Customer Reviews

Sony Bravia KDL26S5500 26-inch Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV with Freeview

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm very pleased with this TV in most respects, but it does have a fault where it freezes overnight and has to be unplugged and then re-connected to get it going again.

Upon enquiring with Sony support, I was told that it's a known fault and given a number to call my local service centre. They found a fault and a fix registered for this model, but didn't know whether it fixed this particular fault. After some backwards and forwards over the 'phone, it was established that the fix is for this known fault.

Then I'm told that as this is a 26inch TV, I have to take it to them rather than them coming to my home to apply the fix - apparently Sony won't pay for callout on 26 inch screens! So, new TV with a known fault, and who has to put themselves out......yes the poor blooming customer.

Having previously purchased a similar 26" TV from Sony (at almost twice the price some 3 years ago!) I have to say this model is not quite up to the same spec. The picture quality is more than adequate but the (relatively) low contrast ratio takes some of the edge away in the visual department. Maybe I'll have to play around with the settings a bit more but I should have thought the default settings would have been sufficient with only minor tweaks. Sound quality on the other hand is very good indeed and means you needn't use an auxiliary sound system.

One drawback I find is the apparent lack of 'input control', i.e. switching between attached devices (e.g. DVD player, VCR or SAT). The only one which switches the display is the device linked to AV2 (one of the two SCART sockets). This means that you have to manually switch inputs if I want to watch a DVD or satellite program. A minor inconvenience perhaps but a bit of an irritation after a while. In fairness, I haven't attempted to connect any HDMI devices as yet so maybe there's automatic switching on these other input connections.

All in all, a nice TV for the money (at Amazon prices at least).

I wanted a tv for the conservatory, thought a 26" would be too big, and was looking at the 22". However theres only 3" in the case width between them and the 26" actually takes up less space than my old 15" portable.
This tv is the latest model and comes with a 3 year guarantee from Sony when you register it. John Lewis want £499 for the same tv, (ok they give a 5 yr guarentee- but if its going to go wrong its gonna be in the first year).So the Amazon price is amazing value. Picture and sound are superb, the tv itself looks great, very stylish.At this price its a no brainer, why would you buy it anywhere else?

I have been very pleased in all respects with this set - I was in particular pleased to find the sound quality good, having been warned that LCD sets sometime scrimp on this (not much room for speakers inside the case). I foud the default colour settings a bit garish but it is not hard to change these. Yes, my set froze up the one time I left it on standby overnight, but in this day and age I regard this as a reminder not to leave things on standby but instead switch them fully off (which makes components last much longer anyway). My third Sony TV - the first 2 were bought 22 years ago, one failed 3 weeks ago and led me to buy this new one, the other is still going. I shall certainly stick with this brand.

This is the second Sony flat screen tv that I have purchased,and after buying the first and being so impressed was keen to repeat the process with the so-called newer and better model.

The standby function freezes after a few hours,so that you have to unplug the set to seemingly reset the tv.
Another very annoying feature of this tv is that it is very slow to respond to the remote commands,and what can happen is that multiple commands seem to overload the tv which results in the tv 'shutting down'and seemingly re-booting.

This is the last Sony tv that I will buy.

Was a bit apprehensive ordering this TV with the known fault, but if you say no to the energy saving and do the fix in the system updates (think you have to turn them off - Google it), you won't have the standby /startup problem.

Picture is good - not as good as a CRT but not as bad as I feared. Motion blur is ok, too. I've been pleasantly surprised!

After full digital switchover and national Freeview re-tune on Sept 30, I decided to replace my ageing (15y.o.) Sony KV-X2172U HiBlack Trinitron CRT TV that was doing service in our breakfast room. This was less to do with the set; rather more to do with the associated Panasonic TU-CT20 digibox that just could not cope with the changeover and all the new channels (99 in all). It had, as Eric M would have said, "all the right stations, not necessarily in the right order!" All this despite many re-tunes - even resorting to factory re-set. All to no avail. So it had to go.

So, having read all the reviews on Amazon about the KDL 26S5500, decided to buy it. And boy was that a good decision. It arrived safely by City Link and within 10 minutes it was up and running: tuning was a doddle - afterall I'd had enough practise in previous months. I let it settle down to "burn itself in" (Hi-Fi addicts will know what I mean) before deciding that I did need to slightly amend the factory settings to get a perfect (to my eyes) picture.

It had now been operating for some four weeks and I'm delighted with it. I've not experienced the snag that others have but that is mainly because I don't often leave it on standby. Power consumption on standby is low but it still uses power: so why would you? It takes 10 seconds to boot up for cold. Not too long to wait I'd submit. Of course, I would accept that Sony are wrong to ship with a known fault but if it is one that is circumnavigable - so what. Seems like the Humax PVR 9300T fan noise problem to me. BTW I have mine set to Ecopower - don't know whether this makes a difference to standby

The EPG is good and seems to load quickly from BBC1 - indeed faster tham my Humax PVR 9300T and I find it is easy to read. Sound is good and really good played through my NAD C352 amp and Linn Kan speakers.

As I said picture quality is good but in all honesty not as good as my main TV - a Sony Art Couture 28" flatscreen CRT - but since this is 100Hz rather than the 50Hz of this 26" model.

Have not had a chance to connect the Humax up to it using HDMI so may even get better picture that way. Also have not got a BluRay player yet so don't know what HD is really like but Freeview is pretty good. Interesting that Sony are now brnging out a new range of TVs with in-built Freesat. Maybe HD on Freeview is on hold?

Overall, I'd recommend this Sony TV to anyone. Maybe I'll treat myself to the Sony 37" 100Hz Motionflow for the main TV?

The TV had a silly fault - it locked up over night and in the morning it wouldn't respond to the remote control or physical power button on the set. It had to be unplugged from the mains and then plugged back in before it would work. I've seen a few other reviews on Amazon describing the same issue. Amazon accepted it back without trouble.

Instead I got a Samsung LE32B450, so here's a quick comparison of Sony KDL26S5500 vs Samsung LE32B450:

Sony KDL26S5500: Excellent build quality (aside from the above fault) and nice sound. Picture is OK, but not brilliant - Lord of the Rings looked a bit yellow, although I didn't spend a lot of time playing with colour settings. Blacks aren't that black - I think it has relatively low contrast. No visible motion blur.

Samsung LE32450: Picture is excellent - it beats the Sony hands down. There's a little motion blur on the screen if you look closely. Sound is OK but not as nice as the Sony - I use the HIFI output instead. Build quality is questionable - the whole back panel bends and creaks when you plug SCART cables in. I think it has slightly worse reception than the Sony (I'm using an indoor aerial, so not the ideal setup).

TV automatically sets up and autotunes and easy to use.If you need it, analogue channels accessed by a separate button on the remote. Sound quality very good for slimline tv compared with some other brands. Full 8 days epg.

I was very pleased with this TV except that if left on standby for more than a few hours (e.g. overnight) the remote did not operate and neither did the on/off button on the side of the TV. The only way to get it to work again was to unplug the TV and then plug it in again. The remote and buttons then worked perfectly putting the TV into standby and re-activating it again as expected. I sent the TV back to Amazon, a process which they make as painless as possible, but the replacement had the same fault.
Unplugging the TV every day is not an acceptable long-term solution! The low standby current was an important factor in selecting this TV.
I have written to Sony to see if there is a fix, if I do not hear I will have to return the second TV and buy something else.

After a lot of searching I found this is a know fault with Bravia TVs in some regions. The temporary fix is to turn off system update - menu>settings>set-up>digital setup.