Sony Bravia KDL-40Z4100 Review

“Great quality that you’d expect from a Sony set – even if a bit pricier”

Reviewed By M. Ward

Sony Bravia KDL-40Z4100 Review from Amazon.com

Was time to replace my 36″ Sony XBR tube with a new HDTV set but had a specific space limitation due to the existing TV cabinet – had to fit something inside just over 39″. Looked at the Samsung 650 and was leaning heavily that way but was concerned that the size was just too tight for my opening (even with some adjustments) and the glossy screen was a concern given lots of natural light in the room.

Was then looking to the “W” series when I found the “Z” – a bit more, but it was definitely smaller (the exact same width as my 36″ XBR tube set) and I liked the DLNA options.

The reason for 4 vs 5 stars is the fact that using the DLNA feature has not been easy thus far. There are little to no instructions with the set for this and I’ve tried three DLNA-compatible Media Servers (four if you count Windows Media Player). I finally was able to access pics from my PC by using the SimpleCenter media center but I’ve not been able to get the Sony Bravia KDL-40Z4100 to realize that audio is also being shared by SimpleCenter. Sony’s on-line ? e-mail help were not very helpful so I’m going to have to spend some time on the phone with their support line – hopefully that will prove more helpful and I can get access to my music as well.

I have not experienced the “sparkling” effect mentioned by another Bravia KDL40Z4100 reviewer – hopefully that’s a limited issue that will not crop up after further burn-in.

Overall the set looks great – the S-Video connection from my non-HD DirecTV receiver looks better than on another smaller HDTV set I have (Insignia – BestBuy’s house brand). Interesting the Insignia seemed to do a bit better in pulling in the off-air signal than the Sony (with weaker signals – we live quite a ways away from any transmitters) until I went and purchaed a new antenna signal amplifer (I think the one I had had gone, or was starting to go, bad) but now I get great HDTV picture off the air and when connected to a Sony upconverting DVD player my existing CDs look great.

UPDATE: After no help from Sony Support, I have finally determined / realize that Music/MP3s are not supported over DLNA. To Sony’s credit, the manual does not claim music support of MP3 – only refers to photos – but the fact that you can play music from USB seems to be it a bit ambigious – perhaps I just wanted this to funciton like the Samsung 7 series that allows music streaming as well as the RSS feeds and more – oh well…. at least I have pics working – still keeping it at 4 stars due to the poor level of Sony’s support in helping me clearly realize this basic fact (after using Chat, e-mail and phone support).

UPDATE 2: Having issues getting the “built-in” TV Guide to let me select channels I want displayed and keep those without it hiding ones I select or adding ones I don’t want – once again a couple of rounds with Sony support has not provide much support…. granted these features are the “extras” and don’t affect the TV viewing quality – which is excellent – just frustrating things when you purchase something with this bit of a premium against the similar class competitors….