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Reviewed by UK Guest, 31st Oct 2006. |
| Review Summary: nice screen - pretty good value - don't believe the hype |
Overall Score: 4/5
 
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Review: After reading the magazine reviews of this Sony Bravia KDL40W2000 40" TV, I immediately cancelled my order for the pioneer 42" plasma and bought the sony. Do I regret it, well yes, and no. Don't get me wrong, the sony is an excellent screen, but the pioneer has a slight edge on refresh rate and shows minimal artifacts on fast moving images. I can quite easily stand a foot away from the pioneer, and not experience the same blur you tend to see on the sony LCD's at this range. This is not a problem in viewing from normal distances, but was particularly noticable when playing soccer on an xbox 360. Driving games were perfectly fine however.
One other negative, is that standard definition seemed to look worse on the sony than on the pioneer. In particular the colour on some low budget american shows seemed washed out. Perhaps this has got something to do with the NTSC conversions for these programs. In summary the Sony seems to highlight the differences between a poor quality source and a good one, whilst the pioneer seemed to show a more gradual difference.
Some reviews comment that this TV has picture in picture - It has a freeze frame facility (which shows alongside a live broadcast), but no picture in picture (at least that I can find).
DVD playback through HDMI is excellent, still some noticable refresh artifacts, but all in all an improvement on standard scart. The high definition representation is where this screen shows it's quality. Images are sharp, refresh problems seem to disappear, and the contrast level is superb. In comparison the pioneer appears overly dark.
Connectivity is served by 2 HDMI, 2 SCART (RGB), Composite, s-video + a digital tuner. The remote control has a cheap toy like feel to it (unlike previous Sony CRT remotes, which had a quality weight to them). Buttons are the familiar (overcomplicated) set of Sony symbols and numbers.
Don't get me wrong - I love this TV. It really is excellent value for money, performs well, and does just what a TV should. It has a high quality picture (source dependent) - superb sound, and shows HD as one would hope. The cinema experience is definately there. I would however take all reviews with a pinch of salt, get yourself a comparison demo (against a plasma or equally high quality LCD) and judge for yourself. |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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4 |
| Review Score: |
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4 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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DVD, TV & Video