Sony Bravia KDL-40HX803 Variable PQ

[gingersmarty]

Hi All,

I have had the above TV for around 6 weeks and initial impressions were excellent, however

over recent times i have begun to notice issues in dark/poorly lit scenes. There are fuzzy patches

that appear to gently polarise, i first noticed it while watching Zen on BBC HD and is now incredibly

distracting. I know from the forums of backlighting issues on some Sony Tv's, Is this what i am seeing?

as stated in well lit scenes the picture is excellent, however the issue may be present but harder to see.

I am going to contact someone, but as they say knowledge is power..any thoughts? the issues was not present

in the shop.

The TV was purchased from a Sony centre and has a 5 year warranty

thanks in advance

 

[sonycentre]

Hi i have the same tv,had mine since 2nd week in july with no prob's at all.I will see if i can find the setting's out that i use.too see if that helps you.

 

[sonycentre]

Ok try these settings that i use at home,give it a try and let me know what you think.

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/6/498396/ShowThread.aspx

 

[gingersmarty]

thanks for your prompt response i will follow the link and let you know.

 

[gingersmarty]

Hi Sonycentre,

Tried the settings you suggested, marginal improvement in the issues, however it appears

vary on a day to day basis so difficult to be precise. the picture was certainly brighter though

i seem to prefer the image nearer the "cinema" preset.

I have no issue with the clarity/colour/etc its capable of tremendous images at times, however

on certain programmes/films the fuzzy moving blacks drive me to distraction.

Is my experience unique?

 

[sonycentre]

Mmmm that does seem strange,do you have a copy of terminator 2 skynet edition on blu ray or toy story 3 as these have a thx optimizer give that a go.

 

[gingersmarty]

Hi again,

thanks for the help, i have tried the optimiser on Monster's Inc, no real improvement,

I do feel the issue is more fundamental and with the TV.

 

[Anonymous]

sounds like clouding/backlight bleed to me. i'd take it back to wherever you got it and demand a replacement or refund..

 

[sonycentre]

Ok try turning all the light's off in your living room or whatever room you have the tv in and put something like the dark knight on this has some cracking dark scenes in if you can see any light patches or light reams round the edges of the screen then it could be a backlight problem.

 

[aliEnRIK]

gingersmarty:
i seem to prefer the image nearer the "cinema" preset.

I have no issue with the clarity/colour/etc its capable of tremendous images at times, however

on certain programmes/films the fuzzy moving blacks drive me to distraction.

Is my experience unique?

All LCD tvs suffer from floating blacks under certain conditions

Some people never notice it. Certain settings can help, but its due to the pixel response times and will never be truly eliminated due to the LCD technology

 

[michael hoy]

gingersmarty:

Hi Sonycentre,

Tried the settings you suggested, marginal improvement in the issues, however it appears

vary on a day to day basis so difficult to be precise. the picture was certainly brighter though

i seem to prefer the image nearer the "cinema" preset.

I have no issue with the clarity/colour/etc its capable of tremendous images at times, however

on certain programmes/films the fuzzy moving blacks drive me to distraction.

Is my experience unique?

It could be backlight bleed my 713 went back because of that issue.

Try these settings if you want to.

Picture Mode - Cinema
Backlight 3
Contrast 98
Brightness 38
Colour 5
Hue 0
Colour Temp Warm 2
Sharpness 0
Noise Reduction Off
MPEG NR Off
Motion Flow Off
Film Mode Auto2

Advanced Settings
Black Correction Off
ADV Contrast Off
Gamma 0
LED Dynamic Control Off
Auto Light Limiter Off
Clear White Off
Live Colour Off

Not saying stay with these settings but give them a go.

 

[Liam19]

I did find the blacks on my Sony 32EX703 to be more blue than black most of the time, and the kind of murky/floaty effect you're describing also fits what I used to see.

This was an irritating issue, but it was ultimately poor viewing angle and incessant backlight bleed that led me to return my set.

Have you experienced any other issues with the backlight?

 

[Anonymous]

sorry to hijack, Liam19, How are you finding your 32" sammy, I was thinking about buying one. but in a 46"

They are being sold for 1200.00 with a 5 year from johnlewis.

Thanks

 

[Liam19]

canada16:
sorry to hijack, Liam19, How are you finding your 32" sammy, I was thinking about buying one. but in a 46"

They are being sold for 1200.00 with a 5 year from johnlewis.

Thanks

Hi canada16,

Getting along with the Samsung a lot better these days, after struggling with motion issues early on. There's no denying the TV lacks the iron grip on fast motion the Sony had, but after endless tweaking with the settings (and some headaches along the way!) I've found a picture that is at the very least watchable, but more often than not very good!

I basically found that the TVs motion smeared a lot more (with a strange, ugly red-coloured smearing in some areas of the picture) when the brightness was set on the low-ish side (around 45 / 100). One day I found that increasing the brightness just a few notches (between 50 to 55) largely tackled the problem. Then I increased the Black Adjust setting to compensate for the extra brightness, creating a good compromise (although it still requires tweaking now and again, depending on what I'm watching). The Motion Plus settings are also crucial, with Blur Reduction set to 10 and Judder Reduction set to 4, which nicely smooths things out without completely ruining the look of films.

The Samsung's backlight is superior to that of the Sony I had - aside from some very minor bleed on some edges and a faint cloud in the middle (so slight it's tough to see even on a black screen!), it never intrudes, and can be turned up high enough to create a punchy picture without revealing any nasty blotches.

I would recommend the set, mainly because Blu-ray performance can be sensational! But it's not a perfect set.

Sorry, I went on a little bit there!

 

[Anonymous]

Its ok liam19, It was really informative, looking at the LE46C750 as well, seen the 40" in currys and looked really vibrant and deep deep blacks.

Just got to get to costco on the weekend before I buy as they have 5 year warranty on everything.

Thanks and sorry OP

 

[gingersmarty]

hi all,

Brief update, engineer called today. Despite the word on the net i appear to be suffering a unique issue,

no dispute about the PQ, he mentioned it was like "solarisation" without the colours, he also felt the picture

to be "noisy" generally. He is looking to see if there is a firmware update available, i cant see it myself,

however he was good about it and said it would be taken away if needed. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[aliEnRIK]

How did you get on ginger?