The Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 is a 32-inch LCD television available for $550, which puts it near the lower end of Sony's HDTV lineup. This is reflected by the 720p resolution, which is lower than the 1080p resolution you see in more expensive televisions. The KDL-32L5000 has an interesting design meant to look like a picture frame, which some will love and others hate.

The Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 offers a good selection of connectivity features for an entry-level television. There are 3 HDMI ports, digital audio out and a good selection of legacy options like S-video, composite, compenent and analgo audio connections. There's also a VGA port for using the television as a computer monitor. What you won't see are media focused connectivity options like USB, memory card slot or internet access. The ports are well placed, with several available on the left side and the others easily accessible just around the left side on the back.

Audio quality from the Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000's built-in speakers is not good. Audio was clear, but was also very flat. The menu interface is good, in fact we liked the simple and elegant interface better than the overly complex interface Sony puts on its more expensive HDTVs. The KDL-32L5000's remote is comfortable to hold and has large, comfortable buttons. Unfortunately they could have been laid out better, as the volume and channel keys are far away from the directional pad.

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

The Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 did a very good job producing deep blacks and bright whites, producing a contrast ratio much better than we would have expected from a television at this price point. Color performance wasn't the best we've ever seen, but was reasonable. The color temperature was slightly off, which may cause a slight bluish cast in darker scenes. We also noted innacuracies in producing the correct color gamut, with specific problems in producing reds and greens, so those colors may not look exactly the way they should.

Lacking the higher refresh rates of it's more expensive bretheren the Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 had predictably poor motion performance. We noted significant motion blur and a shutter effect with moving objects on the display. We also found the viewing angle of 26 degrees from center to be unimpressive. You really need to be sitting right in front of the HDTV to avoid faded colors are reduced contrast.

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

The Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000 has many of the problems you might expect from an inexpensive HDTV, starting with a lower resolution, smaller size and less than impressive design. That said it's not all bad here, we were particularly impressed by the television's ability to produce deep blacks and provide a very large contrast ratio. Color performance wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either. That said there are better choices in this space, for example the Samsung LN32A450 offered similar black and white performance, better color and motion performance and offers similar connectivity options, at a similar price point. If you do choose the Sony Bravia KDL-32L5000, just expect that the low price is going to come with compromises in terms of performance.