The BRAVIA V-Series: Disappointed

Well, I got to check out one of the V-series (with WEGA or VVEGA or whatever the hell it’s meant to be) Sony BRAVIA TVs in JB today, and I’d have to say: I’m quite disappointed.

Whatever VVVEGA image processing it’s doing seems to slow it down, both in terms of when the picture is displayed on the screen (which was slightly-but-noticeably lagging behind the other TVs on the same feed), and in terms of frame rate! Yes, the TV actually seemed to be running at only 15FPS, while displaying the Channel 7 HD feed, while the other TVs around it were smooth.

Now, It occurred to me that this might in fact be an artifact of a better pixel response time, but it’s flickery. Interlace flicker abounds, at least on the C7 feed. I know, the Channel 7 feed is 1080i interlaced, right? I don’t care. It looks crappy (that is – the actual picture on any given frame is really good, but the frame rate sucks, and the interlace lines flicker disturbingly) on the V-series, but not as crappy on the others.

The other thing that put me off the V series is that HDMI cables cost… $200 for a 3 metre cable. Let me repeat that for effect: two hundred fecking dollars for a 3 metre cable. So there’s obviously integrated electronics in the cable? A clever little silicon chip? Some sort of cunning mechanical dwarf? Er, no. It’s just a straight DVI pin-to-pin-plus-some-extra-pins cable. You could conceivably make one yourself. It just costs $200. Nice one. Think I might have to put the HDMI quest on hold for a while – that’s just insane.

So, the toss-up now is between the regular BRAVIA S-series which ironically looks better than the $500-more-expensive V series, and another randomly selected 32″ LCD.

The time to buy draws nearer.

4 thoughts on “The BRAVIA V-Series: Disappointed

  1. you dont know me but i already know you know nothing about lcd tv’s. JB runs their entire lcd display off one RCA SPLITTER BOX so all their tv’s look shit. the samsung next to it probly looked better because it was closer to the source in the chain of tellies.
    Any way my point is i own a V series 40 inch tv running HDMI strait out the ps3 and it is fantastic, bravia orange and bravia yellow just blow the mind.
    so sit on your pesant s series 32 inch and get raped by your not 10 bit panel
    werd

  2. Thanks Rizo, I don’t know you, but I already know you’re a total wanker.

    Enjoy your Bravia Yellow and Bravia Orange, with your dumb-ass image processing turned on, on your stupid allegedly-10-bit-panel (I have to ask – is there a point to 10 bits when the PS3 can only output 8? Just asking).

  3. SpongBo,

    I recently purchased a Samsung LN-T5271F TV and I’ve witnessed it producing a similar low frame-rate effect. The display is capable of 120Hz refresh, which seems good because it should be able to show 30fps NTSC/ATSC and 24fps film sources equally well. It’s got an HDMI 1.3 interface, but my Oppo DVD (DV-970HD) player and Motorola DVR (QIP6416-2 for Verizon FIOS) have older HDMI specs. When I’m playing the Oppo and it starts to strobe, I can pause and then restart play to correct the problem. The DVR does it as well, but I’m not sure of the work-around yet . I also picked up a Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player, which has not yet shown the strobe effect.

    Too bad about Rizo.

    BillV

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