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213 of 214 found the following review helpful:
Great TV for nerds Feb 21, 2011
By D. Norden
Let me start with this--If you're looking for the best possible high-end TV panel on the market, this TV probably isn't for you.
If you're looking for a TV with a lot of features that can most likely only get better with time, I would whole-heartedly recommend this panel.
Rather than write a long, drawn out review--I will mainly respond to the main criticisms about this panel as well as raise some of my own.
-Many complain about the 60hz refresh rate. I'm of the camp of thought that feels that TV refresh rates are mostly a marketing ploy. You can feel free to argue with me if you wish, but I don't have any qualms at all about the 60hz refresh rate for either TV watching OR gaming. I own a PS3 and motion is fluid AND natural--I personally feel that 120hz sets look 'fake'--also, many sets with higher refresh rates typically have higher input lag for gaming and that is another reason I would rather not buy a fast 120hz TV.
-I've read complaints about edge-lit LED bleed through on this set. It is there. But I've only noticed it while the screen was black when my Blu-rays were booting up. Other than that, I haven't noticed the issue--and I've made a conscious effort to look hard for it during normal TV/movie/gaming.
-Web browsing. I thoroughly enjoy the browsing experience. Granted, I've only been connected through wired ethernet (haven't bothered with wi-fi and I've read people having issues via wi-fi, but the web experience is pretty snappy considering it is running an Intel Atom chip. Flash intensive sites (ones with lots of flash-based advertisements) and games like bejeweled can chug along at times (especially during scrolling), but playback of flash-based videos works great--no stutter or slow downs I've noticed. I do wish that switching between dual view and TV only view was more seamless (it currently takes 1 or 2 seconds to switch between the two, but this is a very minor complaint in my opinion.
-Included 'apps'. Currently, most of what comes on the TV is filler. Most of the 'apps' are glorified web-links that show nothing more than video clips. It doesn't bother me too much only because the official Android Market isn't available yet--so I'll make final judgments once real apps are available to put on the TV. But the core apps are there (pandora, netflix, etc) and they all work very well. A big complaint is the Rovi TV guide. If you live in an area where your cable provider doesn't support Rovi pulling your program information, then you're out of luck to use the included TV guide app. And after reading on the Google TV forum, there seem to be quite a few people living out of Rovi guide-capable areas--myself included.
-People have complained about the set-up and boot times for the TV. My initial set-up took about a hour to complete. The initial software update took about 15 minutes to complete (download and install) and then the rest of the time was me trying to figure out how to get my A/V receiver working with the TV. And part of the delay was Sony being 'green' and not giving me a printed manual--a minor headache, but not a huge deal. I've rebooted the TV several times so far (not due to crashes) because I was playing with the browser user-agent settings (more on that later) and it took about 20 seconds to reboot. I keep the TV set to 'quick-boot' (essentially a hibernate option) mode, because I've heard a cold-start reboot can take up to 40 seconds (according to others)--I've only done a few reboots, and they took about 20 seconds, so I'm not sure if a 40 second boot start is accurate or not. Either way, I've chosen the quick boot option and the TV is on instantly. With regards to set-up, I'd say the TV isn't very hard to get connected and up and running at all. I guess the biggest time-sink during set-up was looking up the manual online.
-Remote. Remote is great. Keyboard is great and clicky. I find it very intuitive. I have noticed on two occasions the TV getting bogged down with input requests from the remote and it'll slow down for about 10 seconds (like the volume won't instantly go up or down, but take a second or two to adjust). I'm sure this is a bug that needs fixing. I wouldn't worry too much about this because while the remote control lags, the TV or whatever you are watching is not impacted at all--in other words, just because remote is acting slow, doesn't mean the video stutters--the video and audio continue to play back flawlessly. Also keep in mind the android remote app is available. I have a Droid and the remote app works well. The remote app needs polish--ie droid phone keyboard isn't 100% functional with the TV (about 90%). But using the Droid's screen as a mouse is much better than using the optical joystick on the sony remote. Btw, the optical joystick isn't perfect, but it is very usable. One last comment--I think the Sony remote is great, but it won't replace a person's Logitech Harmony remote--so keep that in mind if you plan on selling your Harmony 1100.
-Panel quality. This TV is a mid-range set with a little price premium for the Intel chip and Android OS built on it. That being said, I feel for a mid-range TV it performs quite well. Sure it isn't a high-end Bravia, but anyone expecting this should've realized those sets cost much, much more. When viewing a blu-ray on my PS3, colors and picture quality were excellent after my own calibration. Obviously blacks aren't plasma/CRT quality, but I feel the black levels are good for this type of TV. I do have some very slight green-tinge when watching TV coming in via cable/QAM tuner--but I am convinced after successfully calibrating video for the blu-ray playback that this is a cable sourced content issue only, not a TV issue itself. Also it is worth mentioning that the screen is glossy. I haven't has problems so far with glare, but it may be related to the fact that my TV is not wall mounted. I have my TV on the stand sitting on a TV table about 2.5' off the ground--and maybe a 5 degree tilt backwards (a tilt I find very favorable because the TV stand sits slightly lower than my sofa). Viewing angles are not a problem in my opinion.
-Speaker quality and audio considerations. Speakers are terrible, just terrible. But apparently, this is a common problem with low-profile panels these days. Speakers fire behind the TV, which sounds weak and lousy. So, definitely invest in a AV receiver and decent speakers. Otherwise, you'll quickly find these speakers aren't very good. Again, I have independent audio set up for my living room, so the speaker issue doesn't bother me at all. If you don't have a AV receiver, and are in the market for one--do yourself a huge favor and make sure the HDMI ports are at least 1.3a (that supports control via HDMI). HDMI versions below 1.3a do not support HDMI control--and I bring this up because my receiver has 1.2 HDMI ports, therefore I have to use IR blasters if I want to control my AV receiver with my remote. The IR blasters work without a problem, but it is just another set of wires to have hooked up. Receivers with older HDMI ports will work with the TV--it is just a nice feature to minimize the amount of wires needed to have things hooked up properly. Another issue I haven't quite worked out (not sure if it is a bug or I have something hooked up improperly), but if my PS3 is powered on, even if I have the source selected to my cable TV source, audio via HDMI will block out audio via other sources. Again, this could be user error on my part, but I never had this annoyance with my old Wega.
Final thoughts: I knew a lot of the complaints/limitations of this television prior to purchasing it--not to mention the absurd negative misinformation surrounding this TV, so I was well prepared for the draw-backs. But I do feel it deserves a 4 star rating because it is a great and solid television. It may be true that the software should have the infamous Google 'beta' label put on it and could use some polish, but for the nerd in me these are minor nuisances. If you are looking for a highly flexible TV, then look no further. If you demand video perfection of a Pioneer Kuro, then I'd look elsewhere. I hope that I've addressed many of the questions and myths I was asking myself prior to purchasing the TV. Keep in mind when reading user reviews to gauge IF the reviewer actually owns and has used the TV--many of the reviewers on the Sony Style site sound as if they are writing a review based on a spec sheet and not the TV itself, which has to be frustrating for buyers like myself looking for real-world reviews.
38 of 43 found the following review helpful:
 WOW AWESOME TV TRY MY TUNE FOR AWESOME COLORS Apr 30, 2011
By Ctran
ok guys i dont do much reviews but this tv deserve a worthy praise, first of all the internet apps is VERY good, that was the primary reason why i get this tv. second for those that worried about 60hz, i have news for you most TV services/ps3/xbox360 are in 720p/60hz so if you want to spend the extra 1080p or 120hz then by all mean, i dont see the difference. THIRD if you think this tv color are not vibrant, well try to tune it like this
under picture mode i put custom
backlight: max
pictures 95
brightness 45
color 47
hue: G5
color temp cool
sharpness 0
noise reduction low
mpeg noise reduction low
cinemotion auto
black corrector off
advance contrast off
gamma -3
live color medium
white balance
Rgain -4
Ggain 0
B-Gain -9
Rbias -15
Gbias 3
Bbias 7
I have spend the whole week, trying on different settings to get the best color, vibrance and as less noise as possible, and this setting makes it the best, so vibrant that i have watch avatar again after watching it 15 times already. give this setting a try and tweak it to your liking! my tv is now perfect! for the money you honestly cannot get a better LED tv with the feature for less of the price. i dont play games on this tv so i could not tell you how it is, but as far as TV and surfing the net, it is breath taking!
57 of 68 found the following review helpful:
 NOT for GAMING! Dec 11, 2010
By Chines
"MagnaRider"
This tv looks pretty. The features are nice and the picture is clear. Blue ray looks wonderful and the tv speakers ain't half bad. The controller has a full keyboard with a motion sensitive scroller for mouse-like use. The controller reactions have slight delay, but that's no biggy. The biggy is when playing a game on this 60hz overpriced thing. I estimate there is about a 1/10th of a second delay between striking a button on my ps3 and the reaction you see on the screen. That may not sound like much, but if you are playing a fast action game like Modern Warfare 2, it is extremely frustrating. Unfortunately, that is a deal breaker for me. At this price, I should be able to play a PS3 game without problem...which is why this sucker is going back. If you are not a gamer or even a casual gamer, then this tv may suit your needs. If you are, go buy something with at least 120hz. The bare bones minimum of 60hz is a sad oversight for what could be a wonderful television.
FYI: Set up takes a long time. Expect to lose a good hour or so for updates and settings.
Browsing the net is a breeze. The browser works like a charm and streaming is great. Wifi was pretty painless.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Good TV but can be better Aug 17, 2011
By AL
I bought this TV for one purpose: streaming videos from my computer with UPnP or DLNA. I did not buy this for web browsing or looking for factitious 3D effects; I would've bought a TV with the right features. Reviews here complain why it doesn't have 3D, why it doesn't walk on its own or why it doesn't print money and expect a sub $1000 TV to perform like a high-end $5000+ one. With that cleared, I will continue to elaborate on my experience.
Amazon: Amazon shipped the TV fast with 2 Day Prime via UPS. The box and TV came destroyed (UPS at its finest) and Amazon was very quick to send out another via one day. When the replacement arrived, like others here have stated, was shipped in its own box; inadequate packaging if you ask me. Good thing the TV was not damaged this time, the box was in terrible shape.
The TV: Beautiful glass-front TV, I've been waiting for LCD TV similar to plasmas where they have one slab of glass, making it look like a clean picture frame. About time designers! Picture is good, better than my 1080p 46" Bravia XBR2 I bought in 2006. (Learn to adjust the colors!!!) The speakers, however, sound cheap, flat, and filmsy. (I am not complaining since a TV's job is to make a good picture) I also have noticed these TVs manufactured last year (starting from August 2010) have some clouding issues, whereas the recently built ones are better made. (I have a June 2011 date)
Now on to setting up streaming. I have tried many video server software and few worked but were clumsy to use. I finally settled on Serviio, still not the greatest but at least I am able to stream videos with no problems. This is not a TV issue, more of a server side problem.
60 Hz vs 120Hz debate: Our eyes can see up to about 15 FPS. Beyond that, everything looks like a smooth continuous motion. The refresh issue comes into plan when your movie pans across at a fast rate. Buildings, trees, etc, seems to "skip" across the screen. However, keep in mind that movies are usually shot in 24 fps, which means even if you watched it on a 1000 Hz TV, the picture will still "skip".
LED vs CCFL: This is NOT A LED TV. It is a LED back-lit TV. As an electrical engineer, I hate how business practices has misused technology to confuse and sell to consumers. Organic LED (OLED) is the only true LED type display out for now and no TV set uses OLED yet. Traditional LCDs have used CCFLs to light the panels, they are replaced by LEDs. Therefore, ALL "LED" TVs are just LED backlit. (However, advancement in panel technology has made LED back-lit TVs look better than CCFLs, which has nothing to do with LEDs or CCFLs)Even LEDs have different types, but you can research that on your own. LEDs have different color spectrum emission than CCFLs (notice LEDs seem bright at the same wattage/lumens). The main advantage of LED is lighter, smaller, and draws less power (generates less heat). I actually prefer the color spectrum of CCFLs, they look more natural and less washed out bluish hues.
Doesn't get 5 stars nothing is perfect, but you should judge by reading reviews and not "stars" anyways. Sony gets my vote and I would give amazon a double thumbs up for handling the damaged TV issue.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Make your room media, social, entertainment central. Jul 13, 2011
By Bubba
I will not get into the technical specs. on this because there are better qualified reviews out there. If all you want is a set with the best picture for gaming and watching then better read other reviews. If your debating about whether to buy one of these then read on.
The picture quality is nice but there are some a little bit better. Not by much though, and that is subjective to each individual though. It's also a krap shoot to try and compare the quality of the pictures of different t.v's in a store because there are too many variables like what is playing, the type of player or streaming used, the settings on the t.v. etc. You should bring your own dvd to the stores and see if they can play it for you on the set you are looking at. You get a better comparison this way because you are comparing the same scenes. Sound is just average as expected with any tv. There is only a physical power switch on the tv and no other controls for changing channels, volume etc. Not that anyone would use them much, but just in case. If you connect with HDMI/optical/usb then your o.k. If you have equipment that hooks up with RCA type connections, then you only have connection for one set of cables. You will have to get a spitter/switcher if you have more. Unless you want to tell the wife that you need to buy new equipment because the old stuff won't work with the new tv's and hope she doesn't figure it out.
Nicer looking designs out there, unliess you like the ipad look. The stand looks cheap as it is juist a piece of smoked colored shaped metal bar. It can only be tilted a little back and forth, so may help a little if you have background glare because the screen is glossy. Wish the stand could of been able to swing sideways also. If your way off to the side the colors look a little washed out or the people have a wierd hue to them sometimes. But most led/lcd tv's have an issue when viewing off to the side.
As for the 60hz thing, I don't see any issues with pixelization while watching regular tv. Although I did see some here and there while watching some dvd's. It isn't trailing pixelization, it is just the edges cleaning up here and there. I saw a blue ray playing on a demo and I didn't notice any pixelization then. I have my dvd player hooked up with just rca cables and the blueray was hooked up with HDMI at the store. So not sure if the two different technologies or hook up makes a difference or I just didn't notice at the time. Both dvd and blueray had the movie Cars playing. Watching Netflix on it was very clear and vibrant and no problems at all. And as for the general picture quality, I did have to play with the settings to improve the picture though to my personal likings because the factory setting was not that great. It went from do I return this thing to whew, thank god. I only have a wii connected to it and it seems fine. Can't comment on the Playstaions or Xboxes and intense gaming.
The highest resolution, refresh rate, etc. coupled with a blue ray player does not necessarily mean the best watching experience. Some times the quality is so good that you will get the soap opera filming effect or live filming effect rather than the movie theatre effect. It is clear and crisp and great for watching sports because you want to feel like you are there, but not what you want to have when watching a movie. For example, I saw the blue ray Star Trek movie on a high definition tv and it lost it's cool factor and just wasn't the same because it looked you are watching a play with stage lighting as if you were there. And the quality was so clear that the props looked like, well props. I talked to some people and they noticed the same. Hollywood magic partly relies on film not being able to pick up the fine details on props costumes and such, especially things in the background where they can have even less detail and you wont be able to catch it. Some times too much of a good thing is not better. And too big is not a good thing also because it matters how far you sit back from the t.v. and it will matter in image quality. Depending on the size and technology used. The closer you are to a t.v. you will see the dots or lines that make up the image and it will look like krap. The larger the more, the smaller, the less. So depending on the size and space, you have to sit back far enough so your eyes won't see it and the image will look perfect. Step up close to a plasma / lcd / led tv and then step back and you will know what I am talking about if you did not know this before.
The only drawback is that you can't watch Hulu with this and supposedly they are in talks. You also can't watch the CW show lineups, or Xfinity online. Not sure if you can with the competition Smart tv's.
Google tv is different from Smart tv's. Sony uses intel and google for web browsing which is supposedly better and faster. The other Smart tv's out there don't use intel and they use their own browsers. I found the web surfing to work smoothly, fast and familiar just as if I was using a regular computer. Can't comment on the other Smart tv's on how they work.
The competitors either don't offer a qwerty keypad controller or it only comes standard on the higher priced sets. With a smart tv you want a qwerty controler with mouse function. You do not want to aim a controller at the screen and click on letters to spell something or click through a menu to get to where you want to be. I find the controller to be useful and easy to use. Once you learn it, as there is no manual to learn all the features. It wasn't to hard to figure out how to move around the t.v. if you have a basic knowledge of game controllers and computers. Kids will have no problem figuring how everything works. The controller is greyish white so it will start looking gnarly after a while.
The qwerty keypad, intel, google, and tv. all in one package is what sold me. If you get this on sale it is worth the price. I considered other smart tv's out there but these were the things that swung me over. Anyone that wants to surf the web will be familiar with it also since it's google. Some smart tv's have the Yahoo app on them, but it isn't a real search engine. It just brings you to some directed widgets. If it's an internet t.v. I want to be able to search the whole web granted there are some limitiations still as stated above about Hulu and such. It is still more convienient to use a regular computer if your going to do a lot of web surfing or have to open multiple tabs. You can open multiple tabs with this tv, but they aren't ligned up like on a regular computer. And jumping around different screens might be a a pain. You have to click on a menu screen and select the tabs from there. Hopefully they will do an update and make the search tabs easier to access. The t.v is great if you suddenly want to check emails, look up something, or don't want to be huddled around a small computer with people looking at something. Would also be nice if Sony can make a full size wireless keyboard with a mouse on it. As for the people saying it takes a while for the tv to start up. Well there is a power saving setting you can change to have the tv start up faster.
I didn't give this tv 5 stars is because of all the Sony products I have owned in the past did not last very long. But what this tv offered is what made me give it a chance. Cross my fingers.
Sony also sells a blue ray player that offers the google feature built into it with the qwerty remote so you can go that route if you want another tv or don't want to buy a new tv. Logitech also makes a box, but it isn't a player also. It comes with a thin full size keyboard with a finger touch pad on it. Some game consoles you can surf the web with also. But I like the ease of having it all in one unit because I can surf the web at my fingertips rather than having to turn on another piece of equipment and I can still watch tv and surf the web at the same time. You can't do this with some of the other web boxes.
As of November 3, 2011 Sony had an update and changed the interface and added the Android market. There are limited apps. available at the moment and not all of them are completley compatible. Although if the android market offers some decent games that can utilize the Sony remote then that would be awesome, because the controler is made like a game controler.
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