Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black

Review by T. Miller for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Rating:
After pretty much researching TVs to death, we purchased the Sony Bravia EX 500 and couldn’t be happier. We wanted a 40″ TV because it would fit nicely in our TV Armoire cabinet. I throw value into the equation, so I don’t hesitate to give this 5 stars.

Highlights:

1) Crystal clear 1080p HDTV broadcast and BluRay performance.

2) The voice clarity comes through incredibly clear. I used to have to crank up the volume much higher to understand conversations on movies and TV shows.

3) The standard definition comes in much better than our old 720p HDTV, but we spend most of our time on the HDTV channels.

4) You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between this TV and those costing twice as much for the same size.

Lowlights:

1) This is minor, but I’ll keep it honest. Jutter is noticeable in faster moving camera pans and action, but hardly on BluRay which has me wondering how much has to do with the frequency of the broadcast vs. the TV. We watched “Iron Man” on the BluRay and it looked great.

2) It’s rated at 150k:1 contrast ratio which pales in comparison to the 2MM:1 and higher on LEDs and Plasmas.

In summary, we’re very happy with the performance of the Sony Bravia EX 500. At present, I don’t know if there’s a better combination of price and performance. We’re value conscious, so we’re extremely satisfied with this purchase.

Review by Adam J. Murphy for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
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Let’s start off by saying that this is my 4th Sony TV purchase but only my 1st Sony LCD experience. I entered the LCD era years ago with Budget brands such as ViewSonic and Westinghouse and was very satisfied. Yet I’m always looking to upgrade. This 40″ set replaced a perfectly working 36″ Sony 720p CRT monster (219lbs), only because the entertainment center started to crumble around the mass. I still have all 3 of my old Sony CRT TV’s and will never get rid of them.

So, I’ve always lusted after a Sony LCD but the prices were always a tad too high. Then came along this 40″ Bravia and the time and Price was right. Shipping was quick, I was always in touch with the shipping company. The TV arrived 4 days later, box in perfect condition, not a scratch on it. That is where the honeymoon ended. After switching out TV’s, putting in the new entertainment center, transfering all of my components over and hooking everything up per the manuals instructions….It was time to power it on. It turned on fine, started the initial set up….Then turned off all by itself and proceded to do so 3 more times then just stayed off while blinking a series of red lights below. I unplugged, reconected with other cables just incase. Same problem, off then on then off 3 more times then the same lights. I instantly had flashbacks of my 7 Xbox’s going through the dreaded RROD (Read Ring of Death).

Called Sony support. Once they ran through the trouble shooting they asked for a time sequence on the lights and then quickly put me on hold. Then the agent said very stern, unplug the TV and you will need to do an exchange due to an internal error. The TV is broken! Essentially DOA! What was supposed to be a quick exchange according to Sony turned into a 2 week turn around. Some say I should have just returned it through amazon, I tried but the TV wasn’t in stock, so I would have had to wait for the credit to my account before purchasing a new brand and that would have taken 2 weeks acording to the amazon rep. So I waited for a tracking number from Sony. Then came the news of a 3 week arrival time. I almost lost it, but as luck would have it, it shipped early and arrived yesterday, 9 days from the initial call to Sony support.

The replacement works great, the set up went through 100%. All of my components works great. The Picture is amazing. The menu is easy to use.

I do have one set of complaints with reguards to the amount of inputs and this is where it looses a star for me. Being an older gamer that has a young child. I like to have the option of hooking up my older systems for him to learn on (N64, SNES, his Vtech) but in this age of HDMI, TV makers are putting allot less standard inputs. I had no problem hooking up the PS3 and Cable box via HDMI, but things got a little interesting when it came time to hook up the Wii, original Xbox and Bose 321 system via component…there are only 2 component inputs. No prob, I’ll just throw the Bose onto a S-video because we only use the Bose for my Son’s movies to help limit disc time on the PS3…..but there is No S-video. Ok, I’ll just dump that onto a standard RCA…I can’t because my Son’s V-Tech has taken the only standard RCA. Solution was to give the Bose back it’s component slot, Split the wires for the Xbox and Wii. I did not want to get into the whole thing of using a System selector as I have done in the past…too much clutter. I have a feeling I may have to go to a system selector if we decide to hook up the N64 and SNES for him.

Reguardless of my problems with the 1st TV, I am still a fan of the Sony brand. These DOA LCD’s seem to happen with every brand and it was just luck of the draw. If you search online, there are plenty of stories of DOA units right out of the box. Sony support gets a C+ only in the fact that they got a replacement out to me in 9 days instead of the stated 21 days. They need to work on their customer support especially compared to Amazon where the Amazon reps bend over backwards to help the customer.

Review by Reader B for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Rating:
This is the second Sony LCD HDTV I have. My other is the KDL-40Z4100. Sony provides high quality for the price.

I use rabbit ears to get over the air signals, and it pulls in all the stations available. The picture is crisp, and in watching a DVD (up converted) of The Dark Knight, I noticed no loss of resolution during fast scenes. I haven’t had a chance to watch a Blu-Ray on it yet. I have a Sony Blu-Ray player, so it syncs nicely.

The downside? Well, when you turn it on, you get a chime sound. The plus is that is is fast in going between channels, although the favorites only hold the last 10 channels, and the remote leaves a lot to be desired. Other than the number buttons, the buttons are a bit small and crowded. Not sure why it has an ON button on the back side, as well as in the expected place. The remote for my KDL-40Z4100 is far better.

The sound is all right; nothing to really write home about.

I have it in a room where the light levels will change quite a bit, and so far have not noticed any issues. There is a light sensor that is supposed to help adjust the picture to ambient light levels. One can select different picture settings (movie, general, etc.) but I haven’t found a need to select those.

The set looks good, and it has a swivel base.

Review by Leonard C. Moses II for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Rating:
I bought this a couple months ago as a first flat screen tv. I paid the price that Amazon is selling it for now which is 790 dollars. I am pleased with it. When I first got the tv there were times when the picture wasn’t perfect for what was playing. During the Where the Wild Things Are Bluray the browns didn’t come through just right. So I changed a few settings and yes… then it was perfect. I use this tv for a pc monitor, for browsing the internet, for netflix watch it now, for blurays, and for upconverted dvd’s. I bought a Sony bdp-s360 and am pleased with the quality of the upconverted dvd’s on this screen as well. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between Blurays and dvd’s. Animated films seem much clearer on Bluray. I play games like Titan Quest on this pc and they have never looked better. I’m looking forward to playing a good mmo on it. Great tv. Good price. This one should last for years. I found no other screen I liked as much as this for the price.

Review by Patrick Mcinerney for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
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I got this tv because I needed a solid all purpose TV. I wanted a TV that I could watch cable on, play my PS3 on and use as a computer monitor. So far this TV has excelled at all 3.

I looked everywhere for info on this tv and came up with very little while I was considering buying. However after I saw it in the Sony Store, and they finally published all the stats for the TV I thought it would be a good fit. I say search around for the best price on this one. I used bing cashback and got a sick deal.

Anyway now onto the TV.

I use this in my room, and is the 3rd LCD screen that we own. 1st is an older XBR 52″ 1080p 120hz. Its a nice tv but a bit dated. We have had it for a few years. This ex500 i think gets a better picture quality when watching HD rated Bluray or HD TV. The other TV is a generic 32″ 720p and 60hz. So needless to say this is a huge upgrade over that.

Watching regular TV is ok. Its not great quality, as SD channels come in a bit blury. Its not to say its bad, and if you only watch SD Channels it wont really make a difference to you, but when you have HD channels to compare it to, the SD is kinda crud.

PS3 is beautiful. The 1080p looks amazing, and there is no tv lag or blur in the games. I play a wide range of games (From frantic FPS’ to RPGS) and the graphics all are beautiful.

PC also synced flawlessly. The videocard i was using was a bit low end so it wasnt the greatest transition to full screen, and the computer lagged a bit trying to process for such a large aspect ratio. I am getting a newer pc soon though with a video card that can handle the high end aspect ratios.

USB video – sadly its one feature i havent been able to test. Since I have a PS3 Ive been using that to watch video off of a USB, and also all my videos are .avi, while the TV only supports .mpg off of the USB stick. This was slightly disappointing. However, the TV immediately recognized the USB and played music and images off of it with no problem.

All in all this TV is great for the price. It has a lot of high end features and you can get a decent deal on one.

Review by jrock81 for Sony BRAVIA EX 400 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Rating:
I have to say, I really like this TV. My previous LCD was a Samsung 32″ 720p – and this set blows it away in almost every aspect. I think I paid around $550 for the Samsung a little over a year ago, so I jumped at the chance to upgrade to the EX400.

Pros: The ambient light sensor works terrific.

– 4 HDMI inputs! Plug away my friends.

– Bravia Sync feature works great with my Sony home theater system.

– PS3 games have never looked better. I played Killzone 2 right after I setup the TV and my jaw was open for about 10 minutes straight.

– It only has a 60Hz refresh rate, but I’ve yet to see any blur while watching sports.

– DVD’s look fairly crisp as well, considering I have a cheap DVD up-converter.

– It’s a Sony! I’m sure some ppl have had bad experiences with Sony, but I’ve had nothing but luck. To each his own I guess.

Cons: The remote is junk. It looks cheap and it isn’t very functional.

– The grey panel on the front. I had a bigger problem with the online picture of the set than I do in person. It doesn’t look THAT bad – but it still throws off the continuity of the black perimeter. Strange call by Sony.

– Calibration is frustrating. There are so many different picture settings you’ll probably struggle to find the perfect setup. I used the DVD THX Optimizer (found it on one of my Star Wars movies) and it helped a lot. (I posted them on […])

– If you’re using an antenna instead of cable/satellite you’ll find that channel surfing is a bit slow. This is kind of a nitpick, but the channels take a little longer to load on this set.

– No swivel? I knew this set didn’t have it before I bought it – but it would still be nice.

For around $600 you can have full 1080p AND a 40″ screen. Great TV – great deal.

Review by BAM for Sony BRAVIA EX 400 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
Rating:
Very happy. Sharp picture. Easy to use. Not an electronic-phile but I do my homework and was hesitant to buy a Sony. From what I read Sony was living on its laurels. But this TV seems to give great bang for the buck (and my wife wanted a Sony). I do not miss 120HZ or LED. The picture is not blurry when watching sports or action movies to my eye or anyone else in my family (of course all we watch is curling) (just kidding). Picture is bright, too. Easy set-up. It has a pre-set for home (rather than store), which has been fine by all of us. $599 for 40″ 1080p. Pretty Sweet.

Review by Daniel A. Robbins for Sony BRAVIA EX 400 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
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After my Sony 32″ KDL32M4000 developed an interior vertical crack on the LCD (suddenly and without warning … while it was hanging on the wall) I started looking for a new LCD begrudgingly (since the old was only 1.5 years old).

Suffice to say I am THRILLED with the replacement I choose; this EX400 40″. The picture clarity is breathtaking (I’m connected here in NYC to TimeWarner Cable’s HD cable and I have an Xbox360, Playstation3 and Sony 5.1 surround Home Theatre kit all connected via HDMI – effortlessly).

From the box to my wall this TV took all of 15 minutes to set up. It was that easy. There isn’t a lot of tweeking of the picture, which is just fine with me!

The best part was the price I got from BestBuy. $575 (sale price $630 less $55 in coupons via their Reward Zone program). At this price, the choice was basically made for me. And I get to continue my love affair with Sony!

BUY THIS TV!

Review by B. McGuigan for Sony BRAVIA EX 400 Series 40-Inch LCD TV, Black
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I bought this TV from a big box store and have been loving every min of it. I used to have a 27″ CRT that weighed 40lbs and needed 2 people to lift, this thing probably weighed half of that and I set it up by my self (from un-boxing to lifting onto the stand).I have it hooked up to an upscaling dvd player, a yamaha amp (surround sound) and then an xbox. Everything looks fantastic. The blacks are black and there is no light bleed from around the corners. Even though it isn’t the fastest refresh rate (hertz) as some of the other tvs, the picture is fine, even on fast paced driving or shooting games I have no light trails/drag.

Use the picture settings that someone has posted here on a different review for best color and have all of your equipment go to into the tv with HDMI, then optical cable out of it to your surround sound and you’ll never be happier.