Having been burned on many appliances using way too much power (and I pay as much as $0.40 a kWh thanks to Enron screwing California's "grandmas"), I was attracted to the power saving features on this TV. But the small number of reviews made me wonder if I was missing something, even though all but one were 5 stars. Having had the set for a week, I can now rest easy. The picture is great, the power is what they claim (except as noted below), the sound is good (we didn't want a home theater system) and, in general I am very pleased with my purchase.
Pros:
1. The picture is stunning. I couldn't compare side-by-side with other TV's, but I am totally pleased.
2. The power consumption is as advertised. I have a power meter and check out all new appliances -- and have had some real surprises in the past, including with another Sony TV, but that's another story. (See my review under Sony's KDL-37XBR6 for that saga.) During the day, this 52" tv uses 140 watts in Standard mode, 100 watts in Cinema mode, and 150 watts in Vivid mode. I like Standard best during the day. At night, with the Light Sensor enabled (the default), the power drops to about 75 watts in Standard mode, but the picture is way too dim for my taste, so I've had to turn off the Light Sensor. Instead, I either use Standard mode all the time, or move to Cinema mode at night (which is fine, but a bit of a pain to change -- I wish Light Sensor was not so aggressive or there were a user setting to adjust it from 0 to 100%). This compares to 200 watts for my 37" Sony purchased a year ago, so this set is really doing much better.
3. The sound is fine for us. Since we're not into home theater, you can tell we're not into ground shaking bass. But the sound from the TV's internal speakers meet our tastes fine. No tinniness or other problems mentioned on some other sets.
4. Standby power really is low. My power meter measures 0 to 0.2 watts, not that it's very accurate at that level. I have not yet hooked up an antenna or cable connection, where the problem mentioned in #1 above with the electronic program guide might enter. When I do, though, now I'll know to look for the problem and how to fix it if it occurs -- or bug Sony until they tell me how to. (The two sets might have different procedures for turning off the useless guide that was costing me several dollars a month in electricity -- on the other Sony, not this one.)
Cons:
1. As noted above, the Light Sensor is almost useless. Way too aggressive. And, the user manual was almost no help in finding how to turn it off. It's in Setup/Eco, and to get to Setup you have to go to Picture Adjustments or another Setup category. I didn't see Setup as an option itself.
2. The motion sensor is useless. It only works to 9.5' which is not far enough for a 52" TV. Probably more useful on the smaller models. The unit ships with motion sensor off as the default, a sign that Sony recognizes (but did not fix) the problem.
Caveats:
1. We drive the set only with a TiVo box, a PS3 (blu-ray!) and other external signals. I have not yet tested the internal tuner, so the slow tuning problem mentioned by the single 1 star review is not something I'd see. I also wonder if that's a problem with digital tuners in general or this set is uniquely slow.
2. I was unable to determine the expected life span of the hot cathode fluorescent light, or how much a replacement might cost.
3. I was unable to compare power consumption with the new (more expensive) LED backlit sets. It's hard to find power consumption ratings, much less under real use. The LED sets are also a lot more expensive to buy.
In spite of the small drawbacks, this set is so much better than others I've seen (at least when my concern for power consumption, both from an economic and environmental point of view is factored in) that it clearly rates five stars.Get more detail about Sony BRAVIA VE5-Series KDL-52VE5 52-Inch 1080p 120Hz Eco-friendly LCD HDTV.
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