Sony Bravia S-Series KDL-40S4100 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Review

This is a remarkable TV for the money, with a great picure and resolution up to 1080p (P for progressive scan -- 1080 lines of resolution with no interlace), and also support for 24 frames-per-second movie playback with Blu-ray high definition DVDs.

Setting up is straightfoward -- you set up the stand where you want it, lift the TV onto it, and tighten 4 screws. It can also be wall mounted. On the back are the large range of inputs: three HDMI, two component, one S-Video, two standard video (RCA jacks) and one VGA port. You can guarantee that whatever you have, you'll be able to connect it to this TV.

The best quality of output and convenience comes from HDMI connections (order some low cost HDMI cables from Amazon; my local stores wanted $50-$179!) A Blu-ray DVD player connected to the TV via HDMI delivers outstanding picture quality at 1080p, with amazing detail. It's so good, in fact, that I found myself noticing film grain more often -- you can practically count the grains!

This TV supports 24 frames-per-second ("24p" in the jargon), which matches the screen refresh rate to that used in movies. The visible difference shows up in shots where the camera pans (moves parallel to the scene). With regular TV playback, panning makes the scene blurry and you can't see much detail because extra "interpolated" frames are inserted to match the TV frame rate. Panning shots in "Casino Royale" blu-ray DVD were clear at 24p, revealing some visual jokes I missed before (e.g. the Richard Branson cameo at airport security). For movies like The Bourne Ultimatum with lots of camera movement, 24p makes the whole movie clearer.

Screen contrast of the TV is also very good. Blacks appear black, color is not overdone (though there is a "vivid" setting if you want to boost saturation). Lower resolution sources at 480i look pretty good -- they are upscaled nicely by the TV. Connecting a Wii with the standard video cables worked fine and produced a good picture.

For HDTV sources, this TV does excellent noise reduction and yet still delivers crisp detail and good color. This is where other LCD TVs fall down, and Sony really has done a great job with the Bravia engine.

Sound from the internal speakers is very good indeed, with dialogue particularly clear. Home theater speakers are better, but then that's true for any TV.

I am very happy with my purchase -- the TV has a stellar set of features at a great price versus more expensive versions with more bells and whistles... which I don't need. It is not the cheapest LCD TV in the 40" size, but the picture quality and number of source inputs sets it apart.


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Product Description:
Ready for full 1080p HDTV?Sony's KDL-40S4100 is your affordable solution, and comes fully-loaded with 24p compatability for smooth playback of filmed content, and a wide variety of HD inputs (3 HDMI™, 2 component inputs, and a PC input) so you can connect it to a Sony Playstation®, Blu-ray Disc™ player, and up to four more HD-enabled devices. Now you'll be able to watch all your favorite movies, sports, and games with the pristine picture and vibrant sound that you would expect from a Sony, at a price point that is as surprising as the quality.

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Samsung LN32A550 32-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV Review

I've been wanting a new flat-panel TV for some time and, though I do make a lot of purchases on-line, I felt like I actually needed to look at a TV in person.My wife and I were looking at the TV's in Wal-mart when another customer pointed out that the better TVs had a higher contrast ratio and he thought that was the most important factor.Sure enough, the one we thought had the best picture was the one with the highest contrast ratio - it was 3200:1, the best 32-inch in the store.(I really wanted something with 1080p resolution, but they only had 720p in the 32" size TVs.We decided to get that one, since we had seen it and felt like we could enjoy it - but they didn't have one in stock...

I came home and began to research.It turns out that there are only a very few 1080p TVs in the 32" model, this being one of them.In looking at the contrast ratio I found that this one was rated at 15,000:1 - almost 5 times better than the best one at Walmart. (High contrast ratio seems to give you darker darks and whiter whites - lower contrast ratios have a milky looking gray where it's supposed to be black...)My research combined with what I saw in the store gave me the confidence to purchase a TV on-line.I settled on the Samsung LN32A550.

The TV arrived in good working order and I had it set up and running within 30 minutes.(The biggest problem was unhooking and moving the old one!) The picture is everything I could have imagined it would be - far better than anything I saw in the store.The crystal clear picture and crisp, well defined images make this simply the best picture I have ever seen on a TV.I saw a bit of a NASCAR race on this unit and the motion was unbelievably smooth - no after images at all.

I debated a bit on giving this unit a five-star rating.I felt like the picture quality so outrated the sound that I had to bump it up a bit.But if sound is an issue you may want to consider this to be a "four-star" unit.While the TV has a built in equalizer function (with some presets based on your listening preferences) I found the sound, even in the best adjustment leaves a lot to be desired.It has a tinny sound much like you would expect from an old transitor radio.I would suggest investing in a good pair of external speakers to enhance this unit.(If you already have a home theatre set-up sound is not an issue anyway...)

So far I'm glad I made this purchase.If Samsung can improve the speakers on this TV they will have the perfect TV!

*****
UPDATE:

OK....Now that I've owned this thing a few months I'll tell you how it's going:

First, it was pointed out to me in a post that the contrast ratio on 27- and 32-inch TV's was 15,000:1 instead of 30,000:1 as I incorrectly surmissed from the somewhat unclear (to me) product update.I have edited the initial review to reflect the correct information.I'm sorry for any confusion it may have caused.(If you want the higher ratio and have the room, you could consider going with a larger screen size.15,000: is still a pretty amazing ratio though...)

Overall I am happy to report that I am just as satisfied today as I was the day I first turned it on.I did purchase a set of Creative GigaWorks T40 Premium 2.0 Speakers (available at Amazon.com) for around $125 - and this dramatically improved my viewing experience.(I'm sure the best option would be to use a home theatre set-up - but this unit is in my bedroom...)

I still recommend this TV - just don't expect too much out of the sound - without a little help.


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Product Description:
32" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * 1920 x 1080 pixels *

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