Lcd and Plasma Reviews

Today we are looking at the new Sony KDL32V5500 or KDL-32V5500 if you want to be exact!
The KDL32V5500 is the mid/high ranged model in Sony’s 2009 line up, just a drop down from the KDL32W5500.

The first thing to note about this model is its true full HD status. We seem to be bombarded with adverts informing us of the huge benefits of full HD, and I will not argue, they are great.
But on a screen of this size, in my personal opinion, I’m not really sure you can notice a difference.
Now this is not to detract from the Sony’s HD handling which it does do very well.
Both HD and full HD films and games are very sharp with a great sense of depth we are becoming to expect from HD, but sat a couple of meters away from this screen I was hard pushed to notice the difference between the HD and full HD offerings.
If you are going to sit a 30cm away from the screen then you may be able to see a difference, but in the lounge of your average household you would definitely need better eyes than mine to get any benefit.

The colour and black levels form the KDL32V5500 are superb; LCD is really making leaps and bounds in this department and with the Sony that shows.
Pictures are vibrant with great depths and when combined with a good HD source make for an excellent visual experience.
These deeper blacks were improved in last year’s V4000 range and it’s good to see Sony is still working hard in this area.

As this is the model down from KDL32W5500 there has of course to be a missing feature, why else would you pay more for that model!
In this case the missing feature is the 100hz scanning. This decision, I’m sure, makes huge commercial and marketing sense.
Full HD is the current golden boy of the TV world, giving the manufacturers a good excuse to tempt you into buying a new set.
However as you can see in my opinions about this above, I personally would not of minded the set to just be HD ready and to include the 100hz feature, which I think would of given noticeable gains to the picture quality.
This is not to say the 60hz handling is horrible, but while I was hard pushed to notice the full HD gains, the lack of 100hz did show itself with telltale signs of motion blur and ghosting on fast moving action movies and sports.

A new feature which I sure we will be seen pushed more this year is the dlna (digital living network alliance) certification.
This essentially means that you can network this TV and share movies, photos, music and so on without having to worry about compatibility issues.
Luckily for me the Sony laptop I am writing this on is also dlna certified and with a quick read of the guide managed to display some photos from the laptop straight to the screen.
So it’s nice to know this feature works, whether it will really take off or not we will have to wait and see.

Sound is produced by Sony’s new S-force front surround processing.
As the name suggests the sound gives the impression that you have full surround sound speakers but using only the TVs built in sounds system.
Now I might as well get the point out of the way that you will never convince me, you can get true surround sound without the extra speakers.
The main problem being that sound waves, unlike the diagrams would like to have us believe, do not travel in nice neat lines, they spread and reflect of pretty much any surface. That in itself being the other real problem, most lounges don’t look like that nice neat rectangle we see in the picture either.

Rant over, I do have to say that the sound from the Sony KDL-32V5500 is very good, giving a wide sound space and carrying reasonable levels of base.

Connection wise the Sony is well spec’d with 4 hdmis, component, composite, twin scart and pc input.
Also included is an Ethernet connection for the dlna and for Sony’s Applicast which allows you access a range of internet based widgets such a calendar and world clock.
This seems to be another feature a lot of manufacturers are touting their versions of this year, again whether they will take off we will have to wait and see.

The finish is up to Sony’s usual high standards, this time sporting the currently very popular piano black with the ‘floating’ speakers underneath.

In summary the Sony KDL32V5500 is a nice looking and performing set.
My only real concern would be the choice of full HD over 100hz, but this aside Sony have produced a superb TV and of course if you were worried about missing the 100hz, you could always look at the KDL32W5500, of course for a little extra money.

For the best price on the Sony KDL32V5500 visit Cheap LCD and Plasmas

For Sonys overview of the KDL32V5500 please see page 2.

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Filed under: 32 Inch, HD Ready, LCD TV, Sony by TVMan