Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: KDL40W5500U
• Released on: 2009-03-16
• Dimensions: 39.68 pounds
• Display size: 40

Manufacturer's Description

A BRAVIA LCD TV is no ordinary television. Design is sleeker, pictures are brighter, details clearer. All BRAVIA televisions are HD Ready as a minimum, with up to 4 HDMI connections, and come with an integrated digital tuner so there is no need for a set-top box to view Freeview TV and radio channels. Most of the BRAVIA LCD TVs feature BRAVIA Sync technology, it takes just one button to turn on your entire Sony home entertainment system, while XrossMediaBar helps you navigate your TV easily with its best-in-class menu screen. After all advanced technology should simply mean technology that does more for you.

The BRAVIA W5500 has all the Sony technology you need to experience a new level of entertainment. BRAVIA ENGINE 3 digital processing delivers a depth, richness and clarity that will take your breath away. Motionflow 100Hz technology keeps fast-moving sports and action crisp and clear. You can connect it to your home network using DLNA and enjoy music, video and pictures from other compatible devices on your TV. Plus you can use the AppliCast™ feature to check on-screen RSS feeds of news and other information while you’re watching your favourite programmes.

Motionflow 100Hz for super-smooth, ultra-realistic sport and action scenes

Motionflow 100Hz lets you see fast-moving sports and action scenes like never before by unlocking the amazing detail they contain. This blur reduction technology produces super-smooth, ultra-realistic viewing by doubling the conventional number of frames in a sequence. After every frame it creates an additional unique frame before the next one, based on key factors in the preceding and following images. While similar technologies simply duplicate frames, Motionflow 100Hz intelligently applies information to make movement appear even smoother.

The unique technology of BRAVIA ENGINE 3 optimises the quality of every single scene

An LCD television creates pictures by switching millions of pixels on and off. In the W5500 this process is controlled by the BRAVIA ENGINE 3, the latest version of Sony’s advanced digital processing technology. Using a collection of unique Sony algorithms it applies a digital perfecting process to reduce noise and produce cleaner images, higher contrast and smoother motion sequences, resulting in enhanced overall performance regardless of source.

Specifically, it analyses each individual scene, controlling the peak brightness level to generate advanced colour and brightness, and optimising the noise level. It also detects and adjusts the overall colour distribution of each frame and smoothes diagonal lines of pixels in fast-moving pictures to prevent jagged edges and bleeding colours.

In short, it delivers exceptional performance in every single scene.

Create an entertainment network in your home with DLNA

The BRAVIA W5500 means you can finally create an easy-to-use home network that lets you share music, video and pictures from around the house on your TV. As part of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Sony has adopted a universal standard for connectivity that enables your electronic devices, regardless of brand, to ‘talk’ to one another. So now it’s easy to move files between your TV, PC, printer, music player, phone, camera and more, wherever they are in the home. By integrating your TV into a home network, either wirelessly or via a cable, you can use your BRAVIA remote to find photos on the DLNA-enabled laptop in your bedroom and call them up to your living room TV screen. If you want hard copies, just send them to print on the colour printer in your spare room.

As well as BRAVIA TVs, Sony offers a range of DLNA Certified™ devices such as VAIO notebooks, the Sony Ericsson mobile phone, the PLAYSTATION®3 and the GigaJuke hard-disc drive music system.

AppliCast™ brings live internet feeds to your screen while you watch TV

AppliCast™ lets you see internet information on your BRAVIA TV while you're watching television. You don't have to switch on your PC - just call up widgets onto the TV screen. Three widgets, including a clock and calendar, are already installed on the on-screen XrossMediaBar and you can add RSS feeds of news, weather and more by connecting your TV to the internet via the Ethernet port at the back. Just select the information you want with your BRAVIA remote and it's right there whenever you need it.

Box Contains

Customer Reviews

A great choice
I took delivery of this TV 3 weeks ago to replace an older and smaller LCD model. Having been looking at the various televisions of this sort of size that are available, I made my final decision to buy this particular model based on looking in stores, careful inspection of specifications and looking widely at reviews on the internet.
As something which is going to be a major feature of my living room for quite a long time I wanted to make the right decision. Certainly there are cheaper brands, and also cheaper Sony models out there, but the Bravia 'W' range seems to be the best combination when it comes to features, quality and price.
Having used it daily I can now confirm that I think I made a wise choice. This Sony has the best colour display of any television I've seen. When you first watch it it's as if everything is suddenly in 3D - such is the depth and definition of the picture, even when using it to watch standard definition Freeview television as I usually do. I thought that I was getting a very good quality Freeview picture with my previous setup, but it is noticeably better with this Bravia. I've also invested in a Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player to use with this TV and watched a number of discs through that. As you'd expect the quality of the picture then is exceptional.
The sound is also surprisingly good for a TV. There's plenty of energy in the sound output and great clarity too. I can now hear things that I'd missed before - I actually got up to answer the phone at one point before realising that it wasn't mine - it was on the telly!
There's only one snag that I've found with this TV and that's a minor one. Although it has a good number of connections available to it Sony has reduced the number of SCART sockets on this model to 2. As someone who is still in the process of upgrading my televisual equipment, the rest of my equipment (except for the Blu-ray player) uses SCART connections so a third one may have been a bonus.

Faultless
When my trusty Trinitron (literally) went pop, I turned to amazon for my next TV purchase, having been impressed with their service and good prices over the years. I was looking for a 37" W series Sony Bravia but as this model was only £10 more expensive, it would have been rude not to go for the bigger screen. Despite specifying next day delivery, it actually took three days to arrive (via Citylink) but the extra £8.80 charge was politely and promptly refunded within three hours of my inquiry. Like all amazon deliveries, tracking was easy online. It comes with a Sony 3 year guarantee.

OUT OF THE BOX

It was actually light enough to remove from the box on my own, though it helps if you have long arms like I do. Putting the TV on its own tabletop stand was nice and easy; you just carefully lower the TV onto it before fixing with the four screws provided. Simple. The TV swivels on the stand, which is very useful as I move around the room during the day though the viewing angle is very good anyway. Once done, putting it onto the Centurion Stand was much easier than I thought as the TV only weighs 18kg (plus it's stand of course).

SET UP

Once plugged in, I connected it to my PVR and PS3 and powered up. It takes 30-40 minutes to set-up as it downloads the Freeview channels for its integrated tuner then you are ready to go. It is quite easy to accidentally skip this part of the set up but you can run it again from the Guide as I did so it's no problem.

IN USE

The remote is light, functional, and refreshingly uncluttered with most of the functions being menu driven onscreen. The blue Home button puts you into a familiar PS3/PSP style horizontal menu (XrossMediaBar) which has all the detailed settings, or you can use the Options button for more basic choices.

Pressing the Scene button allows you to quickly adjust the picture (and sound) according to general, gaming, movies, sports etc. Overall, the functions and menus are quite simple and intuitive and I haven't needed to open the manual yet. The full manual can be found in the menu and there is a system update function too so this TV is fairly future proof.

I am not a big fan of the integral TV guide (Guide+), it looks a bit cheap and nasty to be honest with annoying adverts around it. You get a small window of the current channel in the top left though which is quite useful and you can set reminders etc though I will probably stick to my PVR so I can pause live TV etc so won't be using this much, same as viewers with Sky+ no doubt. It will be useful to have a third option though just in case I'm recording on two channels.

The TV has PIP - Picture in Picture so if you're playing your game you can keep a beady eye on your TV and not miss the start of your favourite prog. The on/off switch is a nice and light button on the side next to channel, volume buttons etc. Never has switching a TV on and off been so enjoyable.

PERFORMANCE

1) GENERAL TV - When I powered the TV on, it soon became clear that the TV was too good for my geriatric Humax PVR800 which uses a SCART connector and so this will soon be rectified with a 9300T (HDMI upload) or perhaps a Freesat box. I will update this review once done. The integrated Freeview tuner delivers a better output, nice and clear with good contrast and no ghosting on movement, thanks to the 100Hz refresh and Motionflow. The moral of this story is the better the input, the better the output. This TV is too good for a basic digital tuner so one with a HDMI upload or HD is the way to get the most out of it if you're picky about your picture (and you probably will be if you've spent nearly £800 on this TV).

2) PS3 - It really shines with the PS3; colours are nice and vibrant with excellent detail and it gives you a much more involving and cinematic experience. Ratchet and Clank, a big and bright game looks amazing, despite being produced in 720p. I'm playing it through again on this TV, it's like I'm on a new game. Uncharted:Drake's Fortune (also 720p) is excellent with lush greens against the rocky outcrops showing up beautifully, ditto the water.

3) DVDs are very good and my first BluRay purchase, Planet Earth is jaw-dropping in places.

4) Sound is good, excellent in fact, very clear but just lacking in bass when playing music. As I intend to use my PS3 as my media centre I will look into additional speakers of some sorts soon.

INPUTS

Amongst many others, there are :

4 x HDMI (2 side, 2 rear)
2 x SCART
VGA (for laptop, PC)
USB (view photos, other media etc)
RJ45 - for connecting to your router and other wireless DNLA compliant devices such as laptops

VERDICT

This is a stunning and very up to date piece of kit that I am very pleased with and am enjoying very much. I cannot find fault with it at all (apart from the messy TV guide), hence the 5 stars.

Superb picture but........clouding is still there
This unit was delivered on 7th April. Initial impressions are favourable...it looks good... the shiny piano black cabinet looks very good. It looks classy BUT....there are horendous clouding issues with this set. With any dark scenes there is very noticeable clouding on the four corners of this set. They look like search lights pointing into the picture. I have heard that other users have said that there's have settled down and have come down to acceptable levels. I have installed the TV into a unit into my living room together with a Sony BDP 550 and Sony Bravia Home Cinema system (DAV DZ 361) and am very pleased with the overall set up. I have also attached my XBox 360. The pictures on HD are absoulutely stunning. (Settings are Picture:Vivid) The picture on SD is really amazing. The XBox looks ultra realistic. The audio from the cinema system is impressive. It's a shame that Sony hasn't (yet?) addressed this problem. I'm a big Sony fan so I will persevere and keep the set and hope (fingers crossed!) that picture and clouding issues settle down. Perhaps this issue only affects a few sets and I may have been unlucky but just be aware that it could happen to you.