The Sony KDL-40W5100 is a 40-inch, 1080p LCD television with enough bells and whistles to legitimize its $1500 price tag. The big bonus is internet connectivity, which opens up the huge world of Sony's streaming media. The TV's overall performance is just okay, but the multimedia features make it a good hub for a home theater system.

On board the Sony KDL-40W5100 has all the necessary ports, including 4 HDMIs, two component AVs, a PC input, digital and analog audio outs, and all the standard definition connections you'll need for your older devices. Many of these ports are on the side for easy access. The USB port, located on the back, supports playback of photos, music, and video clips via a thumb drive.

The feature you're most likely buying this TV for (besides simple movie and cable viewing) is the internet connectivity. You may have heard that Sony has the best online streaming content. This is correct. To date, Samsung's streaming content is poor, and Panasonic's is good. Sony is king, with more content provider deals than you can believe, including Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, CBS, Slacker (streaming radio) and nearly 20 more. If you're looking for the best online experience, Sony has it.

The Sony KDL-40W5100 does not have the easiest menu to navigate, however. Those who already own a Playstation 3 will be fine, but the unique horizontal and vertical scrolling make it easy to get lost. Technophobes beware. The remote control is adequate, but the button layout could have been improved. Finally, the audio performance is sub-par. Sure, if you're not too picky the speakers may sounds fine, but real movie lovers will want to consider investing in a surround sound system. 

Performance (Read the full lab performance results at Televisioninfo.com)

We'll break the Sony KDL-40W5100's performance down into a few sections. First, blacks and whites performance was adequate, but certainly not a stand out. Typically, LCD televisions have a hard time getting those great, deep black levels that you see on a plasma TV. That was definitely the case here. In fact, the KDL-40W5100 only came up average amongst similarly priced LCDs. The TV also graduated a little too quickly from shadows to highlights, and missed some detail in between. The color performance was better. We liked the even color temperature performance and smooth color transitions.

The Sony comes equipped, of course, with some snazzy feature that's supposed to improve motion performance (Sony calls it MotionFlow, here). Our experience is that these features tend to hurt the performance more than help, especially if they're turned up to their maximum setting. With MotionFlow off, the KDL-40W5100 we definitely saw some blurring and artifacting with objects in motion. With MotionFlow on, the artifacting was amplified considerably, and the objects appeared cartoonishly smooth. 

Finally, there's the viewing angle to contend with. LCDs are frequently cheaper than plasmas, but the viewing angle is never as good. The Sony KDL-40W5100 lost 50% of its contrast at approximately 19 degrees from center on either side, making for a total viewing angle of 38 degrees. This is better than a lot of LCD TVs, but it's still far less than a plasma. 

Comparisons (Read more in-depth comparisons at Televisioninfo.com)

We compared the Sony KDL-40W5100 to three TVs to give you a sense of the greater market. First, the Sharp LC-40E67UN, a 40-inch LCD, retails for nearly half the price ($749). It lacks the great internet streaming content which accounts for the mark-up on the Sony, but a lot of the performance numbers were similar. We can confirm that the Sony also offers better looking motion with less artifacting.

The Sony KDL-40S5100, a 40-inch LCD, retails for $800. It also lacks internet connectivity, as well as one of the HDMIs and the USB port. On the plus side, the black levels were significantly deeper. However, the motion performance was better on the W5100. All in all, the W5100 is the better buy.

Finally, the Vizio SV471XVT, a 47-inch LCD, retails for the same price ($1499). It has the same USB support for some multimedia playback, but lacks the LAN port for internet. The black level performance was far worse than the Sony KDL-40W5100, but produced much better looking motion. The screen is 7 inches larger, but for this money, would you rather have screen real estate or streaming content? That's a tough call that you need to make.

Overall, the Sony KDL-40W5100 is a good buy... if you value the online content. If not, you're throwing your money away on a TV with merely mediocre performance.