Sony Bravia Z-Series KDL-40Z4100/S 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Silver

Review by S. Smith for Sony Bravia Z-Series KDL-40Z4100/S 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Silver
Rating:
The 10-bit Z series 40″ Sony LCDs are the absolute best. This TV sends XBR down a notch. Digital source material will jump out at you like never before. Gorgous color and contrast. The best yet.

1080i TV broadcast looks about 90% as good as Blu-ray on this panel. The delivery of non-HD DVD movies is wonderful and the picture using Blu Ray is absolutely stunning! (I rarely use the word “stunning”)

Also, it’s very future-proof with lots of (4) HDMI inputs and a LAN connection and USB. I’ve had the KDL 40Z4100 for about 2 weeks now and the ranking of picture quality goes as follows: Blu Ray (late release)movies, Digital HD television broadcast or HD digital cable, standard def (480 or 720) movies from a good quality “upscaling” player, and finally – standard def TV broadcast. The 120hz motion control and 24p pull-down work well on older standard def movies. My only advice is to not scrimp on the DVD player. You’re going to see your old flicks look better than you have seen them…ever – with a good upscalling player.

Even video sources from my computer look near HD. I’ve connected my computers 8800GT graphics card’s DVI out to the Sony’s HDMI input and the look of some of my games is just as good, if not better, than my 22” Samsung monitor.

This is Sony’s best so far, in my humble opinion. Go for it!

Review by Nak for Sony Bravia Z-Series KDL-40Z4100/S 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Silver
Rating:
I was looking for a 40″ LCD and narrowed it down to the Sony 40Z4100, Sony 40XBR4, and Samsung LN40A750… I’ve previously owned a 46″ Samsung LN-T4665F and a Samsung LN-T3253H so naturally I wanted to go back to Samsung. The picture on the 750 is amazing but side by side, in multiple stores, I just couldn’t take my eyes off the Sony LCDs. I then was stuck between the Sony 40XBR4 and the 40Z4100…

I had my heart set on the XBR4 since it was Sony’s top of the line product last year, but when I saw that this years 40″ XBR6 and XBR7 were going to have identical specs to the Z4100, (granted Contrast Ratio will probably be higher on the XBR’s,) it came down to the simple question of:

Do I want to spend $2500+ on the new XBR or $1700+ on the Z4100??

I have to say I’m extremely happy with my decision to save a few bucks and go with the Z-series. The picture quality is breathtaking in both HD and Blu-Ray. Standard TV is top notch as well but I’m blown away with the detail, color, and overall picture this TV offers. You really can’t lose if you’re going with any of these 3 TV’s but I’m so glad I went with the Z-series. Its thin frame is hardly seen and the TV is almost 20 lbs lighter than the XBR4… The Sony 40Z4100, is hands down, my choice for a 40″ LCD.

Review by Zed for Sony Bravia Z-Series KDL-40Z4100/S 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Silver
Rating:
I purchased this TV and have been using it for about 2 weeks now.

I’ve done extensive (some would label it obsessive) research on this and other models. What swayed my decision to purchase this model was:

1. The features offered with the Z series are almost identical to the XBR6 series. The only difference is the styling.

2. Many sources state that Sony’s overall reliability exceeds Samsung’s by a significant margin.

3. 10 bit panel.

4. Price.

4. Small footprint / dimensions compared to other 40 inch models.

Pros:

Setup was very easy.

Very attractive design.

Incredible HD picture quality.

Very good Standard Definition picture quality.

Menu very intuitive and easy to navigate.

Great motion flow technology. Viewing sporting events is absolutely amazing.

Color is much more accurate and realistic than most other TV’s I’ve seen

Black levels are more than adequate. In fact, they are better overall than my old Sony Trinitron CRT.

I’m able to notice detail like I never though possible. I can actually see dust floating through sunlight and lint on peoples clothing….not to mention every line and wrinkle in people’s faces.

Cons:

As with ALL LCD screens I’ve owned and viewed, there will always be some noticeable light bleed from the illuminating lamp. But overall, this is not noticeable during normal viewing. It can only seen when there is no signal.

Viewing angle on this, and many other LCDs suffers PQ loss when the angle approaches 50-60 degrees. Not a big minus, but there are other brands that don’t suffer as much loss with that angle.

The infamous sparkle issue: If you’ve done your research, you will come across complaints regarding random ‘sparkles’ that flash for a few milliseconds. Depending on the source, they may be as frequent as 1 every few minutes. This is only noticeable if you are aware of the issue and are watching for them. These sparkles are no larger than 1 pixel in size….not at all distracting.

I noticed that they only occur when viewing standard definition material that is being shown on an HD channel. I have never noticed it on SD channels nor when watching DVD’s.

Sony has released a firmware update that can be VERY EASILY APPLIED if you own a USB drive. You download the new firmware from their site, save it to the drive, plug the drive into the TV and the reset is automatic.

After the update, issue was resolved. No more sparkles!

[..]

Overall I am very pleased with the TV.

I chose this over the equivalent Samsung model mainly because I feel the Samsung frame is ugly and unnecessarily bulky. Also, the Samsung’s picture looks too saturated…colors are not ‘realistic’.

Review by Paul Sturm for Sony Bravia Z-Series KDL-40Z4100/S 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV, Silver
Rating:
I have the 40 inch version and while the HD is amazing, I think where it will stand out to the average users is it’s ability to upscale standard definition signals. It does an amazing job. I have (non-HD) Dish Network (at least until AT&T’s U-verse is available on my block) and this set gives my Dish Network subscription a new lease on life.

The other killer feature is the ‘favorites’ button on the remote. It will allow you to select which input to view by a animated, ribbon like menu of icons (XBR) that you can somewhat customize. This makes it simple to change sources for those less likely to understand HDMI1, HDMI2, Component 1, Composite, etc.

Picture quality is flawless. The only thing it doesn’t have is…wait, it’s not missing anything. This costs more than most it’s size but it fits smaller spaces since the speakers are under the LCD and the frame around the LCD is less than 1 inch.

This set gave me the most bang for the space, not buck. It’s not the cheapest but I have no buyer’s remorse either – and I AM cheap.