petergaryr's Full Review: Sony BRAVIA KDL-46S4100 46 in. TV
What is It?
The Sony KDL-46S4100 is a 1080p LCD high definition TV that could also double as a very large PC monitor.
Here is a quick look at some of its technical specifications:
# Native Resolution : 1920 x 1080
# On-screen Contrast Ratio : 2,500:1
# 24p True Cinema
# 3D Comb Filter
# CineMotion® Reverse 3:2 Pulldown Technology
# MPEG Noise Reduction
# Picture Mode : Vivid, Standard, Custom
# Wide Mode : Normal, Full, Zoom, Wide Zoom
Why 1080p?
Just over a year and a half ago, I purchased a Sony KDF50E2000 rear projection TV with a native resolution of 720p. That review is still available on Epinions. In general, I had been happy with the set, but the purchase of a new Panasonic BD30 Blu-ray player changed that. I began to notice that in-store demonstrations of BD titles I owned always looked better that what I was getting.
Not surprising, since this new set can display the full resolution that is available on Blu-ray discs. Since the other set was not quite a year and a half old, it took be a while to convince myself that the difference in picture quality would be worth the additional expense. It was.
Settings
There are a number of controls that will allow you to adjust the picture to your liking. In fact, the first thing to do if you decide to get the unit is immediately go to the picture controls and select “Normal” rather than the shipped with “Vivid”. Vivid makes people look like they are wearing clown makeup.
Even better, once you get the TV, select “Custom” and really fine tune the set with a good calibration disc. Something like the AVIA would be good, but for a quick setup some DVDs (the Star Wars ones come to mind) have THX test screens that can be used to set some of the basic controls.
To get the best possible picture that this display is capable of producing, it is really worth the time required to set it up properly.
Here is one small example: you can adjust the backlight setting for each input. Why is that important? Well, for one, LCD flat panel displays have in the past been criticized for not being able to produce a deep enough black. It often would look more like a dark gray. By reducing the backlight, adjusting the picture and brightness you can actually get quite a convincing deep black.
There are 3 HDMI inputs, in addition to ample component, s-video and composite connections, so you should have no trouble connecting even the most elaborate of audio/video components to it. In addition to the required ATSC tuner, you also get a QAM cable tuner, so you should be able to pick up unscrambled digital stations without a dedicated box. For the scrambled ones, you will need a set top box, since this Sony has no provisions for a Cable Card.
What is really nice is that each input acts independent of the other so you can customize picture settings for each. That’s very helpful when you have, say a blu-ray player, and you want to use the “full pixel” setting that accurately maps pixel but may result in slight blacks bands around the picture. You might not want to use that feature with broadcast TV, where introducing such slight underscan may result in displaying some distracting “noise” around the picture.
By connecting a simple indoor antenna, you may be able to pick up a number of free over the air local HD programs. The ATSC tuner is pretty good, and I was able to get all of the local offerings here in Jacksonville. Typically, however, you will need a good outdoor antenna to pull in stations reliably and consistently.
If you have both cable and an OTA antenna, you will need to first scan for one, then the other. Since there is only 1 RF connector, you will need a simple A/B switch from a place like Radio Shack in order to use both. Scan time was close to an hour for me. You have the option of labeling the stations, which is very helpful when you have QAM channels like for example 104.2. Being able to label that with something a little more meaningful such as “Discovery HD Theater” is downright necessary.
When you are on a particular station or external input, you can press the “favorite” button and add up to 8 favorites. That is very handy for frequently used sources.
Not quite as elaborate as the picture controls, the audio controls do permit enough tweaking to make the internal speakers sound fairly good. If you like, you can take the audio optical out and connect it to an external amplifier and speakers. I would highly recommend doing that.
Cautions
As good as this display panel is, you need to keep in mind that this is the least expensive “Full HD” 46 inch set that Sony makes. Though it can produce outstanding results with good HD sources, displaying standard definition programs is another matter.
Now, before going into great detail, I will say that even though this uses the basic Bravia engine, it does a competent enough job of upconverting a 480i source to 1080p. Personally, I think the average viewer will be quite pleased with what the video processing can do.
However, in order to achieve these results, there is a lot of manipulation that needs to be done. Some may be bothered by the edge enhancement, noise reduction, and other filtering that is going on. Personally, I’m not annoyed by it since there are only a few things I watch these days that aren’t HD sources.
Still, I do have a rather large collection of standard DVD and the results with them are variable. Some look quite good actually, others not so much. Of course, part of that can be attributed to the contribution of the DVD player itself (the Panasonic BD30 is exceptional on HD sources, but isn’t the best when it comes to up-conversion)
The other issue is really a non-issue, but I should mention it for the sake of completeness. Before you do any picture adjustments, when you first turn the TV on you may notice unevenness on the screen, that is, what appear to be cloud-like patches of light and dark. The Sony manual will tell you this is nothing to be concerned about, and in reality, it doesn’t actually affect the actual picture.
However, when you first see it, it may appear to be a defect. The effect can be minimized or eliminated by carefully reducing the backlight and the other picture controls.
Overall Impression
The absolute best HD quality will be found on Blu-ray discs, followed by, in my case, local OTA HD, DirecTV and Comcast cable
Standard definition broadcasts on this set are another story. A lot depends on the quality of the signal the station is sending. With a fairly decent source, the Bravia engine can do wonders. However, some of the standard definition analog signals that Comcast carries are virtually unwatchable, even with advanced video processing.
Some standard DVDs look really good, almost HD in quality, which I feel is quite an accomplishment.
Conclusion
As mentioned previously, it took me a while to convince myself that the jump from a very good 720p display to a 1080p was worth the expense. I would say that now after having seen the difference I would give a qualified "yes, it is worth it".
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