Sony's "green" WE5-series Bravia HDTVs

Philip Wong | Jun 10, 2009

The latest Sony WE5-series Bravia TVs have strong eco-friendly features. For starters, this family of HDTVs have the world's first microtubular hot cathode fluorescent lamp backlighting which helps save up to 40 percent of power compared with the 2008 W4500-series Bravia units. The latter uses a cold cathode fluorescent lamp or CCFL found in most, if not all, traditional LCD TVs. In addition, the new panels are also equipped with a unique sensor which can detect the presence of viewers. This can be used to automatically turn on and off the TV temporarily to minimize electricity drawn by the set, especially handy for those who tend to leave their TVs on even when no one's around.

There are a couple of other noteworthy "green" functions. The WE5's built-in sensor is capable of measuring room ambient lighting on-the-fly to adjust screen brightness. This saves energy, while at the same time optimizes picture quality. You could even playback program soundtracks without turning on the TV. To top it off, a factory-tuned Eco setting is available to enable users to operate the panel at minimum power consumption, while an energy-saving switch on the right edge of the bezel (image below) shuts down the TV to almost zero power consumption. According to its spokesperson, these addons will eventually be filtered down to other series in its Bravia lineup, albeit for a slight premium.

Eco-centric enhancements aside, the WE5-series packs a full-HD LCD screen rated to deliver 100,000:1 dynamic contrast, a Motionflow 100Hz engine and integrated DVB-T digital tuner. Connectivity-wise, it's well-endowed with four HDMI terminals, Ethernet and USB ports for direct JPEG, MP3, LPCM, MPEG-2 and AVCHD playback (Note: The networking jack is positioned by the side). The KDL-46WE5 and KDL-40WE5 will be launched in Singapore and other Asia-Pacific countries from mid-June. No pricing detail is available at the moment.

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