CR's take on this model and it was rated very well. They said it had an excellent hd picture. Out of the two brands, the sales associates said they would choose the Sony. I made my choice and bought this model. We absolutely love it! So glad I took my time and went and watched them in the store. Just got hd service and we are so happy with our decision! Let me remind you that Sony has been making t.v.'s for a long time and I am glad I chose them. Also, it's great to have Netflix stream right to the t.v. Hope this helps.
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Nice!...
