Thread: Sony Bravia LCD 32'' - Please Guide

hello friends, I want to buy a 32'' Sony Bravia LCD for my home. I have searched on various sites & honestly now I am totally confused which model to buy as there are so many options available. Why there are so many series What is the difference between various series available i.e. W, S, V etc?

More or less they all look same, some say that it has a bravia engine 3, some doesn't have the High definition feature (low price 32'' lcds), some say HD Ready (not sure what it means). etc

Could you please help me buy an a good deal? I would like to mention few points here so that you could help me out better:

- My Budget - 50,000 - 60,000 (slight more would not be a problem)
- Should be a High Definition LCD, with good sound & picture quality
- 32''


While searching I have shortlisted few models, if any one of you is using any of these, kindly give your suggestions:

KLV-32V550A - Rs 45,900/-
KLV-32W550A- Rs 62,900/-
KLV-40S550A – Rs 67,900/-

Thank you all in advance.

What do you need this tv for? Watching tv channels only? Watching an occasional dvd movie? Watching blueray movies? Are you planning to use it with Wii or xbox or other consoles?

Any reason why you only looking at Sony? (not saying its not good but just trying to find out whats on your mind)

What is the viewing distance where you plan to setup this new tv?


HD ready is not full HD ... its a sales thing... they try to sell lesser resolution tvs calling them HD ready.

HD Ready means a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. Full or True HD means a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.

My suggestions:

a) On a 32" TV, assuming a viewing distance of 10 feet, Full HD is not going to make that much difference.
b) Unless you are going to watch true HD content via blu-ray discs, the full HD does not cut much ice. For normal TV, DVD, etc. HD-Ready is good enough.

That said, you may wish to be future proof; in this case Full HD makes sense.

The differece between S, W, V series are some features - usually it is picture processing engine (Bravia in case of Sony), dynamic contrast ratio, number of HDMI inputs, etc. These are mostly gimmicks but in some cases make a lot differebce. You should demo the piece for yourself.

1. Ask the sales persom to show you live TV content. They usually show blu-ray content which is dazzling and distorts your judgement. When you bring the TV home, you get mighty disappointed.

2. Ask him to give you the remote control. Change the picture settings - brightness, contrast, colour, hue, etc. The TV in the showroom is usually adjusted for best contrastm high brightness, best colour, etc. Switch to the preset settings mode (normal, cinema, etc.) and check.

There are quite a few nice guides in this forum.

Sony is overpriced by 15% in my opinion. Check other brands also. Sony is good but that does not mean Samsung, LG, Panasonic, etc. are bad.

Originally Posted by Admin

What do you need this tv for? Watching tv channels only? Watching an occasional dvd movie? Watching blueray movies? Are you planning to use it with Wii or xbox or other consoles?

Usage would be normal i.e. TV Channels etc. NO additional usuage as such.

Originally Posted by Admin

Any reason why you only looking at Sony? (not saying its not good but just trying to find out whats on your mind)

Have heard some good reviews about Sony Bravia & the picture quality looks impressing as compared to other brands.

Originally Posted by Admin

What is the viewing distance where you plan to setup this new tv?

Not sure exactly but I think It's quite a distance for 32''

Originally Posted by Admin

HD ready is not full HD ... its a sales thing... they try to sell lesser resolution tvs calling them HD ready

Thank you for the info, I would like to go for High Defination.

Originally Posted by just4kix

On a 32" TV, assuming a viewing distance of 10 feet, Full HD is not going to make that much difference.

So you mean, if the distance is not more that 10 feet, it's okay to go for HD Ready?

1. Ask the sales persom to show you live TV content. They usually show blu-ray content which is dazzling and distorts your judgement. When you bring the TV home, you get mighty disappointed.

2. Ask him to give you the remote control. Change the picture settings - brightness, contrast, colour, hue, etc. The TV in the showroom is usually adjusted for best contrastm high brightness, best colour, etc. Switch to the preset settings mode (normal, cinema, etc.) and check.

Those are good suggestions. Thank you, I will keep them in mind.

Any suggestion on any particular model?

Also, any comment on these:
KLV-32V550A - Rs 45,900/-
KLV-32W550A- Rs 62,900/-
KLV-40S550A – Rs 67,900/-

You should check the HD-Ready as well as Full-HD models and see which appeals to you better. But make sure the judgement is based on normal TV, i.e., DTH content.

Since your budget cap is 50K, there is only one model that fits in - KLV-32V550A - Rs 45,900/-. Or are you flexible on that?

Just4kix, As suggested I have checked your guide on LCDs and I found them really helpful. Thank you.

Small point:

- You wrote in your guide that if the distance is less i.e. around 5-6 feet, even bigger screen e.g. 32'' will put lesser strain on eyes with Full HD as compared to HD ready. Is that True??

- While in this thread you have mentioned that "On a 32" TV, assuming a viewing distance of 10 feet, Full HD is not going to make that much difference."

So this means that, If you have a shorter distance, FULL HD have only one advange over HD ready i.e. lesser eye strain????


Also, Could you please elaborate the following features:

Edge LED -
Motion Flow -
Intelligent Picture Plus -

Please rate them as per there importance in a LCD & How does these makes the difference?

Based on the above, I would be going for one of the following:

KLV-32V550A - 45,900/-
Full HD 1080
• BRAVIA Engine™ 3
• Live Colour™
• Intelligent Picture
• MPEG Noise Reduction
• BRAVIA Sync

KLV-32EX500 – 49,900/-
• Motionflow™ 100
• Full HD 1080
• BRAVIA Engine™ 3
• Intelligent Picture PLUS
• MPEG Noise Reduction
• USB Photo/Music/Video

KLV-32EX600 – 57,990/-
• Edge LED
• Full HD 1080
• BRAVIA Engine™ 3
• Intelligent Picture PLUS
• MPEG Noise Reduction
• USB Photo/Music/Video

KLV-32NX500 – 45,900/-
• Full HD 1080
• BRAVIA Engine™ 3
• Intelligent Picture PLUS
• MPEG Noise Reduction
• 24P True Cinema™
• USB Photo/Music/Video

If you can afford it then go for the one with led backlight full HD.

LED backlight has got LED as opposed to florescent lights in the normal lcd tvs...

I am not sure about the technical aspect but the visual difference that is most prominent is that the picture is more crisp on an led tv.. black color on an led tv will be more darker as opposed to florescent lcd..

LED based tvs also consume lesser electricity some 20-30% lesser then normal lcd and they are thinner as well.. a lot thinner.

I myself got a 32inch full hd samsung for 35000Rs but it is not led its normal floroscent lights.. I have no complaints and the Rs15000-20000 that I saved by buying a samsung as opposed to a sony is sitting in the stock market and will become Rs 45-50k in 5 years time... I am not rich and think about future value of my capital and normally tend to calculate the future cost of a product I buy so if I spend Rs57k on a sony led tv I would be in effect spending a hell lot of money and reaping the same benefit if I dont play blue ray discs.. and I don't have a blue ray player for the simple reason that I cannot afford buying blue ray movie discs as the cost doesn't justify a one time viewing.

So basically if spending an extra 15-20k does not bother you then go for a Sony led LCD tv but if you are planning a future then put up with a Samsung full hd that would cost you less then 35k with the same period of warranty. There is no guarantee that a sony wont go bust after two years and its the same with a samsung.

It really depends on individual to individual If buying a sony led lcd would help you get sound sleep at night then go for it by all means

Originally Posted by hsinam

Small point:

- You wrote in your guide that if the distance is less i.e. around 5-6 feet, even bigger screen e.g. 32'' will put lesser strain on eyes with Full HD as compared to HD ready. Is that True??

- While in this thread you have mentioned that "On a 32" TV, assuming a viewing distance of 10 feet, Full HD is not going to make that much difference.

So this means that, If you have a shorter distance, FULL HD have only one advange over HD ready i.e. lesser eye strain????

Yes. Confusing. But yet true. One must read it with very large powered glasses.

If you watch full HD (1080p) content, you can watch it from as close as 3-4 feet. You will not find any flicker or noise. Of course, you cannot absorb the whole picture in your angle of vision and you will have to move your neck from one side to other to see the whole picture. But there will be no eye strain.

Why? The same reason when we are working on computers with LCD/TFT monitors with resolution at 1248x1024 or above and refresh rate set to 60 Hz or above. Basically, you are working in high definition.

But when it comes to watching SD TV, you will see pixels and screen flicker. You eyes will strain in 30 minutes at close distance. And soon you may get a headache too.

Coming to the second point, in a 32" TV the pixel size is much smaller. Hence if you are at fair distance away, 720p or 1080p picture is not going to make a large difference. But if you move closer, you will be able to make out the difference.

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On the list of TVs mentioned, just like Admin said, I recommend you to buy LED backlit LCD TV.

Thankyou Admin & Just4kix. My last question (I shapat ), There are few models which are providing "Edge LED" instead of normal CCFL, as it is not fully LED but "edge" LED, would it be worth spending 6k-8k extra for this, as normal CCFL models are around 6-8k cheaper than edge LED models. Please suggest.

Edge LED screens may improve (reduce) backlight bleeding, but you will not notice much difference.


When i went LCD shopping (will go again soon), we did not notice much difference in terms of picture quality between the various brands, and hence we went for the best VFM offer at that time.


Since you will be using it for normal TV viewing, you are good with an LG or samsung and save some Rs12-15k over sony.

But the flaw i found on my LG Full HD TV was when i used it as a PC monitor for a week and it was on my desk. It strained my eyes really badly and the picture quality was not as good as my desktop 19" LCD monitor. LOL.

See buddy, telling you in a very crude, yet accurate way, if picture quality is top priority, go for an IPS panel, i think there is one LCD TV that is IPS, but not sure if its there in 32" and about the cost (get ready to shell out plenty).

Else, just save money, get a bluray player and some Bluray movies with the money you save and have fun.

ask the shop guys to play full HD content on the TVs you are interested in buying, check if they are using HDMI or not, if not, tell them to.