Sony KDL-52W4100 Review

Posted in (2008) Sony W4100 Series, Sony LCD

*NEW* The Sony w4100 series has been replaced by the 2009 Bravia w5100 series. The new Sony Bravia KDL-52w5100 LCD television includes much better performance, design and new exciting features and additions

“Out of the box amazing TV…”

I bought the Sony Bravia KDL-52W4100 back in June, and am absolutely still pleased with the unit 2 months later of heavy daily usage in various ways. I have used to KDL52W4100 to watch Blu-Ray movies, unconverted standard DVDs, regular cable, high definition cable, HD-DVD videos, PS3, Xbox 360, original Xbox and more, so to say the least I have lived with and used the Sony Bravia KDL 52W4100 quite extensively before I wrote this KDL-52W4100 review:

I have also used the highly acclaimed and more popular Samsung LN52A650 6 series lcd television, and I will be throughout my review of Sony’s kdl52w4100 be using my opinion on the popular a650 Samsung as a benchmark to compare on.

Sony’s KDL52W4100 picture quality:

Neither television is really all that much a significant advantage in pure picture quality, I would venture to say however that the Sony KDL-52W4100 does have a better overall video quality as compared to Samsung’s LN52A650 HDTV, but again nothing that really would blow you away. The Samsung has more noticeable glare in side by side lighting conditions, this is probably due to the glossy screen which also despite the worse glare give some points to the Samsung for aesthetics and black level performance. Pretty much the same with perhaps an overall edge going to the KDL-52W4100 as there is some noticeable clarity differences in the Bravia 52W4100’s favor in blue ray movie watching.

Tweaking / Features / Calibration of KDL-52W4100

The Samsung LN52a650 lcd does have more options available for tweaking and adjusting, not necessarily a good thing for your average user, as its quite complex and confusing, but if you are a videophile you will have more room to customize… The Sony Bravia KDL 52W4100 is more out of the box setup and had better right away ready picture because of it. The Bravia gets points for simple and without a real need of vigorous tweaking for optimal picture, while the Samsung LCD does offer a wider range of calibration ability to video geeks.

Bonus Features KDL-52W4100 vs LN52A650

The Sony Bravia 52W4100 w series television lacks the Ethernet and networking technologies of the 6 series Samsung, and that means no weather/news/content rss feeds; but it does have a pretty strong built in TV guide for future expansion and upgrades. The networking technologies aren’t all that particularly powerful anyhow, and if you want internet integratibility, you’re probably going to want a more comprehensive and capable connected device anyhow such as Apple TV. Picture in Picture on the Sony is much better, and the remote control and menus on the Bravia KDL52W4100 are simpler and more attractive and capable then the A650 I feel.

Design / Aesthetics of the Sony Bravia KDL52W4100

The Samsung has a gimmicky “Touch of color” design, that is, stripes of red running along the edges of the television, to me it is distracting and a pure black finish would be my preference if you could get the LN52A650 with or without the ToC design principle. The Bravia KDL52W4100 has its buttons at the top of the unit as well, which for a person that doesn’t have it wall mounted, makes it somewhat easier and more functional to walk up to your TV and clearly see which buttons your pressing versus bending over and reading if your hitting the volume, channel or power button. The remotes are both pretty standard and solid, with Sony failing to have light up keys which is a very awesome feature of the Samsung remote, but the sony is again easier to use and figure out the the more complex Samsung remote, and is a real pain in the butt compared. Overall nothing too stand outish as to swing you for either one of the other, only personal preferences that won’t really matter too much as compared to video/sound/value factors.

Verdict: KDL-52W4100 vs. LN52A650 LCD TVs

Both very solid and highly reviewed products, both the Samsung LN52A650 review scores and KDL-52W4100 review scores are nearly perfect and top of the bunch in television as of summer 2008. If you’re a crazy optimizer, tuner and electronics geek, I would probably say go with the Samsung LN52A650 for its more customizable experience… If you’re the more common family shopper, the Sony Bravia KDL 52W4100 offers a simpler, easier experience and is quite future proof with its expandable options. 50/50, both are solid stellar television and you wouldn’t be wrong to pick either one in my opinion.

More Sony Bravia KDL-52W4100 Reviews:

Amazon usually has the most up to date and recent consumer reviews, being the most reliable and popular choice for buying large ticket consumer electronics… At the time of this writing Amazon had 12+ Sony KDL-52W4100, Read them Here