Check Out Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-26L5000 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black

Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-26L5000 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black Review

(Revised 2/21/2010: Sorry, folks, the Red push is just too much for the mrs and me. I'm attempting to return this set today, as further viewing with all that red and anemic blue is simply too annoying and can't be corrected. If you don't mind this -- to me -- serious problem, it's your choice. But surely SONY should be able to do better than this.) Purchased from eDirect before I found Amazon's listing. I was swayed by all the 5-star reviews at Amazon (nowadays, as viewed in showroom setups, there's no way to judge image quality). The mosquito noise seen in showrooms appears in my living room as well, though it's not as prominent as on other LCD's. As for comments about "great color", I'm not sure what that oft-used phrase is supposed to mean; this tv is deficient in Blue and has a 25% Red push that glows like neon and often bleeds like the reds on dirt-cheap store brand CRT's. The SONY at least has RGB adjustments, although RGB Gain can only be reduced, not increased -- a really odd design. In one picture mode, Red is pushed 34%, which looks bizarre but which apparently appeals to "great color" enthusiasts. Sadly, SONY doesn't provide color Y-level controls, not even in the miniscule service menu. In Cinema/Warm Mode the grayscale RGB is admirably flat except for a typically elevated Blue "leg" from 40-IRE on down; most LCD's have such grayscales, ostensibly to make blacks look darker (actually, it just makes blacks look blue, not black. The value R16G16B16 (digital black) is a color rarely seen on HDTV's). After some drastic and very tricky RGB adjustments with help from a colorimeter and HCFR software, blacks looked more neutral and the Red push was made at least tolerable, but high-red gamma suffered somewhat. At least it kept most skin tones from looking like terminal cases of third-degree burn, although fair-skinned people often have an unsightly hot-pink tint. The overall image is suitably contrasty and sharp, and SD sources look much cleaner than with most LCD's. With HD and SD, there's some noisy moire in fine-grained objects like sequinned gowns and heavy wool coats, and shimmer when very high-contrast objects move. But those effects are common on many LCDs. Low-IRE gamma is a bit aggressive, making some darks look rather inky, especially with BluRay; thankfully there's a backlight control that helps a bit. Motion is mostly handled well, even without 120-hz gimmicks (which don't work anyway, because refresh rate isn't the source of LCD motion blur). Turn off noise reduction, which adds its own artifacts and makes motion blur worse. Thankfully I haven't seen judder or stutter so far, but I saw a mild case of upscaling jaggies. With a pristine image source, the overall picture is better than average and looks quite sharp and snappy, without phony edge enhancement. I measured the real-world contrast at around 2100:1, an impressive figure, with excellent darks and crisp whites: black and white movies play nicely. Less perfect sources (low contrast, noisy, low-density scenes in fog, heavy rain, etc.) just look smeared and murky -- this is digital video's fault, not SONY's. BluRay looks very punchy and sharp, though BR compression artifacts are easy to spot. As far as a generally cleaner image is concerned, SD-DVD looks much better on this set than on other 26-inchers I've seen. At this size, the difference between 720 lines and 1080 couldn't be seen, even with a 37" 1080p sitting beside it. If your BluRay player outputs 720i or 720p, set it that way; HD-DVD downscaling doesn't play well here. The tuner is fairly fast; channel cruising is a bit slow, but I've seen much worse. Setup instructions warn that channel scanning takes 50 minutes; my scan found 100-plus cable stations in 12 minutes. Audio ain't great, but it's cleaner and louder than averege and works well from its coax output (but no headphone jack!). Viewing angle is narrow, about 15 degrees either side, a tad wider than some others. Overall I'd say it's an above-average LCD, aided by limited RGB controls but marred mostly by annoying Reds and absent the full-featured CIE adjustments found on some sets. It nicely replaces the average low-quality generic 20" or 24" CRT. But if your old, higher-end smallish CRT still works well and can be calibrated, stick with the tube.

Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-26L5000 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black Feature

• Enjoy a 26-inch flatscreen with vibrant 720p resolution from any HD source
• Advanced Contrast Enhancer with Dynamic Backlight Control Dynamic Backlight Control creates a dynamic contrast ratio of 13,000:1
• Three HDMI inputs (up to 1080/60p input capable) , two Component YPbPr (1080/60i capable), and one PC input
• Expand your HDTV's capabilities with BRAVIA Link modules, such as BRAVIA DVD Link, BRAVIA Wireless Link, and BRAVIA Input Link
• BRAVIA Sync gives you one-touch access and control of all your compatible home theatre devices
• Adjusting the brightness of the backlight in real time, which optimizes contrast and reduces power consumption

Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-26L5000 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black Overview

Sony Bravia L-Series HDTVs provide vivid 720p resolution and dynamic contrast ratios of 13,000:1 (the 26-inch model) and 13,000:1 (for 32-inch model), with several versatile sizes perfect for the budget-conscious consumer or anyone wanting an HDTV that works well in the bedroom, kitchen, or office. Bravia L-Series HDTVs have a wealth of HD connections, including three HDMI inputs. Each HDMI input transmits uncompressed digital video and multi-channel digital audio on a single cable, so you can expand your home theater system without a lot of messy wires. Also included is a PC input that lets you use your HDTV as a computer monitor. If you need to streamline your HD components further, the Bravia L-Series HDTVs feature Bravia Sync technology and are compatible with optional Bravia Link Modules such as the Bravia Wireless Link, which wirelessly streams HD video and audio from your A/V equipment to your HDTV from up to 65 feet away. You might expect that more features mean more power consumption, but Bravia L-Series HDTVs include a Dynamic Backlight Control which automatically controls overall image brightness to help the TV exceed ENERGY STAR 3.0 standards.

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Customer Reviews

Sony LCD TV - Shelly A - Cottage Grove, MN USA
I bought this for the work out room and it is perfect. Purchased the wireless headphones and am really happy with both. Makes working out a much better experience!






Great except for extremely narrow viewing angle. - JDS - San Francisco, CA
Great except for extremely narrow viewing angle. If you view the screen from any angle over 30º from dead on, the picture gets very light and unsaturated. Since this TV is in the bedroom, it isn't a big problem but is disappointing.



Sony Bravia KDL-26L5000 - S. Dyczkiewycz -
We purchased this set from Amazon Warehouse and couldn't be more pleased. The description read there was a blemish on the housing, but after thoroughly looking it over, we couldn't find a single flaw! The picture quality is superb and the setup was very simple. It has everything you could ask for in a bedroom or small space HD TV.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Mar 25, 2010 18:40:03