Sony's 46-inch KDL-46W4100 LCD HDTV gets reviewed

by Darren Murph posted Jun 7th 2008 at 4:52PM

Barely two months after being announced, the 46-inch model from the wide-ranging W4000 series has hit the test bench over at CNET. To make a long story short, Sony's mid-range set performed right at the level one would expect it to, but folks looking for the best of the best will have to peer elsewhere (and bring along a few extra hundies). Reviewers were digging the deep black levels, accurate primary colors and expansive port selection, but a few notable niggles kept it from being atop the class. For starters, they were none too pleased with the convoluted menu system, and the below-average viewing angle, fluctuating blacks and disappointing image quality weren't smiled upon. From here, it sounds as if the 46W4100 is a set that shouldn't be purchased sight unseen, but check out the read link to hear from the folks who spent all the time with it.

Filed under: Reviews, Displays, Sony, LCD

Tags: 46W4100, hdtv, KDL-46W4100, lcd, lcd hdtv, lcd tv, LcdHdtv, LcdTv, review, reviewed, sony, w4000

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Toxis @ Jun 8th 2008 12:16AM

Added 120htz yet the picture quality dropped dramatically from the W3000 of last year. The pictures is noticably purple which makes me wonder if they bought some Sharp panels for the cheaper lines.

Neutral

Some Kid @ Jun 7th 2008 5:59PM

are sony's ever reasonably priced
no
no they are not

Neutral

Andy Sullivan @ Jun 7th 2008 7:15PM

The biggest drawback to LCD displays is the terrible viewing angles and yet folks buy them and are never told about this shortcoming by the sales person. A large display meant for the main viewing room in a family of more than two should have an acceptable viewing angle.

Neutral

ceilingfanboy @ Jun 8th 2008 1:03AM

I always tell people about the viewing angles. I also tell them that they have been greatly improved and to look at the tv in the angles that people will be viewing it in your house to see if the viewing angle is acceptable. For most LCDs now, the picture quality doesn't change dramatically with off angle viewing other than the picture being a little darker and for most of the people that would be viewing off angle, the change is not noticeable because most of the people that would be bothered by the viewing angle issue are people who have set ups that are designed to give a good viewing angle.

Highly Ranked

John Willaford @ Jun 8th 2008 10:29AM

Hmmm. I'm unfamiliar with bad image quality on this unit. Fluctuating Black Levels are common on most LCDs using advanced contrace algorhythms.
Dunno, it looks pretty good to me.

Neutral

Nfinity @ Jun 8th 2008 1:59AM

Neutral

Juice @ Jun 8th 2008 9:16AM

Unless you have alot of bright light in the room, forget LCD. Plasma is simply better technology for viewing angles, black level, colour accuracy, motion, etc. Get a Panny 800 or 850 series set and forget the Sony, the Panny will give you a much better picture and they have better customer service. Also if you want to spend big bucks get a Pioneer Elite Kuro.

Neutral

Godskitchen @ Jun 8th 2008 10:09AM

Couldnt agree more, the only reason to get an LCD is if you either want a light in your living room or like not being able to see what is going on in dark scenes of movies.

I have been thinking for a while about setting up a review site for stuff like this. Cnet saying it has good black levels is a joke. They are either stupid or being paid by Sony.

Highly Ranked

Jimmy @ Jun 8th 2008 3:30PM

Godskitchen,

I am not sure about your complaint with CNet and black levels. CNet explains quite clearly that the black level test is "a subjective test, measured by eye against a reference display". For this test the television can receive one of three values: GOOD, AVERAGE, POOR. This Sony is clearly better than the average LCD on the market and thus got a rating of good.

Since there are only three possible values for a score CNet often puts extra information in the review body to clarify the rating. Reading the review on the Panasonic Viera, CNets top rated HDTV right now, you will see that the black level here is nearly as good as it gets. It is compared directly to the Pioneer Kuro which according to CNet is still the best possible blacks.

If you look at the best TVs page: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hdtvs-overall/
You will see that it is quite clear how the TVs stack up to each other in not only black levels but also overall performance. In fact in the short descriptions you will see the Viera referred to as having "great black-level performance" while the Kuro has "deepest shade of black".

CNet actually agrees with you 100% that the plasmas are better televisions. In fact they think the rear projection 55A3000 is a better television.

One last thing. CNet recognizes and admits to the black-level test being subjective. They are currently in the process of setting up a quantitative black-level test that will be put in place hopefully this year.

I actually would like to see your review site. Please let us all know when you have that up and running with a dozen or so reviews. If your site is better than others I will promote it without bias. However, as of right now I think CNet is one of the best review sites on the web.

Neutral

joe @ Jun 9th 2008 1:50PM

I just picked up one of the 40" units from this years line.

I tend to be picky about image quality and the image quality is far from poor.

I really like this set. It won't ever be used to replace a professional video monitor but it does a really good job at image reproduction.

The black levels ARE good. They aren't like a crt but this is a far cry from the previous generations of LCD. In a dark room sitting right in front of the set I could not read by the light of the black screen. You can tell the screen is on but is simply isn't enough light to care about anymore, at least for me.

I found the automatic luminance adjust works well. It keeps the blacks lifted when the sun is shinning on the set and keeps it low when the room is darkened.

The brightest colors on the set are sufficiently bright to be watchable and enjoyable with open windows. I suspect that there is an anti-glare coating on the display that helps with this.

The color rendition is very good. I didn't notice any extreme shift in color at either the highlights or shadow regions. This set does not support XVycc color,or what ever Sony calls it. This isn't to big of a deal from me since I don't have any XVycc devices. The colors look very true to what I remember. They may not have been perfect but they all worked together in a way that felt similar to the originals.

I do not like the automatic motion compensation. I don't remember what it is called but when turned on high it creates a very interesting super smooth look to images. The main elements almost pop out in a 3d fashion. It's like having a super 3:2 pull down. Basically it makes everything look like it was shot on video. I bought this set to watch 24p content.

This set does support 24p native. You can tell the difference between 24p and 60 i. I can't quite quantify the difference but the motion on movies looks more natural and "film like" when it is on. It's not a glaring in your face thing however. I appreciate being able to see frame for frame because I am picky about that. If I bought the cheaper 60hz set it would have been fine to.

BTW OTA HD is awesome. I get a TON of stations. The quality blows away anything I've seen from cable. I hooked up a pair of rabbit ears on a lark and I left the cable hooked up to my vcr.
This TV comes with built in TV guide so you can actually browse a normal channel guide with only OTA channels.

The menus are okay but I'm already used to the XMB. The remote isn't very good.

I wish I had more time to write but alas. I'm not a blogger.

My setup:

The tv is hooked up via hdmi from my ps3. True motion(24p) is turned on, as is hdmi super white, the output is set to 1920x1080. The view distance is around 6'

Stuff I watched:
Bullet : the BD
Gladiator : DVD
Comastic Cable
Over The Air programming.
320x480 mpgs up scaled.
You Tube

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