Sony Bravia KDL-46WE5

Update 20/07/09: In the original version of this article, we only mentioned the white version of the WE5, but it's also available in black.

With the WE5, Sony has put a Full HD LCD television on the market that is built to be green. Sony are recycling the large majority of its components and there are different techniques for economising electricity, including a presence sensor and low-energy backlighting. It also has a very nice shiny, white design.  Two different designs are available: one in a glossy white finish, and another, more traditional, black version.  In theory, the the white version has the model number 46WE5W, while the black version is the 46WE5B.  In practice, though, a lot of stores seem to be confused, and sell both under the generic name WE5.

Energy consumption: a 46 inch screen that equals an old 32 inch

Lets dive straight in and look at the points highlighted by Sony: energy consumption and “greenness”.

As expected, unfortunately most of the economy options work to the detriment of display quality. The ''Energy economy'' setting on Off / Low / Medium / High simply varies the panel backlighting. Many TVs have this function and can therefore reduce energy consumption even the mode  isn't labelled “green”. In any case, the function does have a direct impact on image quality as brightness is reduced. We therefore preferred to disactivate this option and work directly on the backlighting settings to adjust the image.

When you look through the options and menus, there are however two functions that are worth a closer look:

• The backlighting is announced as being 50% more economical than a classic tube backlighting. This isn’t the case in practice but we did note a real improvement all the same. Once they are calibrated at equal brightness, the 46WE5 consumed 107 W while our 46W5500 consumed 128. The difference in price between the two models – 100 euros – will therefore be paid for over a few years.

• Another worthwhile function: the presence sensor. This allows the WE5 to cut the backlighting automatically when it detects that there is no one in front of it after a certain period of time – this can be set. And it does work pretty well. In our tests, the TV switched to “eco” mode when no one was moving in front of it. However, it did also switch itself to “eco” mode while we were carrying out a presentation in front of as many as… 10 people! Even though this only happenened once, it would seem as if a few adjustments of the programme that supports the sensor might be necessary.

Still, the 46WE5 is one of the most economical televisions in its category and it consumes as little as a 32 inch dating back two years.

Specifications: it has everything that a W5500 has

Sony presents the WE5 as an eco W5500 ... in white. Although as far as we’re concerned the comparison doesn’t stop there – as we’ll see further on when we look at image quality – the spec of the two models are comparable. You can therefore refer to the Sony 46W5500 test for the details on this one. Otherwise, the WE5 is a Full HD LCD television with a TNT HD tuner, a matt panel, 4 HDMI sockets, a USB socket, a base that pivots, Motionflow 100 Hz, compatibility with DLNA networks and the new Applicast system.

Image quality: a true false W5500

As we said further up, the WE5 was annonced as an eco W5500. And it is true that the first tests bear this out as the same image quality (see inset): excellent contast, deep black levels, a nice gamma curve, exceptional colours, very contained ghosting thanks to Motionflow 100 Hz. The SD upscaling is a little low on precision and, indeed, the WE5 behaves like an exact copy of the W5500… except for one thing: angles of vision. They are much better on this screen. Blacks only become grey-blue when you are quite a way from the central positioning opposite the screen. Four or five viewers can sit at a distance of 3 m from the screen without any loss of display.


This has led us to review the rating for the W5500 and, more generally, other TV ratings in our survey. We’ve also taken the opportunity to improve our test methodology for angles of vision that are now quantified and evaluated more precisely. We have also added a measurement for black and white levels at 28 points on the panel, so as to measure homogeneity and quantify any clouding on our test models. You can see these three new ratings in the inset that summarizes the main measurements that we carried out.
Specialists and fans of games on PC will not go for this model as it has a PC image display delay of between 4 and 6 frames.

So the WE5 tips the W5500 over the edge and we have taken away the star that we were already considering removing from it (as we say in the conclusion of the W5500 article).

Sound quality: no change

No surprises, the WE5 has the same speakers and sound quality as the W5500. Without achieving anything exceptional, you can watch a film in good enough conditions, though if you want to fully immerse yourself you’ll want a real home cinema kit.