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Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 Review
Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 HDTV
With people looking for products which give more value for their money, Sony decided to put some of their high end features into their lower-priced models. One such model is the Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 which features Sony’s trademark anti-judder technology MotionFlow, 1080p resolution, and Energy Star 3.0 compliance. With such features present, one would find it hard not to consider the Bravia KDL-40V5100 when choosing an HDTV.
Design
The Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 sports a sleek simple design, with a glossy black bezel that doesn’t outshine the screen. Sony kept it simple by placing the bare minimum LED status lights and placing only the Sony and Bravia logos in front which lets you concentrate more on the screen rather than being distracted by what’s around it. In addition, the LED status lights are not too bright to distract you from your favorite movie or TV show. Just with the other 2009 models, the basic controls (power, channel up/down, volume up/down, input, menu) are on the side of the HDTV - very handy when the HDTV is wall-mounted. The stand that comes with this HDTV unfortunately does not swivel but provides a solid foundation that won’t have you worrying whether your hard earned savings might just come tumbling down with just a slight nudge.
Screen/Picture Clarity
One of the high end features found on the Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 is the 1080p resolution. This HDTV is capable of a maximum resolution of 1920×1080, the highest resolution as of now for HD content. Though you will only be able to get the full resolution from blu-ray discs and a few HD games, this HDTV will be able to handle 1080p content HDTV broadcasts once available, saving you money for a future upgrade. High motion scenes like car chases and action sequences are not a problem with this HDTV due to Sony’s Motionflow. With a refresh rate of 120Hz, these scenes produce little or no blurriness, allowing you to enjoy the spectacular action scene in full detail. Though not part of Sony’s top-of-the-line models, the blacks on this HDTV were deep due to a contrast ratio of 50,000:1. In addition, Sony’s Bravia Engine 2 makes sure that the images appear crisp and vivid, nearly reaching the picture quality found on the higher end models.
Features
The Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 comes with the proprietary Bravia Link. With the Bravia Link, you can buy any of the Sony Bravia Link devices that can enhance non-HD content and simplify all your media connections. There is also a USB connection so that you can attach a flash disk to show off your latest photos or even play your favorite music. In terms of saving electricity, this HDTV is not only Energy Star 3.0 compliant, but it also comes with an optical sensor connected to the dynamic backlight to provide better blacks and vivid colors while reducing energy consumption.
This HDTV also boasts a total of 7 HD connections(4 HDMI, 2 Component, 1 VGA/PC connection) providing you with many options of connecting your home theater equipment, that it would be difficult to find a device that cannot be attached to this HDTV. Three of the HDMI connections, along with the VGA/PC port, S-video and composite connections, are located at the side for easy access when wall mounted.
With today’s current situation, it isn’t surprising that people would want to get the most out of their money especially when buying an HDTV. The Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 delivers an HDTV that is not only light on the budget, but also comes full of high end features. Thus, when buying a Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100, you can be assured that you are getting real value for your hard earned money.
<< Click HERE to Read The Latest Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 User Reviews >>
I bought the 40V5100 on April 2nd at Best Buy to replace my broken 42 inch Toshiba HD projection TV. The main reason I chose a Sony was for its non-glare screen. After a few days of calibrating the unit, the picture was very good and I must say that during the day, my projection TV would be washed out by the sunlight, but the Sony looked fabulous.
So I was a happy camper until I first noticed the dimming problem during movie credits. Well, I could live with that until I couldn’t see a thing when watching the Jurassic Park: Lost World scene when the T-Rex pushes the bus over the cliff. I started freaking out and began searching for dark movie scenes elsewhere. Sure enough, night scenes from Harry Potter, X-Files, CSI, or any sci-fi movie became black.
I switched the TV set-up mode from Home Environment to Retail thinking that would solve my problem. No such luck and I noticed that in the Retail Mode the TV settings would always return to “Vivid Max-Set” no matter what changes were made. I searched the internet and saw numerous complaints about this same issue.
Sony broke my heart, but the good news is that Best Buy is exchanging the set under its 30-day return policy and replacing it with the brand new Samsung LN40B630. It’s the non-glare screen version of the popular B650 model. I’m getting it in a few days and I will comment on that model after I’ve had it for a while.
This latest V series TV replaces last years W series. The picture quality, color, and viewing angle are outstanding. I am not really sure how much better Sony can improve on the quality of this unit. The reviews that rate this TV three stars are simply off the mark. This TV delivers a better picture than the competing Samsung and Toshiba models at the same price level. I have my TV plugged into an antenna and the picture quality is just amazing. The TV menu system is well designed and easy to use. I am extremely happy with my purchase.
I purchased this TV about a month ago, and after 3 weeks I noticed an issue. I started watching movies on Netflix and noticed there was a color issue. When the camera would change it would go from a vibrant image, to then fading and washed out looking. I then tried a Bluray and I noticed the same problem. From what I read online this was an issue with the TV and there was an update for it.
I called customer support and they sent me the link for the update and told me how to do it. It was easy, or so they said. I was told it ould take 4 minutes max. I watched the screen change and the update go, and then it switched to the BRAVIA screen and stayed that way. for about 30 minutes. I called them back and they walked me through reseting the TV, which didn’t work. I now have a frozen TV and a servicemen coming on Wednesday to have a look at it.
Perhaps the color issue was my HDMI cable, and not the TV. But I read this TV had issues with autocontrast until you did the update. However the update managed to screw up my TV even more.
But it does look great in my entertainment unite! So the design itself is nice, and untill i had my problem it wasnt a bad TV. Wonderful pictures and games looked great on it! Just before you buy be sure to think this over. I may just have bad luck.
I bought the TV three weeks ago from an on-line store. Price was good but the delivery was not and Fedex left the box on my porch while I was at work. It was raining that day and box got wet but the TV was surpraisingly not damaged.
The dimming issue is not fixed by Sony. I noticed the dimming issue the second day and had to download the fairmware which seems to have fixed the issue to a lrage degree. I have the ACE on Medium and it seems to work. Does anyone know if the ACE should be on off to totaly eliminate the diming issue? Also most web sites suggest the Motion Flow control to be turned off. Wouldn’t that turn the antiblur off too.
There are few other issues which I am not sure if they are related to the TV or the cable box. Sometimes TV looses video when changing channels. This has happends few times so far and once the picture went off in the middel of a movie and I had to turn the TV off and on. I contacted Sony and they said it is the Cable provider. Has any one experiances loss of picture?
Overall picture quality is not bad for the money.
This TV is simply superb. We use our lanai as a TV room and from 10ft the picture quality is stunning. By swivelling the set, we can see it from our dining table. The picture remains clear, of course but from 25ft the sound is better than we ever imagined. It remains full and clear even at reasonably high settings. So this TV ticks all the boxes for us and is highly recommended.
I’d thought this model came with a firmware update, but when I got it, I could tell it hadn’t. This probably isn’t that big a deal, but it’s worth mentioning. Otherwise, it’s a great TV, and I paid several hundred dollars less buying it through Amazon.
This is a really a great TV and a good buy. The picture quality is very good and the menu controls are very easy to use. Delivery was through Pilot shipping and I had no problem there. Pilot called to set up a delivery appointment, and they arrived within 10 minutes of when they said they would be there. They unpacked the TV, plugged it in, and made sure that it worked. Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-40V5100 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV
Plain and simple, this is a very good 40 inch flat screen television. Mine replaces a 35 inch, 10 year old Sony tube tv that actually costs me $1,200 when I bought it. The old TV still works perfectly but obviously is not a HDTV. I paid $797.00 for the new one at ABC warehouse after a little haggling. The flat screen 40″ is only 10% bigger than a traditional 35″ because of the wide screen/lower hight shape. Keep that in mind if you are seeking a major upgrade in size. The 42″ and 46″ versions are only about $200 more than the 40″ and would be well worth the small added cost. My purchase, on the other hand, was based substantially on weight. We intend to put this TV in our travel trailer for 4 months out of the year and take it with us on vacation. For some reason the current 42 and 46 inch televisions carry with them a disproportionate jump up in weight. That is, a 42 inch screen is only 5% bigger than a 40 inch, but weighs as much as 25% more. I think it might have more to do with the heaviness of the stand than the actual tv, but it is a consideration if you intend to move the tv from time to time. Bottom line, we are happy with our purchase.
I used to be a Sony salesperson many moons ago, and I’ve long had a preference for the brand. They last forever, and usually have the latest technology wrapped up. Unfortunately, Sony consistently commands a higher price, and I’ve done a lot of experimenting with others, usually with good results.
I wasn’t even shopping for a TV when I found a reference to the special deal I got on a Black Friday website (4 days before black friday). I got this set, plus the BDP-460N Blu-Ray with Netflix, for $753.00 delivered. Don’t ask me how. It wasn’t advertised, but I got lucky and found a brief reference to it. A few clicks later, and I’m loving it.
Here’s the good. I bought all Sony (including a Surround setup from Wal-Mart), and it all hooked up easy. Firmware downloads were automatic (another good reason for having the net-enabled devices). Initial set-up was a breeze, as the TV knew about the other components as soon as I powered up. Fantastic picture, stunning interface, Sony class all the way.
The set hasn’t been off since we set it up yesterday. If we aren’t watching, we are listening to internet radio (also through the Blu-Ray). BTW, the Netflix streaming now works flawlessly. But does Amazon really think I’m going to pay $1.99 to watch Cops re-runs?
Here’s the bad: I spend $1000k plus buying Sony all the way. The only thing I couldn’t buy as a Sony Brand was my satellite receiver. I was amazed to realize that none of the supplied remotes with the Sony product was a “universal” remote. The Bravia interface makes it easy to get by on just one of the included remotes (3 of them), but I can’t change the #$#@% channels on the satellite without picking up a separate remote. So I’ve just finished programming a Logitech Harmony 880 to do it all in one place. This is really a pitiful oversight, as I can buy a remote for $10 that will do most of what I want, but I paid for premium function. Now on the Logitech, I will be giving up much of the advantage I gained by buying Sony exclusive.
But I am thrilled. Great stuff Sony, but come up with a remote that can handle cable boxes and satellite, and you’ll find that you can sell a lot more package deals.
Installer did not set my 1080HD but had left it at the 460.
The picture was so clear at 460. Sound seldom does not come
in, so turn off the tube and turn it back on again. This has
worked so far.
I bought my set(Bravia KDL 40 VL160 )yesterday and set it up this morning. At first, I was ready to send it back because the picture was dim and if I tried to set brightness higher it grew misty and lost detail while remaining dark. I called Sony, their only suggestion was to take it back. Today was a rainy day here but after a few hours the sun started to come out and at the same time the picture improved as it got lighter ouyside. Even though it is not in the detail of features, I realised the set must have a light sensing dimmer feature. Sure enough, I found it buried in the manual which gives little space to it except for a mention that it is in the setup menu and can be turned off, which I immediately did. The picture now is beautiful, and, thank you, I’m happy to control the picture to my liking as aopposed to some silly, unimportant feature that even Sony’s own technicians know nothing about.
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Got this HDTV within a bundle with a Sony blu-ray for Thanksgiving. Can’t mention the price but is was a such a great deal! The picture quality of this TV is just amazing.
I was worried about the negative comments on the contrast but it seems this issue was already corrected.
Amazon delivery service was perfect.
On standard tv signal (480i) I spected a better quality, for HD signal the quality improves a lot.
I initially started off with the LG 42″ and was not impressed with the picture but with this and only losing 2 inches I was very impressed withthe picture quality…here are some of my thoughts:
After playing around with the settings, watching TV, doing some gaming and running some blu rays and standard DVDs thru it here is what I observed.
*for obvious reasons, the PS3 does a better job showing standard DVDs. Upscaling thru a PS3 makes older DVDs look a whole lot better (and worse) which may give rise over the whole double dipping argument.
*Speaking of which, I ran a few standard DVD movies thru just to get an idea of how they would look and if I would consider getting the blu ray and here is what I saw:
Star Trek II and III Collector’s edition - @ 120hz it does not age well at all. Between these 2 and Undiscovered Country, they were my faves and the only ones I would consider getting on blu ray, but the upscaling makes it look a lot grainier and “fake”.
Sky Captain, 300 and Minority Report - because of the way they were filmed, (the graininess and sepia tones that were used) the visuals are a mixed bag. Would rather watch them at standard def. in 60hz than at 120hz
Saving Private Ryan - does really well upscaled to 120hz. I would be curious to see how this looks in Blu ray.
Predator II - another movie that didn’t fare well in upscaling @120hz
Star Wars ESB and RotJ - Looked surprisingly well for upscaling @120hz. Many smaller details I never saw really stood out. I will test the newer ones later.
Lord of the Rings - @120hz, I can wait for the extended edition of the blu ray to come out.
The Godfather - @120hz it looked great also.
The Incredibles - looked incredible @120hz
* Popped in a few HD-DVDs (yes I still have mine attached to my 360) and they benefitted from the 120hz upscale. No surprises there.
* Gaming-wise the resolution is somewhat better. Dragon’s Age on the 360 looks sharper and crisper now. MW2 does also but the motionblur could be better.
Assassin’s Creed on the PS3 really stands out and actually has me considering switching some of my cross platform titles coming out from the 360 to the PS3.
* TV wise - one thing I did learn is that I cant turn my FIOS box all the way up to 1080i. The TV and box won’t register. It goes as far as 720p and then the TV supposedly upscales the pic to 1080p (not sure if that is 100% true). With all the settings on, the picture quality is only as good as the channel and show has been filmed. Depending if you may consider how irritating everything is being handled at 120hz with all the settings on, you could wind up turing some of the most important features off while watching regular TV. Even some of the Hi Def stations had some issues.
I bought this TV for my living room. This is my fourth Sony TV. I thought it would be great. I have it hooked up with a comcast cable box via HDMI. Every time I went from an SD channel to an HD channel or HD channel ot SD channel my screen went “BLACK”, but I still had sound. I had to go back to an SD or HD channel and then it would allow me to change channels. This is crap. I upgraded the firmware, changed the cable box and hdmi cable. It still did the same thing. At times it also shows split screen as well. I am sending it back. I am giving Sony another chance. I recently purchased the W5100 series and could not be more thrilled. Stay away from the V series it is junk!
This TV has pretty decent sound and picture, but is plagued by a few issues which could likely be resolved with a simple firmware update (if sony ever provides it)
I am talking about the “red flash” issue. This is actually an issue involving automatic jumping up and down of color temperature during normal operation of the set, but has garnered the name “red flashing” since it can become very noticeable during scenes with lots of red in the background as you can plainly see the colors getting brighter and dimmer at random times during the scene. Scenes with deep blue backgrounds (The Daily Show) can exhibit some pretty severe blue flashing at times too.
The sound pops and crackles a bit when you change channels on this TV, and there is a little barely audible fuzz and static on the built-in speakers. The sound on certain HDMI connected devices may not work if you turn them on before turning the TV on. I think these issues also boil down to the firmware.
The inputs on this TV are awesome, and the experience is otherwise great, and the price is very affordable.
If the above mentioned issues can be addressed by firmware (if only the red flash, since I find it most annoying) I will gladly upgrade my rating to 5 stars.
I purchased this TV on a Sunday, was very impressed with the good price and the excellent reviews it had received, for the most part. The TV arrived by a box truck shipper on Wed at 7:30 AM, having been shipped from around 60 miles away. I had to run after the driver for his invoice, and he could only deliver it to the door without an “additional charge”, but I was very happy with the speed of the delivery, carried it up the stairs, and happily set it up, expecting an upgrade from the 32″ 720P Bravia I have watched for a couple of years, which is excellent and I have no gripes about, and was a big factor in “going SONY” with this one.
Unfortunately, the picture quality is poor, and I am going to send it back to SONY at their expense and they will replace it under the manufacturer’s warranty within 5- 7 days of faxing them the receipt, which I did today. The problems with the TV are blurriness of numbers and images…the Olympics for example, were of a much better quality on the 2 yr old 32″ ,720P Bravia than on this one. It is not extreme defect, but it is not “excellent HD” and the quality in important ways is similar to an old style television. I replaced the cable box, tried a new HDMI cord, and ran a newer DVD through it that should have had an excellent picture. Nothing was better. The words “stunning, and “amazing” that I’ve read in the reviews here certainly don’t apply. There is also too much black in the picture, the black colors predominate. Hopefully this is a defective product and these will not be problems with the new one they send…if so, then I can’t understand the other reviews here and I probably have forgone the “return” option (which would cost about 25% of the cost considering the restocking fee and shipping).
I must say the customer/tech support with SONY has been excellent so far, and I hope after the replacement arrives, I can write another review saying “the picture is stunning”. If anyone has comments or suggestions I’d love to hear them.
This TV made for an awesome Christmas present, especially since I got an amazing Black Friday price on it. This is our first flat screen, and we have been very impressed with the picture quality, ease of use, and look of it hung up on our family room wall. We were a little surprised to find how much more we have to turn it up in order to hear well, but it’s not any kind of dealbreaker. Overall, super pleased. Highly recommended.
I have a 52″ W model in the living room and bought a 40V5100 model for the bedroom. The W model is definitely worth the extra money when you look to get a it all.
The pros:
The 40V5100 overall just fine for my bedroom.
Picture quality is fine.
Tuner works great and picks up everything.
Menu is easy to navigate.
Enough inputs.
The cons:
The sound is has a lot of static noise at lower volumes, it’s very annoying.
The stations don’t change as fast as on the W model.
You can not edit the names of the stations.
Doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a higher end TV.
I have had this TV for about 5 weeks and it was easy to set up and the color after some minor adjustments is great. I have owned several Sony TV’s and they have all been great. This one rates a 5 star rating also.
I just recently purchase this television and was wondering if anyone has the same problems with the volume? I have a ps3 and am using the HDMI cbl. I was watching a movie and noticed that the volume would go up and low and back up in some scences for the entire movie.
It is impresive as soon as you plugin and watch TV on it, it is outstanding, since the picture quality is not compared to my 720p former Sharp LCD screen… I have PS3 and a Sony HT, and they interact really good, as well as the remote controls, they TV’s work with the PS3.
The games with the Motion Flow, as well as Bluray movies are out of this world, the movies look so good that it seems that you are watching through a window than a TV screen. It looks so good that you can see special effects flaws and details not seen on my other TV.
The PS3 resolution changed like 200% better with the sony, and the motion flow helps a lot when changing scenes on a fast action game.
I updated the firmware connecting it to my router at home, it was simple, and the internet features as the gadgets, YOUTUBE, are ratter awesome, it is a huge leap on tv functionalities not present on the past.
I have windows 7 on my computer and I have no problem on viewing my pictures from my tv! as well as listening to the music and watching video files as well!
I did alter some of the custom settings on the screen and the image is nothing compared as any other TV screens on the market.
In the past, I have always had good luck with Sony TV’s, and during the 1990’s I had a Sony 32″ Trinitron that provided a picture and sound that was superb in every respect, the state of the art for the time. It was with some disappointment, therefore, that I found that the TV industry’s venture into the Brave New World of HD has saddled an entire generation of TV viewers with substandard sets that are in many respects far worse than the non-HD sets they have replaced. The Sony Bravia series is, unfortunately, no exception to this rule.
The Sony Bravia KDL-40V5100 is best when viewing live sports events. If you like to watch golf, basketball and football, and little else, this is the TV for you. Unfortunately, the Bravia does not do as well in other situations. Here are some of the flaws I have noticed:
(1) Picture problems. The only settings that produce an acceptable picture are in the Vivid range. Turning off the automatic contrast enhancer helps, but the picture quality in most cases is still unacceptable. At its best, the picture is sharp and crisp, giving great definition, but even on many HD channels there is considerable degradation of picture quality, with feathering and blurring quite noticeable.
The less said about non-HD channels the better. The picture performance in non-HD is abysmal, with dark scenes turning black and light scenes whiting out.
Similarly, no matter what the player, non-HD DVDs upconvert poorly. Using an ordinary non-HD TV to play DVDs is a far better choice, and an important one if, like me, you have a large collection of these now obsolete items.
Moreover, for anyone who has a multi-system non-HD TV set (i.e., one that can play PAL and SECAM in addition to the inferior NTSC format used in the USA), the picture quality for DVDs is so much better than on the Sony Bravia that there is really no comparison.
In addition, of course, the Sony Bravia series has significant fading problems when viewed from the side, and it is grossly inferior in this respect to Plasma and normal non-HD TV sets.
(2) Screen. The high gloss screen and plastic borders are totally unsuited to TV viewing. A Matte screen and non-glare borders would provide far more comfortable viewing in all but a darkened theater situation. Any light source reflects off the screen, and is worse than for a regular non-HD TV. In this respect, Plasma TVs are vastly superior.
(3) Sound. The sound is OK most of the time, but there are periodic and inexplicable dropouts, as well as hissing and popping, problems that are not helped by changing the connections to HDMI. There is something fundamentally wrong with the sound system on the Sony 40V5100, and Sony better fix it fast if they don’t want a class-action lawsuit. Sound levels also vary markedly from channel to channel for reasons that are not immediately apparent.
(4) Controls. The remote control is awkward to operate, with switching from TV to DVD to PC taking up to 15 seconds. Similarly, it takes about 15 seconds for the TV to turn on, once you have pressed the “on” button for a sufficiently long time to persuade the little green “power on” light to finally put in an appearance. When changing channels, the lengthy handshake procedure results in a two-second delay from HD to HD, and five seconds from HD to non-HD, and often a green screen before the next channel displays. Once again, why am I supposed to view this as an improvement over a regular non-HD TV, where channel changing is virtually instantaneous?
In sum, the Sony Bravia series is a big disappointment. Its one indisputable advantage is that, in comparison to Plasmas and non-HD TVs, it is very light, so when the time comes to throw it away, it won’t present a heavy lifting problem. I still have a couple of serviceable Sony WEGA non-HD TV’s. They aren’t as good as the old Trinitrons from the 1990’s, but at least they are tolerable. I’m going to see how long I can keep them going. The Sony Bravia is going too, right out the door.
I have a request for anyone reading this review: please let me know when someone finally produces a decent HDTV. As far as I can tell, no one has accomplished this feat quite yet.
I purchased this tv for 825.00$ on display and I cannot find a single flaw with this tv after I received the firmware update through Sony.
For an LCD television, the blacks are incredible and blu-rays looked unbelievable!
I use my PS3 for games as well and with the GameMode On, there is no lag when playing games.
You always pay a little more for Sony products but it is well worth it! I compared this television to many other models like Toshiba, Samsung and Panasonic and I found the Sony to be the best out there.
I bought the Sony KDL40V5100 last Feb 2010. I found the picture quality good on HD channels, but not good all the time on commercials and other programming
picture really is crappy. I called Sony and the said they had an upgrade, so
after I installed the upgrade it was still the same. I just turn my head now
and dont watch the commercials. Also Standard definition is also crappy,
and if anything much more than a still picture, for example if someone turns
their head it looks like their hair and scalp are moving at a different rate.Really
strange. I should have returned this tv, but now I will just wait till it craps out.
Also changing channels the sound pops a lot and the video goes blank
when going from HD to standard def or visa versa. Overall I do not
reccomend this tv.