Sony’s new line-up of TVs comes with many changes and a lot
of them are exhibited in the W954A series. Gone is the old, stately Monolithic
design principle that Sony adhered to for their televisions. In its place the
new W954A series follows the “Sense of Quartz” ethos. The “Sense of Quartz”
aesthetic is defined by a bluish-green, colored strip that can be around the
edges of the display. Also, the older stands for the TV, such as the Bunchen
stand, have been phased out. The new curved stand allows for the TV screen to
be rotated, a feat that was not possible with the previous models. All in all,
the new Sense of Quartz design makes the Sony TV look less blocky than its
predecessors and much more modern.
Sony Bravia KLD-55W954A
While there may have been changes in terms of design, Sony
has also looked back into its past and brought back its Triluminos technology
for the W954A. Sony’s Triluminos technology works by using blue LEDs and green
and red quantum dots. The old X-Reality Pro dual-chip engine, with minor
upgrades, has been retained to power the visuals. Under the hood, the hardware
for the W954A is an interesting mix of both new innovations and Sony’s proven
components.
As befitting a premium LED TV, the 55-inch model in the
W954A series has a number of smart features which help it secure its position
as a flagship product. The user-interface is slick and clean, being an
evolution of the UI found on the PlayStation gaming console. Smart features are
provided in the shape of access to Facebook, Twitter, Skype and YouTube as well
as other applications. You can also surf the web with the help of a browser.
The TV can be connected to the internet via an Ethernet port or your wireless
network.
Sony Bravia KLD-55W954A Supper thin
TV
Realizing that the television is no longer a standalone
device, Sony has built the W954A to provide synergy with other devices. The TV
has one-touchNFC mirroring to pair compatible smartphones with the TV.
Additionally users can also use MHL to hook up their smartphone to the screen.
A total of four HDMI connections and three USB connections are also available
to hook up peripherals. Composite video and component video ports are also
provided.
When it comes to performance, the Sony W954A is quite
impressive. We would suggest you switch the picture settings to “Standard” if
you are not interested in calibrating the display. The visuals on this mode are
quite neutral and balanced as opposed to “Vivid” where we found the colors to
be oversaturated. When watching DVD content, we were impressed by the noise
reduction capabilities of the TV although it does come at the expense of
detail. The W954A has regular noise reduction as well as MPEG and Dot noise
reduction. When playing the Blu-Ray version of Vantage Point, we particularly
enjoyed how the presentation of the warm color tones. Though slightly
over-saturated, they were still vivid and made great visual impact. Reds in
particular had this quality across our viewing experience. On the Corpse Bride
Blu-ray, the dark blacks were commendable although the level of detail and the
interplay between light and shadow left a little to more to be desired.
The new Sense of Quartz stand allows
the Sony W954A to be rotated
The main concern we had with the performance of the W954A
was the issue of smearing. For high motion and high detail scenes, most
particularly for opening sequences of Vantage Point where the President exits
his cavalcade, smearing around the edges of the characters’ shoulders and heads
was very visible. This somewhat sullies the value proposition of the W954A,
which is priced at $4,199 for the 55-inch variant, as reviewed.
Specifications
·
Screen Size: 55-inch
·
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
·
Dimensions With Stand: 1250 x 765 x 307mm
·
Video Processing Engine: X-Reality Pro
·
Motionflow: XR 800Hz
·
Backlight Module: LED
·
Viewing Angle: 178 degrees
·
Ports: 4x HDMI, 1x Analog Audio, 3x USB 3.0, 1x
Ethernet, 1x Composite, 1x Component
·
Price: $4,199
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