Sony KDL40W4000 picture issues

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I spent weeks researching which tv to buy, I decided on the sony after reading great reviews. But the picture is often terrible! I've calibrated tv using star wars thx optimiser, and tried other suggested settings i've found online.

With SD Sky+ the picture is often 'cartoon like' (I don't know the technical term!), like a computer screen. There is some pixellation and jagged edges. With football motion is quite smooth but blurring eg of the pitch is common. Dark scenes are often v poor, with areas of shadow seming to be without texture, again like a cartoon, or jagged at the edges.

DVDs are ok but not great, some better than others (I'm using blu ray player sony bdp s350, connected via cambridge audio HDMI). At its worst there are small trails behind moving objects, eg even a change in facial expression there is an echo of the previous expression.

The only time it looks good is with blu ray (and it does look fantastic then

).

I also have a panasonic TH37PX70, the picture is better on that for dvd, and often on sky+.

Any advice much appreciated, I am debating trying to return this tv but blu ray looks so good on it I keep making excuses to keep it!

Thanks..

 

[ear]

To me its on par with the 5 series samsung.and the low spec L4000.I see no picture difference between these 3. although the W series has more connectivity than the L series.major problem I find in it is motion resolution.

 

[Anonymous]

If you aint happy.....return it and keep watching your Panny until something comes out that you have to spend on.

It's been a year now and I'm stiil looking. Hoping the functionality will make a wireless panel essential - but not holding my hopes up !

 

[Anonymous]

nicd2020:
Hi all,

I spent weeks researching which tv to buy, I decided on the sony after reading great reviews. But the picture is often terrible! I've calibrated tv using star wars thx optimiser, and tried other suggested settings i've found online.

With SD Sky+ the picture is often 'cartoon like' (I don't know the technical term!), like a computer screen. There is some pixellation and jagged edges. With football motion is quite smooth but blurring eg of the pitch is common. Dark scenes are often v poor, with areas of shadow seming to be without texture, again like a cartoon, or jagged at the edges.

DVDs are ok but not great, some better than others (I'm using blu ray player sony bdp s350, connected via cambridge audio HDMI). At its worst there are small trails behind moving objects, eg even a change in facial expression there is an echo of the previous expression.

The only time it looks good is with blu ray (and it does look fantastic then

).

I also have a panasonic TH37PX70, the picture is better on that for dvd, and often on sky+.

Any advice much appreciated, I am debating trying to return this tv but blu ray looks so good on it I keep making excuses to keep it!

Thanks..

At the risk of starting another debate I'd say it's the difference between Plasma and LCD. Plasma's look better with SD and just as good with HD, in my opinion.

R

 

[Clare Newsome]

nicd2020 - have you tried experimenting with the picture processing modes (eg sharpening) to see if that helps? Start with everything off/down low and go from there.

However, I worry that it's a classic case of SD not faring well on a Full HD set - especially Sky via the Scart connection.

 

[Alsone]

Picture blurring of the pitch during football is almost down to transmission rates from the broadcaster. I have Freesat HD on a Kuro pasma (so no blur). When watching a football match in HD the pitch is razor sharp whilst the camera is stationary, the slightest movement / even the slowest pan, sends the grass blurry (although the players remain sharp). Thats the result of too much compression / too low a bit rate at transmission.

I'm kind of thinking along the same lines as Clare here, bigger set = you see the imperfections more and full HD = lots of interpolation of the original SD signal to upscale it to HD = less sharpness and more blur.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi nicd2020

I have the W4000, and am very happy with it! The 37PX70 will ALWAYS look better with SD becasue it has to scale less as it is not a full HD set, I think it is 1024x768 rather than 1920x1080 resolution.

The flip side being that the Sony W4000 should be noticeably sharper with Blu-ray.

I have Sky HD via HDMI and HD football, films, and telly like 24 and Lost look sublime.

Yes SD will never look as good, but I'd argue that the majority of 1080p sets out there will not offer much better SD picture due to the upsacling and source compression.

I tested the W4000 against Panasonic 1080p Plasmas and found that SD performance was similar (i.e. more than watchable, but not great) and in HD imo Sony had the edge with better detail.

As Claire said Sky+ via Scart is not the best. Sky have reduced HD setup to something like £50 now I think, and I think the increase in monthly cost of about £10+ is worth it for some great HD channels, and you should see a slightly better SD picture due to the better box and HDMI.

Rather then returning the telly tht may be the best upgrade

 

[Anonymous]

I wish I'd asked you all weeks ago! A massive help thanks, I'm going to do the sky upgrade, I hadn't thought that it might help with non HD channels too having better connections etc. i am so happy with the picture on blu ray I do really want to keep the tv.

We still have the panasonic set up so we can watch bad SD on that

 

[Clare Newsome]

nicd2020:
I wish I'd asked you all weeks ago! A massive help thanks

Glad we could help - spread the word (and enjoy Sky+ HD - it's great)!

 

[shado]

nicd2020:

Hi all,

I spent weeks researching which tv to buy, I decided on the sony after reading great reviews. But the picture is often terrible! I've calibrated tv using star wars thx optimiser, and tried other suggested settings i've found online.

With SD Sky+ the picture is often 'cartoon like' (I don't know the technical term!), like a computer screen. There is some pixellation and jagged edges. With football motion is quite smooth but blurring eg of the pitch is common. Dark scenes are often v poor, with areas of shadow seming to be without texture, again like a cartoon, or jagged at the edges.

DVDs are ok but not great, some better than others (I'm using blu ray player sony bdp s350, connected via cambridge audio HDMI). At its worst there are small trails behind moving objects, eg even a change in facial expression there is an echo of the previous expression.

The only time it looks good is with blu ray (and it does look fantastic then

).

I also have a panasonic TH37PX70, the picture is better on that for dvd, and often on sky+.

Any advice much appreciated, I am debating trying to return this tv but blu ray looks so good on it I keep making excuses to keep it!

Thanks..

Another avenue could possibly be the 24 fps frame rate on your TV. This could cause the effects with DVD and SD picture. I had to turn it off on my Panasonic TV but I leave the setting on my Blu Ray player and it seems to work. Watching fast moving objects like football on Sky caused over pixelation and blur on my telly but has now improved. On my LCD I had to have the Bluray player on before the 24fps would show up on the menu settings before I could de-select it.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you have misunderstood the features on your tv. You cannot turn off the 24fps handling on your Panasonic tv, what you have turned off is the 24p Film setting which only applies to 1080/24p sources via HDMI, which explains why that is the only time it appears in the menu. The 24p Film setting is used to smooth motion by adding artificial frames between the actual frames. This 'feature' is generally better left turned off. However, this setting has no effect when watching another source such as your Sky box.

 

[shado]

alsina:I think you have misunderstood the features on your tv. You cannot turn off the 24fps handling on your Panasonic tv, what you have turned off is the 24p Film setting which only applies to 1080/24p sources via HDMI, which explains why that is the only time it appears in the menu. The 24p Film setting is used to smooth motion by adding artificial frames between the actual frames. This 'feature' is generally better left turned off. However, this setting has no effect when watching another source such as your Sky box.

I see, I was led to believe that through my HDMI connections be it Sky HD or my BD Player that the TV with the 24P/fps feature on would try to run the picture SD or not into the 24p format that can cause the blurring of fast objects and pixel blocks, something I have encountered with the LZD 85. So basically switching this of has no relevance to SD material? A confusing system!!