Sony W5100 Series Review

In the category best bang for the buck, one cannot overlook the Sony W5100 series. While it is not the most inexpensive LCD TV, Sony W5100 offers something more over what the competitors can deliver, add-ons like Yahoo widgets, Amazon Video on Demand, ShoutCast, and web streaming. Image quality is considered to be more than what can be found in a cheap LCD TV, and, given the price and the amount of features the models in Sony W5100 series, it could be said that this particular line scores quite good in terms of price versus performance.

Models

The popularity of the Sony W5100 may also be related to the fact that it comes in all the popular sizes:

  • 40 inch – Sony KDL-40W5100
  • 46 inch – Sony KDL-46W5100
  • 52 inch – Sony KDL-52W5100

Features

The Sony W5100 series is part of the 120Hz refresh rate generation of LCD TV. It is gifted with a dejudder processing for obtaining less blurring in fast moving sequences, but, unlike Samsung models, you cannot get this effect unless you turn off the TV’s dejudder. There is also another thing that makes the Sony W5100 a bit less than its Samsung counterparts. That is the fact that the series has less Yahoo widgets, yet it offers the ability to place these widgets anywhere you like on the screen. However, the list of interactive features is rather large, and that is why a Sony W5100 HDTV offers more than a cheap LCD TV. Connectivity options are great, with four HDMI inputs, two component-video, and one PC input.

Picture quality

Generally speaking, for what it can be considered an inexpensive LCD TV in its league, Sony W5100 offers great picture quality. Its reputation is based on deep blacks – which for an LCD TV, it is always a great challenge – more than decent color accuracy, and a competitive dejudder processing feature. Yet, it has uniformity issues that bring it down a few notches.

When it comes to black levels, Sony W5100 is better than Samsung B650 – another series that offers quite a good deal for the quality delivered – and the level of shadow detail is also superior, when compared with the aforementioned competitor, as well as LG representatives.

Primary and secondary colors on Sony W5100 are great, which provides for wonderful color accuracy. Slight issues may appear in some scenes, but such minor flaws can be overlooked when dealing with an overall great performance. Still, a tinge of blue that affects black areas is noticeable, yet still better than what it can be seen on Samsung B650 models.

One thing that Sony W5100 boasts about is its dejudder processing feature. While the anti-blurring effect of the 120Hz refresh rate is not too noticeable, neither is the dejudder’s role in providing better picture quality. 1080p/24 frames video sources are handled well, even without the dejudder, so watching Blu-ray discs can be done with these models. Other high definition video sources are also rendered well on the screen, and nothing bad could really be said about that.

Uniformity issues put a damp on Sony W5100’s reputation, making it less appealing than Samsung or LG counterparts in this respect. Bright areas appearing next to dark areas are the main culprit, but the rest, like the washed out colors when looking at the screen from extreme angles is no worth than what is to be seen on competitors’ screens.

Performance under bright light conditions is yet another positive point for Sony W5100. Even if by price standards, these are not exactly cheap LCD TVs, you will always find the series listed on cheap LCD TV reviews, because of the great deal they offer for the price.

Standard definition performance is decent, with solid noise reduction, and only slight issues when it comes to jaggies appearing on the screen. Anyhow, you can watch SD programs and regular DVDs and not notice any problems, which makes this type of LCD TV quite a good choice.

Conclusion

The Sony W5100 is a great choice if you do not mind paying a little more for some extras and for image quality that is harder to find in a truly cheap LCD TV. The models have their ups and downs – like slight uniformity issues and not so clear advantage of 120Hz refresh rate and dejudder processing – , but, overall, their performance recommend them as a great choice.