Sony KDLW2000 HDTV

Sony just got bigger with specially with their Bravia models. This is all thanks to favourable reviews and some widely discussed TV advertising. With a slogan like “Colour like.no.other”, the multi-award-winning BRAVIA is Sony’s brand in marketing its high-definition LCD TVs. Sony is slowly catching up and is on its way to capturing the HDTV market.

The Sony KDLW2000 series helped the company break into the competitive 1080p market. It is a relatively affordable but surprisingly well featured set that highlights the well advertised BRAVIA engine and Live Colour Creation, hoping to set itself from competitors and becoming the class leader for LCD TVs.

The KDLW2000 is designed with the black-and-grey W-Series look. It wouldn’t win any beauty contests, but you can be assured that the value of this set is more on the features rather than aesthetics. The non-reflective black bezel is a departure from the glossy frames of its closest competitors but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If you watch a lot of TV in daytime, you might enjoy the glare free session. The speaker grille covers the whole length of the bottom part of the TV below the lower bezel.

As for its connections, it is loaded with the usual input choices with 2 HDMI, 1 Component, 1 VGA, 2 SCART, 1 S-video and 1 Composite. The standard headphone jacks and analogue R/L audio outputs are also there. For HDMI, the Sony accepts up to 1080p signals but only 1080i in component and 1360×768 in VGA (PC input). There is also a lack of multimedia connectivity that can work against this model with certain consumers. You can already find USB and multicard readers installed on other companies’ models, allowing the TV to be much more than a video display set. But Sony redeems itself by including an on-board analogue and digital Freeview tuner with this set.

Then we go to its performance. The KDLW2000 showed some backlight and screen uniformity issues. However, its black level display is quite satisfying. While it can’t match the subjective black level of the best plasmas, this Sony TV comes close. With the backlight and brightness controls, you have some flexibility in determining your black level. our limit will of course depend on personal preference and ambient light conditions. Bright scenes were given first rate treatment, given its natural strength in contrast ratio and peak brightness. The dark scenes have satisfying blacks with minimal loss in shadow detail. You don’t feel that you’re missing too much here at any point.

All in all, the KDL-40W2000 shows some very impressive features. To conclude, then, the KDL-40W2000 is an excellent TV with minor problems - provided you get one that doesn’t have the cloudy backlight problem - as well as a display with excellent short and long-term future proofing. If you’re looking for a 1080-line display to make the most out of Sky HD and HD DVD (or Blu-ray), then right now you can look no further.

Sources:
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk
http://www.hdtvorg.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk