Sony KDL40W5500 Review

[BARSi]

ah i see, guess it counts for the 32" version too?. another thing if anyone can enlighten me on is the film mode auto 1 and auto 2 i get that they have something to do with deinterlacing signal but does that count for 1080i and also does it affect videos which are native 576i upscaled to 1080i/p or anything like that or does it only affect 480i and 576i?.
I also have my sky hd box outputting sd signal out at 1080i should i set my box to automatic instead and let it output sd in 576i and let my tv do the deinterlacing or is it better as it is. The film mode is one setting on this tv i am not used to and have very little knowledge of. many thanks to anyone who can help me on this.

[BARSi]

anyone got any preferable or calibrated white balance or gamma settings for this tv. keep messing with settings but can never seem to find a happy ground with them.

[BARSi]

these settings seem to look nice:

picture mode : custom
backlight: 4
contrast: 70-88
Brightness 50
Colour:50
colour temp: warm 1
sharpness: 5
noise reduction: both off
montionflow: standard(high on xbox/ off on ps3 for movies)
film mode: mode 2(off on 1080p signal on xbox seems to cause judder)
black corrector:0ff
contrast enhancer: low
gamma: standard
auto light limiter:off
clear white: off for tv and xbox / high for ps3 only(also turn super white on in ps3 display settings)
live colour: off (greens dont seem as good on xbox so i have it on low)

in the eco settign si keep the light detector on helps to adjust brightness for light or dark room.

also keep settings for nintendo wii same as you would for tv viewing but with live colour on low.

[ezytiger]

Hi there,

Can anyone shed a bit more light on 10bit ( 40w4500) vs 8bit panels (40w5500)?

From a technical viewpoint 10bit is obviously better. (More colour gradations -> less posterization - not a techie so not too sure!)
When Sony were marketing 10bit panels they emphasized the qualities of having a 10bit panel. (American sony website advertising).

From a subjective view, the answer seems to be - can't really notice any difference due to inherent limitations on the amount of colours the eye can perceive.
(Mind you - they same thing is said about 1080p native vs. lower native resolutions for anything less than 40" tv's - but many would also say 1080p native always provides a sharpest picture!!)

SO ... the question I am asking - which gives the better picture quality - the 40w4500 or the 40w5500 - even though this may be in the order of fractions?

(The hdtv test - primarily mentions the advantages of sony 40w5500 as superior upscaling de-interlacing but given an "hd" / blu-ray source these are not obvious advantages)



Any thoughts,
 


Thanks,

ezytiger

[sony123]

I am currently in a dilemma regarding what tv i should buy. I have to make a choice between the Sony W4500 and the newer W5500. I have checked the reviews and the W4500 is better 5* but the model is discontinued. The W5500 is 4* average but newer obviously but it still has some clouding issues. I have been browsing the forums and some people have stated that this problem is minimum while others have the opposite opinion.

Could someone help me with this problem ASAP!!!

[Big Dan C]

I am currently in a dilemma regarding what tv i should buy. I have to make a choice between the Sony W4500 and the newer W5500. I have checked the reviews and the W4500 is better 5* but the model is discontinued. The W5500 is 4* average but newer obviously but it still has some clouding issues. I have been browsing the forums and some people have stated that this problem is minimum while others have the opposite opinion.

Could someone help me with this problem ASAP!!!

I've got a 40W5710 (which is the same as the 5500 but not as much see through bit on the front)  I have got some clouding in the coners when the picture is black and I'm in a dark room (it is really bad when there no input)  the shiny black surround of the TV looks fantastic and matches the PS3 but forces you to watch the tv in a dark room since my light reflects in the surround.

However - these are the only two faults I can find with the set.

The HD and SD picture are excellent I have played around with using a better cable from my Sky + box but it did not make any difference at all.  Obviously you need noise reduction on for the SD content and to adopt a sensible viewing distance (around 8 feet on the 40")

There are spec differences - most seem infavour of the 4500 BUT they are not really since XV colour makes little difference and all content is in 8bit (as far as I know)  one big difference is the 5500 has bravia engine 3 which makes a massive difference on the SD picture quality. I think the sound is better on the 5500 also

clouding on both sets anyway! - go for the 5500!

Remember all TV's have faults - Samsungs have excellent picture but suffer from clouding and combing - pioneer plasma has some blurring and theirs LCD;s have some banding issues - panasonics don't seem to handle some formats too well. etc etc etc.

If Vincent ever posts his settings to get D65 perfect and hopefully relieve me of the clouding as stated in his review I might enjoy the set even more! Come on Vincent stop teasing us!

[sony123]

thanks for the reply, i was thinking about getting the 5500

[probi]

is not possible to post the calibrated settings of Sony KDL40W5500  for the reviews?


Thank you

[Vincent]

Calibrated settings now up:

http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Sony-KDL40W5500/Settings.htm

[marukamar]

Say vincent, can you elaborate on the Input Lag of the W5500? I am torn between the Z4500 and the W5500 and since I primarily use the device for gaming (70%) this is an important thing for me. In the review you only mention the input lag in regards to the Samsung F96 ("input lag can be brought down to 17-33ms vs. the Samsung F96") but you don't give the absolute values like you did for the W/Z4500 ("0-10 ms"). It'd be great if you could shed some light on this for me.