Sony KDL-40V5100 40" LCD HDTV 40-inch 120Hz 1080p LCD HD Television

I love the picture - it's absolutely beautiful (too beautiful, I'm watching too much tv now!) And the user controls are quite easy, the inputs a snap and the overall usage quite nice. Attractive tv. And the price was quite good!

BTW, I am using an HD antenna and am happily surprised with the quality - it's great!

The picture is awesome and the menu is easy to use. I just can't find anything to complain about this product. I have only owned it for a month.

This TV requires two things:
1) Install the firmware update. Details on how to do this can be found at the manufacturer's website by typing in the model number (KDL-40V5100) and following the support instructions.

2) Calibrate the settings for optimal performance. It will vary a bit based on your room environment, but this should be pretty darn close (settings found in the "Picture" menu):

* Picture Modes
o Picture Mode : Standard
o Color Temperature : Warm
o Aspect Ratio : Full
* Picture Settings
o Backlight : 3
o Picture (Contrast) : 85
o Brightness : 54
o Color : 40
o Hue : R6
o Color Temperature : Warm
o Sharpness : Min
o Noise Reduction : Off
o Adv. Contrast Enhancer : Off
o Gamma : Low
o Clear White : Off
o Live Color : Off
* Advanced Settings
o Cinemotion : Auto 1
o Game : Off
o MotionFlow : Off
o White Balance : Factory Default


You now have one of the best pictures you can get for under a grand, and not too far away from even the most high-end of models. The TV has a few flaws (like only 1 HDMI input on the back of the TV, making wire control a bit of a hassle and having a bit clunkier design than some models), but the picture itself is great. Highly recommended.

I purchased this TV about two months ago. I waited until now to write the review. I have this v5100, a PS3 Slim, and Xbox 360 elite. First and foremost, the picture is exceptional, I already have a 65' Mitsubishi DLP, this is a welcome addition to the home. First off, the picture on this LCD unit is amazing, it may be the 120 HZ refresh, I'm not sure. Blu-Ray looks good enough that I am in the process of updating my DVD library with as many as I can find.

Cons, I bought this TV, a PS3 Slim, and Sony Sound Bar for the Bravia Sync. Bravia Sync is about 50% effective, I can control the Sound Bar with my television and cable box remote which makes it bearable. The bravia sync feature seems limitied, to the point where it doesn't work half the time. I'm constantly having to rescan the unit, not to mention that the PS3 won't even recognize the television as a Sony Product and limits Blu-ray capability until you find the 1080p Blu-ray option in the settings and disable.

I wrote this review because I purchased this TV to watch blu-ray, and I purchased the v5100 to sync w/ the PS3 slim, and it doesn't even work properly. The TV it self is great, the problem is that it is not as advertised.

For while ,it is a good price for the item. but now it is not the good deal.

I bought this TV about a month ago after returning an LG 42" LCD due to its problem of the sound not being in sync with the video on some stations. I paid $850 for this Sony which was a great price considering the options it had and what the TV was selling for at the brick and mortar stores. The picture is very nice. Either the Sony's picture is just better than the LG, or the 120 Hz is a noticeable improvement (the LG was only 60 Hz).

The only complaint I have about this TV is that occasionally the sound cuts out for no apparent reason. If I change the channel just momentarily and then return to the channel I was watching, the sound returns with no problem. It's only happened occasionally and is a minor inconvenience. I haven't seen any other comments about this issue.

All in all, a very nice t.v.

This is a great TV. A little disappointed with the sound but hey, if you buy a TV like this without a home theater you are missing the point. The interface is easy and elegant, the remote is humble and to the point. There are some issues with the LCD image I think must be addressed. You must adjust the image in order to get what you want. This might be intimidating for some folks but can be done by your average home turtle after a few tries. There are many image control sliders but the image can be dramatically changed, in other words you might be disappointed with the image one moment and go "wow" in the next, so keep trying and you'll get there. Another interesting thing to note is how the image is not the same if you look at say an angle of > 40 degrees, the image becomes a little cloudy and this might be an issue with all LCD's, I wonder if the plasma TV have the same problem. So if you are really picky you might look into plasma Vs. LCD I guess. I have not yet gotten to the Internet stuff. I wonder if I can connect a DSL ATT non-wireless modem straight into my phone jack and still have my other DSL wireless modem going? I leave this for later. Amazon.com delivered as promised. Great price, about 200 dollars less than then Best Buy.

I upgraded from a Sony Wega 27" flat screen (not flat panel). That thing was a beast; it must have weight over 100 lbs. It was pretty good (hey, it's a Sony), but my new 40" Bravia is unbelievable. I love it! Quck and easy to set up, intuitive menus, great options for inputs, and I can even use it as a computer monitor (I hooked up my lap top and views some pictures). I can't say anything bad about it - I even got an amazing deal through a seller on Amazon.

I am really happy with this TV. It has a great menu interface, specially the favorite button that allows you to switch inputs in a matter of seconds. The picture quality is just awesome. Very good contrast and deep blacks. The auto-brightness sensor is also useful, as it adjusts to room lighting automatically.

One of the good things about the TV is the low energy it consumes - 180W. I have a pretty sophisticated power monitoring setup in my home. If you watch the TV in dark, this consumption automatically goes down, as the light sensor lowers the brightness.

I have my Mac connected to the TV, and I use Plex/Boxee as my primary Cable-movies-video-audio source, and trust me it looks wonderful on this TV.

For the price and features, I couldnt find a better TV. I spent around 10 days researching every TV (~1000) and I must say I am glad I chose Sony V series.

A very very confusing thing is to visit the store and compare TVs. It is crazy. You wont have 5 different LCDs in your living room, so stop comparing them on 5% difference in brightness.

Another thing that might help buyers like me is that, more brightness (which is what impressed me at stores) is not necessarily great. I just finished calibrating my TV and had to turn the brightness, contrast and backlight way way down than the factory default, to get the right experience from Movies and my Mac. So trust me, do some research and you will learn, why more super bright isn't necessarily great and to make it worse, it consumes much more energy.

This would be a wonderful LCD television were it not for a design flaw that, for me, is unacceptable. Any device that is connected through an HDMI input experiences intermittent sound cutout. If the connection is made through the component video inputs instead of the HDMI inputs, there is no audio dropout, but this raises other audio sync issues.

This audio dropout is not a flaw in my particular set only, but rather is a characteristic that permeates the entire Bravia line, as a simple online search can verify. When I noticed the problem, I had Sony send me a replacement television of the same model and vintage. Even after updating the system software, the replacement set exhibited the exact same problem as the original one, thus confirming that this is a design issue. I recently replaced the Sony set with a Samsung, and since changing brands I have had absolutely no further problems with audio dropout.

If it were not for this problem, I would strongly recommend this set. The picture is great and it seems to fade less with increased viewing angle than my Samsung does. Overall, the set feels solid and performed well except for the above noted problem. If you are considering buying a Bravia television, I strongly recommend that you purchase it from a seller to whom you can easily return it, just in case you experience the same problem that I did.

For what it's worth, dealing with Sony customer service had its frustrating moments, but in the end the company stood behind its product and treated me more than fairly.

I love my new sony TV. It has a great picture. Sound is just average though and does not project into my living room. I wanted a Home Theater System anyway.

When seeking a new television I had the following requirements:

1080p resolution
40" width
120hz refresh rate or higher

This TV met the specs I was looking for at the price I was willing to spend.

There's really not much to say other than this TV display is stunning.

Also others have mentioned an issue with auto contrast or screen dimming during dark scenes; I have not noticed this problem at all. Sony does have an update that corrects this problem, so I called Sony to order the update even though I haven't had any issues. I just felt a compulsion to have the latest software on the TV.

I bought the Sony over other brands in the end because the TVs with those specs seemed so similar in person that I just decided to go with a brand I felt would provide a quality product.

This is a really a great TV and a good buy. The picture quality is very good and the menu controls are very easy to use. Delivery was through Pilot shipping and I had no problem there. Pilot called to set up a delivery appointment, and they arrived within 10 minutes of when they said they would be there. They unpacked the TV, plugged it in, and made sure that it worked. Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL-40V5100 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV

I'd thought this model came with a firmware update, but when I got it, I could tell it hadn't. This probably isn't that big a deal, but it's worth mentioning. Otherwise, it's a great TV, and I paid several hundred dollars less buying it through Amazon.

I bought the TV three weeks ago from an on-line store. Price was good but the delivery was not and Fedex left the box on my porch while I was at work. It was raining that day and box got wet but the TV was surpraisingly not damaged.

The dimming issue is not fixed by Sony. I noticed the dimming issue the second day and had to download the fairmware which seems to have fixed the issue to a lrage degree. I have the ACE on Medium and it seems to work. Does anyone know if the ACE should be on off to totaly eliminate the diming issue? Also most web sites suggest the Motion Flow control to be turned off. Wouldn't that turn the antiblur off too.

There are few other issues which I am not sure if they are related to the TV or the cable box. Sometimes TV looses video when changing channels. This has happends few times so far and once the picture went off in the middel of a movie and I had to turn the TV off and on. I contacted Sony and they said it is the Cable provider. Has any one experiances loss of picture?
Overall picture quality is not bad for the money.

This TV is simply superb. We use our lanai as a TV room and from 10ft the picture quality is stunning. By swivelling the set, we can see it from our dining table. The picture remains clear, of course but from 25ft the sound is better than we ever imagined. It remains full and clear even at reasonably high settings. So this TV ticks all the boxes for us and is highly recommended.

I purchased this TV about a month ago, and after 3 weeks I noticed an issue. I started watching movies on Netflix and noticed there was a color issue. When the camera would change it would go from a vibrant image, to then fading and washed out looking. I then tried a Bluray and I noticed the same problem. From what I read online this was an issue with the TV and there was an update for it.

I called customer support and they sent me the link for the update and told me how to do it. It was easy, or so they said. I was told it ould take 4 minutes max. I watched the screen change and the update go, and then it switched to the BRAVIA screen and stayed that way. for about 30 minutes. I called them back and they walked me through reseting the TV, which didn't work. I now have a frozen TV and a servicemen coming on Wednesday to have a look at it.

Perhaps the color issue was my HDMI cable, and not the TV. But I read this TV had issues with autocontrast until you did the update. However the update managed to screw up my TV even more.

But it does look great in my entertainment unite! So the design itself is nice, and untill i had my problem it wasnt a bad TV. Wonderful pictures and games looked great on it! Just before you buy be sure to think this over. I may just have bad luck.

Great picture! I am totally impressed with this television. The refresh rate is amazing and is great for watching sports. We have a 55inch Samsung in our family room that is a few years old. It's a 1080p at 60hz. We barely watch it now because of our Sony Bravia V. I would suggest to anyone to purchase this set. The only complaint would be it's sound. But a surround sound system would fix that. Can't beat the price either at $879.00! Having it hooked up to Blu-Ray makes it even better. The movies look great!

Installer did not set my 1080HD but had left it at the 460.
The picture was so clear at 460. Sound seldom does not come
in, so turn off the tube and turn it back on again. This has
worked so far.

Plain and simple, this is a very good 40 inch flat screen television. Mine replaces a 35 inch, 10 year old Sony tube tv that actually costs me $1,200 when I bought it. The old TV still works perfectly but obviously is not a HDTV. I paid $797.00 for the new one at ABC warehouse after a little haggling. The flat screen 40" is only 10% bigger than a traditional 35" because of the wide screen/lower hight shape. Keep that in mind if you are seeking a major upgrade in size. The 42" and 46" versions are only about $200 more than the 40" and would be well worth the small added cost. My purchase, on the other hand, was based substantially on weight. We intend to put this TV in our travel trailer for 4 months out of the year and take it with us on vacation. For some reason the current 42 and 46 inch televisions carry with them a disproportionate jump up in weight. That is, a 42 inch screen is only 5% bigger than a 40 inch, but weighs as much as 25% more. I think it might have more to do with the heaviness of the stand than the actual tv, but it is a consideration if you intend to move the tv from time to time. Bottom line, we are happy with our purchase.

I used to be a Sony salesperson many moons ago, and I've long had a preference for the brand. They last forever, and usually have the latest technology wrapped up. Unfortunately, Sony consistently commands a higher price, and I've done a lot of experimenting with others, usually with good results.

I wasn't even shopping for a TV when I found a reference to the special deal I got on a Black Friday website (4 days before black friday). I got this set, plus the BDP-460N Blu-Ray with Netflix, for $753.00 delivered. Don't ask me how. It wasn't advertised, but I got lucky and found a brief reference to it. A few clicks later, and I'm loving it.

Here's the good. I bought all Sony (including a Surround setup from Wal-Mart), and it all hooked up easy. Firmware downloads were automatic (another good reason for having the net-enabled devices). Initial set-up was a breeze, as the TV knew about the other components as soon as I powered up. Fantastic picture, stunning interface, Sony class all the way.

The set hasn't been off since we set it up yesterday. If we aren't watching, we are listening to internet radio (also through the Blu-Ray). BTW, the Netflix streaming now works flawlessly. But does Amazon really think I'm going to pay $1.99 to watch Cops re-runs?

Here's the bad: I spend $1000k plus buying Sony all the way. The only thing I couldn't buy as a Sony Brand was my satellite receiver. I was amazed to realize that none of the supplied remotes with the Sony product was a "universal" remote. The Bravia interface makes it easy to get by on just one of the included remotes (3 of them), but I can't change the #$#@% channels on the satellite without picking up a separate remote. So I've just finished programming a Logitech Harmony 880 to do it all in one place. This is really a pitiful oversight, as I can buy a remote for $10 that will do most of what I want, but I paid for premium function. Now on the Logitech, I will be giving up much of the advantage I gained by buying Sony exclusive.

But I am thrilled. Great stuff Sony, but come up with a remote that can handle cable boxes and satellite, and you'll find that you can sell a lot more package deals.

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I bought my set(Bravia KDL 40 VL160 )yesterday and set it up this morning. At first, I was ready to send it back because the picture was dim and if I tried to set brightness higher it grew misty and lost detail while remaining dark. I called Sony, their only suggestion was to take it back. Today was a rainy day here but after a few hours the sun started to come out and at the same time the picture improved as it got lighter ouyside. Even though it is not in the detail of features, I realised the set must have a light sensing dimmer feature. Sure enough, I found it buried in the manual which gives little space to it except for a mention that it is in the setup menu and can be turned off, which I immediately did. The picture now is beautiful, and, thank you, I'm happy to control the picture to my liking as aopposed to some silly, unimportant feature that even Sony's own technicians know nothing about.

Got this HDTV within a bundle with a Sony blu-ray for Thanksgiving. Can't mention the price but is was a such a great deal! The picture quality of this TV is just amazing.

I was worried about the negative comments on the contrast but it seems this issue was already corrected.

Amazon delivery service was perfect.

On standard tv signal (480i) I spected a better quality, for HD signal the quality improves a lot.

I initially started off with the LG 42" and was not impressed with the picture but with this and only losing 2 inches I was very impressed withthe picture quality...here are some of my thoughts:

After playing around with the settings, watching TV, doing some gaming and running some blu rays and standard DVDs thru it here is what I observed.

*for obvious reasons, the PS3 does a better job showing standard DVDs. Upscaling thru a PS3 makes older DVDs look a whole lot better (and worse) which may give rise over the whole double dipping argument.


*Speaking of which, I ran a few standard DVD movies thru just to get an idea of how they would look and if I would consider getting the blu ray and here is what I saw:

Star Trek II and III Collector's edition - @ 120hz it does not age well at all. Between these 2 and Undiscovered Country, they were my faves and the only ones I would consider getting on blu ray, but the upscaling makes it look a lot grainier and "fake".

Sky Captain, 300 and Minority Report - because of the way they were filmed, (the graininess and sepia tones that were used) the visuals are a mixed bag. Would rather watch them at standard def. in 60hz than at 120hz

Saving Private Ryan - does really well upscaled to 120hz. I would be curious to see how this looks in Blu ray.

Predator II - another movie that didn't fare well in upscaling @120hz

Star Wars ESB and RotJ - Looked surprisingly well for upscaling @120hz. Many smaller details I never saw really stood out. I will test the newer ones later.

Lord of the Rings - @120hz, I can wait for the extended edition of the blu ray to come out.

The Godfather - @120hz it looked great also.

The Incredibles - looked incredible @120hz

* Popped in a few HD-DVDs (yes I still have mine attached to my 360) and they benefitted from the 120hz upscale. No surprises there.

* Gaming-wise the resolution is somewhat better. Dragon's Age on the 360 looks sharper and crisper now. MW2 does also but the motionblur could be better.

Assassin's Creed on the PS3 really stands out and actually has me considering switching some of my cross platform titles coming out from the 360 to the PS3.

* TV wise - one thing I did learn is that I cant turn my FIOS box all the way up to 1080i. The TV and box won't register. It goes as far as 720p and then the TV supposedly upscales the pic to 1080p (not sure if that is 100% true). With all the settings on, the picture quality is only as good as the channel and show has been filmed. Depending if you may consider how irritating everything is being handled at 120hz with all the settings on, you could wind up turing some of the most important features off while watching regular TV. Even some of the Hi Def stations had some issues.

I bought this TV for my living room. This is my fourth Sony TV. I thought it would be great. I have it hooked up with a comcast cable box via HDMI. Every time I went from an SD channel to an HD channel or HD channel ot SD channel my screen went "BLACK", but I still had sound. I had to go back to an SD or HD channel and then it would allow me to change channels. This is crap. I upgraded the firmware, changed the cable box and hdmi cable. It still did the same thing. At times it also shows split screen as well. I am sending it back. I am giving Sony another chance. I recently purchased the W5100 series and could not be more thrilled. Stay away from the V series it is junk!

Received in excellent condition, mounted to wall with easy (and only needed one person). Has been an excellent choice in picture, sound and ease of use. Would recommend a PS3 to go with it for ease of accessing internet, and streaming video from Netflix. Haven't played any games on it yet, but sure with the picture quality already seen it will be a great time.

This TV has pretty decent sound and picture, but is plagued by a few issues which could likely be resolved with a simple firmware update (if sony ever provides it)

I am talking about the "red flash" issue. This is actually an issue involving automatic jumping up and down of color temperature during normal operation of the set, but has garnered the name "red flashing" since it can become very noticeable during scenes with lots of red in the background as you can plainly see the colors getting brighter and dimmer at random times during the scene. Scenes with deep blue backgrounds (The Daily Show) can exhibit some pretty severe blue flashing at times too.

The sound pops and crackles a bit when you change channels on this TV, and there is a little barely audible fuzz and static on the built-in speakers. The sound on certain HDMI connected devices may not work if you turn them on before turning the TV on. I think these issues also boil down to the firmware.

The inputs on this TV are awesome, and the experience is otherwise great, and the price is very affordable.

If the above mentioned issues can be addressed by firmware (if only the red flash, since I find it most annoying) I will gladly upgrade my rating to 5 stars.

This TV made for an awesome Christmas present, especially since I got an amazing Black Friday price on it. This is our first flat screen, and we have been very impressed with the picture quality, ease of use, and look of it hung up on our family room wall. We were a little surprised to find how much more we have to turn it up in order to hear well, but it's not any kind of dealbreaker. Overall, super pleased. Highly recommended.

I have a 52" W model in the living room and bought a 40V5100 model for the bedroom. The W model is definitely worth the extra money when you look to get a it all.

The pros:
The 40V5100 overall just fine for my bedroom.
Picture quality is fine.
Tuner works great and picks up everything.
Menu is easy to navigate.
Enough inputs.

The cons:
The sound is has a lot of static noise at lower volumes, it's very annoying.
The stations don't change as fast as on the W model.
You can not edit the names of the stations.
Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a higher end TV.