Product Description
Introducing the Sony BRAVIA VE5 HDTV, a revolutionary TV that combines energy-saving features with quality picture performance. Minimize excess power use with a high-efficiency backlight that uses over 50% less power in Home Mode than Energy Star 3.0 requirements. Plus enjoy Full HD 1080p picture quality and smooth motion with Motionflow 120Hz technology.
Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-52VE5 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV
Tags: Energy, environmentally friendly, home, Power
I just bought a Sony Bravia VE5 52 inch LCD TV last week, and I must say I am greatly disapointed by the product.
Yes, the picture quality is great but there is this delay of 2-5 seconds every time I change a channel. When I try to change the channel the screen goes blank for 2-5 secs before the next channel comes on. I called Sony customer service and they said that this delay is normal both with basic cable or with a HD receiver box connected to the TV and said I have to live with it. I am astounded as to how in this day and age with all this advancement in technology and Sony says it is normal to experience a delay while flipping channels. If I have 100-200 channels and if I want to browse/checkout few of them I must spend a heck of a lot of time in changing channels and waiting patiently for the channel to show up on my expensive 120Hz LCD TV. It’s like spending approx $2000 on an advanced computer and saying it’s ok if it’s slow to turn on and it;s ok if it has a delay every time I go on the internet even if I have a high speed connection….would you live with that?. Also, the remote is poorly designed. The buttons that are most frequently used such as vol, channel up-down etc are placed in difficult to use positions. I mean you cannot easly hold the remote and glide you thumb to go to these buttons. Besides, the remote is roughly 12 inches long and after holding it for a while you can feel it uncomfortable. Below is my sincere recommendation:
1. Try to avoid buying a Sony….
2. If you really want to buy a Sony then make sure you’ve checked it out in a store or somewhere first thouroughly
I wish someone had warned me so I could have avoided this disapointment…but I guess you at least can.
FYI…I’ve always been a Sony fan…all my other electronics …video and digital cameras etc… are sony.
Rating: 1 / 5
that tv is just incredible!!! now i am ruining myself only buying Blurays because the motionflow and movieflow on that tv makes it so realistic!!!
Rating: 5 / 5
I bought this after a 32″ Samsung stopped working with certain HDMI sources. I still love Samsung, but after that one mysteriously stopped working I decided I’d try something new. And I’m glad I did. The 52″ size is really perfect for my room. It’s definitely a large set, but not so large that images feel overly stretched across its surface.
Initially I was very disappointed with the image quality. The issue is that when the light sensor is turned on, the backlight slider can be set to full power, but you’re only experiencing a fraction of this set’s incredible brightness. Although the brightness sensor seems like a great feature, I found that overall it was too aggressive in reducing brightness, so I have to recommend that it be turned off. Ironically, it works better in well-lit rooms than dark. Once you have full control over the backlighting, this set really shines. The contrast is excellent (my camera has a contrast ratio of 2000:1, and it couldn’t capture this TV’s image fully). So I can believe that it has the 5000:1 on-screen contrast that Sony claims.
Personally, I don’t like my image tampered with. The low setting of motionflow is okay, but the high setting is really comical and only good if you crave that look of sped up footage. The contrast enhancer I also don’t find necessary, since the image has great contrast natively. However, I do like that you can create multiple image settings for each input. For example, I can quickly toggle between a game setting and a movie setting when using my PS3.
Sound quality is fair. Nothing to write home about. I certainly don’t use TV speakers with an image this good, and don’t recommend anyone else does either.
The energy saving features and setup of this set are really excellent. My surge protector monitors current, and this tv usually uses only 0.4 amps (~50 watts). It’s mainly dependent on the backlight brightness, but even so, this is one very efficient product. I was worried that the unique backlight would tinge the color, but as far as I can tell, it’s spot-on. The motion sensing really does work. I leave it set to 30 minutes and it hasn’t shut off on me yet, which is good. Sony doesn’t mention this much on their website, but it’s also heat-sensing, which could explain it’s sensitivity. I sit 13 feet away, and it detects my motion with little difficulty.
The worst part about the TV is either the remote, or the fact that the inputs are on the side. If you end up swapping inputs a lot, I suppose it’s nice, but otherwise I feel it’s a poor design decision. Depending on the heft of your wires, and your seating angle, you could be looking at HDMI cables out the side of your otherwise beautiful tv set. The remote is very basic. Compared to the older V-series Bravias, this TV actually has the less fancy interface (the XMB went hand in hand with a nicer remote for the 4100 series). That said, I don’t feel affected by either. If the decision to drop a pointlessly shiny interface and fancier remote keeps the price down, I’m all for it. I use a Fios or universal remote almost exclusively, so I don’t miss it. And since I don’t use the TV to tune my programming, the XMB would be a waste. That said, this interface is fine, very logical and doesn’t hide settings too deep (except motion flow). No frills, but won’t disappoint either.
I wish Sony had included a little more detail in their manual, but I doubt most people even read those anymore, so I’m just nit picking. The stand is pretty good, although Sony recommends you anchor down the TV to the wall, which might be a good idea. Shame the stand doesn’t swivel, as I have two common sitting positions in my room. Oh well. The important thing is that the image quality on this TV is superb, there are no oversights that ruin the usability or connectivity of the TV, it’s very energy efficient, and it looks good even when off. I fully recommend this TV if you like the V-series, and are interested in saving some energy.
Rating: 5 / 5
I just got it yesterday and as soon I took it out of the box I was happy with my purchase.
The picture and colors are awesome, I don’t know what else to ask. Before that TV, I purchased one of the LG 55 inch tv-s.
I was deeply disappointed. Coloring was so dull.. that it just made me feel really sad about my purchase. I’m more picky then my husband about quality about electronics, but even he was not happy. We did return it and we decided to go with our first choice( Sony) anyway. So, if you put together great picture and colors, easiness of use and quality you can not go wrong with Sony! A big PLUS is also the energy savings. Energy usage is below Energy star 3.0 qualifications. Plus Motion Sensor ( turns off the tv when no one is detected moving for certain period of time). Yesterday after working 5 hours straight, the tv was not even a little warm! Go Sony ECO! Didn’t give 5 stars for sound because if you would like to have full experience with your tv you would want to have Home Theatre system. But if you are not that picky, you’ll be fine with that.
End credits: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
Rating: 5 / 5
Having been burned on many appliances using way too much power (and I pay as much as $0.40 a kWh thanks to Enron screwing California’s “grandmas”), I was attracted to the power saving features on this TV. But the small number of reviews made me wonder if I was missing something, even though all but one were 5 stars. Having had the set for a week, I can now rest easy. The picture is great, the power is what they claim (except as noted below), the sound is good (we didn’t want a home theater system) and, in general I am very pleased with my purchase.
Pros:
1. The picture is stunning. I couldn’t compare side-by-side with other TV’s, but I am totally pleased.
2. The power consumption is as advertised. I have a power meter and check out all new appliances — and have had some real surprises in the past, including with another Sony TV, but that’s another story. (See my review under Sony’s KDL-37XBR6 for that saga.) During the day, this 52″ tv uses 140 watts in Standard mode, 100 watts in Cinema mode, and 150 watts in Vivid mode. I like Standard best during the day. At night, with the Light Sensor enabled (the default), the power drops to about 75 watts in Standard mode, but the picture is way too dim for my taste, so I’ve had to turn off the Light Sensor. Instead, I either use Standard mode all the time, or move to Cinema mode at night (which is fine, but a bit of a pain to change — I wish Light Sensor was not so aggressive or there were a user setting to adjust it from 0 to 100%). This compares to 200 watts for my 37″ Sony purchased a year ago, so this set is really doing much better.
3. The sound is fine for us. Since we’re not into home theater, you can tell we’re not into ground shaking bass. But the sound from the TV’s internal speakers meet our tastes fine. No tinniness or other problems mentioned on some other sets.
4. Standby power really is low. My power meter measures 0 to 0.2 watts, not that it’s very accurate at that level. I have not yet hooked up an antenna or cable connection, where the problem mentioned in #1 above with the electronic program guide might enter. When I do, though, now I’ll know to look for the problem and how to fix it if it occurs — or bug Sony until they tell me how to. (The two sets might have different procedures for turning off the useless guide that was costing me several dollars a month in electricity — on the other Sony, not this one.)
Cons:
1. As noted above, the Light Sensor is almost useless. Way too aggressive. And, the user manual was almost no help in finding how to turn it off. It’s in Setup/Eco, and to get to Setup you have to go to Picture Adjustments or another Setup category. I didn’t see Setup as an option itself.
2. The motion sensor is useless. It only works to 9.5′ which is not far enough for a 52″ TV. Probably more useful on the smaller models. The unit ships with motion sensor off as the default, a sign that Sony recognizes (but did not fix) the problem.
Caveats:
1. We drive the set only with a TiVo box, a PS3 (blu-ray!) and other external signals. I have not yet tested the internal tuner, so the slow tuning problem mentioned by the single 1 star review is not something I’d see. I also wonder if that’s a problem with digital tuners in general or this set is uniquely slow.
2. I was unable to determine the expected life span of the hot cathode fluorescent light, or how much a replacement might cost.
3. I was unable to compare power consumption with the new (more expensive) LED backlit sets. It’s hard to find power consumption ratings, much less under real use. The LED sets are also a lot more expensive to buy.
In spite of the small drawbacks, this set is so much better than others I’ve seen (at least when my concern for power consumption, both from an economic and environmental point of view is factored in) that it clearly rates five stars.
Rating: 5 / 5