Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 LDC HDTV Review
By Alfredo Padilla
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
Published on September 30, 2008
The Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 is a 46-inch LCD flat panel HDTV. Available starting at $1800 this is not a budget HDTV for its class. It offers several features we’d expect to see from a more expensive television, including deep blacks and bright whites, but it also exhibited some problems.
The Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 supports a full 1080p or “true” HD signal. The selection of input and output ports is good, including four HDMI ports. Unfortunately it does lack a USB port or card reader. The audio quality provided by the Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100’s speakers is better than the average TV, but still not as good as an inexpensive surround sound setup.
The Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100’s remote is comfortable to hold and well laid out with the exception that the directional controls are at the opposite end of the remote from the volume and channel buttons. The menu system on the TV is reminiscent of that used in the PS3, and will take some getting used to before you feel comfortable with it.
Performance (Read the full performance results at Televisioninfo.com)
The Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 performed well in our tests of blacks and whites. Blacks were very deep, especially for an LCD TV that often struggles in this area. Whites and greys were bright and accurate. We were also happy with color accuracy, although we did notice a small issue with the TV’s color gamut, which means colors may not always come out exactly the way the director might have wanted.
Probably the biggest issue with the Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 was viewing angle. Moving just degrees away from center we saw the contrast ratio, the difference between the darkest blacks and whitest whites, fall below 50%. This is an extremely narrow viewing angle, even for an LCD TV, which don’t perform as well in this area as Plasma televisions.
Power consumption for the Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 was just about average. You can expect to pay around $35 a year to operate the TV an average of five hours per day.
Comparisons (Read more in-depth comparisons at Televisioninfo.com)
The Sony Bravia KDL-46W4100 is a very good television, with a full feature set and excellent performance almost across the board. That said the viewing angle issue will be serious for some. If you need a TV that will sit in a room where people will be looking at it from all angles you may want to go with a Plasma like the Panasonic VIERA TH-46PZ80U. If this isn’t an issue for you, then you will be getting your money’s worth with the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46W4100. If you’re looking to spend a bit less but not miss out too much on performance you may want to take a look at the VIZIO VO47LFor a more in-depth review, visit the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46W4100 Review at our partner TelevisionInfo.com
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