Sony Bravia ~ Great Picture Quality, Fantastic Value
Written: Aug 01 '09 (Updated Aug 04 '09)
Product Rating:
Sound:
Ease of Use:
Picture Quality:
Durability:
Pros: Brilliant picture quality, color & contrast, ease of setup and use, variable aspect adjustments
Cons: Response time to input switching could be a little quicker
The Bottom Line: The Sony Bravia is easy to setup and use, has outstanding picture quality, and I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for quality LCD television in the $400-$500 price range.
ricardo719's Full Review: Sony KDL32L5000 32 in. HDTV TV
I was looking for a new television to replace my 2-1/2 year-old 32" LCD set (different brand) that had stopped working. I looked at what was available at the store (store website) where I was supposed to do a warranty exchange for my old set. I looked at several sets and limited my choices to four, from viewing specs and reading product reviews on those four.
I chose the Sony Bravia KDL32L5000 32" LCD television after viewing my four choices in the store, reviewing the specs again, and also from a friend's experience with the same brand, but different size, set. Comparing three of the four side-by-side, I then had to go to a different aisle to view the Sony. Not only did the Sony have a superior picture, with more natural colors and skin tones, but it also had the best black level/contrast.
I didn't like having to install the stand on the TV, but it did install easily (four screws). The unit was well-packaged when I unpacked it. It was very easy to set up, with the needed inputs in one compact rear-facing panel. The setup menu was concise and easy to follow. It didn't take long to have the set up and running. The remote is compact and simple to operate, with all controls well-marked. The on-screen menus have clear, easy-to-read and understand selections. There's really no guesswork involved, or extra steps involved to get from one section of the menu to the next.
One of the best features I discovered (and love) in the settings was a multi-level zoom feature, which allows aspect ratio expansions not only horizontally (width) but also vertically (height) which can partially eliminate the "black bars" on widescreen movies, where the picture initially appears stretched too far, horizontally.
The picture quality on cable (not digital) is good. The contrast and color are very natural. Using an upconverter DVD player through an HDMI input, films are displayed brilliantly. There are a multitude of adjustments which can be made to the screen to suit the needs of the individual user, but I found that very few adjusments were necessary for my tastes. One nice thing is that when you make adjustments for each individual input, they remain set for that particuar input and don't affect others, so film display and sound can be adjusted one way, and set differently for television viewing.
The sound quality is adequate from the built-in speakers, with a greater range of adjustment for volume than my previous television. It also has an automatic volume leveling feature, which works very well. No more annoying sound jumps during commercials!
The Sony Bravia was the first choice on my list to look at, when I went to exchange my old television. (I was allowed $399.99 as a credit toward a "comparable" replacement set.) While the other three on my list were priced identically ($499.99), the Bravia was actually $50 less expensive, even though it was the standout in quality in every regard. The housing of the set was also more appealing. The other three units were all high-gloss "piano black," while the Sony Bravia has a matte finish surrounding the screen, which will eliminate alot of unwanted glare near the picture.
One feature that I wish the remote had is single-button selections for various inputs. One has to go through the menu and scroll to select the input. Selecting the HDMI input takes several seconds to engage and display, but changing back to cable is almost instantaneous. Update: upon further study of the manual, I found that the input menu can be customized to skip unused inputs, and that when I press the "input" button on the remote repeatedly, it will automatically scroll through each of the inputs that are active, so there goes one less "con!"
I am very happy with my Bravia. I'm reminded of an "old school" advertisement where a man is showing pictures of his wife, kids, house, etc. to someone, and then he shows a picture of his television, and says, "... and this is my Sony." Now I know how he felt!
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