The LED lit LCD TV Showdown: Sony vs. Samsung

Features Continued

Both the TVs have new video algorithms in the form of Bravia Engine2 for the Sony and SAMSUNG LUXIA LED Engine. The GUI of the Samsung is better though, as it is animated, and very nicely laid out. The layers are easy navigable, while readability and accessibility also is great. The Sony has a cross media bar like the PS3, when accessed from the wireless device. The wireless device supports USB but only jpeg viewing, so this was one missed punch. Both the Sony and Samsung have Motionflow features to help smoothen video and remove edge artifacts. Both these TVs are edge lit by LEDs, and claim to consume 40 % less power.

 Sony KLV-40ZX1

Performance
This is the obviously the most important department, thus we have kept both the TVs on an equal footing. This means the wireless connection of the Sony was not used, as it has kinks in it, and will make the Sony lose straight up to the Samsung. So we plugged in via HDMI straight in. We displayed some software tests of luminance and color, and did a basic A/B comparison.

 Samsung UA46B6000VR

To speak subjectively, the Samsung is brighter than the Sony by a small margin, but also has better control on the colors. They are not oversaturated in either but again the Sammy gets it better. In Samsung we have lesser intensity in reds, which is not the case in Sony. Motion wise both are equal; there is really no discernable blur in either TV. Both TV s have one issue, on high sharpness they tend to have some edge distortion, haloing etc.

Sony

For the techies, I put two sample charts of luminance we gauged, just to show you guys how similar they are in white light rendition. Both are commendable - accurate in mid grey levels. Even on the colors, the max over or under saturation on either side was max 15 %. Color temp of white was more or less 6500 K on both TVs.

Pricing
At Rs. 1,50,000, the Sammy is cheaper than the Sony, which costs Rs. 1,99,000, by quite a margin. I feel this is the real blow, as performance wise they are so similar. The Sony has some wireless problems, but I guess those might get ironed out in the future. Plus this festive season  I’m expecting prices to come down for both, but as of now, the Samsung makes better sense, as Value for Money reigns supreme, it always does.