In light of uniformity issues in supposed pre-production samples, is it not possible that Sony hand-picked review units that they had tested for uniformity before sending them out?
I'm seriously thinking about buying the 40" version of this set. Can anyone advise if the main points of this review will apply to the smaller unit?
Maybe Sony should have hand picked the samples for the first batch! I would expect this to be standard operating procedure when submitting products to a reviews site such as this one. After all, a little bit of bad news can do a lot of damage.
The best / worst thing someone can do is go over to avforums to get the low down on real life feedback on AV equipment such as LCD tvs.
The best? Lots of feedback, pictures, genuine (mostly) advice, fault reporting.
The worst? You'll end up never buying a tv because you'll realise that there isn't a perfect one out there, and you'll always end up waiting for 'next years model' to see whether they (meaning the manufacturer) had solved the problem (main one being backlight bleed)...which they never usually do
@sam - You've hit the nail on the head there!!
When I bought my current, 28" JVC Widescreen telly way back in 2000 (which still works fine and is going to end up on a tip if I can't give it away) - a telly was a telly, you picked the size you wanted, and if you were feeling flush you could stump up a bit more cash for one with better sound, and maybe a slightly flatter, squarer tube (!). You judged the picture quality by looking at them all side by side in Currys, no-one gave a monkeys about movement blur, clouding, artifacts, etc and more often than not you got a stand thrown in as well. Then once you had wedged the awkwardly shaped behemoth into the corner of your lounge, rucking up all your carpet in the process, you didn't read internet forums that relentlessly pointed out all your sets failings, and then 6 months later feel envious of next years model!!!
Ok, so you couldn't as easily buy on line, meaning you had to deal face to face with the jumped up little sales Herberts, and getting anything bigger that a 28" onto it's stand would usually end up with 2 weeks in an orthopedic ward, but buying a telly was SO much simpler then ;-)
Signed, a bewildered person who's in the market for a new telleh.
@ChrisC - I was in the same boat last autumn. I spent weeks and weeks studying reviews here and everywhere else. Comments on avforums just depressed and totally confused me as every make and model seemed to have a multitude of faults and disadvantages disected ad nauseum.
In the end I decided to cut the crap and read every TV review on here for the size I was after and went for the cheapest that got 8 out of 10 overall. It was a Sharp 46" and needless to say its excellent.
I really think people spend too much time studying the picture rather than watching the TV.
@ChrisC - haha, I wouldn't go reading the feedback from avforums on the 40W5500 then!
Judging from forum postings, its very much hit and miss whether you get a set with big backlight bleed problems or not, and according to several posts, many manufacturers won't recognise it as a 'fault' if you complain about it, making it difficult to return to the retailer.
I imagine this won't get sorted until LED backlighting reaches maturity.
Then I'm sure there will be something even more fantastic on the horizon that will supposedly solve all the problems newly associated with LED LCDs.
In an ideal world, a retailer would set up a demo in a dark room, consisting of 5-10 tvs (all the same) and then you could just choose the one with the least bleed, but I don't fancy the chances of that happening (although I'd happily pay extra for it)
Remember though, alot of the people on avforums are super sensitive to any bleed, so take what they say with a pinch of salt
Do yourself a favour and steer clear of avforums, 99% of the chatter on there is pure garbage by self professed 'experts' with OCD.
Back to the 5500, Sony's pre-producion line sounds a little fishy to me, more like they forgot to pick out a decent one for review first time round.
That said, I have a 4500W that I adore and am seriously considering one of these too. Will hold on for the Samsung 7000 review before I make my mind up though.
I hope for SONY's sake that they have sorted out the backlight issues. As a somewhat satisfied owner of a recently produced KDL-52W4500, I can assure you that the uneven blackness is not restricted to pre-production specimens. It is very real and very hard to ignore when the picture fades to black...
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