Update: We have completed and published full reviews of the Sony Bravia KDL40W5500 and KDL37W5500 LCD TVs.
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Sony has launched a whole new line-up of their Bravia LCD televisions for the year 2009. The multi-award-winning Bravia W4500 series will be replaced by the Sony W5500 series which will come in five different sizes. In addition to the usual 32-inch (Sony KDL32W5500), 40-inch (Sony KDL40W5500), 46-inch (Sony KDL46W5500) and 52-inch (Sony KDL52W5500) versions, there is now a 37-inch variant in the form of the Sony KDL37W5500.
Like the outgoing W4500 series, the Sony W5500 LCD HDTVs are blessed with full HD 1920×1080 native screen resolution, and their proprietary Motionflow 100Hz motion-compensated frame interpolation (MCFI) technology. However, there have been a few changes as well – for example, the Sony KDL40W5500 offers the following extras over the KDL40W4500:
Unfortunately there have also been a couple of downgrades (at least on paper): the Sony KDL40W5500 sports only an 8-bit panel (vs a 10-bit panel on the 40″ W4500) and CCFL backlight (the W4500 had WCG-CCFL). While it’s unlikely that picture quality will be compromised, we shall reserve judgement until we get our hands on a review sample.
The Sony KDL40W5500 HDTV is expected to be available for sale in the United Kingdom from mid-March onwards at an RRP of £1199 (though we’ve seen pre-order prices as low as £900 from certain internet retailers).
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