Examining picture quality
Driven by established CCFL technology rather than the newer, elegant LED-backlit system, you'd think that Sony had missed a beat for its 2009 mid-range line-up. The foibles of the CCFL backlighting were shown up in the W4500 range, mine included, manifested by 'clouding' issues on portions of the screen that were most noticeable when watching scenes with dark colours, or super-widescreen movies with top and bottom borders.
Channel 4 HD (Sky)
Thankfully for Sony, the backlight bleed issue seems to be rectified - on this sample at least - and, once tweaked, the set produces a uniform picture. Endemic to the new 5-series models, Sony's BRAVIA Engine3 is, as the name suggests, the third-generation image-processing technology that promises a superior picture. Setup to the same parameters as the 46W4500 and run in for a few hours, the picture quality is subjectively very good from high-definition sources.
Colours appear natural, blacks are deep and even, and there's very little evidence of the picture falling behind the action - helped on by the 100Hz Motionflow technology that can be set to one of three levels. Watch the set in a room with some ambient lighting and it's difficult to argue against what you see.
Deep blacks are marginally pointless if the TV cannot concurrently display bright colours with authenticity. The 40W5810 only trips up very slightly in scenes with hugely contrasting colours - something that can be forgiven for what is a mid-range LCD in Sony's catalogue.
Blu-ray performance is excellent, too. Slip in the Dark Knight and you never want to pay £7.50 at the cinema again. In a darkened room blacks go almost as deep as the bezel's colour, skin tones are spot-on, and motion is generally smooth. The same is true of gaming from either an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, as well.
Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)
The tighter pixel-pitch on the 40in model gives it the edge over the year-old 46W4500, but it's not so good that you'd want to bin the old set. The HD image quality is such that it's approaching the fundamental limits of what CCFL technology can deliver. If you want a 'better' picture, the way to go is for a new-fangled LED-backlit screen - that or if you can find a Pioneer Kuro plasma on the cheap.
BBC2 SD (Sky)
The image-processing engine is called to the fore when dealing with standard-definition sources, which are often the Achilles heel of cheaper LCD sets. To the 40W5810's credit, the picture is eminently watchable from a few feet away. There's the odd aberration in colour processing, but the TV's engine does a pretty good job nonetheless.