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| The 46W4100 had a rather disappointing viewing angle; at only 15 degrees, the contrast ratio fell by 50 per cent. The screen did not have a big problem with reflections, though; they did not detract overly from the image quality. |
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Viewing Angle (4.48) 
The viewing angle of the 46W4100 was a problem; we found that moving even a few degrees away from being right in front of the display meant that the blacks got lighter, and the whites got much paler. We test this by measuring the contrast ratio of the TV at a variety of angles, and working out when the contrast ratio has fallen by 50 per cent. We found that this happened on the 46W4100 at a very small angle; just 15 degrees, giving about 30 degrees as the overall angle of view. That's a smaller angle than many; the Samsung LN46A750 managed a much more impressive 52 degrees, giving an excellent overall angle of view of 110 degrees.
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This was due to the rise in the black level and the fall in the white at angles; the blacks in images definitely got lighter, and the whites got dimmer. However, we did find that colors did okay; although they definitely faded to some degree, the colors remained visible and distinct to a very wide angle. Overall, the 46W4100 had issues with viewing angle. It would be fine for a single person or a small family, but if you're a big family that likes to gather around the TV, it may not be a great pick.
Reflectance (6.25)
Like all HDTVs, the 46W4100 has a slightly reflective screen. And this definitely picks up reflections; if you have a lamp next to your favorite movie watching chair, there's a good chance that you will see a reflection of the lamp in the screen at the right angle. But there is obviously some sort of anti-reflective coating on the front of the screen that softens and diffuses the reflection; we found that the reflections in our tests were not overly irritating or distracting.
Video Processing (3.0)
Like most TVs, the 46W4100 has a number of features that the manufacturer claims will make your videos look better. And, like most TVs, most of these prove to be useless on the 46W4100. Let's look at each of these picture enhancement features in turn.
| Processing Type |
What They Claim |
What We Saw |
| Noise Reduction |
"reduces the picture noise level" |
slightly reduces the noise in images, but also makes them look soft
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MPEG Noise Reduction
|
"reduces the mosaic effect in MPEG-compressed video"
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No difference noticed
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| Game Mode |
"optimize the enjoyment of fast-paced video games where response time is important" |
Reduces processing lag. Good for gamers. |
| Video/Photo Optimizer |
"optimize the video quality of video (moving pictures) or photo (still image) content. |
Only works with 1080i and above video sources. Photo mode turns brightness down slightly and enhances dynamic range. |
A couple of these features are moderately useful; the game mode will be welcomed by twitchy gamers as it reduces the display lag, but the two noise reduction features are not that useful; if you are trying to watch a noisy analog signal on a TV like this, you're better off spending the time improving the source than fiddling with this. The video/photo optimization is interesting, but the differences are extremely subtle; most people won't notice. There is a mode that can automatically select video or photo optimization, but this only works with Sony products that support it.
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