Update: We have completed and published full reviews of the Sony Bravia KDL40W5500 and KDL37W5500 LCD TVs.
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:
- Applicast: a mashup of XMB graphical user interface (GUI), RSS feeds and widget applications which lets viewers access selected internet content (such as news, weather and stock quotes) over an Ethernet connection without having to switch on their computers;
- An extra HDMI input (4 on the Sony KDL40W5500 vs 3 on the W4500);
- Expanded DLNA functionality: in addition to digital still photos and MP3 music files, you can now stream some video formats from compatible networked devices to be displayed on the Sony KDL40W5500; and
- Bravia Engine 3 (BE3): the latest incarnation of Sony’s video processing technology (the W4500 used Bravia Engine 2).
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).
Lets hope Sony has’nt forgotten standard definition. Which seemed to let down the last v and w 4000 models.The majority of the country does’nt have freesat hd or sky hd or blur ray players. If you can’t buy a new sony crt tv then at least they should make lcd tv’s picture and motion technology match there old crt’s.
No DVB-T2 aka HD Freeview support? :-(
It’s due to air at the end of this year in the UK so why aren’t they building support in for it?
My sentiments exactly, Hayden (on the 1st post). Low bit rate SD looks really grotty on some of these LCD’s. Let’s hope Sony has done something to counteract this on this new TV. I also think all this DNLA / network and widget business is all a bit of a white elephant. If you really want this type of content, you’d get a media centre PC to connect to the TV (?)
Do you know when you will be getting a review sample, i am very couris how well the 32` version will be. If it would have the same image as the W4500, it would be great.
I had made my mind up that the 46W4500 was the way to go, then it get replaced with this!! lol. I hope you manage to get a review set soon as i have my fingers crossed that the picture lives up to, and exceed my expectations of this TV.
I am very interested too in the W5500 although its worrying about the backlight and panel. I am disapointed Sony have not come up with more LED models because I assume the blacks on this are not going to live up to the LED Samsungs (which are of course not without their own issues).
When will there be a review?
has anyone else noticed the contrast ratio on this new set? its 100,000-1. Am I right in thinking this is the same as the X & Z versions of the Sony sets? Was very close to buying the 4500 like several other people! Await the review with baited breath.
well….i personnaly think that the bravia 3 will only surpass the bravia 2 in SD upscaling; the bravia 2 was already very good except for SD.
i also think that colours won’t be too dissapointing because of the low 8bit panel (since the 32″ series 6 was 8 bits and was still good…). but 8 bit is generally equal to posterization effects so that has to be verified !
All in all the bravias will be good but it sucks cause we will have to pay even more thanks to the internet capabilities of theses TV’s which are useless in my opinion (having my pc hooked to the TV does all that !!!!!)
Agree with nenito about the Bravia 3 engine. With regard to the 8bit panel controversy, have just been reading the posts on the what hi-fi page & pardon my ignorance of things technical, but I don’t think its going to make much difference from the way I read it. It seems none of the broadcast networks have plans to transmit in 10bit so I think sony have done the right thing. Preparing to be shot down in flames!!
Await the official reviews. Thats if anyone can get hold of a set, seems that Sony are pushing the shipping date back and back!
It really does annoy me when people blame the set manufactures about the quality of sd pictures. the transmission quality is the problem, its basically s**t . there is to much compression, feed your lcd with 576 from a good dvd player and magically the picture is much better.
you are asking the set makers to straighten the hind leg of a donkey its never going to work, watch a film on ch5 its total pants and yes its still crap on a crt.
we were sold down the river over digital transmission in the first place and do not expect hd tv to be top notch because it aint .
get a 6ft screen watch blu-ray then hdtv and you will see what i mean…
hd sets are a con.
how on earth anyone can say that standard definition broadcasts – which most people are using – look anything else but very very poor on these sets is beyond belief.
ive viewed many of them large and small. they are truly awful.
they are only decent – not excellent at displaying hd which is what they are designed for.
what i think most people are impressed with is the deep and quite accurate colours which do, i admit, draw you in. there are too many other faults with these tvs which, lets face it, no manufacturer has been able to cure and it looks now as though they never will.
i would buy one but only if the standard def was as clear and precise as a crt tv and with of course the gorgeous colours aforementioned – now that would be something wouldnt it!!! nessy
ps dont let anyone convince you that these hd tvs are great buys. stick with your old crt for as long as possible and just hope that eventually you will be able to replace it with something better. cheers, nessy
I have finally got hold of one of these, Delivered Tuesday 17th March as promised! Purchased one as you can’t get hold of a W4500 to save ya life. Unfortunately I am working away from home this week, so its sitting at home still in the box. Bought it ahead of any reviews, the W4500 was awesome, this can only follow.
10 bit is usless in the UK, no-one transmits usin this, and an 8 bit signal on a 10 bit set causes processing problems. Good move Sony. Going to connect the Sony BDPS550 to it which I recieved ahead of time.
Will place more after the weekend, after installation connection to the blu-ray player and my AV Amp………….. Bring on the weekend.
Message for StevieH (or anyone else who has got a 40W5500 – is there any chance you could hook it up to a PS3 or Xbox and test the input lag? My finger is hanging over the “confirm order” button until I know there is no input lag!
Cheers BD
BigDan…. Soz but I only own a Wii…… Never have the time to play on anything else! But I believe there was little lag on the W4500, from what i have read. But that never reall was a big part of my research!
Anyone recommend an awesome Blu-Ray Movie to push the system to its limits?
I am also about to hit the button to order a W5500 so would be interest to read a review. My previous Sony (KLV32M1) has just started to die with a faulty panel so I’m still running all of my kit in SD (Sky+, PS2, Standard DVD) so is it worth the outlay?
Finally ‘bit the bullet’ and went for it – got mine from Sony Centre in Harrogate for £1089 with 5 year sony warranty.
SD picture is very good with motionflow on the freeview built in decoder, it’s also brilliant on most of the Sky channels with a sensible viewing distance (about 8 feet for me).
Xbox 360 – picture and sound are amazing, like being in a war! – I could not detect any input lag on COD:5.
I’m well pleased with the whole product – just convinced the wife to get Sky HD so can’t wait for that – its a thousand times better than my old 28″ crt.
Other gadgets like applicast and pip/pap work really well but I have not had time to test the DLNA yet.
Also have not noticed any bleeding of the screen yet (as discussed so much on AV forum) but have yet to test it out in the pitch black but I would never watch it without a little bit of background light anyway (I’d only get scared or spill my malteasers)
Mark L – I’d advise you to get it bought!
Colours and black levels are stunning!
Hapy shopping –
BigDan
Thanks Bigdan, best I get it bought then !!
Thought that you’d all like to know that white balance control has been added on this model!
I have decided to go for one of the two following LCD´s, but I just can not choose, and therefor I ask in this forum, if anyone could guide me to the best of these two.
KDL-40X4500
KDL-40W5500
There are some slight differences and I also can read the differences in the specs. but I have talked to two different Sony centers and they gave me two different answers.
So if anyone pls could give me some guidance (or just your personal oppinion)in order to choose the best of these two CD´s?
Thanks in advance
Allan
what will you watching SD HD or gaming?
I’m sure if you’ve got this far then you’ll already appreciate this: flat screens in whatever guise are not as good as good old fashioned CRTs (those big old TVs that were as deep as they were wide). We all know that flat screens were a step backwards but we were prepared to tolerate all the shortcomings because flat was cool.
If it wasn’t for the invention of flat screens, we’d probably all be happy with CRT and would never be questioning the (let’s be honest, still relatively poor) abilities of the LCD (and to a slightly lesser extent, plasma) TVs.
HD TV is simply an invention of necessity; the necessity being to bring the quality back to those levels we were used to before – when we were happy with CRT.
Put it this way, I have always enjoyed my films when they were DVD through CRT and I never yearned for more.
I guess it just comes down to personal taste, people who want to promote, and be experts at, something.
Anyone reading, I would say (a) stick with your CRT if it does what you want, otherwise please help boost the global economy and buy the most expensive TV from the Netherlands (Philips) that you can. (I assume that an NL purchase is better for us in the UK than buying something from Japan / far east. Don’t forget we don’t make anything in the UK any more!)
Blah, blah, blah….
I’ve ordered my KDL37W5500….got it from Digital Direct, £799.00 with thier own (probably useless) 3 year warranty.
My local Sony Centre wanted £1050 and when I commented that I was looking to buy 3 LCD TVs he offered to take £50 off !!!!
It’s being delivered next week so I’ll let everyone know my impressions when it comes.
Mark…register your TV on the link below mate on the sony web site and you get 3 years warrenty direct with Sony ;)
http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/bravia/block/8
Thanks Nick, much appreciated :-)
Got it ! It’s awesome….even SD is amazing.
Best thing I did. Thanks to everyone for their input !
I am having a problem with my 37W5500….I set up all of the picture settings but after about 10 minutes the screen goes blank and comes back on with default Vivid settings. Am I doing something wrong?
@Mark L: You probably set the KDL37W5500 to “Shop” mode the very first time you switched it on. Do a factory reset in the user menu and then select “Home” mode.
Warmest regards
Vincent
Have just had a demo of 37W5500 at my local Sony Showroom and they STILL have not got the Freeview SD display right. How is it Philips can do a much better job on the 37PFL7603D?
Thx Vincent…you were right, it was in shop mode!
Love the set, the only issue I am having at the moment is using a Sky + box (not HD).
I am running Scart for the video and optical for the audio into a Sony Surround sound system but I have a slight delay sound / picture….I’m guessing that there is a slight delay in video processing as I never experienced this on my previous SD Sony LCD.
Mark L….. Interesting to hear about your failing (probably in the bin by now) Sony KLV 32M1… I too have one that’s on the way out.. black streaks across the screen? Hunting about for a new set I’m split between the 37W5500 and the 40W5500. Concerned the 40 will be too big for my viewing distance I’m drawn towards the 37 but can’t find many reviews to check it out well enough against the higher contrast spec on the 40 (and reported diffrent panel in the 37)….. How have you found it so far?..is it worth buying?… any regrets? I’ll be using Virgin SD and a PS3 to play movies.
Still peed off with my KLV 32M1 chucking it after only 4 years, especially when I paid over 2K for it at the time..probably should be booting sony into touch… but overall I’m still a bit of a fan
Hi Stu, yes I had the same problem. I hung on because I loved the 32M1 and didn’t think the SD picture could be improved upon…..how wrong I was.
In my opinion the 37W5500 is an awesome set, I have no regrets purchasing at all. I am using Sky + SD and I have just bought a PS3 for the Blu Ray facility.
@Mark L:
Thanks for your comments regarding the 37W5500, I’m looking for a similar model to upgrade my old Sanyo 32″ CRT.
However, I generally watch more TV than DVD and wondered what the comparison would be if you were to watch freeview via a standard Aerial cable on my CRT vs the same standard Aerial setup on the 37W5500? Please could you or somebody advise on this?
Many thanks
Ben
Hi Ben,
At the moment I only have Sky + connected. I’ll try to get a chance later in the week to connect an aerial and see what Freeview is like.
Recently purchased the Sony KDL-37W5500 as a replacement for a CRT. Went for a Sony Bluray player as well. When watching a Bluray disc, the HD 1080p pictures are fantastic, especially with 24fps playback. The sound was also very good and all I had to do was press the “Theatre” button on the remote to utilise the Bravia Sync function between the two pieces of kit to get the optimum settings.
However, the jury’s out on the standard definition picture quality. I was swayed by the set cosmetics, 100hz processing and 3-year warranty, but I would say try and see it’s SD performance in a shop first and see what you think.
I got my new KDL37W5500 one month ago and I am really happy with this LCD. Blanck level are ok for a LCD TV 8/10, and HD is perfect 10/10
SD is another subject. When I turn “on” my new TV SD was really bad. After some setting SD was much better and I think is ok if you think about freeview signal. In Spain we have TDT with a digital definitiont of 568i. I my opiniont this is not good for this LCD TV.
Hello from Barcelona. Adeuuuuuu
i just got 40w5500 at weekend i have to say im hugely disappointed. I had a 40w3000 before this and i thought that the picture from freeview couldn’t get much worse but how wrong was i!! i honestly thought it’d be a huge inprovment but apart from the blacks and the nice new menu setup it’s not all that great. i’ve tried to calibrate it as best i can but still having issues. the blacks are great in comparison but it makes everything look really dark and colours are rather dull not anywhere near as vibrant as the w3000. It maybe that my eyes are used to the old set but i have the same problem with my xbox hooked up its just way too dark and i find i have to have the backlight on really high and brightness near full which ends up looking rather shoddy. oh and yes mine’s got bad backlight bleed too :( the dark knight does however look fantastic once i tweaked the settings abit, again though it is still a little dark. if you watch a lot of SD especially the built in freeview tuner i’d be wary about buying this one, maybe go for the 37″ instead. I’m seriously considering taking mine back and getting a samsung LE40B650 instead, £100 dearer and from what i’ve read not as many problems.
i bought the kdl 37w5500 the set up is easy to do the picture crystal clear the pricing from differant sites is crazy from one extreme to another the 4 hdmi connections is great its worth the money
DNLA only works with particular servers (not opensource mediatomb or mythtv). However, PS3 plays nicely with these, so I’m not too worried.
whats the input lag like on 37w5500 i play a lot of cod4 multiplyer,this is holding me back from buying,also interested in samsung 37b650 but the input lag is supposed to be even worse.
On the 52W5500, anyone know how to disable the demo mode or whatever it is called. Every 5 minutes or so, i get a banner going across the screen and icons on the right and left showing all the features of the TV. I bought the last model from the showroom so they had it in this mode to show customers….
I got the KDL40W4500, from day 1 it had a 1 to 2 cm line vertically diving the screen, I hope it will clear with time. It’s still there! Secondly it did develop this annoying clouding/backlight bleeding! How do I get these fixed?
have the same problem as Sean 26 December does anyone know the solution
This demo mode will disappeard while pressing one of the buttons on the side of the TV for about 5-10 seconds. But there is still a prblem: The TV will still reset all settings of the screensettigs…..
Does anyon know a solution ???