Sony KDL-32D3000 Review

Over the last two years it can be said that Sony have set the benchmark when it comes to LCD screens, indeed their Bravia Engine is probably the most easily recognised LCD TV brand currently available, couple this with their unflinching dedication to build quality and the aggressive marketing of the full HD 1080p technology it is clear that they could easily monopolise this area should they choose to. So what stops them? Well put simply, they can be a bit pricey. Which gives their rivals some leverage, and allows them to follow up this equally good, if not more impressive screens 6 months downs the line at a significantly reduced price - case in point the Sony KDL40W2000 debuted at a staggering £2000, only for its nearest Rival, the Samsung LE40M86DB so sneak in a few months later at half the price. So what do we have in the KDL-32D3000? Well it would appear to be a similar story. Launched in June 2007 with a price tag around £800, which can be considered expensive for a 32 inch screen, however we do have a set that is choc full of loveliness.

Compare prices of the Sony KDL-32D3000 now.

Its list of features include:

• 32inch Widescreen LCD Panel
• HD Ready
• 1366×768 Screen Resolution
• Dynamic Contrast: 8000:1
• Brightness: 450cd/m2
• Response Time: 8ms
• Viewing Angle 178 degrees
• Freeview / analogue tuner
• Picture In Picture (PIP)
• Remote Control
• Teletext
• 2 x 10W Integrated Stereo Speakers

Connections

• Digital Audio Output (optical)
• 3 x HDMI
• 1 x PC Input (15pin D-Sub) + Audio In
• 1 x Component
• 1 x 4 Pin (Y/C) In
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone MiniJack
• 1 x PCMCIA Card Slot
• 1 x RCA Audio Out
• 1 x RCA AV Input
• 1 x RF In
• 2 x Scart

Other

• Dimensions WxHxD: 790×581x214mm
• Weight: 17.5kg
• Warranty: 1 year onsite warranty

If you bothered to read through the above list, one thing may have stood out. Yup, the screen resolution. 1366 x 678 it isnt a full HD screen. However, 1080p images are supported but they are down-converted to 720p. Fortunately if you own this TV then you probably wont really notice, not least because on a 32 inch screen it can be argued that 1080p doesn’t really make that much difference. But mainly because there is so much image processing going on that the resulting picture is damn near perfect. Equipped with ‘24p True Cinema’ the KDL-32D3000 is capable of rendering Hi Definition movie sources at their intended frame frame of 24fps instead of the slightly speeded up 25fps we normally get. Additionally we get ‘Motionflow + 100hz’ which is designed to improve the picture quality of fast moving images by doubling the frame refresh rate. This can be switched off if required. Combine this with the Bravia engine itself and we have improved scaling, vibrant colours, deep black levels, exquisite detail and much much more.

So regardless of price (to be honest its already starting to come down) the SONY KDL-32D3000 is quite simply a stunning 32 inch LCD TV. Highly recommended.

Compare prices of the Sony KDL-32D3000 now.

Hitachi P50T01U

The Hitachi P50T010 is a 50 inch plasma TV at a bargain price. As with the LG 50PB65 we have a large screen that is big on features and small on price, retailing as it does at around £900. The P50T01U boasts a decent feature set, including a screen resolution of 1,280×1,080 pixels, (just misses out on being a full hd resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 ), a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, 2 HDMI sockets, component video and PC Connectivity, as well as SD Card slots and a USB port for connecting cameras directly to the TV. The latter might be considered a little gimmicky but its still a pleasant surprise in a TV this price. On picture performance, high definition input is good, with fine details being rendered cleanly. However, colours could be more vibrant and black levels have been reported as less than impressive and quickly show signs of grey during dark scenes. Fast moving scenes are prone to noise, which is an old problem for plasma technology and one that has been remedied in rivals for this TV. Standard Definition broadcasts also let this set down, although Sky TV signals are handled reasonably well freeview signals are not good, with poor picture quality evidenced across the board.

All in all while a 50 inch TV for less than £900 may seem an attractive proposition you have to think, in this case at least, you are only getting what you pay for. The set has too many inadequacies to be considered real value for money.

Buy the Hitachi P50T01 from Amazon today

LG 50PB65 Plasma HDTV

LG is doing its very level best to revive the fortunes of the beleaguered Plasma TV industry. So long as these screens will turn a profit, LG will continue to support them. And in the LG 50PB65 they have produced an impressive 50 inch TV, again based on their Chocolate Mobile Phone range, at a fantastic budget price which by all accounts scrubs up pretty well when compared to other more expensive models, although its not without its flaws. cnet review the LG 50PB65 and write:

You have to take your hat off to the LG 50PB65 for being the first mainstream brand model we’ve seen to offer a well-specified 50-inch TV for under £1,200. But perhaps inevitably you need to be prepared to accept a few sacrifices on the performance side in return for the money you’re saving

Compare Prices of the LG 50PB65 here

Samsung LE40M86BD Picture settings

We’re getting a fair bit of traffic looking for the ideal picture settings for the LE40M86BD of late so I thought I’d do a little research and see what I could find. I don’t own this TV so these aren’t verified personally but they do come from reliable sources. Many thanks to HDTVTest and the AVforums for these.

Hi Def Settings through HDMI:
Mode:	Movie	Size:	Just Scan
Contrast:	90	Digital N/R:	Off
Brightness:	50	Active Colour:	Off
Sharpness:	30	DNIe:	Off
Colour:	51	Move Plus:	Off
Tint:	50
Colour Tone:	Warm2
Backlight:	1*
Detailed Settings		White Balance
Black Adjust:	Off	R-offset:	17
Dynamic Contrast:	Off	G-offset:	15
Gamma:	-1	B-offset:	11
Edge Enhancement:	Off	R-Gain:	4
Colour Space:	Wide	G-Gain:	14
xVYCC:	On	B-Gain:	30
Standard Definition Settings Through RGB Scart.
Mode:	Movie	Size:	16:9
Contrast:	70	Digital N/R:	Off
Brightness:	44	Active Colour:	Off
Sharpness:	26	DNIe:	Off
Colour:	52	Move Plus:	Off
Tint:	50
Colour Tone:	Normal
Backlight:	4
Detailed Settings		White Balance
Black Adjust:	Low	R-offset:	15
Dynamic Contrast:	Off	G-offset:	14
Gamma:	0	B-offset:	13
Edge Enhancement:	Off	R-Gain:	10
Colour Space:	Wide	G-Gain:	18
xVYCC:	Off	B-Gain:	12

Please note that these settings are subjective and dependent upon your ambient lighting arrangement as well as quality of source signal. As such they should be considered a good place to start tweaking to suit your viewing environment. If you have any settings that might improve on these then feel free to post them in the comments section.

Pioneer PDP-5080XD

The PDP-5080XD is part of Pioneer’s groundbreaking Kuro range and has been designed with one thing in mind - your viewing pleasure. Kuro means black in Japanese and the quoted 10 years of development that have gone into building these sets has resulted in screens capable of the deepest black levels, stonking contrast and vibrant colours.

HDTVTest have reviewed the Pioneer PDP-5080XD. They write

The pioneer PDP-5080XD is the best flat-panel that I have seen to date, and the only other display on the market right now that I would expect to surpass it is its bigger brother, the 1080p native PDP-LX508D. It calibrates very well, and produces the most natural and film-like image I have seen from any HDTV so far. Aside from some relatively minor issues, the only real down-side is price. While it is much better than other HDTVs out there, it is also quite a bit more expensive. If you are striving for perfection, then the extra money is easily justified, but if that is the case, I would recommend going for the PDP-LX508D if you can afford it and will be sitting within 12ft of the screen. Past 12ft you’re probably not going to see the benefits of a 1080p panel though so the PDP-5080XD would be my display of choice there.

Read more about the Pioneer PDP-5080XD.

Samsung LE52F96

Samsungs latest offering features an innvoative LED backlight system to replace the standard cathode ray backlight used to date. The thinking behind this is that the TV can intellegently make black areas of the screen even blacker, resulting in an incredible claimed contrast ratio of up to 500,000:1. In addition the screen is Full HD as you’d expect these days and comes with 3 HDMI 1.3 sockets as well as built in speakers, and a freeview receiver. Typically the set will retail at £2,600 if bought from the high street but a bit of digging around online and it can be had for as little £2,300 at time of writing.

Cnet reviews the Samsung LE52F96 and writes:

For high definition material we found the 52F96 to be a solid performer. Motion was smooth and the picture quality was excellent. Upscaled DVDs looked great, too, which is encouraging for people with large movie collections. Freeview picture quality was distinctly lacking. We accept that standard definition doesn’t scale well to 52-inch screens, but we’ve seen decent performance from Samsung’s own 50-inch plasma.

If Freeview is important, you may need to look at the Samsung PS50 or one of Panasonic’s excellent plasma TVs as a strong alternative.

Compare Prices of the Samsung LE52F96

SONY KDL-40W2000

When the 40 inch SONY KDL-40W2000 debuted in 2006 it came with a price tag of £2000 and with the bold claim the of being the first LCD screen to rival plasma’s of a similar size. Part of Sonys much lauded Bravia Range, this set was, and still is a true winner. Its been said that if James Bond were to buy an LCD TV he would have bought the KDL-40W2000. Not surprising when you take it out of the box to reveal to cool, compact exterior and very stylish design, you could be forgiven for thinking it has leapt straight form the laboratories of Q branch itself. No need to worry though, its doesn’t come with an ejector seat - although that is possibly the only thing thats missing from this wonderful set. And now, a mere 12 months after launch it comes with an added bonus - affordability. Since the turn of 2007 this particular model has dropped from an already reasonable £1400 to todays prices of roughly £899. Boasting both analogue and Freeview tuners, 1080p HD and twin HDMI inputs, the picture quality is still what makes this TV stand out from the crowd. The analogue picture is clear and stable and the Digital Freeview is even better, but undoubtedly this will be affected by the the strength of signal you can receive. However when moving onto to more stable input sources like upscaled DVDs we see this set truly come into its own and is found to compare very favourably with a similarly priced plasma screen with very impressive contrast and black tones throughout and clearly defined lines and edges. And of course HD input is even better, with the imroved source material leading to amazing on screen clarity that simply drops the jaw. Put simply for this price, you cant really go wrong with this TV. Highly Recommended.

Buy your SONY KDL-40W2000 from Amazon today, or Compare Prices of the SONY KDL-40W2000

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