Sony Bravia KDL-40V5500 40in LCD TV Comments

"your jaw hanging open in admiration"

"To be fair, the subtlety of the problem here is such that it only very RARELY troubles your viewing"

and you gave Image Quality an 8/10?

are you serious?

I've been on the AVForums, I've read a couple of other reviews of the new Sony 5500 generation on the 'net, and they nearly all mention this backlighting/clouding problem to varying degrees.

I wonder why it's so prevalent on Sony sets, especially as I've heard that the panels are made by a joint Sony/Samsung venture, so why do Samsung panels seem comparatively unaffected? I also wonder how the problem varies from set to set too? Hmm, much to think about for me.

I too have read elsewhere (on much more TV-centric site & therefore they give sets a much more thorough technical going over - no criticism of TR intended there btw it being a more general review site) that if the tv is properly calibrated then this problem is virtually non existent & should not worry you in light of the TVs other visual strengths unless you don't want to pay for the expense to calibrate the tv properly (or do yourself if you are technically competent in tv calibration - unlike me) - and in that case you might as well buy a budget set and/or watch it via a scart lead (like I have seen *TOO* many times in the past. Actually the worst culprit is my, soon-2-be, brother in law who bought a 52" Samsung Plasma TV which not only was only 720p (i.e. not Full-HD, slightly daft that) but also for which he has only 1 potential HD source - a PS3, wait for it, connected to the TV via RCA Video - ARGH!!!).

"Having to hardwire the TV to your broadband connection - not always an easy job ..."

Connecting the Ethernet via a `home-plug` thingy (or woteva they are called again - I forget) would be simple enough though & something has to give at this price point.