Sony KDL40X3500 Review

[Biggles]

Thanks for the info, I'll have a closer look at those two suppliers, one question did you purchase online/phone or attend in person?

Has anybody bought from Robert Whyte in Scotland? I see 'terminal junkie' posted their offers on another part of the site.

[spe]

Thanks for the info, I'll have a closer look at those two suppliers, one question did you purchase online/phone or attend in person?

Has anybody bought from Robert Whyte in Scotland? I see 'terminal junkie' posted their offers on another part of the site.

I would always try and do it by phone if possible so you can get a clear understanding of the stock/ delivery position. Sony provide the retailers with a print out of upcoming deliveries so they should know exactly what day stock is due in, these can can slip by one or two days or in my case come forward by one day.

[Biggles]

Thanks for the help Simon,

Have placed an order with Robert Whyte, couldn't have been more helpful over the phone. Most places I rang are out of stock or insisting I attend the store to get the extended warranty. Whyte's have a delivery coming late next week so should see mine delivered early following week.   

[Pip]

Have placed an order with Robert Whyte, couldn't have been more helpful over the phone.

Though they're rubbish over e-mail! I asked them to point me at a copy of the full terms of their extended warranty (since it could be different from the statutory 1 year warranty), and they said this would be better discussed over the phone! How? Them reading it out and me writing it down? I pointed this out, so they pointed me at the Samsung website... they're not the ones providing the warranty!

Still, for a long warranty I might put up with ringing them. Also, the "stands" part of their website doesn't work. I'd like to order a stand at the same time, but if I can't even see a listing, I can hardly order over the phone.

[jahman]

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for the review.  I may go for this set in the New Year, however, I've been reading about some problems people say they're having with it over at AVForums.  They're complaining about smearing, particularly on PS3 games but someone has seen it on Blu-ray movies, and fan noise.

Could you please comment on the above if you noticed anything?

Regards,

jahman

[beeswax]

Does anyone know for definite the refresh rate(s) at which this TV (and/or the X3000) will display 1080/24P input?

[Barry]

Does anyone know for definite the refresh rate(s) at which this TV (and/or the X3000) will display 1080/24P input?

as fare as i know the only refresh rate on this tv and other sony's is 8ms bl/bl.
never heard of a tv having more than one refresh rate.
hope this helps.

[beeswax]

Thanks but my question is about the rate at which the screen refreshes when fed a 24P signal - does it have a 24 Hz (or multiple e.g. 72, 96, 120) mode, or does it have to do pulldown processing to show it at, say, 60Hz?

[Vincent]

Thanks but my question is about the rate at which the screen refreshes when fed a 24P signal - does it have a 24 Hz (or multiple e.g. 72, 96, 120) mode, or does it have to do pulldown processing to show it at, say, 60Hz?

Although I am not sure of the rate at which the screen refreshes, I saw no telecine judder when I fed the Sony KDL40X3500 with a 1080p/24 signal.

Warmest regards
Vincent

[beeswax]

Thanks Vincent,

  I don't doubt your word on that, and I'm sure you'll have a keener than average eye for such things. However, you admit you're not as bothered by certain plasma screen artefacts as other people you know, and I can't help wondering whether the same may be true when it comes to this - that the artefacts from a given frame rate reprocessing technique will be more apparent to certain people than to others. Personally, the judder you get with NTSC conversion has always bothered me quite a lot, so before upgrading to HDTV and 24P source input I'm hoping to find a full HD screen that doesn't have to resort to such techniques at all - anything else seems like an unnecessary compromise of the source material. Unfortunately the latest Kuros are a little out of my league! There are several Sonys (US models) on this list -
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=942145
- so my hope was that this model might do the same.

[yoke]

Hi all
I have to say that I'm little bit disappointed with the SONY 40X3000
I don't know did any one notice the problem with white color.
The one I have look at the store didn't have right white. On the scene with snow the snow have some more blue in it than it should have.
Well I believe it could be adjust with some controls but the biggest problem was processing of the image.
I have watch, side by side, pioneer 4280, Sony 40X3000 and Philips 37PHL9732D (or something like that).
Now in same fast scenes, with lots of details , like scene from Mr&Mis Smith in desert when camera moves across ''desert'' with stones, the picture fall apart, the stones are bluer and you really don’t see them...it's like when you play game on PC and it doesn’t have enough power to render scene as it should.
The sime thing happens in the scenes with forest and flower field.
The sime scenes on Pioneer and Philips didn't have that problem.

Another problem was in scene with people. There was some interview be twin two people. One guy have dark suit. The color of the suit (whole suit, from shoulder to shoulder, on pioneer and Philips was almost the sime color, (it was dark gray, or black)..but on Sony the suit have had more shades of gray, black but in be twin those colors the picture, on that part of suit, have fall apart...there was some third color blocks which twinkle...

So...did any one else notice those things?
Could they be fixed?
Or 40X3000 are not the same TV are 40X3500 (also I have watched 40X3500 but in different store, but it was not HD material... and so on)...
   
 

[Collo]

Hi Vincent,

I'm the semi-happy owner of a 37pfl9732d from philips. It's a pretty fine TV, but the input lag is for me spoiling my gaming fun. Since I'm actually developing games and are what you might call a hardcore gamer, I am going to sell this TV and go for the most gaming-friendly TV.

My interest is going out to the 40x3500. I've seen it in a shop and I think it's great. However, the shop owner did not allow me to hook up my Wii for a quick input delay test. So my question to you would be if you'd mind doing an input test like you did with the philips review on the x3500 as well. It would really make my day if I knew the x3500 didn't have the same massive delay on 'game mode' as the Philips unfortunately has.

Thanks in advance!

Collin

[Collo]

Looks like Vincent is a bit busy

In the mean time I've gone to a store, hooked up a laptop and checked out the delay. First tests are really good, I've decided to purchase it! I will post actual delay results here when I get the time!

[steven.jhons88]

The KDL-40X3500's looks very quickly grow on you. With dark grey brushed metal finish, at first glance, the appearance of this latest panel from Sony is a little subdued. But give yourself a moment to take in the supreme build quality and the 'floating' clear glass frame which surrounds the whole unit and most other flat panel TV's pale in comparison. With Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) and 100Hz picture processing to name but two of the KDL-46X3500's attributes, the KDL40X3500 is packed to the rafters with the latest technological wizardry. Sony's 'Motionflow +100Hz' technology web design doubles the number of frames shown on screen from the usual 50 to 100 by interpolating an extra frame in between each source frame. The technology has been designed to remove the stuttering effect that is visible with fast action sequences as the frame rate struggles to keep up. The feature can be turned off if desired. The KDL-40X3500 also sports the latest version of Sony's 'Bravia' picture processing engine - BRAVIA Engine Pro. With Sony's 'Digital Reality Creation technology' search engine marketing on board, BRAVIA Engine Pro claims to enhance a High Definition (HD) signal for greater resolution and picture performance. The most impressive aspect of the KDL-40X3500's is the black level performance. Along with Samsung's LE52F96, benchmarks in this area have been raised. While still not quite on par with the best Plasma's, the gap has been closed to the extent that it should not be a deciding factor when choosing between the two technologies. Shadow detailing is the best we have seen on an LCD and makes viewing voip 'Darker' films, for once on an LCD, a real pleasure. The Sony KDL-40X3500 has joined a small but growing band of LCD TV's that have closed the gap when it come to the traditional Plasma strengths of black level performance and smooth fast motion capability. While hardened Plasma enthusiasts may not be tempted to switch camps just yet, others who may not previously have considered LCD will undoubtedly think twice.