Recently bought a EX520 series Bravia - Compared between 5 Series Samsung and comparable LG Model. On the face of it Sony was a better choice(albeit 15% more expensive, no freebies either!). As I have started to use it more, here are the blacks, whites and greys
Pros>
1- Excellent Looks
2- Nice to hold remote
3- Menu navigation good
4- Placing of I/O ports, LAN port etc
Cons>
There are many, surprisingly and these specifically will be discovered late as they are not mentioned cleverly
1- FAT formatted USBs are supported only. Now FAT cannot have a file size of more than 4 GB. So the TV can’t play more than 4 GB movie files. Most HD movies are btw more than that, so HD or no HD in case of these movies doesn’t make difference - quite irritating. Not sure about LG/Samsung
2- Expensive Sony Wifi adapter needed to enable Wifi features. Nothing else works.
3- Very low number of formats supported for movies. No MKV etc. They say that AVI is, but AVI is just a container format, if the movie is in AVI but in encoded differently(most likely this is the case) it does not play. LG/Samsung rule.
4- Media Remote is gimmicky. Though its good feature configuring it may need Wifi Sony dongle. Besides there are too many ifs and buts. LG media remote is cool with onscreen keyboard
5- Internet widgets are very few for India on Sony, its only you tube mainly. Samsung Apps is great.
6- Web Browser does not have Flash support. No WMA audio support.
7- Price is 10-15% higher than comparable brands
8- Looks like Sony is still in the LED TV evolution mode. Samsung looks more mature; it is after all the inventor of LCD TVs!
Recommendation:
1- Buy if you are a die-hard Sony fan
2- Buy if TV is to be used as just a TV with an HD Sat Box and not for other features as above
3- You don’t mind 10-15% extra
Summarizing - its the fine print in the LED TV marketing saga, that holds the key. So do your need and product research carefully!
Regards
Gaurav