Sony 46EX503, hugely disappointed, or maybe a problem ?

[admin_exported]

Hi Folks,

First post on this forum and I wish it were a happier one.

Have just received a Sony 46EX503 and have spent the entire day getting more and more frustrated with the picture ..... it is truly an awful picture on all inputs, that's inbuilt freeview and Blu-Ray (Sony S760), DVDR (Sony HXD890), DVD (Cambridge DVD99), all connected via HDMI.

For comparison I also own a 40W5810, a good one by the way, no clouding , so I know what the picture "should" look like. It was a straight swap, the 40 out, the 46 in, no other changes to my system at all.

It is possibly the worst Digital TV picture that I have ever seen in that there is very visible artifacts, it is like really bad digital noise, especially on skin tones (and on darker skins it is like they have multi-coloured skin) and clothes (woolly jumper looks like it has been through on of my photographic filters for an arty shot, silk suit looks like ..... well ..... just weird). It is worse in darkish scenes.

Over the past week my son and I watched the entire 1st series of SGU on Blu-ray, those that know this will know that it can be a dark and moody place on Destiny, but we were well pleased with it on the 40W5810, a stunning picture. Tonight on the 46EX503, I almost wept with sadness, it was that bad.

Has anyone else seen this with a 46EX503 ? Am i unlucky and I had a dud set ? Will a week or so of running in make it any better ?

I'm looking for some happiness somewhere :-(

Regards,

Ian

EDIT : I should add that before buying one I did see one in action and it was just fine, excellent actually, but then that was a Sony shop (and John Lewis in fact).

 

[Clare Newsome]

Hi Ian, and welcome to the Forums. Like you, I wish it was under happier circumstances!

I'm puzzled at why your new set is looking so poor with every input - we've seen a range of EX503 sets now, with no such problems. And as you say, you saw it looking good in-store.

Obviously if you're sitting the same distance from a 46in set than from a 40in set, you could expect to see more flaws in upscaled SD material (that's the same for just about any large-screen Full HD set), but that certainly shouldn't be the case with Blu-ray.

Have you tweaked the settings of the TV, turning off sharpening modes etc? More in our How to Make the Most of Your TV video

 

[TKratz]

Sounds like you were unlucky and got a faulty set.

Get it replaced.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the prompt reply Claire.

I'm as pzzled as you are as I have seen a number of the EX range, including the 46", and they all seemed really good, on a par, if not better, than the W5810 that I have. I was after a small 37", but was blown away by the 46" that all sense went out the window

I think there is something far wrong with it, the wife has now said so

She's been watching that "awful" film Titanic on the 40" and has just started watching it on the 46" and the colour saturation is awful. Winslet's ginger hair has no definition on it at all at times, it's a single block of colour when in shadow, and the flesh tones are either blocking out, or going to a single colour. In the Winslet nookie scene the skin tones are positively green in the shadows. And the posh gents over coats are all blocking out in the shadows, whereas on the W5810 you can still see the detail in the wool weave.

On Blu-ray Predator, some scenes look like they been through, in photographic terms, a posterising filter then a hard high pass sharpening filter at the highest setting, but only worse. That's the best that I can describe the effect that this TV is giving. On really bright pictures (adverts !) it seems to be okay, only just though.

I have looked at your guides, and have been adjusting the settings, but the effect gets worse, not better. It's even there on the factory reset settings, and also there with all filters (sharpening etc) turned off.

Looks like I may have a dud on my hands :-(

 

[Anonymous]

Hi ISTE

I have the same Sony Tv as you and was initially disappointed with the SD picture - but blu ray looks fantastic.

The SD picture does take patience to get right. As well as changing the standard colour (55)/ brightness (50)/ contrast (55) / backlight (6)/ sharpness (min) settings - try the settings in brackets as a starter - also try changing the following:

Scene select - try auto. Or if already on auto try changing to general.

Ambient sensor - turn off

Motionflow - standard

Overall, having settings such as contrast and sharpness on too high a setting can create a poor picture.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Heystak,

Thanks for the pointers, and glad to hear that someone can say that "blu ray looks fantastic" on this TV I was beginning to doubt my mind when I saw them in the shops.

Tried your suggestions and it made no difference at all to the problem (which is hard to explain to be honest but my photographic description above is as close as I can get to the "effect").

It is like the TV is missing colour resolution, like taking a digital photograph at RGB 8 bits/channel and reducing the colour depth to a 16 bit palette, but only in certain places. In fact that is it, almost exactly what it is like.

Phone call to John Lewis tomorrow me thinks :-(

 

[Anonymous]

An udpate this morning, and the issue is still there, it was not all a bad dream unfortuneately :-(

In fact as it warms up it gets worse, I don't think I've seen Worf from Star Trek look so green before (DVD source) ! And as for Dickinson this morning on Freeview, oh dear :-( We got the W5810 down to do a side by side to make sure we were not being too critical, and it is like night and day.

As in the above post there is definitely something wrong with the colour resolution, either the electronics or the panel itself, especially in shadow scenes. I can get exactly the same effect with reducing colour depth in my digital photographic processes.

So John Lewis have agreed to replace it, but there are none in stock just now. I'll let you know what happens when the replacement arrives. Could be a week or so.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I too purchased this set over the weekend, but was too hugely dissapointed with the picture quality I find that some programme detail is just breathtaking, almost 3D like whilst others are just so poor. To improve this, do you have the calibration settings that you used for the review on this model? I think, for a start this may help to elevate some of the issues me and others on this forum are having. Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had one of these for a couple of weeks and while some programmes look fine and some absolutely stunning (BBC HD for example), some are plain awful (such as CBeebies, which does get a lot of action I'm afraid...). We have a Virgin V+ box and no aerial for Freeview at the moment, so it's all through the V+. The other annoying thing is that the V+ on-screen menus look slightly "out of focus" - that's the best way I can describe it.

Any tips?

 

[Zarn_Smith]

I don't have a v+ so I don't know if this is possible but... I had a similar effect when using my Humax freesat box. What I found is that the TV is better at upscaling then the Humax box. At first I had the Humax always output 1080i, it was blury in standard def so I told the Humax box to output at the native resolution for the source material and let the TV do the upscaling work.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Zarn, that was useful and I had a play around with this type of thing last night, unfortunately it didn't seem to do anything. Any more advice is gratefully received.

 

[Anonymous]

Would the What Hi-Fi team be able to let us know the calibration settings they used for the test?

I've had another play around, and we're getting there...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've got the 40EX503 and very happy with it's quality so far. It replaced a W4500, which I was also very happy with. HD performance is amazing, Freeview tuner is also very good. DVD and BD playback are everything I expected them to be. The only problem i have is similar to yours in that the SD performance is not as clear as it should be, however I am pretty sure it's the source player and not the TV itself. My SD picture thru a Sky HD box is not as good as it was thru my older Sky SD box, even tho the older box was scarted and the HD box is of course HDMI. I've got Sky coming tomorrow to change the box to see if that makes a difference. I recently watched Top Gear at a friends house thru their Virgin box, on a 32" Sony Tv (not sure which model), and the picture was absolutely appalling. Picture was blurry with poor colour rendition etc. I guess they've just got used to it with nothing to compare it to. If your picture was poor thru all sources, like the poor chap who made the original post, then I would suggest it's the TV but if everything is ok elsewhere, perhaps it's the V+ box. Just a thought. Good luck with your "tweaking".