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Sony BRAVIA Z Series KDL-52Z5100 52-Inch 1080p 240Hz LCD HDTV
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As to performance, PQ with HD sources (OTA DTV and Dish HD) is as good as it gets, absolutely excellent and easily equal to the Samsung B750 (we viewed the Z5100 side-by-side with the B750 and the XBR9 at UE and couldn't discern any difference in HD PQ). Blacks are excellent and shadow detail is the best I've seen on a TV. No flashlights, clouding, or uneven lighting across the screen. Color realism and saturation are excellent. Viewing angle is average or typical of CCFL LCDs, which is about 45 degrees off center. Not bad and much better than the LED LCDs, which could be important if you plan to show off your new HDTV with a Super Bowl party next February (not everyone can sit right in front of the TV to see great PQ, like they have to with the LED LCDs).
We're just thrilled watching Starz and Cinemax HD movies, prime-time HD drama on the major networks, any live HD broadcasts, and especially any live HD sporting even broadcasts. The WOW factor is back! Can't wait for the NFL season to start. We watched the men's and women's French Open finals via live, OTA, HD DTV, with the Scene setting set to "Sports (MotionFlow on High, 240 Hz) and it was like we were standing behind Roger Federer on the court. BTW, the on-board ATSC digital tuner in the Z5100 is excellent. It is obviously of the latest generation as it is the most sensitive and most stable of any of our DTV tuners, including the Zenith CECBs we bought for our old, remaining CRT TVs. If you buy the 52Z5100, try hooking up an antenna to it and see what you can get. The uncompressed live HD from an OTA antenna is something to behold.
PQ from non-BD DVDs is excellent. Upscaled DVD movies on my Sony 1080p upscaling DVD player look as good as many of the HD movies on the pay HD movie channels. I don't have a BD player yet and with the PQ of my upscaled DVDs, I probably won't get one until the price drops substantially.
PQ from SD sources is a mixed bag. It really depends on the source. Decent 480i stuff comes across excellent, but some older video and movies look pretty bad and the MPEG Filter and CineMotion filter don't do much to help regardless of which setting you use. I'd give this set Average to a little above average on SD PQ. Using the MPEG filter set to Medium or Low improves bad SD video over no filter at all.
I'd rate the on-board sound system as above average for flat panel HDTV sound systems, even though I typically us the sound from my DD7.1 sound system. I don't do games, so I can't comment on that.
As for the internet connectivity, I'm not impressed. I've surfed through most of what is offered and it isn't worth much. A nice universal remote comes with the set. On-screen menu is poorly arranged (not intuitive, not logical, redundant in places).
Overall, I can't see anyone being disappointed if they buy this LCD HDTV and your friends will be impressed as well.
I've had this TV for about 3 weeks and I am happy with my purchase. The quality is awesome, but admittedly I'm not a tech-freak so I don't have gobs of HDTV experience to compare it to.
Also, the built-in speakers are rather dull, but when you invest in this sort of TV you are expected to buy a speaker system to compliment it, so this is really a moot point.
If you want to save $500 while getting an awesome model of a Sony TV, this is the model to get.
The TV is top of the line. Features are easy to use. Picture is crystal clear. Sound is very good. No glare from screen.
Watching Wimbleton tennis was great with 240hz. Can't wait for the Baseball playoffs and football season.
I will continue to buy from Amazon because of low prices and high customer service.
When I took this one out of the box and hooked it up to my Verizon FiOS, I was absolutely floored at how awesome the picture quality was with the HD channels. I flipped through all the different sports channels and the picture quality is clean and crisp. I also hooked this TV up to a Sony Blue Ray player and the movies on here are amazing.
The one thing I got caught off guard with this product was the sound quality from the built in TV speakers. I have a home theater system which is on its way out, so I didn't have it hooked up to the TV yet. In watching the Blue Ray discs or sports with this TV, I'm absolutely floored at how good the sound is from this product.
Bottom line is that you pay a little more for the Sony products, but in the long run they are workhorses and will last you a long time. I can't wait for the upcoming NFL season on this TV. It is an awesome buy!
I also bought a Linksys WET-610N wireless bridge to use the internet Widgets capability of the the TV. The whole interface was the most difficult part to set up. I started out with my old wireless G router and had an issue hooking up the bridge. I ended up upgrading the router also in order to get the "N" capability to hook up between the bridge and the router. After that, I could get the TV to download the "second to the latest" Firmware update which installed correctly. The TV was still not able to update the video content from the web after that. It kept giving a <5006> error. I checked out Sony's web site for TV support and found there was a newer Firmware update, but the TV didn't recognize it through the internet connection. I downloaded it on my laptop and transferred it to a thumb drive. From there, plug it up to the TV USB side port, turn on the TV and in a minute it will recognize the update, install it, turn the TV off, then back on. All this still didn't fix the <5006> error. I've been talking with Sony tech support for a couple of hours and reached their 3rd tier support. I searched the web on AVS forums and found that a few people have had this error. I called Sony back and talked to them about MAC addresses for TV's and the Sony server that handles authentication and download. This tech asked if I had reset the TV after the updates. I told her no, but I was willing to give it a try. Turn the TV on, hold the "up" arrow on the remote for 10 seconds, then press the power button on the side of the TV and the TV does a "reset" Off, then on. I tested the video update feature and now it works! I like the Widgets and now have signed up for Amazon's instant video feature. You can instantly watch a move now for $1.99. Netflix is suppose be available sometime this fall. I already have an account with them so hopefully there will be no additional charge. I have 3.5 Mb/sec internet connection and wireless streaming video and the movie played with the equivalent of standard tv. Not too bad for on-demand.
This is our 6th large screen purchase in 3 years so we have some experience at this. This year we looked extensively at LED lit displays, including the much heralded Samsung 55" LED 8000 series vs top-of-the-line Sony LCDs, the Bravia Z/X Engines.
The pictures were so close to one another, LCD Sony vs LED Samsung, in terms of viewing comfort and watchability we could not discern a difference of material value other than shiny screen and its natural problems with reflections (Samsung) and the annoying "flashlight" corners that appeared from time to time (Samsung again). Admittedly the Samsung was slightly better, but not for the money difference.
- Looking at the Bravia X (Sony's best) series, and the next best, the Bravia Z series, we could not tell the difference in the -picture- at all (same Bravia engine, same light matte screen, same 240 refresh rate). Only the external casing was different.
- The Sony LCD picture was very close to the quality (black values) of the Samsung 8000 LED in real world watching. We were pleasantly surprised.
- No "N" class built-in wireless for the Sony. Sad but true. Separate available box is $150 for the Sony, and its only a G class unit. Ugh!
- Both had poor menu systems and overly complex remotes with way too many keys. If it had been a bottom-of-the-barrel contest for screen menus and overly-buttoned remotes, both seem to have tried very hard to win that prize.
We opted for the Sony because of the PRICE which was about 60% of the Samsung unit, and because of the light MATTE SCREEN which held down reflections.
After owning this unit for 6 months we are happy with the Sony TV and would make the same decision again.
I HATED the mirror-like reflections in my old plasma, and unless you have a windowless, light-less room in which you do your TV watching, you'll also find it annoying, which is why one of the pleasures of this Sony is the matte, anti-reflective screen. We have 2 windows directly opposite the TV, yet even during the day the reflections are so minor compared to our old plasma.
The picture quality from both TV (through Cox cable HD), regular DVD, and Blu-ray through a PS3 are fantastic. And to my surprise, also stunning is the HD picture through Netflix movies streamed directly to the TV through its built-in Ethernet connection. Literally no setup, just buy an Ethernet switch (the Trendnet on Amazon at [...] will suffice) to split your broadband internet connection) and plug it into the back of the TV and you've got Netflix for a wide selction of HD movies on demand, Amazon for video-on-demand in HD of such TV shows as Mad Men and House, and Yahoo News and weather widgets--I love it all!
Also a benefit for those inserting their TV into a media niche, this is the only 52" TV that is under 49" in total width, that is, the bezal/cabinet is very thin--only about an inch on either side and the rest is all screen. This TV also puts out WAY less heat than our old plasma. I do recommend calibrating the TV using the blu-ray version of DVD Essentials, available here on Amazon at [...] , and I waited 2 weeks for this model to be available from Amazon directly as opposed to one of the 3rd party sellers that are probably OK but which I just don't trust as much. Delivery was great--on time, they took it out of the box, set it on my shelf, and hooked it up (but be sure to have all your connections/cables ready to go BEFORE the delivery guys arrive, more as a courtesy to them).
Buy this TV!!
My previous TV could be more described as a tank than a television- a Mitsubishi 1080i rear projection with the giant speakers on the bottom. Anyway, even compared to new TVs, this one is a cut above. It has the same specs as the more expensive XBR9 for a few hundred dollars less. So this purchase was a no-brainer.
The colors are awesome, the black levels are incredible, blah, blah, blah. When you buy this TV #and you should if you want the right one), make sure you don't cheap out on your HDMI cables... very important if you want the best picture. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And of course, if you want the best experience, buy a good surround system because the sound on the TV alone just doesn't cut it.
So in case you didn't get the gist of this review, I LOVE THIS TELEVISION. Buy it.
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