Low Price Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-46V5100 46-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black
Great picture but Sony needs to fix the bugs
Purchased this in May ’09. The picture is phenomenal once you figure out the right settings, but getting there is a chore and Sony’s tech support is useless …unless you want to talk to someone who will simply read debug steps from the Troubleshooting Guide or read to you verbatim from the User’s Guide.
There were several bugs that Sony has fixed, but several more that Sony has claimed to have fixed in the Aug ’09 firmware update but are still there. I won’t list all the bugs, I’m just mentioning two that are the most annoying.
The worst bug is the random dropouts of audio over the HDMI interface. You’ll be watching something and all of a sudden the audio will start to stutter and then drop out altogether. Sony says they fixed this but it’s still there. To clear it you have to change inputs, change channels on the cable box (same thing since the signal drops out briefly and then comes back when changing the channel) or cycle the power.
Another bug is a loud popping sound when switching between signals in different formats (like changing between a 480i channel and a 1080i channel).
Also, beware that firmware updates don’t go according to plan or according to the instructions given by Sony. You’ll probably have to attempt the firmware update more than once to get it to “take”. I thought my TV was broken after the first attempt and was at the point where Sony told me to send it back. So I figured I had nothing to lose to pull the plug and try again. After another unsuccessful attempt the firmware updated on the third try.
The audio is OK, but the either the speakers are undersized or in my unit not mounted properly because there’s a lot of bass vibration/distortion when I turn it up above 50 (the volume goes 0-100).
This could have been a good TV, and still could be, so I give it 3 stars. Maybe I’ll have to come back and revise this to 4 or 5 if Sony ever fixes the bugs (although I’ve been waiting 4 months now).
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