The first thing we had to decide once the idea of focusing on Sony’s almost rudely successful Bravia line came up, was where along the price range to focus our attention – I mean if we wanted to we could go for something like the 52-inch €1,800 model or then again for those on a budget there’s the much-loved in review-land €507 32-inch Bravia LCD-TV KDL-32EX402.

The price for a TV of the 40V5500’s size is unexpected, thankfully very little is sacrificed on the features end.

However, all things considered we tried to land somewhere in the middle and that led us to the 40-inch (we did say ‘somewhere’ in the middle) Sony Bravia KDL-40V5500. Priced at just over €700, it’s been a wildly popular model since its release in mid-2009 and indeed it’s the relatively small outlay that attracted so many reviewers in its direction. The big questions were just how a Sony 40-inch could have such a small price, and indeed what exactly has been stripped away to get it there?

Thankfully, the answer, having dug through a considerable amount of expert opinion on the matter, is very, very little. As LCDTV Reviews said when it weighed up the 40V5500’s pros and cons, while being “relatively moderate in its pricing” it does that “without making any compromise on the feature part”.

Cnet starts things off very positively in its review saying its “good first impressions” were reinforced as the reviewer delved into the KDL-40V5500′s “neatly presented on-screen menus”. The writer “uncovered an impressive degree of picture-setting flexibility for such a relatively affordable TV”. Options include Sony’s colour-enhancing Live Colour engine, a black-level booster, and two different noise-reduction circuits.

“There’s plenty of picture-enhancing features behind the scenes too, most notably Sony’s Bravia Engine 3 video processing. Sony claims it represents a major improvement on previous Bravia Engine generations. It’s designed to improve everything from colour and black level to motion handling, sharpness and noise reduction,” continues the review.

“The KDL-40V5500 also excels at delivering all the glorious sharpness, detail and texture associated with high-definition sources, while the Bravia Engine 3 system ensures that standard-definition images are upscaled to the TV’s 1920×1080-pixel resolution with impressive clarity and colour accuracy. Add to the KDL-40V5500′s potent picture some solid audio, and it’s starting to look like Sony has a tangible hit on its hands,” adds Cnet in a hugely positive rundown of the 40-inch Bravia.

"Sublime" HD pictures says one review.

HDTVORG.co.uk goes along similar lines saying the Bravia in question has “one of the most sublime HD pictures we have seen”. The review continues by saying that  along with some of the more accomplished flat panels out there, the 40V5500 takes HD viewing to “a different level”, adding “this is clarity and sharpness which will have you transfixed, totally consumed by a totally involving experience”. Sounds pretty good to us, kinda like Strange Days, only good.

TechRadar commented on how the 40V5500 uses “Sony’s excellent Xross Media Bar” onscreen menu system, which is a neat and logical twin-axis approach that lets you access all the TV’s features with “impressive speed”. They also liked the remote control which offers excellent support thanks to its fantastic layout and thoughtful button prioritisation.

Trusted Reviews meanwhile says it’s when we get to the connections in particular that the “40V5500 really starts to get interesting”. It mentions the four HDMIs when past Sony experience might have led people to expect only three. Another highlight is a USB port through which you can play MP3, JPEG and even movie files. But what’s “really intriguing” is the discovery of an Ethernet port.

The article continues, “We have seen such jacks on previous Sony sets, for streaming in files from a connected PC. But crucially the DLNA Ethernet jack on the 40V5500 takes things a significant step further than this by allowing you to take the TV online.”

However, they do warn that, upon exploring the features available via this online system – dubbed Applicast – it “immediately reveals that Sony has gone for the ‘ring-fenced’ approach to online functionality”. In other words, the review says, “rather than allowing you unfettered access to the joys of the World Wide Web, the TV ‘only’ lets you through a Sony portal to material specially prepared for presentation on a TV rather than a PC.”

Applicast “feels impressively like an advanced form of interactive teletext.

TechRadar weighed in here as well, noting that the resulting experience of Applicast “feels impressively like an advanced form of interactive teletext, and so shouldn’t intimidate even the most technophobic TV or web users”. It adds though that, “on the downside, the 40V5500′s tailored online facilities are far more limited than a full internet browser. The widgets currently available are restricted to the ability to read RSS newsfeeds; a small selection of screen saver photographs; a calculator and a world clock.”

Looks wise, it’s got that usual clean Sony look (then again you’d have to look quite hard to find a ‘messy’  looking LCD 40-inch), and CNet sum it up nicely by saying the40V5500 is “very robustly built, and its slender black body is quite attractive, despite not looking particularly original”.

Another comment on the model’s looks maintains this is an “elegantly designed in glossy black” TV with a transparent strip decorating the bottom edge.” Though there is nothing innovative in the design, this TV looks quite appealing with its slender and polished black frame. It comes with dimensions of 987(W) x 636(H) x 93(D) mm and weighs 17.5kg,” adds the LCDTVReviews summation.

Picture wise, Trusted Reviews tells how the 40V5500 “actually handles motion very well, with, for instance, football players charging around the screen without losing severe amounts of detail and clarity”. I’m pretty certain that’s a reference to American football though so games where action moves for more than 40 seconds before going to an ad break may not have the same success. Anyway, in Trusted Reviews’ opinion, the camera pans can look “a little stuttery” and indistinct if they’re really fast, but for the most part there’s nothing motion-wise to complain about here given the 40V5500′s reasonable price point.

TechRadar seems to concur here, calling the TV’s motion handling excellent and noting that it’s “almost entirely free of the overt smearing and motion blur that’s afflicted some earlier models. Sony has achieved highly acceptable motion clarity without apparently generating any processing side effects. The TV doesn’t appear to add any noise to hi-def pictures, and even manages to produce its sensational sharpness without creating too much grain.”

Elsewhere, we shouldn’t forget that Sony hyped up the eco features upon release of the 40V550 so what exactly do they mean here. Well, to start, it includes a power saving mode that reduces the backlight in two stages, or even lets you turn off the picture completely. Plus there’s the now de rigueur mode that adjusts pictures based on the ambient brightness.

One small niggle mentioned in a few reviews concerns an issues with the 40V5500′s pictures caused by “subtle backlight inconsistencies”, where some parts of the picture look slightly greyer than others in dark scenes. “You can’t see this at all most of the time and it can be minimised by reducing the backlight, but during really dark scenes, the relatively bright pools can suddenly become very distracting. It doesn’t help, either, that the brightness pools shift and grow if you watch from even a fairly gentle angle down the side,” notes TechRadar.

There’s no more cowbell needed, but some more bass would be nice says one review.

It adds that the 40V5500 struggles to deliver much bass, but its mid-range is open and powerful enough not to sound cramped, and there’s enough clean treble information to create a sense of audio detail and geography. “Without the backlight pooling issue, the KDL-40V5500 would have been a serious bargain, but with this flaw the price looks about right,” continued the review.

If you’re a casual user, concluded CNet, the Sony Bravia KDL-40V5500 has plenty going for it. As mentioned it’s unusually cheap for a Sony Bravia TV, “especially considering how much multimedia functionality it’s got, and there are times – many times, in fact – when its pictures are outstanding”. Serious film fans will inevitably find themselves cursing the subtle backlight inconsistencies from time to time, but for just over €700 this is a 40-inch model that should find plenty of willing converts.

Review of the Reviews Score: 8/10

The ins and outs…

Sony KDL-40V5500 – 40″ LCD TV: €707

Product Type: LCD TV

Diagonal Size: 40″ – widescreen

Dimensions (WxDxH): 98.7 cm x 9.3 cm x 63.6 cm – without stand

Weight : 17.5 kg

Colour: Piano black

Digital Television Certification: HDTV 1080p

Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Display Format: 1080p (FullHD)

Input Video Formats: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 576i, 576p

24p Technology: 24p True Cinema

Video Interface: Component, composite, HDMI, S-Video, SCART

HDMI Ports Qty: Four ports

PC Interface: VGA (HD-15)

HDCP Compatible: Yes

Technology: TFT active matrix

LCD Backlight Technology: Wide Color Gamut-CCFL

Progressive Scan: Yes

Image Aspect Ratio: 16:9

TV Tuner: 1x analogue/digital combo

Digital TV Tuner: DVB-C, DVB-T

Analogue TV Tuner: PAL, SECAM

MPEG Decoder:  MPEG-4

Multi-channel Preview: Picture-and-picture (PAP), picture-in-picture (PIP)

Features: On/off timer, Theatre Mode, video noise reduction, on-screen menu, AppliCast, Live Colour Creation, channel labeling, XrossMediaBar

Sound Output Mode: Surround Sound

Speaker System: Two speakers

Built-in Decoders: Dolby Digital

Sound Effects: S-FORCE Front Surround Sound

Stereo Reception System: NICAM

USB Port: Yes , one port

Remote Control: Remote control – infrared