Tour & Design

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The front of the KDL-55V5100 has a clean, uncluttered look, with just three indicator lights on the bottom edge of the bezel. The bezel itself is shiny plastic, which could pick up reflections.

Back

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We were not able to take a shot of the back of the KDL-55V5100, as it was bolted to the wall and Sony representatives resisted our attempts to tear it off to take a closer look. However, we believe that it looks similar to the back of the KDL-40V5100, which is shown below, with a group of ports in a recessed panel on the right side.

Sides

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On the left side is a panel that holds most of the input ports. On the right side of the KDL-55V5100 (looking from the front) are the controls. The angle of the photograph is not to exaggerate the monolith-esque look of the TV, but because there was another one next to that meant we could not get a better shot.

Stand/Mount

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Because the demo unit we looked at was bolted to a wall, we couldn't take a look at the stand. However, we were informed that the stand was similar to the one supplied with the 40-inch model, which is shown below.

Aesthetics

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The KDL-55V5100 has a clean, simple design that is functional without being flashy. If you want flashy, you could spray paint it bright pink, but the existing approach will work for most people.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology

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The KDL-55V5100 is built around a 55-inch LCD panel that uses a conventional CCFL backlight. Many displays are switching over to the newer LED backlights, but this is restricted to more expensive models at this time.

Formats & Resolution

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The LCD panel has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, so this display can show every pixel of a 1080p signal sent by a device such as a Blu ray player.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

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We were unable to test the blacks and whites of this display, but Sony claims that it can manage a contrast ratio between the two of 50,000:1. This is a dynamic contrast ratio, though, where the black is measured with the backlight turned down and the white is measured with it turned right up. The more useful measure is what Sony refers to as the On-screen contrast ratio, which is 5000:1. The way that we measure the contrast ratio is closer to the on-screen measure, where you measure both blacks and whites with the backlight turned up as this is how you normally use a TV.  But we'll have to wait until we can get a review model into our testing lab before we can see how this display performs in the real world.

Color

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We were not able to test the color performance of this display, but the demos that Sony were showing had attractive, bright colors.

Motion & Refresh Rate

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This display offers 120Hz processing, which is fast becoming ubiquitous on HDTVs. Sony's version is called MotionFlow. Again, we were not able to test this directly, but we did see what looked like attractive, smooth motion.

Viewing Angle

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Sony's claimed viewing angle for this display is 178 degrees, but we would take this claim with a large dose of salt. In fact, make it an entire shaker full; manufacturers routinely make ambitious claims for viewing angle that are not borne out in our tests. Again, we'll reserve judgment here until we get a model in to test out.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

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The KDL-55V5100 has the majority of its ports on the left side of the body: from the top we have a USB port, VGA, 3 HDMI and an S-Video and composite video. Finally, there are a pair of analog audio inputs. 

Because of the aforementioned restrictions on tearing this display off the wall, we were not able to get a shot of the ports on the back. However, we do know that there is just a single HDMI port and a handful of analog video and audio inputs, plus a digital and analog audio output.

 

Media & Other Connectivity

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The USB port allows this display to show photos and play music from a USB thumb drive or similar device, but it cannot play back video files from these. There is also no Internet connection, so it cannot play back streaming Internet content.

Placement

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The side ports are well located, although you will need to lean around the side of the display to read the labels and figure out which port is which. Sony also made the slightly odd decision to put the majority of the HDMI ports on the side rather than the back, so if you want to connect multiple devices, you will need to run cables to the side of the display.

Audio

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We were not able to test the speakers on this display.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

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The remote control that comes with this display was not available for testing, but we have generally found Sony remotes to be good, but somewhat overly blessed with buttons, which can be confusing for some users.

Controls

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The controls are located on the right side of the display, just behind the lip of the bezel. They are well spaced out and should b easy to use by touch once you figure out the layout. The power button is located at the top, then there are the channel and volume buttons, then the input selector and finally the menu button.

Menu

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The on-screen menus of this display were locked out to stop people like us from messing with them, so we can't comment on how good or bad they are. We have generally found Sony menu systems to be good, if a little confusing at times.

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

KDL-XXV5100 Series

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The KDL-XXV5100 series has 4 models in it, ranging from 40 inches up to the 55 inches that we looked at in this review.  All of the models have a similar set of features: they have 120Hz processing, and a USB port but cannot play back videos or connect to the Internet.