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By Justice Fezz (London, England)
We're constantly hearing about HDTV and how it's the way forward, however the latest gimmick seems to be 3DTV, which this does not support by the way!
The TV itself is built very well, as is the remote control. In order to setup the TV, you need to get yourself a screwdriver to fix the stand to the TV. This by the way requires two people. You can do it by yourself, however you need to turn the TV on its screen and place it close to the edge of say a table to fix the stand. So, be careful.
Yet again, we have another device that is void of any cables, besides the power cord. Which I find annoying, as it means you have to also buy an overpriced HDMI cable (unless you buy one online, REMEMBER PEOPLE ALL HDMI CABLES ARE THE SAME, THE PRICES MEANS NOTHING, since the signal is digital these days and not analogue).
Interestingly the power cord is a stand cord that used in laptops and other chargers, so if you loose it or take your TV aboard you can easily get a replacement cable.
Setup on the TV, is pretty simple. Just plug in your aerial and you will be able to pick up all the Freeview channels, including HD channels like ITV1, BBC HD etc.
Also I'd like to mention that there is NO SUCH THING AS A DIGITAL AERIAL, its a scam, your standard aerial can pick up all Freeview channels, unless you have a really battered aerial.
I really like the Playstation interface, which is pleasant to use, however it's really slow compared to the Playstation 3. As a result switching channels in Freeview takes a few seconds, which can be annoying at times.
This also means that when you press the guide button, it takes time to load the guide.
The TV supports basic audio (only mp3's worked for me), video (divx and avi I tested) and pictures (jpeg). So you can plug in your USB stick filled with movies and watch straight from the TV.
The internet features are another tooted feature, however you need a LAN cable (not included) to hock it up to the LAN socket, OR if you want a wireless connection you will need a Sony USB wireless dongle, NO other USB dongle will work, and that alone will cost you the price of a basic DVD player.
So if you really want to use the demand FIVE, ITV Player you may want to consider the Internet TV range from Sony or buy one of the higher up models which including the wireless thing built in.
The thing that really lets this TV down for me is the price. If you really just want a HDTV there are some fantastic deals out there, if you really want the internet feature there are other TV's that can do the same for less.
So for me, the price is the real killer, but I'm sure it should be cheaper during the holiday season. Otherwise it's a pretty good TV, just wish it was faster to use.
Also if you have any comments about my review, or would like some more information on the tv, please leave a comment below :)
By K. Trebell (Cornwall, UK)
I've owned a 720P Sony Bravia for some time and have been very happy with it. Having a Hi Def telly has been fantastic for HD TV, Gaming and Blu Ray. This , however, was my first chance to experience a 1080P HD TV.
This Sony Bravia is unquestionably a step up from what I've been used to. Watching a Blu Ray in 1080P for the first time has been highly impressive, admittedly in 32" TV the difference isn't as significant as it would be with a larger screen, but there is a still an impressive increase in sharpness.
The picture quality is excellent with a high contrast ratio and brightness and it also comes with an ambient sensor that enables it to adjust the picture based on current lighting conditions. After much time messing around with LCD settings on my early HD TV in order to get the right image this is a much appreciated feature and one that means it pretty much works right out of the box and displays HD content impressively. The only standard definition device I have connected is a Wii and I must admit that, as with all LCD TV's that I've seen, SD images can look a bit rough. It's improved by connecting via a component input though.
The TV comes with built in Freeview HD. We don't yet have this in our area so I can't comment on those channels, I do however have Sky HD connected and it provides an impressive step-up from SD Sky and displays impressively on this set.
The TV was easy to put together and easy to connect to my various devices. It comes with a generous set of inputs including 4 HMDI inputs, Component Inputs, a PC VGA input, Composite and a couple of Scarts. It certainly should mean no troubles in connecting up all your devices. I have a 360, PS3, Wii and a Sky HD connected and still have plenty of spare inputs. The TV is physically very slim, using Edge LED lighting and comes on a handy swivel stand.
The interface is based on The XMB (Cross Media Bar) so PS3 and PSP users will be immediately familiar with it. That familiarity undoubtedly increases ease of use and was much appreciated.
A nice feature of this TV is built in Internet connectivity. This can be either Wireless (though you need to buy a USB dongle) for this or wired via the built in Ethernet port. I plugged this into my router, set-up the network connection (very simple via auto detection) and then downloaded the various Internet options. I now have access to the likes of Youtube directly from my TV, without even turning on my PS3. An excellent feature.
Within minutes of setting it up I was happily playing my games on a stunning display.
This provides high quality for the price. Highly recommended.
By P. Baxter (UK)
As someone who has been a long time supporter of plasmas I was interested to see how this LED LCD would stack up, and I was also curious to try Sony's much promoted Bravia Internet video services performed.
Firstly, the picture quality. As an LCD this is as you would expect, incredibly bright and brutally unforgiving on low quality video. The set asks you on initial boot up if you want to engage 'store' mode, for eye burningly bright settings or 'home' mode, for a somewhat more natural look, which is a nice touch. That said, even home mode is still too bright. De-interlacing (an essential feature for Freeview) was reasonable but fell apart at times, and low quality video (Freeview) really looked rough up close. It's a small HDTV though so sit back a bit and you might not mind as much. The crucial test for me is always black levels, and I was pleasantly surprised by the performance. Usually LCDs become a washed out grey with the lights out, but this actually wasn't a million miles away from my regular TV (a Pioneer KURO plasma). Impressive stuff. As for HD content, aside from the typically somewhat un-natural look all LCDs seem to have, it looked sharp, crisp and had virtually no motion blur.
Now the interesting stuff - Sony's online services. Out of the box this set comes with access to YouTube, Channel 5 On Demand, Love Film, and a random selection of pretty obscure other services from around Europe, plus a tiny selection of HD and SD video podcasts (sadly you can't subscribe to other podcast feeds yourself). Crucially there is no BBC iPlayer or Channel 4 On Demand. The former I have read, might be coming later. The YouTube player is incredibly basic and difficult to navigate. You can log into your account and search using a very slow and clumsy on-screen keyboard, but it's a joyless experience and I can't see myself ever using it again. Channel 5 On Demand works okay (and is all in SD as you would expect), but the lack of iPlayer here really stands out. I gather Sony BD players have it, as does of course the PS3, so why not the Bravias?
Lastly I tried Love Film. You need to be a montly subscriber to use this feature, and have to link the TV to your online account initially. Once up and running you can browse what actually turns out to be a tiny selection of on demand titles. Compared to LoveFilm's BD and DVD libray, it's embarassingly small. Hopefully this will improve over time. Line up aside, the other main issue is picture quality, which ranges from awful to totally unwatchable. At best it's like a particularly poor Freeview broadcast, but is often like a low end YouTube video. It's brutally low resolution and over compressed. HD streaming services are available elsewhere now (Xbox Live even streams 1080p video without issues), so this poor effort from LoveFilm is baffling.
I also tried the DNLA media server streaming, which allows the TV to stream video, music, and photos from a PC or Mac running media server software. This was much more problematic than I expected due to the Bravia's very limited codec support. No issues with photos or music (standard JPRG and MP3 are supported, although I don't believe AAC files work) but video is a different matter. Sony say they support AVCHD, but in reality they only support MPEG2 and H.264 with Dolby Digital audio in an MPG wrapper, and from what I can with some limitations on AVC profiles. Crucially that means no support for the standard H.264/AAC in an MP4 enslosure format. In the end I resorted to trying various realtime transcoders on the PC side until I finally found one which had a Bravia profile.
It's also worth pointing out that to get online you need to either use wired ethernet, or buy the Sony wi-fi dongle. I tried a NetGear 802.11n dongle and the TV refused to recognise it, and checking online it seems only the Sony dongle will work.
The TV's on-screen interface is the famous XMB (cross media bar), as seen initially on the PSP, and then the PS3. The version seen here is less flashy than on the PS3, but still very functional and also features a nice widescreen program guide in high-def.
There are a few other features I haven't been able to try yet - Freeview HD (not available in my area until 2011 apparently), and wall mounting. The only issue you may have with the latter is that some of the inputs on the back (component, two of the four HDMI ports, and RF in) are back facing and may hit the wall if you mount the TV too closely.
Overally this is a nice TV with some limitations. It seems it's still early days for online connectivity in HDTVs, but this is a reasonable start and with any luck Sony will roll out more services (such as iPlayer) over time. I also hope LoveFilm will get their act together and start pushing out some decent 720p or 1080p video sometime too.
By L. Hanson (Worcester UK)
This was my first delve in the world of HD viewing. I've wanted to for ages, especially as I've had a PS3 for a while now. The final straw was when my Grandma got a brand new HD telly. Burn!
I decided I wanted to go one better than everyone I knew, but I didn't have the funds to go all guns blazing with a gigantic 3D monstrosity. So I plumped for this one!
And boy am I glad I did. Equipped with my trusty Playstation, a free shiny new Sky HD box and a couple of HDMI cables, I'm as happy as it's morally appropriate to be.
As the TV is LED, it's super thin. Not as thin as a Samsung LED, but hey, it's a Sony! (Plus, I'm not a fan of wall mounted TV's, but if you are this may be a factor if you want it super-flush!)
The contrast ratio is excellent, meaning the blacks look not just black, but as black as a lump of coal covered in black paint at the bottom of a deep cave at night. It's also 1080p if you've got a supporting device and the Hertz is fine for my needs.
I haven't tried connecting it to the internet as this model needs a dongle, but as I have a PS3, I've got access to BBC iplayer anyway.
The menu system is like a Playstation Cross Media bar, which is very very straight forward to use.
In fact my only small gripe with this set is that there is no 'eco button' like there is on other models. This means that it is only 'on' or on 'standby', unless you flick the switch at the mains.
This television delivers an almost unmatched quality at a price that is only fractionally more than some of it's lesser competitors. I would whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone that is after a TV for a smallish room, or someone who is more concerned with quality over quantity.
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