Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-52VE5 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV Review

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(More customer reviews)I had been apprehensive about pulling the trigger on an LCD TV for months now waiting for all these promised LED LCD TVs to become available from various manufacturers. With Samsung hitting the market first and disappointing most of us with their outrageous prices and availability with gloss screens only, they were quickly removed from my list of potential purchases. LG then hit the market with their model, which is very impressive, but with a $2400+ price tag, it was still a bit too much for my budget. Then there was Vizio which still hasn't been able to apparently get the bugs out of their LED LCD TVs that were promised in June, then September, and now October. So needless to say they were removed from my list.
This model of Sony hit the shelves roughly around the same time as the Samsung LED TVs. Its specifications were pretty good, and the promise of low wattage similar to the LED LCDs was very attractive. What I wasn't happy with was the fact that this is an 8-bit LCD panel as opposed to the 10-bit panels that the other manufacturer's models used.A local retailer finally had the Sony in their show room, so I could see if the 8 bit panel made a difference, and after spending over an hour comparing its picture detail and clarity to the Samsung and LG models, I could not see anything negative about the Sony. In fact, to my eyes even the contrast differences between the LED models and this ECO series was negligible, and definitely not worth the extra price tag for the LED models. The color was also more natural on the Sony than the Samsung and LG models that were next to it. One of the most noticeable segments they had running was a cooking channel scene where the cook was making some broccoli dish. The broccoli on the other sets was almost fluorescent, but on the Sony it was a perfect medium dark green. I was sold.
Now with the KDL-52VE5 dropping from $2100 to what it is now, I decided I had waited long enough. Since my local retailer could not come close to Amazon's price, I purchased it from Amazon. The set arrived within a week with the free shipping, and I have to say that the shipping company (Pilot) that delivered the set was great. The delivery man was very friendly and helpful. He quickly unpacked the new set, helped me take down my old (325 lb) 36 inch tube TV from its stand, placed the new TV up on the stand, and powered it up to verify that it was working. Great delivery service.
Now that I have the TV at home, I am 100% happy with the purchase so far. I was worried that I would be disappointed with the contrast ratio once I played a movie at night, but I couldn't be happier. A 100,000 to 1 contrast ratio is just fine. I am very picky about how well a television handles black (as well as color), and this set produces blacks even better than the HD CRT set that it is replacing. The color is amazing. Playing any Pixar film with this set in vivid mode will blow your mind (or at least your kid's minds). I haven't had the time to tweak each of the picture settings, but I have to say that right out of the box this thing is amazing. I have simply been switching between standard and vivid depending on what we are watching and I couldn't be happier with just these factory setups.
The sound from this is fine for watching anything that you don't feel like firing up your surround sound receiver for. It is very clear, and has very good range for TV speakers.
I then had to test the power consumption with my kill-a-watt plug in meter. With the set in vivid mode, with the light sensor on in a daylight lit room, the set averages just 145 watts. In a dark room it uses even less, since the sensor automatically turns down the backlight level. Only 145 watts for a 52 inch television with 120 Hz motion correction. I'm impressed!
As far as longevity goes, only time will tell, but since this basically a standard Sony LCD with just a more efficient backlight setup, it should be fine. If things do go wrong in the future, I will make sure to update this review.
Anyway, if you are on a sub $2000 budget and want a great 52-inch TV that won't jack up your electric bill, then this is the one to get (unless you want to wait yet another year).

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Introducing the Sony BRAVIA VE5 HDTV, a revolutionary TV that combines energy-saving features with quality picture performance. Minimize excess power use with a high-efficiency backlight that uses over 50% less power in Home Mode than Energy Star 3.0 requirements. Plus enjoy Full HD 1080p picture quality and smooth motion with Motionflow 120Hz technology.

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