Large Flatscreens for All!
Written: Jul 05 '09
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Pros: Reasonable price, great image, smart features
Cons: Physical large size, poor energy saving mode
The Bottom Line: Great all-in-one package for the home user. Ready to do HD, works seamlessly with 16:9 DVDs, excellent image, mini home theater sound.
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| Pirich's Full Review: Sony Bravia KDL-42V4100 42 in. TV |
Anyone stopping by the TV department on a regular basis will have noticed the quality, size, and cost numbers for flat screen TVs have rapidly improved in the past two years. As a TV set we had started having problems, it seemed it was time to try something new. One TV we came across was the Sony Bravia KDL-42V4100 42 in. LCD TV, which turns out to be ostensibly perfect. Much of what appears to be a driver for a decision is exactly what will fit in your home and how much you want to spend.
Background
I had a college room mate whose dad made the comment, "In ten years, flat screens will take it all." I couldn't argue with him- largely because I wanted it to be true. But between 1997 and today, the flat screens did get pushed, but the fall in prices has, well, not been so dramatic.
And I kept noticing the ones available had problems. The fields of view of the LCDs were narrow, so the image quality obviously fell off to the sides. Plasma screens were not only expensive, but every time I went through the Tampa, FL, airport I got to see a set of them with horrible image burn-in, so I had quietly put a line through that option in my mind. But at the same time, so many available flat screens were technically just HDTV monitors, without an actual tuner, they appeared quite expensive compared to what was still available with tube based televisions.
The sudden improvement in quality in the past two years has meant the field of view problem has disappeared from LCDs, the prices are vastly better, and they have built-in HDTV tuners. In short, they very quickly became much better TVs at the same time they became a better value.
And I have been a die-hard pragmatist. I don't have the sort of circle of friends where I am desperately hoping I can impress them by showing off the biggest and most expensive flat screen they have ever seen, resident in my living room. In fact, it's for the family, the distances are relatively close, so there isn't a situation where something enormous is necessary.
I have been hoping for something which would be big enough to enjoy movie night, but wouldn't be ridiculously large. While a lot of smaller flat screens (e.g. 19" size) have come way down in price, I had taken the 4:3 26" dimensions of the Samsung we had been using as a starting point and did the math for a 16:9 ratio for getting an equal image size:
Using the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) and then backing out what the diagonal measure means when the width is a fixed ratio of the height, a 32" 16:9 screen would have nearly the exact same height as the older 26" 4:3 screen. In short, at 32" size, an NTSC signal would produce an identically sized image on both. So this was my starting point- the flat screen had to be 32" or bigger. The 37" screens looked like a good size, as did the 40" and 42" screens. But there have been a couple of other things going on. The image quality has been obviously better in the smaller ones all along, and at some size, it has suddenly dropped off when going above it. TV browsers will have undoubtedly noticed this drop-off has been creeping up, year by year. This year, it appears to happen when going above 42"
So when it looked like 40" screens were going under $1000 and the images were better, I decided to get a serious look. For now, every television is seemingly on sale, and there has never been a better selection in flat screens.
Description
The Sony line stood out for its ability to produce both a very high contrast image, but also do so with realistic color. I expect other readers may find the super-saturated color balance Samsung tends towards pleasing. I've been more interested in a realistic image. In the case of the Sony line in 2009, I find them to appear obviously compelling compared to their obvious rivals. Fortunately, the price has taken that same turn. And this is where my consideration started. The unit also turns out to have excellent sound quality with deep bass and full midrange sound, despite the lack of volume devoted to these features in the case.
The television is minimally styled with a thin black rim, and the thickened part for sound and other components is at the base, along with a somewhat unusual clear window right through the device (which supports a power indicator, seemingly hovering in mid air). I suspect this feature serves a practical purpose in isolating speaker from the main cabinet, and therefore preventing bass rattle and other annoying sound artifacts.
The stand is just a simple foot with an upright in back to hold the TV up. If you want to hang it on a wall, the hardware is a separate kit. In my case, I knew I would be installing on top of a table, so the foot was the way to go. The unit does have considerably more depth than the phrase "Flat screen" brings up as a mental image. Count on using a depth zone of about 10" Wall installations will be a little thinner.
I strongly recommend mocking up the size of the screen in your home before buying the TV. Some cheap chart paper works perfectly for this, and can readily show how a 42" screen is a lot of video real estate. Compared with how the screens larger than this size struggle to produce a usable image, the decision to go bigger than 42" should be explored carefully.
Usage
The first big fear with a large TV is setting the thing up. And the truth is, I am now certain one is right to be afraid of this step. How big the object looks when you are standing in the store gives no preparation for what you will have to do to get it out of the box and mount it. I have had some bad past experiences with the "Free in-home setup" where three months later I was taking everything apart because I couldn't figure out how they wired it. So, I do my own installations. They may not be perfect, but at least I will know what is wired to what and how.
The box is fairly big, and it is narrow. The device comes close to what is movable. I am pretty sure at this point anyone looking at 46" or larger had better have two people, even if you are built like a linebacker- the thing is physically bulky and hard to handle, independent of its weight, which is also considerable. One does not lift the unit out of the box- the box gets cut away from around it.
The first major step is to take the unit install it on the support base if you are not going to hang it on a wall. If you are hanging the unit on the wall, you'll have to work from the kit, and get someone else to help with the lift. The television case has a large slot in the back which supports the weight of the television, though it bounces on it a bit when it is mounted. The base holds the TV with the screen vertical, and screws secure it in place so you can then lift the TV + Base onto its final destination. Again, I strongly advise anyone with any doubts about this lift get a second person to help. Offer them beer if they hesitate, or fresh cold milk, depending on what is appropriate.
Once on its final location, the TV is pretty easy to deal with since the connectors and such can be reached by turning the base with it on it. The back has every major connector type. I installed my Samsung DVR/VCR using the progressive scan input, and the cable box came in via the usual COAX cable (one of these days I will go to HDTV).
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Sony Bravia is how easy it is to make it do custom setups. For example:
Just about everyone with cable has a decoder box with a single channel output. And for all of these setups, having the TV go to another channel means you lose all signal, and any remote handy is set to control the wrong device to fix it. The Sony Bravia lets you lock out changing channels, so it is no big deal. Startup is instantaneous, and will be in the display mode the television was last in. This has turned out to be a great boon with little kids, since there are a lot of things they can't cause problems with if/when they get a remote and start clicking buttons.
The top has a full set of basic controls, including an easy to use input selector which intelligently displays only the inputs the system believes may have something hooked up to them. This feature has the added benefit of being out of reach for little kids, while the old Samsung sat with its front bezel at the front of the table, and its most prominent feature was a 2" diameter on/off button perfectly sited for an exploring 1 year old. The Sony Bravia also has the grace to forego any lights or sound associated with startup or shut down. Its predecessor had a glowing red LED right above that ON/ OFF switch, which was only lit when the TV was OFF, and it made an annoying trilling sound on startup and shut down. I am hard pressed to think of features which would have more strongly attractive to one thing in the house you don't want them to get too close to.
The TV remote has proved to be a weak contender as a universal remote, so you can expect to be getting another one. There are also some internal options which are instructive about what the TV is doing. The out of the box configuration is close to optimal for most people, with a nice bright image, which looks good in any light. Looking through the menus, the reason becomes apparent- the unit adjusts its brightness based on room lighting levels, so it isn't washed out in daylight or vanishing at night. Turning that feature off is possible, but generally appears to be a mistake for the same reasons. The TV has an energy saving mode, and since I, like most people, would want to be green if I can, tried it out and waited to see what it did.
As it turns out, the difference in the image isn't a little brightness as I assumed it would be, but rather the frame rate goes from its standard 60Hz to 30Hz, and this means going from a pleasing fluid motion image to one where the frames in a moving scene are visible, as moving objects clearly occupy a different patch of screen as they move.
What is going on here is for larger screens, the 30 Hz. standard video signal is being used with an interpolated frame added between the real incoming frames to make motion look smooth. For really big screens, this effect is so strong, 120Hz scans with three artificial frames added for every real image are used. So, as much as I wanted to save power, the result really looked bad, so I have left this off.
The Sony Bravia will automatically evaluate incoming signals and adjust its output accordingly. So, for example, when looking at a 16:9 DVD, the screen will show a horizontally compressed image for less than a second, and then automatically switch to the proper screen mode to give a beautiful full-screen image. Switching image sizes also has a dedicated remote button so common views are immediately available. One gripe I have which the TV has nothing to do with is the common screen sizing currently used on most channels is neither 4:3, nor is it 16:9, but is something in between where you either end up seeing a small image with a black border all the way around, clip the top and bottom, or stretch horizontally so it is distorted. It's the 21st century- you'd think these guys could figure it out since basically all TVs are 16:9, now.
The era of the tube TV really has ended when cost, quality, convenience, and usability all give another answer. That time is now. The Sony Bravia KDL-42V4100 works extremely well. It seamlessly fits in with other components, fits in smaller homes, and delivers room filling sound without attaching a stereo system. In short, there is no feeling of, "There is something missing."
Conclusion
All in all, the Sony Bravia just shines, to the point where saying, "Better" immediately begs the question, "How?" For me, larger has nothing to offer, and the limits to my image and sound are what is being put into the system. Anything much bigger starts to make image artifacts very obvious from the compression algorithms used on cable systems. Given that reality, there just isn't anything meaningful to be gained in another television. Future improvement would seem to be in using less power and getting thinner, neither of which are a major driver at this time.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 900
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Epinions.com ID:
Pirich
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 in Electronics |
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Member: Rich W.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Reviews written: 137
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
Dad, Engineer, Scientist, Astronomer, Traveler; order may vary.
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