Sony has been in the forefront of the LCD revolution, with the Bravia line being its main weapon. In recent years, the leading advantage of the company had been eclipsed by other manufacturers, though its LCD TVs remain strong contenders in the race for best HDTVs. One such product, the KDL-46Z4100/B certainly is an excellent LCD in many aspects.
Design
The KDL-46Z4100/B sports a thinner glossy black frame around the screen that makes the screen area seems bigger, a narrow see-through window at the bottom and a more compact chassis. The sleeker look
Sony Bravia KDL-46Z4100/B
along with the stylish but non-swivelling glossy black stand makes this LCD one of the best designed LCDs from Sony. This TV is also available in brushed metal finish (KDL-46Z4100/S).
The blue backlit remote of the KDL-46Z4100/B is different from the other Bravia TVs: it is of the universal type that is a bit bigger and has more buttons which are mostly for external equipment attached to the HDTV. The buttons that are actually for the TV are not logically arranged, with the many buttons around the main cursor control interfering with key-presses. Moreover, the Cross Media Bar (XMB) menu system isn’t too intuitive, and the horizontal and vertical arrangements of the menu items really could stand some improvements.
Screen/picture clarity
Powered by the Sony’s proprietary technologies, the KDL-46Z4100/B excels in video processing and colour accuracy, rendering almost perfect primary and secondary colors, along with greyscale. However, the black levels delivered by KDL-46Z4100/B leaves much to be desired – it is less impressive than other Sony TVs and fluctuates from total darkness to bright displays abruptly. Those factors make this HDTV less than superb in our view.
Sony’s Motionflow 120hz. dejudder makes fast motions smooth and left fewer artefacts than other TVs. The KDL-46Z4100/B also delivers uniform brightness across the screen, and performs better than competing brands in bright light conditions. It also has no problem resolving high-def and standard-def sources, with Sony’s technologically-advanced noise reduction system helping in cleaning out noise from low definition sources.
Features
Being on the high end of the Sony’s line, the full 1080p HD resolution KDL-46Z4100/B is packed with features: four independently-adjustable picture and three color temperature presets; four aspect ratio modes for HD sources; and an excellent surround audio. This LCD has an Ethernet port; onscreen electronic programming guide (EPG); USB and PC ports; four HDMI ports and a suite of connectivity inputs/outputs. The second window in the picture-in-picture mode, though, accepts only TV/antenna input and is thus limited.
This Sony flagship HDTV would have been a great all-around performer were it not for its inconceivably lacklustre showing in the black level aspect. Still, it isn’t a bad deal, considering the full-array of features packed into this LCD, along with its handsome and fresh styling.
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