Sony Bravia KLV-46W400A (46-inch LCD)

By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
Jun 16, 2008

The Bravia W-series first debuted last year. These full-HD sets complemented their flagship X-series counterparts, offering comparable specs but fell short aesthetics-wise. Nevertheless, the gen-two units have definitely addressed this design deficiency with a belated but refreshing makeover. There's more to it than meets the eye, too. Sony has raised the bar by overhauling the underlying electronics to further boost performance as well as connectivity.

Design

The styling of the KLV-46W400A is a departure from its predecessor's no-nonsense industrial design. While there're no clear-cut interpretation of its "Draw the Line" concept, it seems to be centered on a section of translucent bezel identical to the X-series' floating glass trimmings. As a matter of fact, you’ll even have the same projected status indicators embedded within the clear strip. Beyond these similarities, this panel also stands out with its lighted Sony logo and shimmering mid-night blue finish. These are aside from the chrome accents and slim-bottom speakers.

All is well if you’re planning to stick to its versatile 20-degree swivel stand with integrated cable management. Else the top center-seated controls are almost guaranteed out of view when the set is wall-mounted. What the Japanese company has gotten right are the conveniently accessible left auxiliary inputs. It has even gone as far as to buck the norm by dropping the S-video socket in favor of an HDMI. This should please early adopters of new-generation HD camcorders and laptops, though those with older models will have to settle with composite A/V.

Besides the remote’s ergonomic arched bottom and embossed Sony marque, there isn't really much to impress us functionally. Although we were delighted with the onboard button's tactile feedback and responsiveness, switching between external devices can sometimes be a cumbersome affair. The procedure goes like this: First, hit the input key to call up an onscreen table. Then, either toggle by repeating the action or select within the 10 entries via the navigation pad. Another example is its Tool shortcut which nests, among others, the setup menu.

Things picked up after we dived deep into the above-mentioned software menu. The selection was respectable for its class with all necessary fundamental audio-visual configurations covered. Despite its entry 1080p stature, Sony has managed to throw in couple of extra icings to sweeten the deal. Most notable are backlighting adjustments and overscan (Display Area/Full Pixel) to defeat image cropping. All these tunings can also be applied to the current or entire suite of inputs stored in three picture modes: Vivid, Standard and Cinema. Likewise for sound settings.

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