Monday, January 11, 2010

Sony BRAVIA W-Series KDL-52W5100 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV


Product Description

Enjoy the latest in HDTV performance with the Sony BRAVIA W-Series. Experience Sony’s motion detail and clarity with Motionflow 120Hz technology. Features built-in BRAVIA Internet Video capabilities so you can access and stream on-demand movies, TV shows. You can also personalize your viewing experience with widgets containing the latest news, weather and stock information.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1396 in Consumer Electronics
  • Color: Black
  • Brand: Sony
  • Model: KDL52W5100
  • Released on: 2009-05-24
  • Dimensions: 30.25" h x 3.50" w x 48.87" l, 57.10 pounds
  • Display size: 52

Features

  • A 52-inch, 16:9 Full HD 1080p Resolution Panel provides optimum resolution from any HDTV source that delivers 1080p content
  • Motionflow 120Hz technology reduces judder and sharpens fast-moving images for a crisp, more natural picture for unprecedented motion detail in sports, movies and games
  • The built-in BRAVIA Internet Video feature allows you to access select on-demand entertainment available through your broadband connection--view hit movies, TV shows, music videos, YouTube, streaming internet radio and more
  • Select and personalize your entertainment experience with widgets on your BRAVIA HDTV that provide you access to the latest news, weather, stock information, and much more
  • Includes USB input that lets you view photos on the big screen, listen to your favorite MP3s or watch video clips

Customer Reviews

Great TV for the Price! Very Happpy!5
I received the KDL-52W5100 about 2 weeks ago. It replaced a KDL-52V5100 that I got in March, which replaced an older Sony Hi-Def LCD rear projection 1080i model (KDF-60XS955). The KDL-52V5100 was great at first, but it had a very annoying dimming problem that Sony eventually fixed with a firmware update. The problem was that the firmware update then broke the audio for me. The audio would cut out a few times a night on all HDMI inputs. Tried new cables, new Dish receiver, everything. They finally, after weeks of fighting with them, sent me another KDL-52V5100 which then had the same problem. Sony was very good about taking care of me with these issues, once I got a hold of the right person. Before that, they give you the run around and are willing to let your brand new TV sit in a repair shop for weeks while you wait for it. I will be keeping the contact names/numbers/email addresses for future reference. It's amazing how fast your problems get addressed when you email the Vice President of customer service for North America directly at his actual personal email address! :-) They finally, just 2 weeks ago replaced it with this TV. The KDL-52V5100 had a great picture (when I wasn't having problems with it) but this TV performs very noticeably better! I have used it with an XBOX360, a PS3 and with Dish Network Hi-Def receiver/DVR. The standard def is better than most of the other LCD's I looked at but as with all you can see the flaws of the SD picture. This one looks better than most for SD though. It also doesn't have the HDMI color space issue that the KDL-52V5100 had with my XBOX360. I have it set to Y'CbCr and it looks AMAZING! The PS3 also looks INCREDIBLE! This TV had all the features I wanted and has delivered higher performance and picture than expected. This TV does have noticeably better picture quality than the V series. The contrast is better (possible due to the Bravia 3 engine as opposed to the Bravia 2 engine in the V series) and there are more advanced features for scene selection and other video options. Plus the Xross media bar menu system is WAY better than the plain generic menu in the V series. It looks to be more customizable. The internet connection, DLNA and widgets are just a bonus for me. When I received it, it already needed a firmware upgrade which very conveniently upgraded right over the internet rather than having to use a flash drive. Because of that I can't comment on issues with the old firmware. The stand is average size but I wish it swiveled. The TV is not too heavy. The appearance is very sleek, it appears less clunky than the heavier V series and I like the option to have the Sony logo glow. It's pretty cool. The one thing I was worried about was the fact that it has an 8-bit LCD panel, rather than a 10-bit panel. I was really worried it would have banding or "paint by number" effects. I picked up a copy of Digital Video Essentials (DVE) HD Basics on Blu-Ray to calibrate the TV and to my surprise it included a test for checking for slow processing and for color banding "paint by number" effects. This TV was able to reproduce a perfect gradation in both color and gray scale with ABSOLUTELY no banding or "paint by number" effects whatsoever! I was really impressed. According to DVE an 8-bit panel should be able to do this as long as the processing board is fast enough and good enough quality. These problems are more due to the processing than an 8-bit panel according to DVE. The 10-bit is not necessary if you have adequate processing. After more research I have found that, that is why most higher end manufacturers, like Sony have started using 8-bit panels again in most but their very high end models. After calibrating this TV with DVE the picture is far better than I had ever hoped for, with great black levels and extremely vibrant, true to life color. The off angle viewing is exceptional. The picture morphs a little from extreme side view due to the flat screen, but the contrast and brightness even from almost sideways is awesome! On the last note, the Dish Network receiver/DVR looks great as well. Any problems with the picture was due to the signal from the satellite and not the TV itself. All the HD channels have some compression and it shows, but wouldn't matter how good the TV is for that. DVD, Blu-Ray, XBOX350 and PS3 have absolutely the best picture I have seen on any other LCD. They only thing that could be as good or better is Plasma, but I really wanted a Sony and they only make LCD's now. I am very pleased with my purchase and would highly recommend this TV for anyone. The matte finish is great as I have a lot of ambient lights and side windows in my living room. The only other TV I was considering was the Samsung and the highly reflective, glossy screen just would not work for me. Other than that, the Samsung has a great picture too. I mean Sony uses Samsung panels in most of their TV's, so...

Beats the Samsung LN52B750 on features and response5
Look.. all the top TVs from Samsung, Sony, Pana etc.. are all so close in picture quality that you will absolutely not go wrong with any of them. So what sets them apart... the extra features and how useful they are.

I was replacing my old Panasonic $5K 42" plasma bought about 7 years back. Its going to the bed room. So I first tried the Samsung LN52B750.. amazing picture quality.. yup its better than even this Sony 52W5100 . Now, in todays age, you expect very good pic quality in every TV. So what are you looking for in the TV today, extra features, internet connectivity, ability to stream pics, video from your computer ( DLNA) , Netflix, Blockbuster connectivity for movie streaming etc. But I was very upset with the extras on the Samsung. The response on the remote was slugggggish and slooooow. I had to press some keys like 3 times before I can get it to work. I was getting pissed. I went to the store, talked to Samsung. They kept on saying, pic quality yada yada yada. I told them.. guys, I am buying a $1700 TV for just pic quality but much more. I got the Samsung for $1700 with a free Samsung blu ray player ( $200 worth).

So I started reading all the reviews more carefully on the other stuff apart from picture quality. Sony W5100 had decent reviews on pic quality and good reviews on its other features. So when I went back to frys..They had 52W5100 for $1299. I saw the 40" model on display and thought.. what the heck let me try this out.

So I bought this TV home, but both side by side and turned the TVs on. The Samsung picture contrast was better.. but Sonys was nothing to sneeze either. It was pretty darn good. Compared with the fact that the screen was a matt finish instead of the glossy Samsung, the extra contrast on Samsung was required to fight all the ambient light. Sony with its regular "Standard " factory setting and matt finish gave me very similar quality picture.

Now for the other features. All of these required a wired ethernet connection to the TV on the back.

You Tube was fantastic on Sony. I think it was fully featured.
You Tube was horrible on Samsung. Search missed the videos I had uploaded. Its a yahoo widget and is scaled down version...

Sony had a streaming video option. It was great.
Samsung-- streaming huh what ?

Sony's yahoo widgets were less but all of them worked fast...15-20 seconds tops.
Samsung had more yahoo widgets but none of them worked fast enough. It took about 1.5 mins for some them to load... darn slow.....

Samsung has the blockbuster yahoo widget.. Pretty cool. I am a block buster customer.
Sony promises to get the netflix streaming option pretty soon. I am waiting for that. I am confident that Sony and NEtflix will get a very good version of it.

Yet to try the DLNA on Sony
Samsung DLNA software crashed the computer twice but it worked.. But the pictures loaded very slow 18 painful seconds between each picture. Com'on I have a gigabit connnection.

Today morning I was woken up by some very old Indian Classical music. I knew we did not have a CD or mp3 of that music. So I slowly worked my way to the living room from the bed room and guess what i saw. My wife on youtube surfing from the TV.
She tried on the Samsung and gave up in 10 seconds..

Now I know I have a winner with me... Wife approved the TV. The tough part... I am going to have to go to my old Panasonic in the bedroom since this is wife friendly.

Damn... you just can't win.... can you ?

Fabulous 120 Hz TV, Love it! Just Like XBR9 except for 240 Hz.5
Full Disclosure: I own the Sony KDL-52W5150 which is an idential TV to the KDL-52W5100.

My Sony 52 inch W5150/W5100 is a thing of beauty! The pictures are fabulous and it looks great in the living room also. My old 60 Hz Sharp 46 inch cannot compare to this TV in terms of deep blacks and motion picture quality. Its specs are identical to much more expensive XBR9 except for 240 Hz refresh rate.

First, the pictures are amazing! The blacks are so ridiculously black... my biggest pet peeve on a HDTV is the greyish black when there's supposed to be a black background on some older TV's. You don't have that problem with this TV. This TV has Bravia Engine 3 (Sony's latest video processor) and has a 120 Hz refresh rate. Inbetween those two, the motion judder that I used to see on my old Sharp TV during fast action scenes in movies or sports are gone. All I see is smoothe motion which is a thing of beauty. Once you turn off the "Vivid" colors mode, the colors look real and true to life. I just love it. In fact, my wife told me how she noticed for the first time all the intricate details of the makeup on the TV news anchors' faces. That's high picture quality.

Second, it looks great in the room. I love the Sony light that comes on on the bottom center of the bezel when the TV is on. (In fairness, my wife hates it so be aware that all or most late model Sony HDTV's have this feature) And it looks great whether it's on or not... showing the deep blacks and the rich colors. It really does become the center of your family/living room entertainment. Some prefer the touch of color from Samsung... I prefer the all black look of my TV.

Finally, comparing the specs on this TV versus the top of the line Sony XBR9, there wasn't enough difference to pay the extra $500 premium. Both TV's have the same contrast ratios (3,800 native, 100,000 dynamic). For novices, the contrast ratio is a rough ratio of the brightness of the darkest color the TV is capable of versus the brightest color. So the higher the number, the more capable the TV is in terms of reproducing a wide range of colors at a wide range of brightness. They also look very similar, both use the latest Bravia 3 Engine video processor to produce their pictures, have the same # of HD ports, and allow for widgets & broadband access to Internet.

The three major differences between the W and the XBR9 are the following: 1) 120 Hz vs. 240 Hz refresh rate, 2) 8 bit versus 10 bit panel, and 3) of course the $500 or so in price premium. Frankly, my research into 120 Hz vs. 240 Hz refresh rates lead me to conclusion that most people can't really notice the difference. People can notice the difference between 120 Hz and 60 Hz (as I pointed out earlier), but the 120 vs. 240 seems much more marginal. I am not such a videophile that I will pay a serious premium for a marginal difference. Then the 8 bit vs. the 10 bit panel is an even more dubious distinction. 8 bit panels allow for 17 million colors... the 10 bit panels allow a billion in theory.... But you don't really need it. That's because no content source available right now (not blue ray, not HD broadcast, HD cable/satellite) can differentiate colors to that degree and no LCD panel can reproduce that many colors at once. My advice is - save your money and buy the 10 bit panels when the content actually catches up. Buying 10 bit panel right now could be like buying a 50 inch plasma TV in 2000 for like $20K when no real HD content sources were available to take advantage of the big screen & TV capability.

The only thing this TV does not have is LED backlighting. This TV along with Z series and the XBR9 are Sony's best CCFL backlit LCD TV's. Now the latest TV's have started to use LED backlighting technology to really hike up the contrast ratio to 1 million to 1 and beyond. Sony's latest release XBR10 does this as do the Samsung B6000, B7000, B8000, and B8500 series TV's. Those TV's are fabulous TV's, and they look so cool with their super thin form factor (Samsung's are 1.2 inches thick!). But I am not prepared to pay double or even triple the cost of my W series to get a similar sized LED backlit LCD TV just yet. Wait 3 years and the prices will be MUCH cheaper, since by then larger screen true LED TV's called OLED (not the LCD with LED backlighting TV's that are available now) will probably be more widely available.

By the way, the Samsung TV most comparable to this TV is the Samsung 52B650. Both are 120 Hz, near top of line TV's with CCFL backlighting. I could have gone with either, but I ended up going with this TV because I got a great deal on it and because my sound system and blue ray player (PS3) are Sony products - hello Bravia Synch. Some do think the picture quality on the Samsung is slightly better... but I found the differences to be virtually indiscernable to my eyes. Can't go wrong with either as Samsung and Sony are, IMO, the two greatest LCD TV makers right now... but Samsung seems to be pulling ahead lately.

Overall, fabulous TV... well worth the costs. One of the best top tier, large screen size TV's available with CCFL backlighting. LED backlighting is better, but it costs over double. So for non-early adopters, this is the way to go.

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