Customer Reviews

Sony BRAVIA KDL40S5500U 40-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with Freeview

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sony started selling the S series as an introductory level TV, something for those who wanted the basics without all the fancy 100hz etc. Well, the 40S5500 is far from basic, even though the cost might lead you to believe otherwise.

Ok, it still doesn't have 100Hz (or the recent 200Hz of some new TVs) and it doesn't have a really really high contrast ratio, but at 33,000:1, unless you are really picky, the black levels are pretty good on both SD and HD pictures anyway.

What it does have is full HD (amazingly there are still 40" TVs around that don't, who's buying them?!) and the pretty amazing Bravia Engine 2 which has some lovely upscaling for SD pictures, 24p mode for Blu-ray playback at cinema speeds and some nice eco-modes to help you save energy.

The picture quality through the built in tuner is good, but ultimately SD so you'll notice a big difference if you switch to an HD signal. Using it with the Humax Freesat box, even on an SD signal (which the Freesat box upscales well) is far better and with BBC HD it's stunning, particularly on shows such as Life.

Blu-ray takes this a step further, playing the Disney film Cars (through a PS3) it's almost as if the picture is coming out at you! Gaming on the PS3 and 360 is so clear, even compared to an HD Ready set, I don't know how I lived without it.

I've even bought cables for the Wii to play it in its highest definition (still not HD, but an improvement) and this looks much crisper on the TV than it did in SD.

Bad point? Well, the stand isn't the best, even with the screws in place it feels like the TV could topple over if given a little push. Also, the Freeview menu displaying the channel is huge, why on earth they wanted a font that big I don't know, perhaps they're appealing to the partially blind? (I guess, having said that, it's useful if you are partially blind).

Aside from this, and with Bravia link supported for Sony Blu-ray and the PS3 Slim, this TV is huge value for money.

This is a superb, plug-in and go big screen TV. Easy to set up ,easy to use ,all the features we need and a superb picture.This tv was nearly £2000 a few years back , what a bargain !

Absolutely no issues getting this TV setup and running. An excellent picture when watching Sky, DVDs, and even better for Bluerays. Getting Sky+HD installed next week so i'm sure that will be great too.
Definitely value for money.

AFTER RESEARCHING FOR A HD TELEVISION FOR QUITE A LONG TIME AND WITH THE HELP OF MY SON - WE PICKED THIS ONE- IT IS AN EXCELLENT TV AND IS FULL HD NOT JUST HD READY, QUALITY OF PICTURE AND SOUND EXCELLENT.

This TV's superb. I was initially worried about buying something so expensive online, but with Amazons fast delivery and reliable service i went for it. I went to comet, curry's etc first to look at different brand tv's, and i found the Sony ones truly are the best. My advice is to pay a bit extra for the sony. About this tv, firstly the price of the tv is much cheaper than going into a shop for it. The picture quality's fantastic, it's really quick and easy to set up. It's got HD ready channels, and you can connect your pc to it for music etc.
I'll purchase from Amazon more often after this buy.

The TV has stunning picture and sound quality. Has enough space at the back for scart, hdmi etc.

I am not a big "tech geek" so a simple tv was all I needed. This ticked all the boxes!

I doubt you would find a better deal.

Brilliant! Easy to set up, great picture. Perhaps needs some additional speakers. Arrived within 48 hours. Well done Amazon.

This is now the 4th Sony HD tv I have purchased all from Amazon for various members of the family.
As usual this Sony tv was extremely easy to instal & is a delight to view.
Well done Sony again!

I was given a dispatch date of four days from when I ordered this unit. Which was fair enough, but the reality was that it arrived here in Scotland mere hours later - I'm sure it was less than one day.

Praiseworthy indeed, Amazon. And the box arrived bash-free, too - usually a plus, I find.

Setting it up was child's play - which was tough, as I'm nearly 58.

First impressions are of a decent television with admirable image quality - given that so far it's only had freeview signals to display. It'll be interesting to see how it shows a blockbuster movie from DVD.

The auto set up was so easy I didn't need the manual, well hardly needed it. It scanned its coverage band and identified oodles of services very quickly indeed.

Wasn't sure that buying a 40" telly was a good idea given the the room it's in isn't a big one - but as it's used by a pensioner with sight bad enough to be registered blind the size of the screen was an overriding factor.

These gi-normous tvs don't seem to attract good reviews from owners re their sound quality, and now I can see why. Smallish speakers with their grills facing backwards towards the wall - they're always gonna fight to be heard compared to more conventionally-built units - but as close to the whole front elevation of the tv is given over to watchable screen it's kind of hard to moan too much about that - there's just hardly any acreage to position speakers facing forwards.

Could be a decent pair of accessory stereo speakers will make a decent upgrade to the sound?

Meantime it's doing its TV duties well enough and, being a Sony, I'm hoping the 3 year guarantee won't be needed too soon?

The four stars are only because in principle I never rate any mass-produced product as perfect. But if there was a standalone rating for Amazon's speed of service that would have qualified for a full house on this occasion - deeply impressed by the incredibly fast delivery.

The picture quality is excellent when viewing satellite via the HDMI connection.

HD Satellite is even better. (FOXSAT HDR).

Analogue reception is fine which considering our aerial is good. We have no freeview in our area so I can't comment on that.

Source selection is a little irritating as it's not possible to hide/disable those inputs you're not using. Hence you have to scroll past the unused ones.

Sound quality is fair through the built in speakers. Some vibration/distortion is apparent on loud/high tones e.g action movies. I suspect this is the back panel vibrating.

One excellent feature is the ability to turn off the TV speakers and output the sound to an external amp (HiFi) via the RCA sockets on the back. When you do this the TV remote will adjust the volume via the amp.

I was somewhat torn between this and a similar (Panasonic Plasma) on the basis of the kind of programs we watch (depth of black being the issure). All I can say is the Sci-Fi is excellent and we're still going "wow" at BBC Wildlife documentaries.

We've had no cause to complain about picture quality whatever the lighting conditions. Viewing angle is good.

The remote control is OK although it seems "upside down" when you first pick it up.

The slight annoyances wouldn't put me off recommending it to anyone looking for a 40" TV.

The current 3 year SONY warranty is a nice although my current SONY (29" CRT) is now 10 years old.