Sony KDL-46VE5 LCD HDTV Review - Blacks & Whites

Blacks & Whites Summary
Editorial Note: This is a review of the Sony KDL-46VE5. Test results are for this model, but should indicate the general performance of other sizes in the VE5 series. The VE5 series includes the following models: KDL-40VE5, KDL-46VE5, and KDL-52VE5.  Read here for more details on series differences.
• Excellent scores for Black Levels and White Levels • Better than average contrast • Terrible uniformity across the width of the screen • Testing done using DisplayMate Software
	Tour & Design	Page 3 of 18	Color Accuracy

Black Level (8.23)

The black levels that we tested on the Sony KDL-46VE5 turned out to be great. At best, it could produce a black level of 0.09 cd/m2. That's quite dark, and hence, quite good, at least for an LCD television. Plasma TVs can always get a little darker, because they can completely turn off that pixel. LCD TVs have a large backlight behind them that can never be totally blacked out.

Black Level
Compare the Sony KDL-46VE5 to other HDTVs
Samsung UN46B6000 46 inches	Vizio SV471XVT 47 inches	Sony KDL-46Z5100 46 inches

The KDL-46VE5 has dynamic backlighting, but thankfully, you can turn it off. The feature sounds great, but it can be badly implemented, resulting in garish, abrupt adjustments in the shadowy areas of the screen.

Peak Brightness (8.6)

The peak brightness on the Sony KDL-46VE5 is good, but we've seen better. At best, it produced a measurement of 325.9 cd/m2. From this score, you can expect more than adequate levels of detail in the highlight areas of the screen. 

Peak Brightness

Contrast (8.42)

Our contrast numbers tend to differ drastically from what the manufacturers give you. The short explanation is this: our numbers are realistic, there's are idealistic. At best, we found the Sony KDL-46VE5 produced a contrast ration of 3621:1. That is still a very good score, putting it above the average for LCD TVs in this range.

From a score this good, expect a snappy, sharp picture with a pleasing level of detail in both shadows and highlights.

Contrast

Tunnel Contrast (9.52)

Chances are, most movies you're watching don't have an an all-white or all-black screen. Rather, the highlights and shadows exist side-by-side. But on some televisions, when there is more white on the screen, the shadows tend to get brighter. Better TVs maintain an even level of blackness. The Sony KDL-46VE5, thankfully, tends to be among those better TVs. No matter what the content on the screen, you can be assured of good detail in the shadows. 

Tunnel Contrast

White Falloff (9.81)

The white falloff is exactly like the test above, but in reverse. On some TVs, when there is a lot of black on the screen, the detail in the highlights is lost. Better TVs, like the Sony KDL-46VE5, maintain an even level of white no matter the content. Well done, Sony. If only the uniformity could have been as pleasing (read next section).

White Falloff

Uniformity (5.75)

Sometimes an all-black screen isn't all black, not when the TV creates little hot spots, blotches, and other little irregularities. It happens to a lot of TVs, and it happened to the Sony KLD-46VE5. In fact, it happened pretty badly. We test looking at an all-white screen and a all-black screen. When it was all-white, the uniformity was fine. But when we looked at the all-black screen, bright spots appeared in all four corners. This effect, called "flashlighting" starts bright in the corner and pushes in towards the center of the screen. You're only going to notice it in very dark scenes, but it's an issue.

Greyscale Gamma (7.75)

The greyscale gamma test measures how smooth the transition is from blacks to whites. It's all a little academic to go into too much detail here (proud geeks can read more here). Suffice it to say that an ideal curve is 2.2. The Sony KDL-46VE5 produced a curve of 2.58. It's not perfect, but it's not too bad. There is no way to alter the gamma directly on the TV, but the performance is good enough as it is that most people won't notice a problem.

Greyscale Gamma

Resolution Scaling (7.7)

The Sony KDL-46VE5 has a 1080P resolution, but a lot of the content coming into your TV is not 1080P. The TV's job is to take that input and upscale it to fit the 1080P resolution. In this section, we test to see how well it does at that job.

480p (0.0)
The 480P content is frequently what standard definition DVD players with an HDMI connection output. When displaying this signal, the TV overscans by 2% (meaning the outermost 2% of the image is lost). This is normal.

720p (0.0)
A 720P signal also overscans by 2%, which is more loss than you want to see. Fine, high frequency patterns sometimes called strange artifacting. Text samples, even fine text, were clean and easy to read.

1080i (0.0)
A 1080i signal is what most cable TV outputs. It looked nearly as good as a 1080P signal, though there was some minor smudging of details.

Other Models in the VE5 Series
This is a review of the Sony KDL-46VE5. The other sizes of HDTVs in this series should be similar in terms of performance and usability. For details about any differences, click on the image to jump to the Series Comparison page.
Sony KDL-40VE5 40 inches	Sony KDL-46VE 46 inches	Sony KDL-52VE 52 inches