Sony KLV-40V550A vs KLV-40W550A - Surprise news

[adder]

hey adder, there's actually very little to choose between the panasonics and the samsungs when it comes to plasmas, the panasonics have slightly better blacks, and the samsungs have slightly better colour reproduction, so the BMW-Honda Accord logic doesn't quite work. It would perhaps work if you were speaking about a Pioneer plasma. I do hear that the top-of-the-line panasonic plasmas this year are fantastic, but they're also very very expensive, and quite out of the budget ranges being discussed here.

well the panasonic do have better blacks,higher contrast ratio but the NEO PDP panels can show much brighter overall image if the need arises,although won't match a lcd but exceed the contrast ratio of X10,PV80 and samsung/lg plasmas.again from various reports panasonic plasma are more immune to burn in then samsung plasmas and this year samsung as realy gone wrong with the sound departement both in lcds and plasma,in trying to make their tvs thinner.

but what i am trying to say is there are many reasons why one chooses a smaller tv.

 

[GKV]

I have purchased KLV-40W550A for Rs 85K from a wholesale dealer. I have already used it for a couple of weeks and I am very happy about the performance.

I am getting better that expected PQ for the 40" panel for the SD content available through the cable settopbox. BE3 does it job fantastically. My upscaling DVD player miserably fails compared to BE3. So for viewing DVD content, I depend on component video input and not HDMI to force the BE3 to come into action.

Now waiting for real HD content to be available through any of the service provider, probably within an year itself.

 

[GeoTracks]

I have purchased KLV-40W550A for Rs 85K from a wholesale dealer. I have already used it for a couple of weeks and I am very happy about the performance.

I am getting better that expected PQ for the 40" panel for the SD content available through the cable settopbox. BE3 does it job fantastically. My upscaling DVD player miserably fails compared to BE3. So for viewing DVD content, I depend on component video input and not HDMI to force the BE3 to come into action.

Now waiting for real HD content to be available through any of the service provider, probably within an year itself.

Congratulations! Good price you got there.

What was your main reason/s to go in for a SONY KLV-40W550A? What is your viewing distance?

 

[danccc]

I am getting better that expected PQ for the 40" panel for the SD content available through the cable settopbox.

Congratulations on your purchase!

Can you please elaborate a bit on the expected PQ and what you are actually getting for SD.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Danccc

 

[GKV]

The final choice for me was between 40V550A vs 40W550A - both Sony stuffs. Probably for me, Sony was the decision by my heart & head.

At one point, I was more or less decided on V550A. That was after comparing with other models. The BE3 engine on this was giving no difference in PQ with Sony W450, except for very fast moving scenes/texts. That was because W450 is 100 Hz where as V550a is 50Hz. Even though 100 Hz was desirable for me, the cost of W450 was around 1.2L due to 10 bit panel and MotionFlow(100 hz).

A few weeks back Sony has introduced W550A with a better pricing of 94K. It has MotionFlow(100Hz) and has 8 bit panel. I have gone for W550A for the following reasons

- I could get an offer of Rs 85K for W550A from a wholesale dealer ( A price which is NOT miles away from the official price of V550A)

- I am not able to distinguish between an 8 bit /10 bit panel (My eyes are not that sharp to distinguish more than 16M colors). Also the contents available are all based on 24 bit data (RGB or YCbCr). So I am not losing anything by choosing an 8 bit panel.

- MotionFlow is doing its job. There was no traces of trailing motions. Having 100Hz also makes me a bit future-proof for the possible addition of gaming consoles.

- W550A is taking only 15W lesser power than V550A due to better back lighting. This over 5 years of usage is also a reason for justifying the slightly higher price compared to V550A.

Regarding PQ, as I have noticed during my usage.

- I have digital cable set top box having composite video output. I am getting good quality at my viewing distance of 10 ft with the options like Noise reduction-ON, MPEG noise reduction-ON, MotionFlow-Standard etc.
I was afraid of possibilities of pixellation at 10ft distance with 40" panel. BE3 is doing a nice job here. Since we having only SD content available now, this is a recommended option.

- Regarding DVD usage: I am using Sony DAV-DZ690K - Home theater with DVD upscaling. With default options, upscaling to 1080p and using HDMI connectivity it was NOT giving satisfactory results. Then I have found the following options as the best for getting the maximum out of the new TV -- No upscaling to 1080p, Component video connection, No Progressive output etc.

This is because, as soon as the TV senses progressive signal, 1080P signal etc, it does not invoke the corresponding image processing operations. The image processing algorithms implemented as part of BE3 is much much better compared to what Sony has in its home theater. If you force everything to be done by BE3, you get a real feel of 'HD experience' with a good DVD itself.

I have arrived at the above combinations based on the Benchmark DVD available from HQV HQV - Hollywood Quality Video Processing for HD : Benchmark DVD
With this we can actually see what are the tests that are failing /passing under benchmark conditions. Earlier my analog TV was scoring 30 out of 120 marks and my new setup scores 70-80 out of 120. Still there are some tests failing corresponding to "Jaggies pattern" and "Film Details" test. I don't think any TV will pass all those tests !!

So overall I am happy about this purchase and happy about the performance. Also I have the pride of owning a Sony W series TV !!

 

[adder]

@GKV congrats on ur purchase,but from what i have seen its better to turn OFF the noise reduction and MPEG noise reduction to OFF,u will notice the picture is slightly sharper,sure when its On the noise is less,but i would take sharper picture over noise free(which to start with is very less).

 

[get_rakeshin]

So overall I am happy about this purchase and happy about the performance. Also I have the pride of owning a Sony W series TV !!

Hi GKV -Im too a pride owner of 40W550A ! PQ is Gr8!! However Im still find the right setting & color to set my TV . I notice the orange / Blue images on TV contents usually hve a white bright satin like image most of time . I tried to play with brightness / Color & sharpness . However been unsucessfull :sad:
Can u plz specify with ur calibration you have done for SD contents. I would highly appreciate..

 

[GeoTracks]

@GKV congrats on ur purchase,but from what i have seen its better to turn OFF the noise reduction and MPEG noise reduction to OFF,u will notice the picture is slightly sharper,sure when its On the noise is less,but i would take sharper picture over noise free(which to start with is very less).

Slightly out of context, but if one were to get the SAMSUNG 6 series 40" LED, for 'almost' the same price as the SONY 40W550, which would be a better buy 'overall'? Reasons?

Viewing being mostly SD content like Tata Sky / DVD / VCD etc.

 

[spirovious]

I have seen both LCD,but 32in(due to size) does best SD upscaling.
Sony DVDp does better job than 40inTV.

 

[adder]

Slightly out of context, but if one were to get the SAMSUNG 6 series 40" LED, for 'almost' the same price as the SONY 40W550, which would be a better buy 'overall'? Reasons?

Viewing being mostly SD content like Tata Sky / DVD / VCD etc.

well buy a LED unless u want a slim tv,but B650 and W550A are a better buy.alternately even the B750 is a better buy if priced same as the B6000 LED lcd.

 

[GKV]

@GKV congrats on ur purchase,but from what i have seen its better to turn OFF the noise reduction and MPEG noise reduction to OFF,u will notice the picture is slightly sharper,sure when its On the noise is less,but i would take sharper picture over noise free(which to start with is very less).

The settop box gives Composite signal output in PAL format. As it is interlaced (576i), what is the impact of the above settings in getting a progressive picture.

 

[GKV]

Hi GKV -Im too a pride owner of 40W550A ! PQ is Gr8!! However Im still find the right setting & color to set my TV . I notice the orange / Blue images on TV contents usually hve a white bright satin like image most of time . I tried to play with brightness / Color & sharpness . However been unsucessfull :sad:
Can u plz specify with ur calibration you have done for SD contents. I would highly appreciate..

It is an interesting area and depends on personal taste also. Currently I have set separate settings for different inputs - Settopbox, DVD and TV depending on the quality of input what I get.

Some points (may be relevant for you depending on your signal quality).

- For Settop box output, reduced the backlight intensity to 6 from 7. Enabled Active color to MEDIUM, Active contrast to LOW, Active Black level to LOW etc.
- For DVD, backlight intensity is kept as 7. If you change to Theater mode, this will get reduced to 5 automatically. I will choose one of this depending on the DVD quality and type of movie.

- For analogue TV, picture is too sharp and bright. Have a setting accordingly.

- In all the above cases 'Wide Zoom ' mode is better for 4:3 input video. You don't miss the titles and the scroll at bottom. At the same time the expansion ratio at the center area of the screen makes it look more proportional in the focus areas.

Do trial and error and find the best suitable for you.

 

[GeoTracks]

well buy a LED unless u want a slim tv,but B650 and W550A are a better buy.alternately even the B750 is a better buy if priced same as the B6000 LED lcd.

Thanks! However, qualifiers / reasons would help as to why, "but B650 and W550a are a better buy". For e.g. GKV above, has given a good point wise description and qualified his reasons.

Had been to Croma yesterday and the sales guy there was very detailed and spent a lot of time giving detailed demos of Samsung UA40B6000VR, Samsung 40B650, Sony 40W450, Sony 40V550, Sony 40S550 and LG 40LH50. They did not have Sony 40W550 to demo, however he said they were soon to get it on display.

Although opinions may differ person to person and rightfully so, his personal opinion was the 40" V series was best compromise between PQ & VFM, especially with the new Sony pricing. He agreed that feature wise the Samsungs & LGs may be a notch higher but, based purely on PQ he would recommend the SONY. In fact, in his opinion he rated the Sony 40V550 slightly above the Samsung 40" LED from a price : feature perspective. However, he did say that if budget was not an issue the LED is a good buy too. With the 40W550, he thought the price difference between 40V550 (70K) and 40W550 (90K) was around 20K and it was entirely the customer's call if 20K was justified for 100hz Motionflow.

Nice thing was, not once did he pressure into buying one brand or the other. He just gave his thoughts and detailed tech description of each and left for the customer to make the final dicision.

 

[adder]

Thanks! However, qualifiers / reasons would help as to why, "but B650 and W550a are a better buy". For e.g. GKV above, has given a good point wise description and qualified his reasons.

well basicaly its the price of the LED,apart from the size it has nothing special.it also is samsung 1st generation edge LED tech.the led tvs such as 6xxxx,7xxxx,8xxxx has a more aggressive dynamic contrast engine,where it dims the entire row,so if the same row has some shadow region and if the percentage of blacks in the row increases u are bound to loose detail in the shadow areas due to dimming of the row.so while the LED lcds may have a higher dynamic contrast,its ANSI contrast is still pretty much the same or sometimes lower then connventional CCFL backlight lcds.only local dimming LED lcds are worth the money.

The settop box gives Composite signal output in PAL format. As it is interlaced (576i), what is the impact of the above settings in getting a progressive picture.

well the noise and mpeg settings have no significant effect from what i have seen,but in composite and component enabling MPEG noise reductions reduces the sharpness of the image be it a interlaced signal or a progressive signal ,regarding noise reducton its works only for RF connection.

 

[Gfreeman]

Thanks! However, qualifiers / reasons would help as to why, "but B650 and W550a are a better buy". For e.g. GKV above, has given a good point wise description and qualified his reasons.

Had been to Croma yesterday and the sales guy there was very detailed and spent a lot of time giving detailed demos of Samsung UA40B6000VR, Samsung 40B650, Sony 40W450, Sony 40V550, Sony 40S550 and LG 40LH50. They did not have Sony 40W550 to demo, however he said they were soon to get it on display.

Although opinions may differ person to person and rightfully so, his personal opinion was the 40" V series was best compromise between PQ & VFM, especially with the new Sony pricing. He agreed that feature wise the Samsungs & LGs may be a notch higher but, based purely on PQ he would recommend the SONY. In fact, in his opinion he rated the Sony 40V550 slightly above the Samsung 40" LED from a price : feature perspective. However, he did say that if budget was not an issue the LED is a good buy too. With the 40W550, he thought the price difference between 40V550 (70K) and 40W550 (90K) was around 20K and it was entirely the customer's call if 20K was justified for 100hz Motionflow.

Nice thing was, not once did he pressure into buying one brand or the other. He just gave his thoughts and detailed tech description of each and left for the customer to make the final dicision.

The edge lit LEDs have been by and large reported to have plenty of clouding issues and flicker. People have reported this to be worse than the 2009 series 6 and 7 LCDs of Samsung .
Also additionally though they can give deep blacks they do not give accurate blacks. So if you are watching a really dark scene with some white objects the blacks can get really black. However simultaneously there is loss of detail in the whiter backgrounds. Some of the LCDs of this year like the B750 show better detail in shadows compared to the LEDs though blacks tend to be bluish at times.
These are problems that affect the entire 6000,7000 and 8000 series. Infact the Samsung B750 was voted by many review sites as one of the finest LCD TVs ever made comfortably beating the LED series and all other CCFL LCDs from Samsung and Sony in a number of departments including accurate blacks and excellent uniformity of screen.

Again these issues really should not bother u unless u watch a lot in a dark room.
Sadly though the B750 has been released in India with a 46 inch B750 going for around 107000(40 inch for around 99k) there are very few dealers who are willing to promote the TV or even keep it on display partly because they feel introduction of another LCD in that bracket might affect the sales of LED TVs.

 

[Srinivas29]

Hey Gfreeman,

Whats your thoughts on comparing Sony W550 and Samsung B750 46 inches. Would Samsung B750 be better than the Sony W550 TV? Where did you read the review for these tv's. Can you please provide the links?

 

[Gfreeman]

Hey Gfreeman,

Whats your thoughts on comparing Sony W550 and Samsung B750 46 inches. Would Samsung B750 be better than the Sony W550 TV? Where did you read the review for these tv's. Can you please provide the links?

Hi Srinivas29. You could use the following links . Both are excellent for TV reviews. . For detailed rev

Best 5 HDTVs: Picture quality - CNET Reviews

HDTV Reviews – LCD TV & Plasma Television Display Rating

For detailed individual reviews click on the B750 link on both websites. The CNET review infact contains a side by side comparsion of the Sony XBR9(probable equivalent of the Z550 with the B750). You could also click on the W5500 link in the HDTV website for detailed reviews.

Infact the B750 is considered to be one of the finest CCFL LCD TVs ever made beating all other LCDS from Sony and Samsung and beaten only by backlit LED TVs from Sony and Samsung along with top plasma TVs
But as said previously whether small improvement in black levels,uniformity of screen, slightly better motion resolution,etc on the B750 are noticeable in most of our well lit rooms is highly doubtful.

 

[GeoTracks]

In SONY Bravia LCDs, what is the main difference between:
"Live Color"
&
"Live Color Creation"?

In the 40W450, Z & X series the specs show "Live Color Creation", while currently in the SONY Bravia 2009 models, 550 series for S, V & W the specs show "Live Color". It is interesting, but in 2008 400 series, the S & V models DID NOT have "Live Color". Only the W series had it, while in the 2009 LCDs the S & V series both have "Live Color" feature.

Are these both (Live Color & Live Color Creation"), the same or is there any difference?

 

[adder]

In SONY Bravia LCDs, what is the main difference between:
"Live Color"
&
"Live Color Creation"?

In the 40W450, Z & X series the specs show "Live Color Creation", while currently in the SONY Bravia 2009 models, 550 series for S, V & W the specs show "Live Color". It is interesting, but in 2008 400 series, the S & V models DID NOT have "Live Color". Only the W series had it, while in the 2009 LCDs the S & V series both have "Live Color" feature.

Are these both (Live Color & Live Color Creation"), the same or is there any difference?

live color creation is nothing but the WCG-CCFL,it was was last used in V300A models,the V400A,V550A didn't have them.has we already know the new V,W550A series don't have them,S series never had them except perhaps the S310 series

 

[GeoTracks]

live color creation is nothing but the WCG-CCFL,it was was last used in V300A models,the V400A,V550A didn't have them.has we already know the new V,W550A series don't have them,S series never had them except perhaps the S310 series

So is Live Color a definite 'plus' to have on the 40" S & V 550 series currently? B'cos in 2008 models, the 40" S & V series did not have this feature.

Looks like a lot of features from the SONY 2008 X & W LCD series have now been moved to the 40" V & S 550 series in 2009.
e.g.
Live Color
USB Photo Viewer
Photo TV HFD
Picture Frame Mode
XMB

The 40S550 is about 64K. The 40V550 is EXACTLY the same featured specs as the 40S550 (even the panel is the same, S-PVA), but is about 70K. The 40W550 also has the same EXACT features & specs as the 40S550 & 40V550 but only has an additional 100 Hz Motionflow and costs 90K.

Wonder if the 20K just for 100Hz Motion flow is really worth it for regular Tata Sky viewing?

So then the question comes to between 40S550 & 40V550. If there is really no difference in specs (as seen on the SONY India website and also after talking to sales guys in various stores) and the 40S550 anyways is giving many of the above mentioned features of the 2008 X & W series, wonder whether it makes sense to go in for the 40S550 over the 40V550. Unless ofcourse, 40V550 appears ecstatically (in looks) more pleasing to some.

Thoughts?