Sony KDL-46V4100 46" 1080p Bravia LCD TV

"I am confined to bed so I use ir in the bedroom and play CD's and watch sports."

"After 4 months of searching, I finally went with the Sony. We got it right before the Olympics, and, HDTV really does knock your socks off.



Its just about impossible to compare the 46v100 in our den to any other TV, but here's some observations:

1) viewing angle does not seem to be an issue. You have to sit so far off the experience is compromised just by looking sideways at the screen.

2) Black levels (or lack thereof) can be noticed, but with some customization its not an issue > 95% of the time.

3) sound is sufficient I've not worried about hooking up our little portable stereo: it wont do for concert music and we don't really listen to loud movies.

4) Unable to notice yet advantage of cinemotion (one of the reasons to jump to the V from the S, or other makers for that)...

5) lastly, none, absolutely no buyers-remorse, kinda rare for something that takes a relatively large chunk out of your wallet."

"This TV was great straight out of the box. [...] once you get it up there you'll be glad you got it. The color options are great. You can use the Vivid option to get the popping color you want from your nature shows and can tone it down for the more subtle color desired for films. We were going to add our Surround Sound system to it but figured out that we didn't need it at all because the sound is so great - where in a NYC apartment, there's already a lack of space. We're very happy with the Sony. The quality we expected from this brand has come through and the picture is excellent. Highly recommended."

"This is my second HDTV. My first was a Proscan 26LB30QD, for my bedroom. The Proscan has the worst backlight bleed I've ever seen, a horrible vertical viewing angle and no remote, because I got the display. PQ and SQ are fine, especially for such a small space, but needless to say, I had not fully experienced HD until our Sony.



This model caught my eye early on with its price and features. In the store, its vivid colors and deep blacks also caught my eye, coincidentally. I researched/begged my parents for months, and came full circle to this set, when BestBuy had it on sale a couple of weeks ago for $1199. Of course with tax and warranty fees, it was well above $1500, but I'm ecstatic with this TV.



I'm an avid reader of CNET.com and the best online window shopper you've ever known. I'm also college-aged. Techy things fascinate me, and I consider myself fairly knowledge about current electronics. After research on LCD vs. Plasma, 60Hz vs. 120 Hz, Sony vs. Samsung and all of that, we still chose this Bravia set.



I also bought an Init stand, if you check my other reviews, and had it already assembled when I received a call from BestBuy saying that the delivery would be made within minutes. The Geek Squad had this set installed/hooked up to my XBOX & DVR/synced with my Fios remote in literally, no more than five minutes. They were kids my age (19-20). The best part though: the services were free! After they left, I played with the set all day.



My praises are innumerable, so I'll merely list the important ones:



- MotionFlow 60Hz: (AKA CineMotion) On its highest setting this set makes scenes look like 120Hz. Personally, I think that looks awkward, like things are happening before they actually happen. I don't know, but I've lessened its effects (Auto 2).

- 1080p: Self-explanatory. I now find myself watching QVC all the time, just because the HD, albeit 720p, is phenomenal. I can't wait for Blu-Ray.

- 46": Looks huge in my medium-sized living room. I love showing it off.

- XMB: The familiar Sony interface is easy-to-use and graphically well-rounded.

- Sound: Having heard bad things about the sound on flat panels, I now think all of those people are crazy. The sound on this set is great! I use surround for movies, but casual viewing is more than comfortable.

- BRAVIA TheatreSync: This set works flawlessly through one remote with my Sony Bravia DAV-HDX265 sound system.

- Input Profiles: For each input, you can save a different set of picture and sound settings. So, I have the colors set to be displayed more vividly/sounds to be more dynamic on my XBOX 360 than on my Fios box.

- Game Mode: Excellent for prospective buyers who own a system.



I honestly could go on for much longer, but I'll start on the negatives:



- Sound Output: When using my surround, I have to manually disable the speakers through the menu. My complaint is more out of worry that my mom, while I am at school, won't be able to do that when using the DVD player. I've gotten the set to automatically disable the speakers when switching to the DVD's HDMI input, but re-enabling is manual.

- Fingerprints: The panel around the screen will have prints all over it, if you're like me and caress it daily.

- Visual Anomalies: This is obviously a problem with my Fios box/wiring, but probably worth mentioning. On FoxHD, there is a thin, line of snow above the picture. Also, on STARZHD the picture pixelates/freezes periodically. Strange, but nothing to make me change my mind about this set, since the phenomena happen on specific channels.

- Light Sensor/Power Saving Mode: These features just made the screen dark for no reason. I see someone else complained about it, and therefore returned the set. I, however, as a rational human being, disabled the modes. The set is on at full brightness and I haven't looked back. It's a cool feature, but my living room is too bright to take advantage of it.



I can't speak for the future, but so far, I love the set. Not a day has gone by where I haven't paused while watching a show and said, "Look how clear this is!" I can't wait to purchase a Blu-Ray player for my entertainment center.



This set is highly recommended for its value, features and impeccable picture/sound quality. 5/5!"

"This big tv sit's in my bedroom and someday it will be the centerpiece of my living room. What I love about it? It delievers excellent HD picture while I am watching a show in HD on Comcast. And the pic it delievers while watching Blu ray is nothing short of stunning. It even delievers a great pic while watching standard def movies. This tv from Sony has it all. The negative? The speakers. Even though they are ok I would highly reccomend hooking this tv up to a surround sound system. Any home theater geek would do that anyway because we all know tv speakers are not all that good when it comes to true surround sound. I have had this tv since last July and I would reccomend it to anyone looking for a great HDTV.



Get it because from what I hear Sony is gonna retire it soon. Which is sad really but for me it will go down as one of the great HDTV's from Sony."

"Fantasitic picture in a room with lots of natural light. This TV really shines and is clearly visisble for 180 degrees."

"My previous TV (32" JVC tube) was a wedding gift from way back in 2000. Obviously, I do not get these that often, so I wanted to make sure I did my research. I read every one of the reviews on the net, from here and elsewhere, and I'll tell you - this TV is awesome! I could go on and on here, but if you are like me, you will read all the reviews anyway, so I want to touch on some of things I noticed that maybe had not been mentioned elsewhere.



These TVs are designed to work well with HD. That's what they are supposed to do. Where this TV excelsdiffers from others is that it gives a great standard def picture as well. My daughter loves to watch her cartoons, and most are on channels that do not have HD, at least with IO. But I will tell you, the picture is fantastic.



Blu Ray movies look fantastic, but again, they should. I only have a handful of Blu Ray movies, so most of my library are standard DVDs. Now I am sure using my PS3 as my Blu Ray player helps, but standard DVDs look fantastic as well. I know the PS3 upconvertsa and all, but I never expected to see what I saw from these DVDs!



A few reviews mentioned that the picture gets too dark during certain dark scenes. I saw this at first as well, but it is a "feature" Sony came up with and IT CAN BE TURNED OFF! If you read the instruction manual, it goes through all of this in detail. There are a lot of settings on this TV (and again, if you are like me and have a PS3, you have a ton of settings to change here as well) and if you have one of them off, it could ruin your viewing experience.



I cannot really comment on sound because I have two children, so the only time I really get to watch this TV is while they are sleeping, and as any parent knows, you cannot blast the TV! But sound seems great to me. Again, change all the settings to your liking, and you will not be disappointed.



On the down side - this TV has a Picture & picture (not picture in picture) feature which I thought was going to be real cool. The issue is that you can only use this for your PC hookup. TV and PC or BR and PC, etc. So for someone like me, it's a waste. My cable has PIP anyway, so no big deal. But don't be swayed when it says P&P.;



Finally, I was really debating on getting this, or the newer model for 2009, the 46V5100, which is $400 - $500 more expensive depending on when and where you buy it. The 5100 has a USB (My PS3 has two of these already, so this is a non-issue) and obviously, the big selling point is the 120 Hz. Now the BB where I purchased this had the two TVs side by side (bad move on their part - may have gotten another $500 from me!) and the salesman asked me if I could see a difference. To be honest, I could not. If you are one of these people that has to have the latest and greatest, well then get the 5100, but just know you'll be returning it in about a month when the 6100 comes out. I will compare it to my digital camera I purchased last year (also a Sony). I wanted to get the 13 mega-pixel one. It was only $200 more than the 10 MP, so why not, right? Again, the salesman convinced me it was overkill. Do you really need it? If you are going to use it to print out a 24" x 36" portrait of your kid's face, sure, it's probably necessary - otherwise, you'll never know the difference.



So to sum up - great pic, great sound, great buy! Just read the instructions, and you will get the most out of this product."

"We are very impressed with the quality of this television.

When the box arrived, it was very simple to open.

The box was in 2 parts. We had to cut a couple straps, then pull the top portion off. This box was 10X easier to open and remove the TV over past flat panel TVs that we've purchased from competing brands.



For the set up, we chose not to mount it on the wall. We used the optional stand, that was pretty simple to install using the 4 provided screws.

After that, all we had to do was plug it into the wall and insert the HDMI cable and we were good to go.



The picture quality is supurb.

The TV is hands-down, the best TV that we've ever owned."

"Pros

First and foremost, this is one handsome TV. I had the chance to use the KDL-46S4100, the KDL-46V5100 and now, in review, and will be the keeper, the V series from last year which is the KDL46V4100. In comparison to the two, I could honestly say that having the 120Hz Motionflow processor would be the most notable difference on this TV's. Any hype, price and whatever terminolgies from contrast ratios, dynamic contrast ratios to 60Hz vs 120Hz and now, even 240Hz are just another way of taking you money. Never understood the term "Opera Effect" with the Motionflow enhanced TV's till I get to take one home and play with every adjustments possible. I personally don't like it too much as it tends to make the film/movie look so smooth, it seems fake and animated.



Then now, I have the V series from last year which oddly enough, was only manufactured March of '09 which is not even a month ago. It has a great display on Standard Definition sources and needless to say HD is just mind blowing. I was a little worried at first after the intitial setup because of a dimmer screen. Dimmer meaning i have maxed out the backlight, brightness and contrast settings of the video adjustments then finally realizing that the Light Sensor on this TV(enery saving purpose that automatically sense ambient light conditions) is On by default. Turning it Off made it all acceptable to my liking. It also has this feature called ACE (Advance Contrast Enhancer) which on my experience on the V5100, made dark scenes darker and the transition to bright scenes would make it very annoying but so far, I have watched the same movies (Underworld 1 & 2) on the very scenes and have not experienced it yet on this V4100. All the connections you can ask for as having 4 HDMI, 3 in the back and 1 on the side along with matching component video for endless connection possibilities. Each every input has its own seperate customizable controls so you can have it adjusted from just about any sources. For example, my DVD Karaoke has a 480i output which has a very obvious degraded picture quality as compared to a Sony HDMI upconverting DVD player and then of course, there's the Blue Ray which is just beyond belief. You might think that "Can it possibly get any clearer than this?" It even has this Auto Wide feature that works with my cable box from Cox that automatically scales your non HD sources to "Full" format which eliminates the black side bars.



The sound compared to the previous two is suprisingly fuller and louder on this set. It does not compare to a fully dedicated surround system (which by the way the S Force surround on this TV only makes the built in TV volume sound weaker) but more than acceptable for everyday viewing. There is so much good stuff to say about this TV and hopefully a little bit of this info helps. This KDL46V4100 is just plain great and I highly recommend it.



Cons

Heavier than the S series and the present V series. Higher elelctricity consumption as compared to specs on the other TV's. No Motionflow for Pixar movies only.(not a big fan anyways)



Review

I still can't believe the deal I got from Dell being able to acquire this set for $999.00 plus a 4 year warranty for $149.00 with free shipping. Thanks to Dell I get to afford this awesome TV finally. Good luck getting yours!"

"This is our primary TV in the family room, setup was easy, the "on-screen" menus were intuitive. The HD pictures are incredible. Switching from one input to the other a dream. Love the PC input..hooking up a Laptop a breeze,then doing a slide show from the laptop, fun! Two minor issues, I'd make the remote a little bulkier like the RM-YD005 and after two weeks the TV Guide feature is still non-functional. I think it is a function of TV Guide, not the TV. Had similar issues with TV Guide on a Toshiba DVR. Overall, I'd buy this Sony TV again in a heartbeat!"