Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100 LCD HDTV Review - Viewing Effects

Viewing Effects Summary
• Below average total viewing angle of 58 degrees • Very reflective display • Tests done using DisplayMate
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Viewing Angle (6.33)

For this test we measured the contrast ratio of the Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100 starting directly in front of the HDTV and then at every five degrees from center all the way out to 85 degrees. We are looking for the point at which the contrast ratio falls below 50%, which for the KDL-52V5100 occured 29 degrees from center, for a total viewing angle of 58 degrees. Below you can see the results of our measurements graphed.

The Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100's performance is significantly below our average viewing angle of about 41 degrees. That said it's certainly nowhere near the worst we've ever seen and is probably closer to average for an LCD television, which tend to produce worse viewing angles than Plasma televisions. A total viewing angle of 58 degrees means that you'll have a decent viewing angle for most situations. If, however, you want a television that can be viewed from a much wider angle, say for a large classroom, then you may want to look elsewhere.

Reflectance (5.0)

The Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100 has a problem with reflectance. Shining an array of LED lights onto the display we were not only able to make out each individual light, meaning there's almost no diffusion going on, but it also produced very distracting streaks across the display. These were still visible as we changed the angle of the lights and when watching a standard video clip. We would not recommend putting the KDL-52V5100 into a room that has a lot of natural light that will shine directly on the display and you probably want to be very careful where you place lamps in the room as well.

Video Processing (1.5)

Like most HDTVs the Sony Bravia KDL-52V5100 offers a variety of different video processing options that are supposed to improve various things. In reality these features rarely make a big difference. Below you can see what we thought of the KDL-52V5100's options.