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Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-52VE5 review
Sony BRAVIA KDL-52VE5
Nowadays, HDTV companies compete with each other not just in the terms of the image quality of their models, but also their energy efficiency. After all, ‘going green’ is a popular trend, and the Sony KDL-52VE5 is the perfect offering for HDTV shoppers who want to do just that.
Design
Clearly, the Sony KDL-52VE5 isn’t one of the most stylish HDTVs around, especially coming from Sony. Its frame, which is relatively thick, sports a glossy black hue with hardly any interruptions and a subtle reflective silver strip at the bottom right above its suspended silver speaker bar. Its matching, non-swiveling square stand is quite thick, too, guaranteeing a sturdy pedestal for your living room centerpiece.
Its remote, however, is a different story. Although smaller than those of other models - or perhaps because of this fact - it is more attractive and user-friendly, with a central cursor control that’s difficult to miss. The on-screen menu is also simple, foregoing the cross media bar format of the PS3 and other Bravia models, with the main menu remaining visible at all times and helpful one-line descriptions accompanying each function.
Screen/Picture Clarity
The black level performance of the KDL-52VE5 is quite impressive, at par with that of the more expensive KDL-52XBR9, making the details look sharper and the entire picture burst into life, diminishing the effects of its less than accurate and not too saturated colors.
Its 120Hz refresh rate takes care of any motion artifacts, together with its dejudder motion processing, which has to be engaged to get the full benefits of its antiblur mechanism. It also didn’t have any problems processing all types of sources, particularly handling 1080p sources brilliantly.
Features
One thing you’ll notice significantly amiss on the KDL-52VE5 are interactive features like those offered on a handful of other Bravia models. What you’ll find, though, are extensive picture controls, such as three adjustable picture modes and full white balance controls, and solid connectivity options, starting with four HDMI inputs, a PC input and a USB port for easy photo sharing.
The most distinctive feature of the Sony KDL-52VE5, though, is its motion sensor which monitors your presence for a period of time, and automatically turns off, after displaying a warning message, if it doesn’t sense any. This allows it to cut down energy consumption to half and eventually - if you don’t reactivate the screen in thirty minutes - to zero. Other energy-saving features include a light sensor that adjusts screen brightness according to ambient lighting and an energy saving switch that turns the set off completely, instead of keeping it in standby mode.
Indeed, its eco-friendly features are what sets the Sony KDL-52VE5 apart, and perhaps above, the rest of the HDTVs in the market. True, it may be a bit expensive, but just think of all the money you’ll get to save for years to come on your electric bill, not to mention the help you’ll be doling out to Mother Earth.
<< Click HERE to Read The Latest Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-52VE5 User Reviews >>
I bought this after a 32″ Samsung stopped working with certain HDMI sources. I still love Samsung, but after that one mysteriously stopped working I decided I’d try something new. And I’m glad I did. The 52″ size is really perfect for my room. It’s definitely a large set, but not so large that images feel overly stretched across its surface.
Initially I was very disappointed with the image quality. The issue is that when the light sensor is turned on, the backlight slider can be set to full power, but you’re only experiencing a fraction of this set’s incredible brightness. Although the brightness sensor seems like a great feature, I found that overall it was too aggressive in reducing brightness, so I have to recommend that it be turned off. Ironically, it works better in well-lit rooms than dark. Once you have full control over the backlighting, this set really shines. The contrast is excellent (my camera has a contrast ratio of 2000:1, and it couldn’t capture this TV’s image fully). So I can believe that it has the 5000:1 on-screen contrast that Sony claims.
Personally, I don’t like my image tampered with. The low setting of motionflow is okay, but the high setting is really comical and only good if you crave that look of sped up footage. The contrast enhancer I also don’t find necessary, since the image has great contrast natively. However, I do like that you can create multiple image settings for each input. For example, I can quickly toggle between a game setting and a movie setting when using my PS3.
Sound quality is fair. Nothing to write home about. I certainly don’t use TV speakers with an image this good, and don’t recommend anyone else does either.
The energy saving features and setup of this set are really excellent. My surge protector monitors current, and this tv usually uses only 0.4 amps (~50 watts). It’s mainly dependent on the backlight brightness, but even so, this is one very efficient product. I was worried that the unique backlight would tinge the color, but as far as I can tell, it’s spot-on. The motion sensing really does work. I leave it set to 30 minutes and it hasn’t shut off on me yet, which is good. Sony doesn’t mention this much on their website, but it’s also heat-sensing, which could explain it’s sensitivity. I sit 13 feet away, and it detects my motion with little difficulty.
The worst part about the TV is either the remote, or the fact that the inputs are on the side. If you end up swapping inputs a lot, I suppose it’s nice, but otherwise I feel it’s a poor design decision. Depending on the heft of your wires, and your seating angle, you could be looking at HDMI cables out the side of your otherwise beautiful tv set. The remote is very basic. Compared to the older V-series Bravias, this TV actually has the less fancy interface (the XMB went hand in hand with a nicer remote for the 4100 series). That said, I don’t feel affected by either. If the decision to drop a pointlessly shiny interface and fancier remote keeps the price down, I’m all for it. I use a Fios or universal remote almost exclusively, so I don’t miss it. And since I don’t use the TV to tune my programming, the XMB would be a waste. That said, this interface is fine, very logical and doesn’t hide settings too deep (except motion flow). No frills, but won’t disappoint either.
I wish Sony had included a little more detail in their manual, but I doubt most people even read those anymore, so I’m just nit picking. The stand is pretty good, although Sony recommends you anchor down the TV to the wall, which might be a good idea. Shame the stand doesn’t swivel, as I have two common sitting positions in my room. Oh well. The important thing is that the image quality on this TV is superb, there are no oversights that ruin the usability or connectivity of the TV, it’s very energy efficient, and it looks good even when off. I fully recommend this TV if you like the V-series, and are interested in saving some energy.
Having been burned on many appliances using way too much power (and I pay as much as $0.40 a kWh thanks to Enron screwing California’s “grandmas”), I was attracted to the power saving features on this TV. But the small number of reviews made me wonder if I was missing something, even though all but one were 5 stars. Having had the set for a week, I can now rest easy. The picture is great, the power is what they claim (except as noted below), the sound is good (we didn’t want a home theater system) and, in general I am very pleased with my purchase.
Pros:
1. The picture is stunning. I couldn’t compare side-by-side with other TV’s, but I am totally pleased.
2. The power consumption is as advertised. I have a power meter and check out all new appliances — and have had some real surprises in the past, including with another Sony TV, but that’s another story. (See my review under Sony’s KDL-37XBR6 for that saga.) During the day, this 52″ tv uses 140 watts in Standard mode, 100 watts in Cinema mode, and 150 watts in Vivid mode. I like Standard best during the day. At night, with the Light Sensor enabled (the default), the power drops to about 75 watts in Standard mode, but the picture is way too dim for my taste, so I’ve had to turn off the Light Sensor. Instead, I either use Standard mode all the time, or move to Cinema mode at night (which is fine, but a bit of a pain to change — I wish Light Sensor was not so aggressive or there were a user setting to adjust it from 0 to 100%). This compares to 200 watts for my 37″ Sony purchased a year ago, so this set is really doing much better.
3. The sound is fine for us. Since we’re not into home theater, you can tell we’re not into ground shaking bass. But the sound from the TV’s internal speakers meet our tastes fine. No tinniness or other problems mentioned on some other sets.
4. Standby power really is low. My power meter measures 0 to 0.2 watts, not that it’s very accurate at that level. I have not yet hooked up an antenna or cable connection, where the problem mentioned in #1 above with the electronic program guide might enter. When I do, though, now I’ll know to look for the problem and how to fix it if it occurs — or bug Sony until they tell me how to. (The two sets might have different procedures for turning off the useless guide that was costing me several dollars a month in electricity — on the other Sony, not this one.)
Cons:
1. As noted above, the Light Sensor is almost useless. Way too aggressive. And, the user manual was almost no help in finding how to turn it off. It’s in Setup/Eco, and to get to Setup you have to go to Picture Adjustments or another Setup category. I didn’t see Setup as an option itself.
2. The motion sensor is useless. It only works to 9.5′ which is not far enough for a 52″ TV. Probably more useful on the smaller models. The unit ships with motion sensor off as the default, a sign that Sony recognizes (but did not fix) the problem.
Caveats:
1. We drive the set only with a TiVo box, a PS3 (blu-ray!) and other external signals. I have not yet tested the internal tuner, so the slow tuning problem mentioned by the single 1 star review is not something I’d see. I also wonder if that’s a problem with digital tuners in general or this set is uniquely slow.
2. I was unable to determine the expected life span of the hot cathode fluorescent light, or how much a replacement might cost.
3. I was unable to compare power consumption with the new (more expensive) LED backlit sets. It’s hard to find power consumption ratings, much less under real use. The LED sets are also a lot more expensive to buy.
In spite of the small drawbacks, this set is so much better than others I’ve seen (at least when my concern for power consumption, both from an economic and environmental point of view is factored in) that it clearly rates five stars.
I have always had Sony tv’s in my house. My last 27″ lasted 21 years. The new one is remakable. It has all the bells and whistles you could ask for and is energy conservative as well. Once set up it is easy to use it to show displays of your Blu-ray DVD player with very little fuss. When a network is broadcasting in HD the picture looks as real as live. It has plenty of inputs to hook up into it,from computers to ipods. This is a must see to get item. Best anniversary gift I ever got.
I just bought a Sony Bravia VE5 52 inch LCD TV last week, and I must say I am greatly disapointed by the product.
Yes, the picture quality is great but there is this delay of 2-5 seconds every time I change a channel. When I try to change the channel the screen goes blank for 2-5 secs before the next channel comes on. I called Sony customer service and they said that this delay is normal both with basic cable or with a HD receiver box connected to the TV and said I have to live with it. I am astounded as to how in this day and age with all this advancement in technology and Sony says it is normal to experience a delay while flipping channels. If I have 100-200 channels and if I want to browse/checkout few of them I must spend a heck of a lot of time in changing channels and waiting patiently for the channel to show up on my expensive 120Hz LCD TV. It’s like spending approx $2000 on an advanced computer and saying it’s ok if it’s slow to turn on and it;s ok if it has a delay every time I go on the internet even if I have a high speed connection….would you live with that?. Also, the remote is poorly designed. The buttons that are most frequently used such as vol, channel up-down etc are placed in difficult to use positions. I mean you cannot easly hold the remote and glide you thumb to go to these buttons. Besides, the remote is roughly 12 inches long and after holding it for a while you can feel it uncomfortable. Below is my sincere recommendation:
1. Try to avoid buying a Sony….
2. If you really want to buy a Sony then make sure you’ve checked it out in a store or somewhere first thouroughly
I wish someone had warned me so I could have avoided this disapointment…but I guess you at least can.
FYI…I’ve always been a Sony fan…all my other electronics …video and digital cameras etc… are sony.
After doing what seemed to be more research than I put into my master’s thesis, I came up with a short list of LCDs. Finally I compared this tv in store against the vizio 55in ‘led’, a panasonic plasma, a Sharp and another Sony. All were in comparable price/feature range. Doing a little tweaking in the store I got a good picture easily with the KDL52 VE5 and I liked the energy saving features (HCFL, sensors, ability to completely turn off power). After getting the unit home, a couple of days worth of tweaking provided a really nice picture. The contrast is good. No or very little motion blur. I have not seen any of dark scene blue tint reported in CNET’s review. I have a nice Panasonic DVD burner with HDMI and upscaling and my DVDs look great. We play Wii and everyone loves the graphics. We watch tv through a digital cable box with HDMI, and even non-digital channels look good. My wife even watches a pay channel from Russia and even with its conversion from Russian Pal/Seacam (whatever their color standard is now) and being standard definition it looks good.
Yes the sound is not great but we have a relatively small LR and it is fine. I use the TrueSurround setting and it is more than satisfactory. When I want bigger sound (certain DVDs or Concerts) I use our stereo system sound.
So now after having the tv for a few weeks I have absolutely no buyers remorse and I would readily recommend the unit to others.
I don’t know that I can add anything to the review from a tech point of view but felt I should least mention my pleasure with the purchase. I had my choice narrowed down to three LCD’s but when I found I could get $1,100 off in various discounts I bought the Sony the week before Thanksgiving. It took a couple of days to learn just what to change or shut off to give me what I feel is a fantastic high def picture. As mentioned in other reviews I did shut off the light sensor and when set on Vivid mode it gives that bright picture that you see the LCD’s set on in stores. It’s almost a little to bright for me but my wife likes that setting. I also shut off the presence sensor. I did download the firmware update and loaded it in but I don’t know how necessary it was, I wasn’t experiencing any problems.
I should probably mention that I wanted this strictly for watching TV and movies. I have no desire to connect a computer to it or watch streaming videos. I did make sure that it had the additional inputs for various devices I might need to connect: composite, component, S-video..ect.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the picture that I get on the hd channels. I read in one review that they were also pleased with the quality of non high def channels. I don’t really care for the picture I get on the non hd channels. I use Comcast for my cable. I don’t know what their source is. I have this set connected to my surround system and everything is working fine and sounds like I’m in a theater when watching TV. I had to do a bit of tweaking when I connected my Blu Ray player to everything but that has nothing to do with this. The only problem is I’m a bit spoiled now and usually don’t watch the TV without the sound system. When I don’t have the sound system on I have the TV speakers set to TruSurround and it sounds fine.
My only complaint would be the little operating instruction booklet that comes with the set. It is as basic as you get it! Two weeks ago I bought a $259. 22″ LCD and got a booklet 5 times as thick. You will need to go the Sony site for any in depth detail or understanding of what some function does. You will learn more about adjusting your picture from reading the reviews here than from your booklet.
To wrap it up, I have had this LCD for over two months now and I couldn’t be happier with the picture and the “price” I paid for it. This LCD truly shows what HD TV is. Sometimes I just stand a few feet away taking in all the details that I never saw before getting this TV.
I have to preface this review with the fact that in September of 2008 I purchased a Toshiba 52RV530U flat panel TV online for $1500.00 and the minute I fired it up after unpacking it I noticed some black dots on the screen (which I later found out are called ‘dead pixels’). Well the problem was not corrected until TWO MONTHS later after TWO panel replacements! (that is after Toshiba referred me to one of their local authorized repair shops). Needless to say I was not happy about this dead pixel problem for such an expensive TV (subsequently I found that this is not an uncommon problem for many other brand name LCD flat panel HDTVs).
Anyway forward fast to February 2010 when my Toshiba (just over a year old and of course just past it’s one year warranty) started developing vertical colored lines on the right half of the screen! Well after all the trouble I went through with this Toshiba TV I chose not to even spend a further dime on it since it was out of warranty anyway. So on March 1st 2010 I found this Sony KDL-52VE5 on Amazon for $1294.97 and I couldn’t be happier (I’m not sure why they’ve gone up in price over the past week since they’re being discontinued).
First off….NO DEAD PIXELS! I have to say, that was the issue I was worried most about having to deal with after my first experience with the inferior Toshiba product…….Sony really pulls through with this top quality HDTV. Better picture (outstanding picture quality when you switch it to ‘vivid’ mode, that’s honestly about all you’ll need to right out of the box), better color (very accurate as well), comprehensive & economical features (I love the fact it turns off by itself and fires back up when I re-enter the room) and I even gave it 5 stars for sound as the sound bar is clearly superior to the Toshiba I had grown accustom to the past year–and yes I do have it hooked up to a surround sound system with a sub but I find out of laziness I use the TVs sound bar more often than not and it’s quite adequate. The main thing you’ll be missing from the TVs indigenous sound is the bass response, but Sony’s sound bar is great otherwise.
Oh and of course I purchased the 3 year warranty from SquareTrade for $149.99 this time around just to be safe….all in all it still cost me less than my faulty Toshiba……So in closing, if you’re thinking about purchasing an HDTV, let your mind rest at ease and just go with Sony….after all the price & tech spec. comparisons I made before my initial purchase of an HDTV (which turned out to be a nightmare of an experience after settling with a lesser brand), I WISH I would have just followed my first instincts and went with the Sony right out of the gate…..even though it was more expensive at the time. Peace of mind is worth SO MUCH more than the difference in price you might save with an inferior brand.
1ST THE only bad review about this tv on here is from some moron that doesn’t understand the tv has nothing what-so-ever to do with changing channels on a cable or sat box., also if u have hd it has like 4 times more info so channels do take 1 second longer to change but thats why u use a guide to flip channels and only pick the 1 u want to go to., either way he left a horrible review about this tv because he doesn’t like his tv provider i guess if his power company turns off power he’ll blame sony because tv won’t come on!! people that stupid shouldn’t be allowed to have enough $ to buy a tv like this anyway!!! THIS tv sells at sears for $1899+shipping and tax thats like $2200 i got it for $1374 free shipping(from ca to nc)no tax!!! i had a sony rear projection tv for 3 yrs and it’s actually got a good picture but it’s not bright at all (hard to watch in daylight) i rented a sony v5100 lcd(to test it) and its a nice tv, almost the same as this one but this one has twice the contrast and uses less power.. the energy save feature hasn’t turned the monitor off yet cause we move alot but just in case i get a phone call or go outside for longer than expected i know the tv will get a break and save power.. it also has auto dimming feature when room gets darker tv dims slightly so it doesn’t blind u and saves power, this tv only uses sbout 185watts, 100-200 less than most 52″. my friend has a samsung LED tv and wow i mean wow picture is damn good no doubt but he paid $2400 thats $1,000 more i don’t think picture is that much better.. this tv has awesome picture, very good speakers (much better than i expected)menus and remote are easy also it controls my other sony stuff.. the stand was already on tv so all i did was pick up the tv, sit it on stand, plug it in hook up hdmi cables done., took 5 mins.. buy this tv now!!!
I bought this Tv after doing some research and talking to friends in the know. I was originally looking at newer technology LED sets but didnt think the extra cost was worth it after comparing LCD vs. LED sets. I bought this through Amazon for what i think was a great value at $1299 w/ free shipping and no tax. I was originally going to purchase a surround system to go with it but after listening to the built in dynamic tru surround sound…i now feel that it would be a waste! The tru surround sounds just great for me even though i had read some reviews complaining about the sound. I am gonna invest in a dvr recorder instead of a sound system. The picture on this set is awesome and i am now hooked on HD as well! The fact that this tv is eco-friendly and efficient is a plus (Not that i care what Al Gore says…) and the built in motion/presence detector is great if ya have teenagers in the house. Buy this set…you will LOVE it!
I had been actively seeking this HDTV, but was resigned to finding it out of stock (it has been discontinued for 2010) or for full pop pricing, which I wanted to avoid. However, a link to the product on Amazon through my Yahoo shopping page brought me to the set I wanted, at a price that was incredible–with free shipping! WOW! The fulfilling company (Video & Audio Ctr. in Los Angeles) was very easy to work with, and delivered and set up the product for me on time and accommodating my schedule. Very impressive.
The HDTV itself was all I wanted, and more! Set-up is easy, there are plenty of inputs for all my TV toys, and it looks incredible! My only complaint/caution to those buying this model: the base is not really sturdy enough to support a big, top-heavy 52″ HDTV. I recommend using a wall mount if you can. Otherwise, be sure to secure the TV to a wall or your stand, just in case (I am in earthquake-land, so toppling over is a concern.)
In addition to the superb picture quality, is the fact that this HDTV only uses as much power as a 40w light bulb, and has all sorts of features to help reduce power-consumption. I highly recommend this product.
My experience with the SONY VE5 has been a total disaster. The model I had is the 46VE5.
Bought the 46in version in October 09, and the HDMI inputs stopped working this January, 3 month into service. None of the 4 inputs worked. After doing my own trouble shooting, talking to SONY online, taking my playstation and HDMI cable to the SONY store to be checked up, I was finally convinced it’s the TV.
The service center ordered the main board for me on 2/10/10, back ordered until 3/10/10. No show after 3/10, and was told new ETA for parts is 4/27. Called SONY, and they called me back in a week. Told me new parts arrived that day. contacted my service center, no they didn’t receive parts. Called SONY again, they couldn’t figure out why I didn’t get parts. Called me back in a week, and told me new parts arrived again. I waited for a few days, and contacted my service center, no they didn’t receive any. Called SONY again, no clue as usual. After several times of 45minutes on the phone, SONY said they will replace my set swith a refurbished set. Another week as gone by, still no one contacted me about the delivery of the set yet.
So I had the TV for half a year and it worked for the first 3 months. I am absolutely disappointed at SONY. Don’t think I will ever buy a SONY again, at least nothing other than playstation games.
I purchased the KDL-52VE5 Dec. 2009, however has had problems with intermittent sound from day 1. Called tech support and still to no avail problem still exist. Had sound board replaced and was sent updated sound program and was reassured that would correct the problem, despite all of that problem still happening. Of course they are blaming my cable provider, but had that checked out and no problem with the cable. After 6 months TV still having the same problem. I am VERY, VERY disappointed, with what “supposed to be” a reputable product. I WILL NEVER PURCHASE A SONY PRODUCT AGAIN. I am shopping for another TV, however it WILL NOT be a SONY!!