Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black Reviews

Review by Timothy Trant for Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black
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Ok let me start off by saying this TV is awesome, I bought it as a family gift for Christmas it’s in a family room. It makes the room look so much bigger (should state we had a projection screen TV, it was huge) this TV is on the wall and positioned great. Enough about that, lets get down to why people read these reviews. The picture is great i don’t have the high definition channels yet but I have a lot of Blu rays and from that aspect I couldn’t ask for anything better. The picture is so clear you can see the pores in people’s faces. The settings for the TV are good too, usually to get the best picture the TV has to be on vivid (that will burn out the the TV out really quick) that isn’t the case here I have the TV on cinema and it’s bright enough for me. The sound is OK it’s loud but when I watch movies I like to think I’m in the movie, I bought surround sound and that fixed that problem. I buy everything Sony because the Bravia sync works great you don’t have to program the remote it’s all done for you as long as you hook it up through HDMI. Now the TV has tons of inputs no need to buy an input extender. It has four HDMI one VGA and two component inputs, (all the inputs are on the side of the TV for easy access except the two component inputs are on the back of the TV) which I hate because the TV is on the wall and there isn’t anyway to get to them without taking the TV down, but if you don’t plan to put the TV on the wall you won’t have a problem. All in all the TV is a great buy I would highly recommend purchasing this item, The product is great and the price is very reasonable.

On a related note I would also recommend purchasing a warranty from square trade, The prices beat the store warranty buy at least sixty percent and no shipping your giant TV and waiting two weeks for it to be returned. They come to you and do all repairs in home for all TVs greater that thirty seven inches.

This is my first review I have ever Written, please let me know how I did.

Thanks

Review by P. Collins for Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black
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We wanted to replace our RPT Pioneer in our familyroom (55″ screen)

There are three windows and many large screen TV’s have screens with alot of glare. This was the best screen, picture and size for the price and it was a SONY.

We have always loved Sony. We purchased it online at Best Buy because it included delivery and Geek Squad Home Theatre Installation.

Bad news was that the Sony 55″ we ordered went on sale for $200.00 less , the next day. I called Best Buy and asked for a Price Match representative. I asked because it was $200.00 less today should I cancel my order and just place a new order? She assured me that I would get the price match and if I cancelled my order I would lose my delivery date .

I SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED MY INSTINCTS AND NOT TRUSTED BEST BUY OR THEIR REPRESENTATIVES. I did not cancel my order and did call two more times last week to inquire about the Price Match, (it cannot be processed until your card is charged) TODAY I GET AN EMAIL THAT MY REQUEST FOR PRICE MATCH WAS DENIED BECAUSE IT WAS A “BUNDLE” PURCHASE AND I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT DID NOT QUALIFY!!!

TV was delivered yesterday and it is a beauty. We are now considering a possible upgrade. We will put this in our bedroom and get the 60 or 65 SONY for the Familyroom. The picture is great and we are still on the fence regarding Calibration. It looks great now!

BOTTOM LINE..DO NOT TRUST BEST BUY FOR YOUR PURCHASES. THEY DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MISLEADING THEIR CUSTOMERS JUST TO MAKE THE SALE. WE WILL NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FURTHER FROM BEST BUY. The only people who were straight with us were the third party delivery people who delivered the TV and set it up. They were great and did exactly what they promised.

Review by Lajos S. Tresser for Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black
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The TV arrived 2 days prior of it’s promised delivery time in perfect condition. The delivery drivers from Pilot Freight also set it up in short order. Thank you Amazon and Pilot for the excellent service. Immediately after delivery Dishnetwork installed the HD connection to it. It runs mostly still on the factory settings, although I found on the Internet a set of settings for it recommneded by an expert evaluator, but I did not attempt to follow those recommendations yet, because it is OK as it is. Also there was 1 available software update from Sony which I carried-out, just in case. The TV itself is working perfectly and provides a movie teather-like experience and I can even see it (MOST IMPORTANTLY) without my glasses on, from my normal viewing point about 9′ away. The visibility aspect is very important to me because I no longer could see my trusty old 27″-er even with my glasses on. Before I received it, I was worrying that I purchased a TV too large for my small viewing room, but this fear was laid to rest after the first few minutes of viewing, because it’s picture resolution is so good that I can stand next to it without experiencing any grainyness or any other optical problems. It appears that there is no TV too large!! Everything on the new TV is wonderful especially it’s picture quality, and this is even more true in HD. It needed a real high speed HDMI cable though (Sony DLC-HD10HF) to uncork it’s full potential, instead of the little inexpensive no name brand HDMI cable I first used to connect the TV to the DVR receiver. The possible quality exception is maybe it’s overall sound quality, which is suprisingly enough inferior to my 11 year old Philips CRT TV. Interestingly enough the sound volume of a given HD channell is also much lower than the same of it’s non HD counterpart, without any extra volume adjustment. The so called surround sound effect although modifies the sound is not to my liking either. Please consider all these sound issues one man’s ears only! Therefore I am considering to add some extra speakers later on. The Sony HT-CT100 or 500 soundbar sytem respectively, come here to mind. These are designed for Bravia TV-s (Bravia Link). Too bad that these soundbar systems have no stock attachment to the KDLV model. Also mornings, when I first start it up, the DVR receiver or the TV or both, respond sluggishly only to the commmads of the remote for a minute or two. This is no longer apparent for the rest of the day. Originally I considered the Samsung LN 55B630 and/or the Sharp Aqous LC55E77U as possible other choices. The Sony KDLV being a new model this year also, is overall an excellent purchase especially considering the purchase price and the 12 month no interest payment terms from Amazon. Now if it only would provide a trouble free decade of service like my old Philips TV did I would be completely happy with it.

Review by TangledUpNBigBlue for Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black
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I recently purchased this TV from Amazon after much research into LCD vs Plasma, Samsung vs. Panasonic, etc. While in a Best Buy Store comparing Samsung & Panasonics TV’s- my wife noticed this Sony nearby –granted you have to take picture quality in-store with a grain of salt due to the retail settings & source material; but all in all we liked the picture of the Sony best. Picture was brighter & clearer than the other brands and colors seemed truer.

Believe me I have no great allegiance to Sony whatsoever –I have owned several Sony products over the years and have been largely pleased except for a recent experience with a PS3 failing twice with 18 months–fixed once under warranty,then died again once warranty period was over-relatively big $ for repairs (50% of new retail price for repairs? c’mon Sony, how about a kiss first?) -therefore initially I wasn’t open to Sony TVs or Sony anything for that matter – especially as my tech savvy friends all steered me to Samsung. I was ready to buy a Sammie until we saw this Sony.

I have to admit that so far we’re very happy. Picture is great,there are no frills but I don’t really want frills; just a great picture. Remote is basic but intuitive replaced by Direct TV remote anyway, on-screen menus are easy to follow & logically laid out. Speakers are lame for movies but what TV speakers aren’t? I run the sound through an Onkyo receiver & problem solved. For normal TV programming such as the news the built in speakers, while far from great are better than many other brands I’ve heard.

It’s only been 3 weeks but so far we are very pleased; it hasn’t won me back to Sony fully but in a few years maybe it will.

One note: the bezel surrounding the screen is a high gloss black plastic that is a magnet for finger prints-otherwise it’s an attractive unit.

We had Pilot delivery — tracked the package on Pilot website -they indicated they had called my house & got no answer. Shot them an email & got a response in less than an hour. At around 10:30 am I asked to schedule delivery -they asked when I wanted it -I answered “This afternoon” (Black Friday) thinking a 6 hour window would be reasonable. Pilot was at the house with the TV in an hour -the delivery guys carried it in and asked me to sign & initial that the TV worked, without unboxing it -when I refused to sign without inspection they graciously unpacked it & powered it up. More laziness than anything else I guess.

All in all a pleasant experience –much quicker & easier than I had expected after reading others comments about Pilot on Amazon.

If the TV holds up better than the PS3’s did I’ll be happy -if not, I’ll never buy Sony anything again.

A final thought; I paid $1577. shipped –I wouldn’t pay a dime more.

Review by W. Wong for Sony BRAVIA V-Series KDL55V5100 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD TV, Black
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The product is good but the guy who deliever did not even open the box and take it out. We late found out it was a openned box and then called Amazon customer service. They said they are willing to give $40 for that and I said it was too little since we don’t know what would have been done on the tv and it cost more than $2000. Then he forward the call to the other department of Amazon and said they might give us better reimbursement but the lady at that department even said it was not their fault and would not compensate anything! I have to spend more than 30 minute to argue with them and mentioned that it should be some kind of white glove delievery and eventually get the $40 back. I am kind of afraid to place another order from Amazon!

Review by Informed Shopper for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 55-Inch LCD TV, Black
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This Sony was sold to me directly from Sony in exchange for a 5 year old 60″ Sony that had an ‘optic block’ problem that would require an expensive fix. Sony had been repairing this problem for free but I had no way to know that until mine went bad and then talking to Sony they had switched to an exchange program where the customer would pay about slightly less than half the retail price. If you have a slightly older Sony that is putting either a blue color on the screen or a green one you might start directly with the Sony Style website and contact their support help to see what they may offer you. On one hand I was very sad to see my 5 year Sony develop a problem but on the other hand I have to give Sony credit for standing up to the known problem.

The largest TV offered in the exchange program was this 55″ model or I certainly would have gone for the 60″ because I prefer that size. That said this model has a better and more vibrant picture than my older Sony which was a premium model that I had paid over $4,000 for. So the bottom line for me is that this new Sony has a better picture for less than the old one even if you pay retail. My old Sony weighed 113lbs and this new one is around 65lbs so it is easier to handle. The remote is better and more intuitive. We watch this in a very bright room filled with natural sunlight during the day and this TV handles that very well with no glare. The speakers are nothing to write home about and probably not as good as my old Sony but we tend to watch movies with the sound coming from a quality sound system anyway. My old Sony was 1080i and this one is full 1080p which is an excellent picture. We get our signal from Dish Net which broadcasts almost exclusively in 1080i anyway. For movies we use a Samsung Blu-Ray player which works beautifully with this TV. In fact there is a type of automatic setting that the Samsung and the Sony have where when you turn on the Samsung the TV also turns on and then goes directly to the input from the Samsung. Very cool. Truthfully I can barely tell the difference from a good blu-ray picture and a good standard DVD. We tend to use Netflix a lot and always order Blu-Ray when available.

I thought the set up was easy and the available HDMI connections are excellent as my old Sony only had two HDMI inputs and this one has 4. We actually use all 4 with a DVD recorder, Dish Net, HD camcorder, and the blu-ray.

I would have no problem recommending this Sony LCD TV and in fact when I looked in the stores I thought the new LED LCDs seemed a little too bright. I do miss the 60″ size but everyone who has looked at this picture has been in the ‘wow’ camp with it.

Review by Mark Twain for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 55-Inch LCD TV, Black
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I had the same experience as the other reviewer with a 5 year old 60 inch rear projection Sony TV that developed a blue blob on the screen. I was none too happy when Sony put me on hold after telling me my […] TV was out of warranty. When they came back on and offered me this TV for less than half the retail price I was OK with that result.

Now that I’ve had the TV for a couple of months I’m thrilled with it. It doesn’t have all the bells + whistles/internet connectivity of other models but I love the picture. It’s a great value even at list price and I’ll get all those bells + whistles with my new Blu-ray player anyway.

Nothing bad to say about this TV.

Review by Gadget Man for Sony BRAVIA EX 500 Series 55-Inch LCD TV, Black
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I looked around for a 55″ for a while, what I liked about this TV compared to same size different brand was that the Sony had significantly less glare than it’s competitors. The TV is light, easy to setup, and comes with a great stand. I like the feature of being able to connect a USB stick but I think that is pretty standard these days. The Ambient Sensor and LightSensor feature which allows to automatically adjust the color and backlight based on a room’s lighting is also very useful if your TV is in a room with a lot of windows. Needless to say this TV is Energy Star qualified which was a plus.

What I don’t like is the TV lacks internet access which as we move into the future will become more standard. However, you can connect your Laptop via HDMI and project. I do get the “Program description not available” not sure if that is a SONY problem or cable provider issue.

Overall a good buy and would highly recommend it.