Sony Bravia KDL-32E5500

The "picture" version of the W5500, the E5500 joins our TV survey. Given their similarities, you might ask why we put the E through the lab at all. There are two reasons:

• The first is that it is always a good idea to confirm the results of a model by carrying them out on a similar model.

• The second is that, since the test of the W5500, our tests have developed: they are more numerous, more precise and more testing!

Our look at the E5500 is, then, an opportunity to revisit the W5500 - and therefore the WE5 as well - and see how they do in comparison with the current offer.

Build quality and design

The panel is Full HD and matte, just as Sony likes them. Though the results are less flattering than with glossy panels, matte screens are much less reflective. It comes with the standard Sony remote in its backlit version. It has full connectivity and only DVI, SD-Card and S-Video connectors are lacking. In any case, the S-Video can be handled by one of the scarts.

During our multimedia tests, NFTS formatted external drives and 250 GB FAT32 formatted drives were refused. This considerably limits the multimedia player in terms of use as a living room player. You'll want an additional multimedia hard drive.

PC mode works no problem with an HDMI out configured at 1920x1080. The display delay is then 50 ms, which is just about average.



Default image quality
This rating isn't included in the overall rating

The E5500 is in Standard mode by default. This delivers an acceptable, even flattering image for those who don't know how to change the settings on their screen. If you take a closer look, you'll detect that the dynamic contrast needs altering and that the colours tend too much towards blue.

Image quality in cinema mode

Changing to Custom mode gives you a better image straight away. Don't worry, you don't need to be an expert to use it. Simply activating it is enough to configure it. Contrast then improves with deeper blacks and nicer distribution of brightneess across the different levels. Colours are also right with colour temperature just a little too high; 7400 K against 6500 K (what you're looking for).


Perception quality is excellent, both in HD and SD. SD is of course much less impressive than 1080p Blu-ray. Motionflow 100 Hz processing kicks in nicely for both and reduces any jumping considerably without creating any artefacts. It isn't as good on ghosting however with a slight train of colour sometimes visible behind rapid movements. Nothing alarming however and most viewers won't even notice.

What is more troubling is that viewing angles are particularly narrow. Colours deteriorate progressively when you move off to the side. Blacks and dark greys get lighter and dark scenes are completely denatured. Colour temperature holds form on the sides but takes off (8200 K instead of 6500 K) when you look at the screen from above or below.

Ever since we started testing Sony TVs we've thought that this weakness with respect to viewing angles has been responsible for the clouding that you see on some models. This is to say that the least irregularity in terms of the panel unbalances it with respect to the viewer and allows light to interfere with it. FYI, our test model was not exempt.

Sound quality

Good overall, the E5500's sound lacks just a little power and depth. We recommend an additional home cinema kit to get the most out of this TV.

Energy consumption

At less than 0.1 W on standby and 86 W when on, this 32 inch version is on a par with the LCD TV average. Not economical, it won't increase your bill too much either.