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Sony BRAVIA LCD TV FAQ
I think we need one of these because a lot of questions get asked about these TVs. Note that this FAQ is unofficial and isn't made or approved by Sony.
THIS is the most frequently asked BRAVIA question on this forum:
Q: Don't these TVs use Samsung panels in them? Doesn't that mean that a Samsung LCD will be just as good?
A: No. Both Samsung and Sony LCDs (as well as many other brands) use panels produced in a factory called S-LCD. Financially, this is a joint venture between Sony and Samsung (they own roughly half of the facility each). It would seem however that the panels are the end result of Samsung's research, so the claim that "Sony LCDs use Samsung panels" is not totally invalid.
However, the LCD panel is nothing without the processing technology and the control the user is given over the image, and I'd rank the Sonys miles ahead in this regard. Don't think that the Sony BRAVIA TVs are little more than overpriced Samsungs with a fancier brand name.
Home Cinema Choice did a feature on BRAVIA in Issue 128 and posed this question to one of the "brains behind BRAVIA". Here's what he had to say:
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Q: Do all of the BRAVIA TVs have integrated digital ("Freeview") tuners?
A: All of the currently available ones do. You can tell that a TV has a digital tuner in it by looking at the start of the model name - "KDL" for digital, "KLV" for analogue. I think there was once a Bravia 19" LCD in the S-Series that only had an analogue tuner, but it's discontinued now.
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Q: Are all of the BRAVIA TVs HD Ready?
A: Yes. All of the currently available ones are. The ones that lack the necessary input are the KLV-S19A10U and the KDL-S23A12U, both are now discontinued.
Look for the "HD Ready" logo to be sure.
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Q: Why should I spend the extra money and get a Sony BRAVIA LCD TV?
A: In my opinion, there's a few very good reasons. These do not take the U-Series (budget range) into account, simply because I've never used these models so can't comment.
1. The quality of the scaling. All LCD panels need the image to be resized to fit the number of pixels on the screen. As consumer TVs go, the quality of the scaling in the Sony BRAVIA TVs is impressive and is certainly the best I've seen.
2. Adjustable backlight. LCDs use a lamp behind the screen called a backlight to make the picture visible. However some other manufacturers do not let the user control the intensity of this backlight. A backlight that is set too high will prevent inky, convincing blacks, make brighter areas unpleasant to look at, help emphasise compression artefacts, and shorten the life of the display.
Have you ever looked at an LCD showing a Digital TV channel that has a dark film on it, and the dark areas are a mess of flickery grey compression blocks? Well, a backlight that you can't adjust will help light these problem areas up like a Christmas tree. Toning down the backlight helps this problem a lot.
In addition to this, the backlight can be set even lower by using the "Power Saving" mode. The result of this is that the blacks on the Sony BRAVIAs look BLACK. Too many manufacturers (Sony included) sell LCD TVs by pitching them as "the brightest picture ever!" etc etc in the hope that the less techy people will think "bright = good". Not true. On BRAVIA TVs, you can adjust the backlight exactly to your liking.
(Other manufacturers that have the common sense to include the backlight control are JVC, Toshiba, some Sharp TVs, and if memory serves, Hitachi. I'm sure there are more).
3. Ease of use. The on-screen menus are nicely positioned and easily readable. The TV responds almost instantly to remote commands, which takes a lot of the hassle out of tweaking the picture.
4. Per-input settings. Most (but not all) of the BRAVIAs save unique picture settings for each input. This means that you can fine-tune the picture for each of the sources - DVD, Video, Xbox, Digital TV, and get the very best results form each, without having to go into the Picture menu every time you change between sources.
The original S-Series does NOT save per-input settings. The new ones do. As a general rule, TVs with WEGA ENGINE or BRAVIA ENGINE have per-input settings (because these "engines" require memory that can also be used for saving these settings).
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Q: I'm trying to make my mind up - what reasons can you give me NOT to buy a Sony BRAVIA?
A:
1. Comparatively stingy selection of inputs. The newly announced ranges (except for the X-range) offer only 1 HDMI input, whereas JVC, Panasonic and Toshiba tend to now offer 2 on their comparable TVs.
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Q: When did the first BRAVIA TVs come out?
The first TVs to use the BRAVIA name were released in Europe over the Summer of 2005.
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Q: When did the second run (the "2000" models) come out?
A: The S-Series came out Easter 2006, the V-Series May 2006. The X-Series is still to be released in September 2006 but a limited run of the X-Series made its way to stores in June.
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Q: What's the difference between the "2000" models (eg KDL-32V2000U) and the first BRAVIAs (eg KDL-V32A12U)?
A: When Sony of Europe first brought the BRAVIA TVs over to Europe they seemed to use older internal parts. This meant that features like the Brightness Sensor and PC input were on all of the other versions worldwide, but not on the European ones.
The panel was older as well. The rest of the world got S-PVA panels and WCG-CCFL backlighting systems. Europe got neither.
I always thought of the first European BRAVIAs to be more like "LCD WEGA" models in updated casing with an HDMI input slapped on rather than a true launch of a new sub-brand.
I guess they had a surplus of old parts that they wanted to shift?
So, here are the differences between the old models and the new ones:
* Cheaper average price
* BRAVIA ENGINE instead of WEGA ENGINE (seemingly better picture enhancement)
* WCG-CCFL with Live Colour Creation - better colour
* S-PVA panels on 32" and up sizes - better black level, viewing angle, motion
* PC input on all models - better connectivity
* One less RGB SCART socket (boo hoo )
* Motion adaptive deinterlacing for 1080i video instead of Bob deinterlacing (far less judder on 1080i)
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Q: What was "WEGA"?
A: WEGA was a brand name that Sony used to market their LCD TV line in 2004 (and possibly before). It was also used to sell CRT TVs. In the USA and Canada, some (or perhaps all) Sony LCD TVs were called "WEGA" whether or not they had the "WEGA ENGINE" picture processing system. As far as I recall, In Europe, it was generally only models that featured the WEGA Engine picture enhancement technology that used the name - possibly because of stricter advertising laws?
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Q: What's "BRAVIA"?
A: BRAVIA is the successor to WEGA. It's what Sony are calling their lineup of all their LCD TVs, the same way they call their audio players "Walkman". It stands for "Best Resolution Audio Video Integrated Architecture" (no, seriously).
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Q: What are "WEGA Engine" and "BRAVIA Engine"?
A: Both are picture cleanup systems.
WEGA Engine was originally designed for use in CRT sets and was carried over to the "LCD WEGA" range and also some of the first "BRAVIA" TVs.
BRAVIA Engine has been developed 100% for flat panel televisions. We don't know how much better (if at all) it will be than WEGA Engine or whether or not it's just a clever rebrand. Certainly Sony have been hyping up the MPEG blocking reduction option (for cleaning up overcompressed digital TV broadcasts) of the BRAVIA Engine a lot, which suggests that there's going to be a change. We'll find out for sure when the first "BRAVIA Engine" TVs ship in April/May 2006.
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Q: But what does BRAVIA Engine actually do? How much of it is hype? Can you explain it better than Sony do?
A: Sony claims that BRAVIA Engine does the following.
* Filters every image. Sony seem to suggest that this is comb filtering. What Sony don't tell you is that comb filtering is useful only if you're using Composite video sources like a VCR, LaserDisc player, or Analogue TV. That said, if you ARE using Composite video on these TVs, the Comb Filtering is ridiculously good (better than the kind most TV stations seem to be using to convert their old Composite video tapes, in fact!) and eradicates all but a trace of dot crawl.
* Widens the tone range (expands the range of graduation between colours and light and dark shades - perhaps this means that BRAVIA Engine filters out colour banding?)
* Cleans the image (Temporal Noise Reduction - that is, time-based noise reduction that examines the frames in a sequence to "freeze" noise that moves quickly between frames, rather than trying to erase defects from single frames. It can be disabled)
* Enhances the contrast (Boosts low contrast areas - as far as I know the more questionable parts of this can be disabled)
* Smooths the motion. (Sony say this "smoothens diagonal lines in fast moving pictures" - so my interpretation of this is that it's an advanced deinterlacing routine that tries to hide leftover deinterlacing artefacts, which look like "comb" patterns beside moving objects.)
* Strengthens the blacks (without strengthening the rest of the picture).
* Matches the colours (Sony don't offer much info on how this is done).
* Deepens the greens and blues (I presume that this is in addition to a colour filter in the LCD panel itself).
* Cleans block noise (MPEG Noise Reduction, useful for digital TV broadcasts - again, it can be disabled).
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Q: I hear a lot about "V-Series", "S-Series" etc. How do I tell which is which?
A: The easiest way is to look for the letter in the model name:
KDL-V32A12U and KDL-32V2000U are all V-Series.
KDL-S32A12U etc are all S-Series, and so on.
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Q: What's the "E-Series"?
A: Those are the Rear Projection TVs. They're based off an LCD technology, but as they're not LCD Flat Panel TVs, this isn't the forum to ask about them. And I don't know much about this technology!
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Q: What else can I tell about the TV from it's model number?
The first part tells you about the TV's tuner. KLV- means an Analogue tuner. KDL- means that the TV is equipped with a digital one and can pick up Digital Terrestrial broadcasts ("Freeview" in the UK).
The "U" suffix means "United Kingdom". Continental Europe has the "E" suffix.
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Q: Can I get Top Up TV on the BRAVIA LCDs?
A: Yes you can, they have a Common Interface (CI) card slot on the back. You just need the viewing card and CAM adapter that Top Up TV give you when you sign up.
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Q: How are firmware upgrades delivered to the BRAVIA TVs?
A: On the first V-Series models (2005 versions), there's a strange connector on the back beside the HDMI input that looks a bit like an S-Video connector but isn't. This is the Service port. (It may be the same on the old S-Series).
On the new models (the "2000" ones that came out in 2006), there's a hidden MemoryStick input on the back beside the card slot.
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Q: Is it true that the 26" screens are not as well specified as the bigger versions?
A: Yes. The 26" models do not have the S-PVA panels.
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Q: On the new BRAVIAs, there's more "Power Saving" modes: Low and High, instead of just "On" like on the old BRAVIAs. What's the difference between the modes?
A: Power Saving on Low will reduce the backlight intensity (I definitely recommend this setting since it looks very CRT/Plasma-like, but again, tastes vary). Power Saving on HIGH constantly locks the Backlight to the lowest setting so adjusting the Backlight in the picture menu will make no difference.
Power Saving High is the exact same as Power Saving Low with Backlight at 0.
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Q: What's SPVA do?
A: It increases the viewing angle a little (stops colours losing their vividness when the image is looked at from a wide angle) and also produces a better black level.
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Q: What's the difference between all of the different series? V-Series, S-Series, etc?
The G-Series: Sony haven't announced these officially yet. It seems that there will be a 15" model, and 20" model that'll be available in 3 different colours. They have digital tuners and seem to be designed for kitchens or other places that'd need a smaller screen.
The U-Series: the "value" range (new as of 2006):
The bottom range, designed to be cheap and sold at supermarkets and the like.
The S-Series: one step up:
The new S-Series models (KDL-xxS2000) feature the BRAVIA Engine technology. The older ones (KDL-SxxA12) do not, although it was originally planned.
The V-Series is the affordable higher end option:
They have always featured picture cleanup technology. The first BRAVIAs used "WEGA Engine", but the new ones use "BRAVIA Engine". The upcoming "V2000" versions also feature the new "Live Colour Creation" backlight, which apparently produces far better colour reproduction.
There are 1920x1080p V-Series screens coming that Sony of Europe haven't officially announced. They are the KDL-40V2500 and KDL-46V2500. These same model numbers are also being used in the USA - so if you look for them on Google, be sure you're looking at the European specs and not the US ones!
The W-Series:
Being renewed this year. A step-up from the V-Series, although the changes aren't known for definite. 40" and 46" sizes.
The X-Series are the best ones available:
...but sadly only come in 40" and above sizes. They take the features of the V-Series, add full high-def (1920x1280) screen resolution, 2x HDMI inputs, and 2x Component inputs. The picture quality is also slightly better than the V-Series. The X-Series also features BRAVIA ENGINE EX and Digital Reality Creation, which are both included to enhance the quality of the picture specifically for large, high-res panels.
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Q: What's this Live Colour Creation thing?
A: If only we knew for definite! From what I gather, Live Colour Creation is a combination of:
* the WCG-CCFL backlight
* some sort of physical colour filter (can anyone verify?)
* picture processing done via the TV's software for finishing touches.
The end result is that reds and greens - problematic colours for LCD TVs - appear more natural and deep.
"Live Colour Creation" is completely separate to the confusingly named "Live Colour" option in the Advanced Video Settings menu. How do we know this? Well, the S-Series TVs, which don't have Live Colour Creation, also have this option.
"Live Colour Creation" is also not the same thing as the Advanced "Colour Space" option on the new V2000 models. "Colour Space" relates more to the WCG-CCFL backlight. We know this because "Color Space" was asn option on the first American BRAVIA LCDs - which featured the WCG-CCFL backlight, but NOT Live Colour Creation.
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Q: What's motion adaptive deinterlacing and why is it good to have?
A: Motion adaptive deinterlacing is when the deinterlacer in the set (the part that converts interlaced video to progressive) is smart and changes to adapt to the video you're watching.
For example, if you were watching mainly still pictures, like a slide-show that used fade or wipe effects inbetween pictures, you would see a 100% still picture with motion adaptive deinterlacing. But when the pictures faded or wiped - basically, if anything on the screen moved - then looking up close would reveal a little bit of juddering.
Bob deinterlacing simply means that the whole picture will judder up and down constantly - a bit like what your old interlaced CRT TV did. The up-side of this is that no combing artefacts will slip through, the down side of course is that the picture isn't totally stable. The effect's subtle from a few feet away, but it's definitely there.
One step down from the Bob method is to cut out every second line of the 1080i picture to make a 540p one, then scale that up. As far as I know, no Sony LCD has ever used this cheap and nasty technique.
Note that the old BRAVIAs have motion adaptive deinterlacing for Standard definition material. They only resort to the cheaper Bob technique for 1080i. The new ones (with "2000" or "2500" in the model name) have motion adaptive deinterlacing for all types of signal).
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Q: The S-Series now comes in different colours. How do I know what I'm getting?
A: DRLJames found this on the SonyStyle site, explaining the relation between model numbers and colour:
S2000 (Grey)
S2010 (Dark grey)
S2020 (Silver)
The difference between these models appears to be purely down to looks - there doesn't seem to be any technical differences.
Details of an S2510 model has surfaced. It's not yet known whether this is a new colour variant or if the changes are technical rather than cosmetic.
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Q: Do the new Sony LCDs with VGA inputs allow 1:1 mapping over this input?
A: Yes. Set your PC to 1360x768 to get crispy 1:1 mapped video.
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Q: Which of the BRAVIA TVs have fans in them? Are they loud/annoying?
The old (e.g. KDL-V32A12U) 32" and bigger V-Series and W-Series models had fans in them. Rep fills us in: "They can only be heard when the sound is turned off or turned up only a couple of notches in silent environments. It can be heard especially at night, but it is nothing annoying or distracting. A very calm and rather peaceful hum."
The currently released new BRAVIAs do not have fans.
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Q: Where is the Remote/Brightness sensor located?
A: The bottom right of the TV.
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Q: How many different picture profiles do I get on each input?
A: It's possible on most of the TVs to have 3 picture modes per input. However, you can only adjust "Advanced Video" on the "Custom" setting so on "Vivid" for example, the TV is basically operating in "torch mode" and will always have Dynamic Contrast forced on.
On the old models, "Contrast" is the only thing you can adjust on 2 out of 3 presets. You need to go in to the service menu to adjust all of the options (this isn't hard at all, go here: http://www.lyris-lite.net/bravia_tips_presets.html )
I don't know about the old S-Series. Sorry.
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Q: I use Sky or cable, but the TV always turns on to the internal tuner when I turn it on. Can I stop this?
A: Unfortunately no. Sony LCDs have done this for a while. The only possible solution I can offer is to buy a programmable remote control such as a Logitech Harmony and configure the On button to turn on and choose the input you want (the software can apparently do this).
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Sony BRAVIA KDL-32V2000 HDTV / Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD / Panasonic DVD-S97 / Pioneer CLD-2950 LaserDisc player / Regionless Xbox, Dreamcast and GameCube
Say NO to hazy MPEG-2 transfers of HD movies!
Sony BRAVIA LCD TV FAQ
I think we need one of these because a lot of questions get asked about these TVs. Note that this FAQ is unofficial and isn't made or approved by Sony.
THIS is the most frequently asked BRAVIA question on this forum:
Q: Don't these TVs use Samsung panels in them? Doesn't that mean that a Samsung LCD will be just as good?
A: No. Both Samsung and Sony LCDs (as well as many other brands) use panels produced in a factory called S-LCD. Financially, this is a joint venture between Sony and Samsung (they own roughly half of the facility each). It would seem however that the panels are the end result of Samsung's research, so the claim that "Sony LCDs use Samsung panels" is not totally invalid.
However, the LCD panel is nothing without the processing technology and the control the user is given over the image, and I'd rank the Sonys miles ahead in this regard. Don't think that the Sony BRAVIA TVs are little more than overpriced Samsungs with a fancier brand name.
Home Cinema Choice did a feature on BRAVIA in Issue 128 and posed this question to one of the "brains behind BRAVIA". Here's what he had to say:
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Q: Do all of the BRAVIA TVs have integrated digital ("Freeview") tuners?
A: All of the currently available ones do. You can tell that a TV has a digital tuner in it by looking at the start of the model name - "KDL" for digital, "KLV" for analogue. I think there was once a Bravia 19" LCD in the S-Series that only had an analogue tuner, but it's discontinued now.
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Q: Are all of the BRAVIA TVs HD Ready?
A: Yes. All of the currently available ones are. The ones that lack the necessary input are the KLV-S19A10U and the KDL-S23A12U, both are now discontinued.
Look for the "HD Ready" logo to be sure.
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Q: Why should I spend the extra money and get a Sony BRAVIA LCD TV?
A: In my opinion, there's a few very good reasons. These do not take the U-Series (budget range) into account, simply because I've never used these models so can't comment.
1. The quality of the scaling. All LCD panels need the image to be resized to fit the number of pixels on the screen. As consumer TVs go, the quality of the scaling in the Sony BRAVIA TVs is impressive and is certainly the best I've seen.
2. Adjustable backlight. LCDs use a lamp behind the screen called a backlight to make the picture visible. However some other manufacturers do not let the user control the intensity of this backlight. A backlight that is set too high will prevent inky, convincing blacks, make brighter areas unpleasant to look at, help emphasise compression artefacts, and shorten the life of the display.
Have you ever looked at an LCD showing a Digital TV channel that has a dark film on it, and the dark areas are a mess of flickery grey compression blocks? Well, a backlight that you can't adjust will help light these problem areas up like a Christmas tree. Toning down the backlight helps this problem a lot.
In addition to this, the backlight can be set even lower by using the "Power Saving" mode. The result of this is that the blacks on the Sony BRAVIAs look BLACK. Too many manufacturers (Sony included) sell LCD TVs by pitching them as "the brightest picture ever!" etc etc in the hope that the less techy people will think "bright = good". Not true. On BRAVIA TVs, you can adjust the backlight exactly to your liking.
(Other manufacturers that have the common sense to include the backlight control are JVC, Toshiba, some Sharp TVs, and if memory serves, Hitachi. I'm sure there are more).
3. Ease of use. The on-screen menus are nicely positioned and easily readable. The TV responds almost instantly to remote commands, which takes a lot of the hassle out of tweaking the picture.
4. Per-input settings. Most (but not all) of the BRAVIAs save unique picture settings for each input. This means that you can fine-tune the picture for each of the sources - DVD, Video, Xbox, Digital TV, and get the very best results form each, without having to go into the Picture menu every time you change between sources.
The original S-Series does NOT save per-input settings. The new ones do. As a general rule, TVs with WEGA ENGINE or BRAVIA ENGINE have per-input settings (because these "engines" require memory that can also be used for saving these settings).
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Q: I'm trying to make my mind up - what reasons can you give me NOT to buy a Sony BRAVIA?
A:
1. Comparatively stingy selection of inputs. The newly announced ranges (except for the X-range) offer only 1 HDMI input, whereas JVC, Panasonic and Toshiba tend to now offer 2 on their comparable TVs.
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Q: When did the first BRAVIA TVs come out?
The first TVs to use the BRAVIA name were released in Europe over the Summer of 2005.
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Q: When did the second run (the "2000" models) come out?
A: The S-Series came out Easter 2006, the V-Series May 2006. The X-Series is still to be released in September 2006 but a limited run of the X-Series made its way to stores in June.
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Q: What's the difference between the "2000" models (eg KDL-32V2000U) and the first BRAVIAs (eg KDL-V32A12U)?
A: When Sony of Europe first brought the BRAVIA TVs over to Europe they seemed to use older internal parts. This meant that features like the Brightness Sensor and PC input were on all of the other versions worldwide, but not on the European ones.
The panel was older as well. The rest of the world got S-PVA panels and WCG-CCFL backlighting systems. Europe got neither.
I always thought of the first European BRAVIAs to be more like "LCD WEGA" models in updated casing with an HDMI input slapped on rather than a true launch of a new sub-brand.
I guess they had a surplus of old parts that they wanted to shift?
So, here are the differences between the old models and the new ones:
* Cheaper average price
* BRAVIA ENGINE instead of WEGA ENGINE (seemingly better picture enhancement)
* WCG-CCFL with Live Colour Creation - better colour
* S-PVA panels on 32" and up sizes - better black level, viewing angle, motion
* PC input on all models - better connectivity
* One less RGB SCART socket (boo hoo )
* Motion adaptive deinterlacing for 1080i video instead of Bob deinterlacing (far less judder on 1080i)
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Q: What was "WEGA"?
A: WEGA was a brand name that Sony used to market their LCD TV line in 2004 (and possibly before). It was also used to sell CRT TVs. In the USA and Canada, some (or perhaps all) Sony LCD TVs were called "WEGA" whether or not they had the "WEGA ENGINE" picture processing system. As far as I recall, In Europe, it was generally only models that featured the WEGA Engine picture enhancement technology that used the name - possibly because of stricter advertising laws?
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Q: What's "BRAVIA"?
A: BRAVIA is the successor to WEGA. It's what Sony are calling their lineup of all their LCD TVs, the same way they call their audio players "Walkman". It stands for "Best Resolution Audio Video Integrated Architecture" (no, seriously).
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Q: What are "WEGA Engine" and "BRAVIA Engine"?
A: Both are picture cleanup systems.
WEGA Engine was originally designed for use in CRT sets and was carried over to the "LCD WEGA" range and also some of the first "BRAVIA" TVs.
BRAVIA Engine has been developed 100% for flat panel televisions. We don't know how much better (if at all) it will be than WEGA Engine or whether or not it's just a clever rebrand. Certainly Sony have been hyping up the MPEG blocking reduction option (for cleaning up overcompressed digital TV broadcasts) of the BRAVIA Engine a lot, which suggests that there's going to be a change. We'll find out for sure when the first "BRAVIA Engine" TVs ship in April/May 2006.
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Q: But what does BRAVIA Engine actually do? How much of it is hype? Can you explain it better than Sony do?
A: Sony claims that BRAVIA Engine does the following.
* Filters every image. Sony seem to suggest that this is comb filtering. What Sony don't tell you is that comb filtering is useful only if you're using Composite video sources like a VCR, LaserDisc player, or Analogue TV. That said, if you ARE using Composite video on these TVs, the Comb Filtering is ridiculously good (better than the kind most TV stations seem to be using to convert their old Composite video tapes, in fact!) and eradicates all but a trace of dot crawl.
* Widens the tone range (expands the range of graduation between colours and light and dark shades - perhaps this means that BRAVIA Engine filters out colour banding?)
* Cleans the image (Temporal Noise Reduction - that is, time-based noise reduction that examines the frames in a sequence to "freeze" noise that moves quickly between frames, rather than trying to erase defects from single frames. It can be disabled)
* Enhances the contrast (Boosts low contrast areas - as far as I know the more questionable parts of this can be disabled)
* Smooths the motion. (Sony say this "smoothens diagonal lines in fast moving pictures" - so my interpretation of this is that it's an advanced deinterlacing routine that tries to hide leftover deinterlacing artefacts, which look like "comb" patterns beside moving objects.)
* Strengthens the blacks (without strengthening the rest of the picture).
* Matches the colours (Sony don't offer much info on how this is done).
* Deepens the greens and blues (I presume that this is in addition to a colour filter in the LCD panel itself).
* Cleans block noise (MPEG Noise Reduction, useful for digital TV broadcasts - again, it can be disabled).
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Q: I hear a lot about "V-Series", "S-Series" etc. How do I tell which is which?
A: The easiest way is to look for the letter in the model name:
KDL-V32A12U and KDL-32V2000U are all V-Series.
KDL-S32A12U etc are all S-Series, and so on.
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Q: What's the "E-Series"?
A: Those are the Rear Projection TVs. They're based off an LCD technology, but as they're not LCD Flat Panel TVs, this isn't the forum to ask about them. And I don't know much about this technology!
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Q: What else can I tell about the TV from it's model number?
The first part tells you about the TV's tuner. KLV- means an Analogue tuner. KDL- means that the TV is equipped with a digital one and can pick up Digital Terrestrial broadcasts ("Freeview" in the UK).
The "U" suffix means "United Kingdom". Continental Europe has the "E" suffix.
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Q: Can I get Top Up TV on the BRAVIA LCDs?
A: Yes you can, they have a Common Interface (CI) card slot on the back. You just need the viewing card and CAM adapter that Top Up TV give you when you sign up.
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Q: How are firmware upgrades delivered to the BRAVIA TVs?
A: On the first V-Series models (2005 versions), there's a strange connector on the back beside the HDMI input that looks a bit like an S-Video connector but isn't. This is the Service port. (It may be the same on the old S-Series).
On the new models (the "2000" ones that came out in 2006), there's a hidden MemoryStick input on the back beside the card slot.
*** *** ***
Q: Is it true that the 26" screens are not as well specified as the bigger versions?
A: Yes. The 26" models do not have the S-PVA panels.
*** *** ***
Q: On the new BRAVIAs, there's more "Power Saving" modes: Low and High, instead of just "On" like on the old BRAVIAs. What's the difference between the modes?
A: Power Saving on Low will reduce the backlight intensity (I definitely recommend this setting since it looks very CRT/Plasma-like, but again, tastes vary). Power Saving on HIGH constantly locks the Backlight to the lowest setting so adjusting the Backlight in the picture menu will make no difference.
Power Saving High is the exact same as Power Saving Low with Backlight at 0.
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Q: What's SPVA do?
A: It increases the viewing angle a little (stops colours losing their vividness when the image is looked at from a wide angle) and also produces a better black level.
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Q: What's the difference between all of the different series? V-Series, S-Series, etc?
The G-Series: Sony haven't announced these officially yet. It seems that there will be a 15" model, and 20" model that'll be available in 3 different colours. They have digital tuners and seem to be designed for kitchens or other places that'd need a smaller screen.
The U-Series: the "value" range (new as of 2006):
The bottom range, designed to be cheap and sold at supermarkets and the like.
The S-Series: one step up:
The new S-Series models (KDL-xxS2000) feature the BRAVIA Engine technology. The older ones (KDL-SxxA12) do not, although it was originally planned.
The V-Series is the affordable higher end option:
They have always featured picture cleanup technology. The first BRAVIAs used "WEGA Engine", but the new ones use "BRAVIA Engine". The upcoming "V2000" versions also feature the new "Live Colour Creation" backlight, which apparently produces far better colour reproduction.
There are 1920x1080p V-Series screens coming that Sony of Europe haven't officially announced. They are the KDL-40V2500 and KDL-46V2500. These same model numbers are also being used in the USA - so if you look for them on Google, be sure you're looking at the European specs and not the US ones!
The W-Series:
Being renewed this year. A step-up from the V-Series, although the changes aren't known for definite. 40" and 46" sizes.
The X-Series are the best ones available:
...but sadly only come in 40" and above sizes. They take the features of the V-Series, add full high-def (1920x1280) screen resolution, 2x HDMI inputs, and 2x Component inputs. The picture quality is also slightly better than the V-Series. The X-Series also features BRAVIA ENGINE EX and Digital Reality Creation, which are both included to enhance the quality of the picture specifically for large, high-res panels.
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Q: What's this Live Colour Creation thing?
A: If only we knew for definite! From what I gather, Live Colour Creation is a combination of:
* the WCG-CCFL backlight
* some sort of physical colour filter (can anyone verify?)
* picture processing done via the TV's software for finishing touches.
The end result is that reds and greens - problematic colours for LCD TVs - appear more natural and deep.
"Live Colour Creation" is completely separate to the confusingly named "Live Colour" option in the Advanced Video Settings menu. How do we know this? Well, the S-Series TVs, which don't have Live Colour Creation, also have this option.
"Live Colour Creation" is also not the same thing as the Advanced "Colour Space" option on the new V2000 models. "Colour Space" relates more to the WCG-CCFL backlight. We know this because "Color Space" was asn option on the first American BRAVIA LCDs - which featured the WCG-CCFL backlight, but NOT Live Colour Creation.
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Q: What's motion adaptive deinterlacing and why is it good to have?
A: Motion adaptive deinterlacing is when the deinterlacer in the set (the part that converts interlaced video to progressive) is smart and changes to adapt to the video you're watching.
For example, if you were watching mainly still pictures, like a slide-show that used fade or wipe effects inbetween pictures, you would see a 100% still picture with motion adaptive deinterlacing. But when the pictures faded or wiped - basically, if anything on the screen moved - then looking up close would reveal a little bit of juddering.
Bob deinterlacing simply means that the whole picture will judder up and down constantly - a bit like what your old interlaced CRT TV did. The up-side of this is that no combing artefacts will slip through, the down side of course is that the picture isn't totally stable. The effect's subtle from a few feet away, but it's definitely there.
One step down from the Bob method is to cut out every second line of the 1080i picture to make a 540p one, then scale that up. As far as I know, no Sony LCD has ever used this cheap and nasty technique.
Note that the old BRAVIAs have motion adaptive deinterlacing for Standard definition material. They only resort to the cheaper Bob technique for 1080i. The new ones (with "2000" or "2500" in the model name) have motion adaptive deinterlacing for all types of signal).
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Q: The S-Series now comes in different colours. How do I know what I'm getting?
A: DRLJames found this on the SonyStyle site, explaining the relation between model numbers and colour:
S2000 (Grey)
S2010 (Dark grey)
S2020 (Silver)
The difference between these models appears to be purely down to looks - there doesn't seem to be any technical differences.
Details of an S2510 model has surfaced. It's not yet known whether this is a new colour variant or if the changes are technical rather than cosmetic.
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Q: Do the new Sony LCDs with VGA inputs allow 1:1 mapping over this input?
A: Yes. Set your PC to 1360x768 to get crispy 1:1 mapped video.
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Q: Which of the BRAVIA TVs have fans in them? Are they loud/annoying?
The old (e.g. KDL-V32A12U) 32" and bigger V-Series and W-Series models had fans in them. Rep fills us in: "They can only be heard when the sound is turned off or turned up only a couple of notches in silent environments. It can be heard especially at night, but it is nothing annoying or distracting. A very calm and rather peaceful hum."
The currently released new BRAVIAs do not have fans.
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Q: Where is the Remote/Brightness sensor located?
A: The bottom right of the TV.
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Q: How many different picture profiles do I get on each input?
A: It's possible on most of the TVs to have 3 picture modes per input. However, you can only adjust "Advanced Video" on the "Custom" setting so on "Vivid" for example, the TV is basically operating in "torch mode" and will always have Dynamic Contrast forced on.
On the old models, "Contrast" is the only thing you can adjust on 2 out of 3 presets. You need to go in to the service menu to adjust all of the options (this isn't hard at all, go here: http://www.lyris-lite.net/bravia_tips_presets.html )
I don't know about the old S-Series. Sorry.
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Q: I use Sky or cable, but the TV always turns on to the internal tuner when I turn it on. Can I stop this?
A: Unfortunately no. Sony LCDs have done this for a while. The only possible solution I can offer is to buy a programmable remote control such as a Logitech Harmony and configure the On button to turn on and choose the input you want (the software can apparently do this).
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Sony BRAVIA KDL-32V2000 HDTV / Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD / Panasonic DVD-S97 / Pioneer CLD-2950 LaserDisc player / Regionless Xbox, Dreamcast and GameCube
Say NO to hazy MPEG-2 transfers of HD movies!
