Sony KDL-40V2000 40 in. LCD Television Review

Setup/Installation
Setting up the KDL-40V2000 was painless; the menus are very useful as they do all the hard work for you.  The remote is good looking, full of handy buttons and very easy to navigate.

Features
For a start, the KDL-40V2000 is HD-ready so it is already ticking the right boxes.  Not only that – it’s jam-packed with features that TVs twice the price cannot claim to have.  The connections are superb, with a HDMI connection, 2 RGB-capable scarts, component video inputs, 15 pin PC socket and a PCMCIA socket for adding subscription TV like FreeView or Top-up TV.  If that is not enough, it also boasts a digital tuner.  The HD-friendly native resolution goes up to 1,366x768 pixels offering superb pictures that are out of this world.  The picture enhancements don’t stop there – it also has a backlight adjustment option, contrast booster and MPEG noise reduction too.  Sitting side-by-side to this huge amount of technology is the all-important Bravia Engine, replacing the Wega Engine used in the 1st generation Bravias. It increases sharpness and provides richer detailing alongside more natural colours and noise reduction.  To enhance the colour even further the KDL-40V2000 has wide colour Gamut Technology acting as live colour creation which reproduces a wider selection of colours. Another awesome feature is the Super Vertical Pattern Allignment (SPVA), provided to tackle viewing angle problems which normally arise with such large sets.  The audio is produced through a pair of in-built 12 watt speakers situated on either side.

Performance
If I said this could possibly be the best HD picture performance I’ve ever seen I wouldn’t be far wrong.  I guess it’s down to the fact that it’s competing on the technology front with a jumbo jet - whatever the reason, it is just superb.  The colours are natural and vibrant, skin never looks waxy and the detail is crisp and clear.  The only negative point to note was that sometimes the reds appeared slightly orange but it’s not noticeable after a while.  Back on the plus side - motion pictures were awesome too, even the fastest moving scenes didn’t phase the KDL-40V2000.  There was hardly any noise giving a clean, crisp picture.  Equally as good as the picture was the sound – in fact it may have even been slightly better.

Overall Opinion
An awesome performer all round really.  There is only one small drawback and that is that it only has one HDMI connection, however, most TVs that have two only have one RGB-enabled scart so you can’t win either way.  Apart from that the Sony KDL-40V2000 is a jam-packed technology fest as well as a top performer that should be snapped up.

 By Lisa Malyon