Sony Bravia KDL 52V4100 brightness issues

[jman98]

I'm posting this for a friend of mine. Please note that I have NOT seen the TV in question as it is at his mother's house and she lives nowhere close to me.

Basically a friend told me that his mother got a great price on a Sony Bravia KDL 52V4100 at Best Buy and she paid the Geek Squad to set it up for her. She is complaining that the display is too dark, but sometimes the brightness changes and gets a little lighter at seemingly random times. My friend went into the setup menu and played with the brightness level and some other settings and he says that it simply won't get any brighter than it is now. He called Best Buy on her behalf and Best Buy has not been helpful (imagine that). They gave him some rambling response about how her TV is supposed to be that way because of the matte finish on it (that's what they claim), but she can either upgrade to another (read "more expensive") TV or pay the Geek Squad to come out and calibrate the TV. That sounds like b.s. to me and my friend. Again, I have NOT seen this TV myself. I am only passing on what I have been told.

So is there anyone out there with this or a similar Sony model? Does this model have brightness problems? Or could it be a defective TV? Or could be an issue with the connection from her cable box to the TV? We have no idea how the cable box was connected as my friend didn't check and Geek Squad set it up. I can speak from personal experience that if something like composite or S-Video was used for the connection to the TV that the picture quality definitely won't be good, but I don't know if that will cause a loss of brightness or what. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

[MJA]

did u check AVS?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1025939


System Software Update 03/12/2009 2.05r 18.04 MB

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=KDL52V4100&LOC=3#div_pos_98

[jman98]

did u check AVS?

No, because...
1) I was hoping someone here might be familiar with that model.
2) Since it's not my TV, I wasn't in the mood to deal with AVS b.s. You know, having to wade through 1000+ posts to see if anyone has said anything useful because AVS is a brain dead website and the entire universe will cease to exist if someone dares to ask a question outside of the typical 1000+ post thread dedicated to that particular model. Not to mention that the odds of getting a useful response, should you be brave enough to post, are actually quite low because after you asked your question about 20 other people posted something and your question is lost in the thread.

I think AVS sucks big green you know whats. But perhaps if I am bored tomorrow I may take a look.

I do thank you for taking the time to respond and for the Sony link.

[jagabo]

In general, LCD HDTVs at their brightest settings are way too bright unless you're watching in direct sunlight. I suspect there's something wrong with the TV.

[MJA]

from AVS

Hi. I have the 46w4100 and at first I thought the TV was too dark as well and was a bit dissapointed. However, what I did notice is that the Ambient Light Sensor it turned on by default (the sensor will decrease the brightness of the TV depending on room lighting) and as soon as I turned the sensor off the TV looked absolutely amazing and was the brightness/color I expected!

Hope this helps!

ask him/her to turn off Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE)

Advanced Contrast Enhancer (ACE)

Advanced Contrast Enhancer circuit (ACE) dynamically controls the backlight improving contrast and resulting in deep blacks in dark without losing fine details in shadows and other dark areas of the picture.

[happydog500]

Not sure how long a go she bought it, just a remember, the longer she waits, the harder it is to exchange/whatever.
Sometimes places will be, "...not been helpful" so it will get beyond a certain time frame, where the customer loses rights.

An example would be; A customer can bring something back for 15 days no matter what, after that, there had to be a problem. Or, you can take it back to the store, but after a certain time, you go through the manufacturer. (These exact things may not apply in her case, but others who read might benefit, and she could lose other rights we don't know about now).

You have a way better situation to bring a TV right back, then to come back in months later saying it was like that when you first got it.

DON'T PUT OFF DOING SOMETHING! Take care of this ASAP. The sooner, the better.

Chris.

[budz]

avs is the first place to post regarding issues on sony lcd tv settings. i went there when i decided to purchase my sony 40w3000 lcd tv. if you want answers that is the place to go. yuh, i know there's tons of pages to read through but if you go there and post your question there's bound to be someone that will point you in the right direction.

i suspect the geekstupid squad set her lcd set to VIVID MODE which will make the picture quite bright. there should be calibration settings that she can use from the sony "V" series thread. if there isn't one then post the question anyway. you'll never know until you try posting the problem there at avs. just my 2 cents!

[jman98]

Thanks very much for the responses. All were useful. I have passed your information on to my friend and hopefully it will help. I will continue to monitor the thread in case any one else has anything to add.

[jman98]

Update - My friend just called me. Problem solved. Turning off the Advanced Contrast Enhancer fixed it. Thanks to MJA for that, but thanks to everyone else as well. You guys are the best.

My friend is severely unhappy with Geek Squad given that they should have known what that setting would do. He's also unhappy with Best Buy management who provided no help at all for his mother with this. He told me that in the future he would probably never buy anything other than DVDs from Best Buy.