Sony BRAVIA KDL-52W4100 52" HDTV LCD TV

Now is the time to upgrade to that flat panel Television you have been eying and Sony has made it very affordable. The Sony KDL-52W4100 52 inch W series and its sibling the V series have recently undergone  price reductions as stores clear the decks for the newer LED technology sets arriving soon.

With new technology coming does this mean another excuse to wait? Hardly, the 4100 sets are current 120Hz technology offering a clear beautiful wide screen HD picture in a 83lb panel you can set on it’s included tabletop stand or hang on the wall with an optional wall mount.

The 4100 is offered in a, getting harder to find, W series and a less expensive V series. Both have near identical visual specs of 1080P full HD the main difference being the audio system. The less expensive V series has smaller speakers and a less powerful audio amplifier.  If your plan is to keep the sound turned down or use an external audio system then the less expensive V series will save you a few hundred dollars. There are still some S series Sonys in the stores but they do not offer the 120Hz refresh technology. In plain language without 120Hz or faster refresh the picture breaks up when you watch sports or fast action. I would never recommend anyone purchase an LCD television that is not at least 120Hz.
I received my W series at the reduced price of $1999. A week later the same model was advertised on closeout for $1799! Fortunately the store credited me the difference back on my credit card so I was pleasantly surprised at the serendipity.
The first time I set up the set I programmed the automatic channel search and program feature. I do not subscribe to digital cable or any extra pay service so I was counting on the Sony’s internal QAM tuner to find and program all the unscrambled free HD channels available on my Comcast network. Comcast charges $70 a month for digital HD reception but the basic package for $11 usually provides all local HD channels that are 90% of what I watch. Although it took nearly 20 minutes for the auto program to complete the Sony tuner found all my digital and analog channels and automatically programmed them into the channel list with their correct numbers.
PIP is a great feature that, sadly, manufacturers seem to ignore today. My old Sony rear projector had a true dual tuner PIP that allowed me to watch a digital cable and analog or two analog broadcasts at the same time! Not only could you watch two separate pictures at once you could switch between them and adjust each pictures size at the touch of a single button! I loved this feature! Countless times I could watch two games or other shows and switch back and forth. It was great!
While available in some format on most new HD televisions, including the Sony, enabling the picture in Picture feature to operate properly requires some creativity. I’m not sure why, but today manufacturers do not seem to deem this feature important or are confused as to how to implement PIP in a digital age. Sanyo gives you PIP but does not allow you to switch audio between the pictures. Sony does offer PIP and Sony’s PIP does allow you to swap audio and video when you go back and forth between the windows but there are a lot of limitations. You cannot change the sizes of the windows, and you cannot watch two cable images at the same time.
One image must be an external input from video 1 or component, or S Video, and the other input can be from the cable. This is kind of a downgrade in technology from my 5 year older Sony that allowed two cable pictures from the tuner. To implement a usable PIP I had to get creative. I used one of my $40 converter box coupons and connected the box to my rooftop antenna. The box has an S Video output that I connected to the Sony’s S-video input. Now, when I want to do PIP I set the converter box to one channel and activate the PIP on my Sony remote giving me the cable channel I’m watching in one window and the broadcast channel in the other. While not very simple it works.
Speaking of inputs, there should be enough here for the most geekful of you videophiles out there.  The Sony gives you 5 of the newer HDMI digital inputs along with 2 component video, and an analog composite with Svideo connection. There is also a SVGA computer monitor input if you would like to use your set for a monitor. This is especially useful as I stream television shows over the web from a personal computer to my television allowing me to play shows I’ve watched without recording them.
The remote is simpler to work then past Sony remotes. You can access a video menu of favorite channels, and even better, a free TV guide program display if your cable company supports it and Comcast does, at least in my area.  The remote also has built in DVD control buttons if your DVD player supports the Sony HDMI control features. As for the Picture quality, the Sony LCD delivers a clear sharp image with digital programming and other media. I use an upscaling Samsung DVD player that delivers an excellent 1080i picture.  Plan on upgrading to a Blue Ray 1080p player to get the best DVD experience but for now an inexpensive upscaling DVD works fine.
Overall if the price is right I recommend this set. Newer thinner lighter more advanced models are appearing every few months so be prepared for your set to be obsolete rather quickly. Then again, save the packaging and sell it in two years on eBay and upgrade again.