KDL-40W4500 a gem when calibrated

[admin_exported]

I have set up six 40W4500's now. My own and the rest for family and friends. All were bought after people seeing my set. All were amazed at the fantastic picture.
AND NOT ONE OF THESE SET, HAD OR HAS ISSUES AFTER BEING CORRECTLY CALIBRATED. imo the people who are most vocal at slagging this model off are the screen burn brigade, i wonder why? Is it because it as good and possibly better than most plasma's.

 

[Anonymous]

We are awaiting delivery of the same model and I spent so long reviewing this and some panasonic models that I hope that we made the right choice. The picture looked good on blu-ray, but not so sure with upscaled DVD - star wars pod racers was not that great, with the blacks very poor.

 

[Anonymous]

marineman:I have set up six 40W4500's now. My own and the rest for family and
friends. All were bought after people seeing my set. All were amazed at
the fantastic picture. AND NOT ONE OF THESE SET, HAD OR
HAS ISSUES AFTER BEING CORRECTLY CALIBRATED. imo the people who are
most vocal at slagging this model off are the screen burn brigade, i
wonder why? Is it because it as good and possibly better than most plasma's.

What do you mean by "calibrated"?

 

[Anonymous]

To calibrate i use the Digital Video Essentials HD Basics Blu Ray disc, and then tweek the setup to my preference.

 

[Mickgw]

Hi Marineman

Any chance you could post the settings you have used?,as i have recently purchased this set, thanks a lot

Mike Worrall

 

[rob_981]

Has anyone tried adjusting the white balance settings? I believe these can be accessed by going into the service menu. Is this recommended? I think I read somewhere that it might invalidate your warranty. Is this true?

Would this improve the picture if done properly? Would it be advisable to get an expert in to do this, or could you do it yourself?

 

[Anonymous]

So you mean 'set up' not calibrated.

 

[professorhat]

No, he means calibrated. Unless you have a fancy meaning for calibrated?

 

[Anonymous]

Yo Marineman.. would you like to share the settings that you have now that you have calibrated your tv? It may help those who are suffering from the clouding issue.

 

[Anonymous]

Calibration for all the sets are slightly different. No two seem to be the quite the same, maybe the reason for this is where they are in the viewing room. My own is across the corner of the room with a window to the right hand side and my marine fish tank is directly opposite with white and blue fluorescent lighting and about 12 feet away. Room lights are off at the TV end and on at the far end of the room, about 20 feet away. Here are the settings on my own set using SKY HD box. I do not have and have never had a problem with clouding or bleeding even with all lights off and on a blank screen. This is a guide only, and you should set your own 40W4500's up to suit your own room and personal choice.

PICTURE

Picture Mode: STD

Backlight: 4

Conrtast: 85

Brightness: 45

Colour: 45

Colour Temp: Neutral

Sharpness: 14

Noise Reduction: Low

Mpeg N R: Off

Advanced C E: Low

Live colour: Low

Colour Space: Wide

FEATURES

Power Saving: Reduced Power

Light Sensor: Off

Motionflow: Std

SETUP

Screen Format: Wide

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
No, he means calibrated. Unless you have a fancy meaning for calibrated?

Ok, to someone whoms moniker is 'professor....'

When something is calibrated it is adjusted using a reference source ' a model of known parameters' you could argue this is the set up disc.1

Calibration is a scienticfic terminology, and people charge the earth to do it

But, if some thing is adjusted to a setting from a disc, this needs interpretation from the person and his eyes, which are not calibrated sources.

And as the poster admits he then finishes by adjusting to his preferences.

If I set my Hi Fi 'tone' for example (if I had tone controls) using a reference set of output tones on a CD, but used my ears to adjust the controls, not say a 'calibrated spectrum analyser' it would not be a calibration. It would be me 'setting up' the output to my preference.

So settting his TV up how he feels is the best using a 'set up disc' is long winded, but far more accurate than saying calibrated.

The misuse of words can only lead to further confusion.

If you try his settings and like them so be it, but again the poster has said they vary from TV to TV. I may give a good start point though.

Regards

Matt

 

[Anonymous]

matt41 has a point, alot of the settings above are very subjective. For DVD/Blu-ray then use the THX optimizer as found on many discs. Link to website below:

http://www.thx.com/home/dvd/search.html

 

[Anonymous]

It seems to me some people have bought their 4500's without seeing or trying them first. And others who are slagging the 4500's off are Plasma owners (WHY?). I have nothing against plasmas myself, If a plasma had out preformed the 4500 then that is what I would have bought. I for one would not buy anything on the say so of someone else. Even if they are rated *****. I tested my 4500 in the shop and spent time adjusted the settings, so i could see if the set suited my requirements. I also checked out many other sets including, Samsung, Phillips, Panasonic, LCD's and Plasma's and in balance the 4500 out preformed all the others imo. So if you are buying before trying then you only have yourself to blame if you dont get what you expect.

 

[Anonymous]

The people who were slagging the tv off were the ones that posted pictures of their tvs showing the clouding problem..it wasnt made up..

Your saying its as good as if not better than the best plasmas, i demoed this TV..i have this TV and can certainly say its not even within touching distance to the 8G Pioneer Kuros let alone the 9G ones. Dont get me wrong, its a great if not exceptional LCD but you cant say its as good as the best Plasmas.

 

[professorhat]

matt 41 - I think you confirmed my point.

 

[Anonymous]

Well some meanings are a bit fancy

 

[Anonymous]

I know people are having problems with clouding and bleeding with some 4500's As I said, I tried mine in the shop before i purchased it. As did all the people i know who have them. You wouldn't buy a car without driving it first would you? Buying mail order or over the internet in some cases are cheaper but not always best way to go. I buy mine from an independent retailer who will match internet price's as long as there is proof they are in stock.

The Pioneer Kuro's are great TV's, they are more than twice the price of the Sony Bravia's, are they really twice as good? imo no. It comes down to personal preference in the end. Also our TV is on 16 - 18 hours a day due to my mother being disabled, thats asking for screen burn, plus they use 3 or 4 times the electricity.

 

[Anonymous]

marineman, i don't see your point regarding viewing before buying. Surely the display model you see in the store is not the actual one you end up having delivered to your door. They pick the stock from the warehouse, the TV you review on the shop floor....stays on the shop floor. You don't honestly think the likes of Curry's, Dixons, Comet etc would pick a TV from stock, unpack it, plug it in, let you fiddle with it, repack it away and deliver it just for you! Same with buying a car, the car in the showroom is not the car you end up buying, it's picked from stock. You don't want to fork out £10,000 on a car that some sweaty individual has had is backside in. I could go to Curry's etc tomorrow, view a TV, be wowed by it's PQ, and be totally hacked off because the one I've ended up with has b/l bleed & clouding. If I buy a premium product for a premium price, I expect it to perform...flawlessly. I don't expect to play LCD Lotto.

I purchased the Sony online thru Dixon's. Didn't go to view the thing. I've never in all my years of buying TV's looked at it working beforehand. When I buy something, I expect it to work...properly. This is why we rely on manufacturers quality control, something which Sony (Spain) seems to know nothing about. This is also why we rely on reviews from the likes of WHF and other sources.

As it happens I have B/L bleed in top & bottom right corners. I've eliminated most of it with a combination of ambient lighting and menu settings, but it's still slightly noticable on really dark scenes and it does spoil the enjoyment of what is otherwise a very good TV. I really do feel for the people who have forked out, what is at the end of the day a heck of a lot of money. I know it took me a good 4 months to save it up. To some nearly £1000 is lottery win, pity they didn't realise just what a lottey it was.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder why pioneer choose the plasma route to make there best tv's money can buy??? Although in fairness LCD tech is pretty dam good these days and the new sony W is a dam fine TV but the QC is rubbish

 

[Anonymous]

Of course I dont buy the display model. I play around with the menus,settings etc, to get the feel of what I am purchasing if I am satisfied that it meets my needs I then buy a new boxed product. But if I found it had a Problem I would be straight back with it. Some people it seems dont even bother to demo before buying. They just take other peoples words for gospel, It got ***** so it must be good.

 

[Anonymous]

marineman:Of course I dont buy the display model. I play around with the menus,settings etc, to get the feel of what I am purchasing if I am satisfied that it meets my needs I then buy a new boxed product. But if I found it had a Problem I would be straight back with it. Some people it seems dont even bother to demo before buying. They just take other peoples words for gospel, It got ***** so it must be good.

But isn't that the whole point of customer reviews, and magazines like WHF? Yes I understand the logic of viewing a TV just to see if you like the general picture etc, but it's a useless exercise when it comes to fault finding because you don't know exactly which TV you will end up with. So there should be some piece of mind with quality control. I wanna be confident in Sony's QC, but after the farce with the W4500. it's been severely dented. This is my first Sony LCD, it could be my last.

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree, if the TV's leave the factory they should be 100% and by default they should come with settings that do not exhibit any problems.

Sony and its poor response to the many pages on this forum alone have lost a fortune on W4500 sales and thats even denting Z4500 confidence now.

Its not down to a plasma or LCD fan base its about fitness for purpose in my eyes and how i spend my £'s.

I am happy you have found a good selection of sets but these opinions cannot be rebuilt with Sony's head in the sand, it will take a W5000 or Z5000 for me to even consider upgrading to a newer Sony LCD 🙁]

 

[drummerman]

fordypaul:
I have to agree, if the TV's leave the factory they should be 100% and by default they should come with settings that do not exhibit any problems.

Sony and its poor response to the many pages on this forum alone have lost a fortune on W4500 sales and thats even denting Z4500 confidence now.

Its not down to a plasma or LCD fan base its about fitness for purpose in my eyes and how i spend my £'s.

I am happy you have found a good selection of sets but these opinions cannot be rebuilt with Sony's head in the sand, it will take a W5000 or Z5000 for me to even consider upgrading to a newer Sony LCD 🙁]

I think Sony is doing just dandy, the few disgruntled folks not really making a dent in the huge machines cogs, certainly not as much as the more pressing economic circumstances we find ourselves in at present. Proof? Even though you clearly have formed an opinion about current sony's you already consider buying into the brand again for your next upgrade. See, Sony's probably doing as well as can be and laughing all the way to the bank bud. Besides, they make some fantastic, inovative products. Have done, will do again and I won't get involved in the W4500 'issues'.

 

[matthewpiano]

unununium:
marineman, i don't see your point regarding viewing before buying. Surely the display model you see in the store is not the actual one you end up having delivered to your door. They pick the stock from the warehouse, the TV you review on the shop floor....stays on the shop floor. You don't honestly think the likes of Curry's, Dixons, Comet etc would pick a TV from stock, unpack it, plug it in, let you fiddle with it, repack it away and deliver it just for you! .

We did just that for one of our customers who was concerned by what he had read on this forum. We unpacked the set allowed them to inspect it thoroughly in low light conditions and then packed it up and labelled the box with his name to ensure that same set was delivered to them. Its all about putting a customer's mind at rest and making sure they are going to be happy with their purchase. I know this is probably unusual, but why shouldn't we go the extra mile as retailers to ensure that the customers who pay for our products are satisfied?

And yes, from recent sales evidence, Sony is doing fine and the TVs and other products are flying out of the shops with consistent demand for the W4500 series sets.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you, matthewpiano. Looking after you customers will always reap rewards.