Sony Bravia S Series KDL 40S4100 40 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
Sony Bravia S Series KDL 40S4100 40 Inch 1080p LCD HDTV
40″ widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * 1920 x 1080 pixels * 2 component video (accepts signals up to 1080p) *
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Very pleased.
This TV was a big upgrade for us. We’ve never had a flat screen/hi-def TV before. I was rather overwhelmed by all the options out there, and I am by no means an expert on such things. I chose this one based on good reviews and what seemed like a reasonable price. I couldn’t be more pleased. This TV looks great, sounds great, and is easy to use.
5 Stars Why’d I wait?
Bought this at WalMart for two reasons, picture quality and inputs. Picture quality was outstanding considering it side-by-side with everything else they had at the store. That wasn’t enough for me. I wanted connectivity options. This “TV” has 3 HDMI inputs (not 2 as the description says). One of the HDMI inputs is on the side of the TV so you can plug in anything you want, any time. It also has 2 VGA ports - one on the side. If that’s not enough, there are two HD component inputs and optical and RCA audio outputs. But wait, there’s an S-Video input too. Did I mention it also has an HD15 video monitor (from your PC) input? How about a 3.5mm audio input? WOWIE! Oops, it’s got a coax input as well so you can use it as a regular old TV.
Pitcure’s great, blah, blah, blah… but did I mention the connectors? This TV doubles as an admirable PC monitor at full 1080P (assuming your video card supports it). Was able to play FPS games at full resolution. Wow again.
Cons: Well, there are some. The first one is the minimalist remote control. Everything is menu driven, it seems, and it wasn’t intuitive for me. I’d like more of it to be in shorter menus you can access from the remote. How about a universal remote? I have a Sony DVPCX995V 400-Disc DVD Mega Changer/Player that does HDMI 1080i upconverting (outstaning btw), a Sony home theater sound system as well. I have to have THREE different remotes for three Sony products. Arg. Then I have a satelite controller too.
The other beef I have is the highly limited PIP. It’s got that many inputs, but you can only use one at a time. The only PIP functionality is when you’re in PC mode with the HD15 input. Of course, if you’re using the HDMI for PC input it’s gone. This function is highly limited being a small box you can’t change positions of. It’s also poorly described in the instructions.
5 Stars Great TV.
This TV show HD picture wonderfully, for its price among its peers. It is a good choice. It is good for the game also. Perfect, and the sound effect …. A+
4 Stars Seems like a fine TV at a decent price
This is our first “big flat screen monster” and, while we are “Sony People” we were put off by their prices until these new models came out. The picture looks great, 1080 in particular of course. I have not noticed any of the not-quite-black issues others have talked about. The contrast is fine for me. I like the “piano black” much better than Sony’s fancy glass models, and it costs less as well. If there is one and only one issue with the whole thing it is that the documentation seems skimpy; it’s all about connecting the cables and not much technical detail about the TV. I already know how to hook it up… But if you’re looking at a 40 inch this is a nice one.
5 Stars Remarkable TV for the money
This is a remarkable TV for the money, with a great picure and resolution up to 1080p (P for progressive scan — 1080 lines of resolution with no interlace), and also support for 24 frames-per-second movie playback with Blu-ray high definition DVDs.
Setting up is straightfoward — you set up the stand where you want it, lift the TV onto it, and tighten 4 screws. It can also be wall mounted. On the back are the large range of inputs: three HDMI, two component, one S-Video, two standard video (RCA jacks) and one VGA port. You can guarantee that whatever you have, you’ll be able to connect it to this TV.
The best quality of output and convenience comes from HDMI connections (order some low cost HDMI cables from Amazon; my local stores wanted $50-$179!) A Blu-ray DVD player connected to the TV via HDMI delivers outstanding picture quality at 1080p, with amazing detail. It’s so good, in fact, that I found myself noticing film grain more often — you can practically count the grains!
This TV supports 24 frames-per-second (”24p” in the jargon), which matches the screen refresh rate to that used in movies. The visible difference shows up in shots where the camera pans (moves parallel to the scene). With regular TV playback, panning makes the scene blurry and you can’t see much detail because extra “interpolated” frames are inserted to match the TV frame rate. Panning shots in “Casino Royale” blu-ray DVD were clear at 24p, revealing some visual jokes I missed before (e.g. the Richard Branson cameo at airport security). For movies like The Bourne Ultimatum with lots of camera movement, 24p makes the whole movie clearer.
Screen contrast of the TV is also very good. Blacks appear black, color is not overdone (though there is a “vivid” setting if you want to boost saturation). Lower resolution sources at 480i look pretty good — they are upscaled nicely by the TV. Connecting a Wii with the standard video cables worked fine and produced a good picture.
For HDTV sources, this TV does excellent noise reduction and yet still delivers crisp detail and good color. This is where other LCD TVs fall down, and Sony really has done a great job with the Bravia engine.
Sound from the internal speakers is very good indeed, with dialogue particularly clear. Home theater speakers are better, but then that’s true for any TV.
I am very happy with my purchase — the TV has a stellar set of features at a great price versus more expensive versions with more bells and whistles… which I don’t need. It is not the cheapest LCD TV in the 40″ size, but the picture quality and number of source inputs sets it apart.
Filed under: Electronics, Sony
