CHEAP Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-40VE5 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV

I’ve had this TV for over three months now. Previous to purchasing this set I waited and shopped for over a year looking for the right TV at the right price. I run my place off solar power, with every watt I use of power making a difference, so I had been looking forward to this model since it was announced early in 2009 due to it’s low power consumption. In this regard, it has not disappointed. For all LCD TV’s, power consumption varies highly depending on how high you turn up the backlight. I use it almost solely for movies, which look great with the backlight at the lowest setting or up only 1 or 2 clicks (”Cinema” setting is nice). At lowest backlighting this TV uses only about 80watts of power (measured with my handy Kill-A-Watt meter). Upping the backlight to 2 increases it to about 90watts. (For those interested, if I turn it all the way up it goes up to about 145watts. But I never want it anywhere near this bright.) The TV running together with my Sony Bluray player uses a total of 96 watts when playing a Bluray movie. This is fantastic. By comparison, my previous TV, a couple year old high quality _32″_ Sharp model (also 1080p, and one of the more energy efficient models of its time), used nearly as much power as this 40″ model. A new standard (non-”Eco”) Sony 40″ or a Samsung or other brand uses at least 125watts with the backlight turned down. With the backlight up other normal models use well over 200watts. So this model has a real world 40% power consumption savings compared to a typical 40″ set. This is fantastic, and every bit as good as I had hoped. br /br /Also if you’re considering a bigger 46 or 52″ set, the power consumption of this EV model in those bigger sizes actually scales better relative to normal LCD’s (not to mention plasmas) also. Meaning as you go up in size, you actually get a higher percentage increase in power consumption savings. So for example, the 46″ EV uses only about 20 watts more power than this 40″, compared to an increase of about 60 or more watts in a standard V-series or other brand LCD for the same increase in size. br /br /Power consumption: 5/5 stars.br /br /As to the picture quality, it is every bit as good as I expected for an LCD set. Even the blacks on this set are a huge improvement over my previous 2 year old Sharp 32″ LCD. They even seem slightly better (darker) than my brother’s one year old 52″ Sony V-series (52V4100). Of course the black levels aren’t going to be as perfect as my friend’s new 50″ plasma, due to the inherent flaws in LCD technology, but they are as good as any LCD I’ve seen, and I’m happy with that. I am sourcing almost solely Bluray, so the quality is top notch. I can not comment on how SD television looks as I’ve never used it, and don’t really understand why anyone would want to buy an expensive HDTV like this primarily for SD content. DVD’s through the Bluray player upscaling, look surprisingly good. Though nowhere near as stunning as Bluray, definitely better than standard DVD quality.br /In every other way the picture quality is fantastic, with one exception: There is a very slight “bleed in” of light on the upper left and right corners. I guess this might be that notorious problem I’ve heard about with Sony’s. As someone who is meticulous on details, I did notice it right away when I first turned on the set. However, it is only noticeable when the background is black, for example during movie end credits, and as I said, it is very slight. If it were more than very slight, I definitely would have returned or exchanged the set immediately, but it’s a tiny negative to an otherwise outstanding LCD picture quality.br /br /Picture quality: 4/5 stars.br /br /Sound quality, despite all the bad reviews I see here, is above average for built in sound on a flat panel. In fact, it’s far and away above most other HDTV’s I tested, particularly Samsung models, which seem to almost intentionally have unusable built in sound. It is also much better than my previous Sharp model, which incidentally still had much better sound than than the Samsung models I tested. I carefully tested the sound on some higher end Sony models as well (last year’s Z and XBR) and found the sound quality on this to be comparable. The real test however, is will the built in sound be acceptable, “good enough”, when actually watching a movie. It passes this test. It seems to depend a lot on the source or the actual specific disc, as sometimes having the sound at under half volume is fine, while another movie will require it to be nearly all the way up, but overall I find the built in speakers surprisingly usable.br /As to the vibration noise issue reported by many here, I do notice some vibration noise when the bass is loud and the volume is turned up high, on occasion, but not so much as to be a glaring problem. Maybe others here got defective speakers. In conclusion, the sound is as good as any flat panel set I’ve used yet (better than 50″ Panasonic Plasma, better than most other LCD’s, about equal to high end LCD’s). Especially if you’re using the TV mainly for sports and TV, the built in sound is good. That said, as would be the case with any HDTV today, I will probably be adding a good quality sound bar or surround system in the future, to get more of a theater-like movie experience. br /br /Sound quality: 4/5 stars.br /br /Overall I’m very satisfied with this set. I felt compelled to put in my two cents after reading the several negative reviews here. Many of the negatives seem to either be due to bad speakers, or some unrealistic expectation with regard to SD (Standard Definition) picture quality, etc. I’m glad I bought it before reading all the bad speakers reviews, as those reviews might have stopped me from buying it. Few people seem interested in this TV’s main draw which makes it worth the slight premium over Sony’s regular V-series set: Low power consumption. In this regard it is so far and away above the rest that I’m tempted to give the set 5 stars overall. The only reason I’m not is because of the very slight light bleed in at the top corners, for which I refuse to give Sony the “perfect” 5 stars.br /br /Lastly, when you consider that the price of this has come down so much now as we head into 2010 with new models on the horizon, I think right now is the sweet spot in terms of the value you get with this set, if you’re looking for a good quality TV with low power consumption. br /br /Overall: 4/5 stars.br /br /

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Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-40VE5 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV Feature

• Offers substantial power savings provision without compromising performance
• Is the smallest of the VE5-series
• Has Sony¿s exclusive micro-tubular Hot Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (HCFL) technology which helps reducing power consumption by almost 40 percent
• The zero-watt standby Energy Saving Switch
• The light sensor feature of the new Sony KDL-40VE5 is likely to adjust the backlight depending on the room light

Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-40VE5 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV Overview