Saturday, May 2, 2009

Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-52V5100 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Black

Keep pace with fast-action movies, sports and game play. Equipped with Full HD 1080p and Motionflow 120Hz refresh rate technology, the KDL-52V5100 52-inch BRAVIA V series LCD flat panel HDTV provides a more fluid, natural and realistic viewing experience while enjoying fast-paced entertainment. Additionally, every scene will be sharp, vibrant and life-like thanks to BRAVIA Engine 2 fully digital video processor. Plus, a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio yields deep blacks in darker scenes. The V series also includes 7 HD inputs to ensure you get impressive image quality from all your HD components such as PlayStation 3, Blu-ray Disc player and your PC.
Customer Review: Amazing HD Picture, but first TV delivered was defective
WHO TO BUY FROM: Amazon did not have this item in stock, so I waited for Amazon to have it in stock before buying - turned out to be the right decision. I bought another LCD tv last year from "ButterflyPhoto", a seller on Amazon's website, and it was a horrible experience. So I vowed never to buy a big ticket item from any other seller than Amazon on its site. Those sellers have such great reviews b/c if you get screwed like I did and the sale never goes through, you can never rate them. So only happy customers get to rate those sellers, hence the above-avg reviews. DELIVERY AND DEFECTIVE TV: I ordered the TV on a Thurs and it was delivered to my house on Tues. Pilot (carrier) called to schedule and appt, brought it into my house, took it out of the box and placed it on my tv stand, then made sure it worked before asking me to sign. But by Friday, a 1/2 cm black line appeared in the screen (yikes!). On Sat. I called Amazon and they were great in shipping out a replacement TV immediately at no extra cost to me (they even gave me the option to replace with another make/model). The new TV arrived the next Fri and Pilot packaged and removed the defective TV. The new TV works fine (so far, fingers crossed). After mentioning my ordeal to several friends, a few mentioned they had defective LCD TVs also - so I guess its not so uncommon. Dealing with Amazon is great. If I bought from those other sellers, I would have been left to deal with Sony via the warranty - No Thanks! Its worth the extra hundred dollars or so to go with Amazon. PICTURE QUALITY: The HD picture is amazing. I had a 2004 42' Sony WEGA that produced 1080i, but the Bravia is a much, much better HD picture (however, it seems Comcast broadcasts in 1080i, not 1080p). When watching sports on my WEGA, the picture could not handle fast action so well. The Bravia corrects this pretty well (via the 120hz) and there is definitely a noticable difference/improvement versus my old WEGA. The 120hz is well worth the money. BOTTOM LINE, at $1,823, I am happy with the TV even after the first one was defective. I found the Samsung to be too glossy a picture and didn't like the touch of red, so the 52v5100 was the perfect TV for me at that price. Buy from Amazon, not those other tricksters.
Customer Review: Latest V-Series Version a Winner
Set delivered as promised, but not turned on and checked electronically (blue screen). Pilot Air guys said set needed to acclimate to new temperature and humidity for 4 hours. Component video hookup to Comcast did not work. Component video hookup to Blueray was also problematic. All problems went away with HDMI hookups. The set may have been preconfigured for HDMI and could not sense the Component - not convinced there is a problem. The set is great. The Color was dead-on right out of the box - better than store displays. The on-screen menus were straight forward. The set would do annoying clicking noises, when resizing, going between HD channels and regular channels. Fixed this by reprogramming the HD box from Comcast. I think I'm spoiled now.


It's easy to be instantly drawn to a plasma TV screen, especially one that is displaying full HDTV programming. The visual beauty is amazing. And plasma TVs tend to be among the lower cost thin screen technologies that are available today. But there are a few problems inherent to the design and you should at least be aware of them before making a buying decision.

The first is that plasma TVs use inert gases that are illuminated to display colors on the screen. The way that this is accomplished makes for very high contrast, vivid images on the screen, but it also can be affected by high altitudes. If you live above 6,000 - 7,000 feet above sea level, you should know that plasma TVs have to work much harder to produce the same image than they would at lower altitudes. This may not cause an immediate problem, but over time the monitor wears out much faster due to the extra work load. So if you happen to live in high altitudes, just bear this in mind when buying a plasma TV.

The second problem that plasma TVs can exhibit is a susceptibility to screen burn-in. This happens whenever any static image stays on the screen for a very long time and is still faintly visible even when the image changes. It is said to have been "burned-in" to the screen, and can be very irritating to see a ghost pattern still visible as you watch TV. The easy way to avoid this problem with older plasma screens is to make sure that you don't leave the TV on when you are not watching it, and especially when pausing a video game for a very long time. Thankfully though, newer plasma screen TVs have technology built in to address this problem that subtly shifts the image to surrounding pixels as you watch and essentially keeps the image moving although your eye does not detect it.

The third plasma TV problem that we will discuss is the heat it generates as it runs. Plasma screens often cause so much heat inside the unit that manufacturers usually install a fan to cool it down while operating. This actually works very well, but on some models the noise that the fan makes can become an annoyance. So listen for this problem carefully before you buy.

None of these problems are major enough to say that you shouldn't buy a plasma screen TV, but they should be understood beforehand so you can use the equipment properly, and choose the right plasma TV when you buy.

Jim Johnson is a successful author and publisher on consumer related matters. You can find out more about the best plasma tv and getting a plasma wall mount by visiting our HDTV website.

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