Sony KDL-40W5100 LCD HDTV Review - Audio & Menus |
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Published on August 25, 2009 Comment on this |
Audio Quality (3.5) The Sony KDL-40W5100's speakers aren't very good. We thought they sounded tinny, muffled, and flat. The sound didn't have a lot of presence. There are two features you can use to improve things slightly: Sound Enhancer and Surround Sound mode. The former helps reduce the muted, muffled sound, while the latter improves presence slightly. We'd recommend buying external speakers for this TV.
Menu Interface (6.0) If you like your Playstation 3, you'll love the The KDL-46W5100's menu system. Pressing the menu button will bring up a horizontal row of options that expand vertically. The menu is attractive, but its layout might be somewhat confusing to some. The menu also has a few annoying quirks.
The main thing that annoyed us about the menu is that it doesn't loop around. Typically you can skip from the first to the last item in a menu list. Sony doesn't believe in this, however, which makes navigation a pain. The menu also seems to lag slightly.
While neither issue is deal-breaking for the average user, they are annoying little quirks. Overall, we still liked the menu system.
Manual (6.0) The KDL-46W5100's manual is mildly helpful, but doesn't contain many navigation aids. There's a table of contents at the stard, tabs on the edges of each page, and a very sparse index. We thought the font and pictures were a bit on the small side, but should be readable for the average person. Diagrams are a bit more confusing than they need to be, with arrows radiating somewhat haphazardly. Sony offers several online manuals, which can be viewed here.
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• Poor audio quality.




