Otaku Gadgets

Nowadays LCD TVs have become the gadget of choice for many tech savvy people. They produce great looking picture, consume less energy and have stylish designs that can add to the ambiance of a room. The technology used in the LCD TVs has advanced by leaps and bounds and almost every week a new model of LCD TV is launched in the market. The companies have resorted to aggressive pricing and emerging technologies to woo the users.

Of late some manufacturers are using eco-friendly technologies to attract the consumers to their products and it has been lapped up by LCD TV industry as well. Sony’s flagship Bravia range of LCD TVs are popular among the users. Recently Sony added a new Bravia model named KDL-40VE5 to its kitty, its USP being an unprecedented energy saving mode. This TV saves power in a unique way. It has a feature named ‘presence sensor’ that can detect if anybody is watching the TV or not. When it finds that nobody is in the room, the Display is automatically switched off, resulting in power saving. However, this TV does not use much less amount of energy compared to other LCD TVs. People who have a tendency to forget to switch the TV off will like this model.

The KDL-40VE5 is not that stylish and Sony has preferred to keep its look a bit formal. However, the silver colored speaker bar below the screen gives it a duo-tone classic look. This model is sold with a smaller remote that uses less buttons but is quite user friendly. Sony has revamped the on screen display menu system in this model. It looks pretty organized and intuitive for the beginners.

The users have the option to set a time for the presence sensor in this TV. When the sensor detects no one over a period of time it switches off the display but the sound stays on. The power usage is reduced to 51 watts. If the sensor can detect anybody’s presence within half an hour it turns on the screen, otherwise the TV is shut off totally.

Sony claims that the TV’s HCFL back light technology is a step ahead of the CCFL technology used in conventional LCD TVs. Like its other Bravia counterparts the KDL-40VE5 features Sony’s unique MotionFlow technology. It is used for reducing motion blur. This model offers a lot of display customization including aspect ratio adjustment. It has options for rectifying 1080p and 1080i signals to fit its screen. There are 4 HDMI ports on this model and three of them are located at its side. There is also a PC input at its side.

As far as display quality is concerned, the KDL-40VE5 delivers great performance. The video processing and black levels are almost perfect. When watching standard definition videos it improves the picture quality significantly by using noise reduction. The audio output of this model is reasonably good and the SRS TruSurround XT feature enhances the overall sound quality when it is activated.