Sony KDL-26EX553 review

By adding the likes of BBC iPlayer, LED backlighting and nifty ultra-slim designs, the last few years have seen some mightily impressive bigscreen TVs for the living room, but what about the bedrooms and kitchen?

We've been longing for a do-it-all smart TV that can stream from a PC just as easily as playing a Blu-ray or handling music, and the 26-inch Sony KDL-26EX553 - with a full price of £429 (around AU677/US$694) - is very nearly that product.

There's no built-in DVD or Blu-ray player, and nor is there enough sonic power to act as a bedroom stereo, but this Edge LED-backlit television is otherwise ripe for a night's entertainment.

A key component in its arsenal is a suite of Wi-Fi-fueled Sony Entertainment Network smart TV apps, including BBC iPlayer. And many will also love its design; an 'easel' type that sees two small silver pegs jutting out from underneath a screen that sits back a few degrees.

The effect is subtle, though any notion of luxe good looks won't last much beyond a feel of the rather industrial gloss black plastic used in the bezel.

That won't matter too much in the bedroom, and if it does, consider the white version, because the Sony KDL-26EX553 is the most advanced 26-inch TV around.

Two HDMI inputs should be enough for most simple setups (we're thinking a games console and a Blu-ray player) since there's a Freeview HD tuner inside, while its USB port enables both simple recordings and digital file playback.

There's also a hook-up for a PC, albeit the old 15-pin D-sub VGA option.

One technical shortcoming of the Sony KDL-26EX553 is its HD-ready resolution, but we're not at all bothered by this.

We do realise that Full HD starts to become a factor at the 26-inch size, and also that many PC monitors a lot smaller than this TV have such a resolution, but we prefer HD-ready on a Sony TV.

The excellent up-rezzing circuitry in Sony's X-Reality has long impressed us, and here it chums up with the HD-ready panel to help make dodgy YouTube videos or downloaded AVI files look almost as clean as a Blu-ray disc.

In our test we managed to play AVI, MPEG, MPEG4, AVC and WMV videos from a USB flashdrive - and in excellent quality - though that does leave MKV and MOV files unsupported, which is a real shame.

The 26-inch Sony KDL-26EX553 is joined by smaller brother the 22-inch Sony KDL-22EX553, which also boasts a HD-ready resolution and has a full price of £349 (around AU$550/US$565).

Beyond that, you're into 32-inch TV territory, and looking at models such as the Haier LET32C80, Panasonic TX-L32X5 and Sony KDL-32HX753.