Sony KDL40W3000 Review

[Scarpad]

Howdy all, I'm in the States and Just purchased the 46" version of this set. One thing I have a question on. I have noticed that most of the Picture settings.. Standard..Custom..and Cinema all seem to lose details in the faces and lack that "HDTV" pop, unless you use Vivid. Vivid restores much of that lost Detail or sharpness in the fine details of faces etc. But even dialing back alot of the settings in the Vivid profile that are in "Torch" mode, there are alot of settings not accessable, and the Only two Color Temp setings are COOL, which seems to be too bluish, and Neutral. Can you speak to your findings in this area?

[maxxam]

hi

well there are some settings in the avs forum, but best would be 2 get vincents one's. I've asked vince a few times without reply, its a pity was looking forward 2 these specs, since x3500 were published!

PS: I donated 2 pounds

[Perra.P]

Hi Vince.

Thank you for a great review. I've recommended your site to many of my friends.
It would be great if you could post your settings for 40W3000 or make a statement that you won´t. 

Regards
Per, Sweden

[delanec8]

edit

[holemania]

vincent,

thank you for the kdl-40w3000 settings from your isf/d65 calibration.  please advise if hue=0.

i have tried these settings with the kdl-52w3000.

also, i have a light probe which i can attach to my laptop...it can display x and y values and luminance (Y).

i have a 52" sony (model w3000) lcd hdtv and am on directv service(hr20-700 hd-dvr). i tivo'ed the 10 minute grayscale/color patterns broadcast on the hd-net channel.
 
using these patterns, i was able to display an 11 step graduated gray scale on the screen and measure each of the unique ire gray scale boxes with the barco probe connected to my laptop.

i was able to crudely adjust the rgb gains & biases to get each of the 11 measurements to x=.31 and y=.33 (my display only reads out to 2 values, so i couldn't achieve a full readout of x=.313 and y=.329).

i have no way to measure or plot gamma (although i did have to choose "low" gamma to achieve my adjustments.

i know i have read there was only one way to achieve D65 with values x=.313, y=.329.

can anyone please give me feedback on whether or not this is a somewhat accurate way to calibrate using the gains & biases in my user menu?

if i have achieved the x=.31 and y=.33 values, is it safe to assume i am pretty close to an accurate D65 gray scale calibration?

thanks for any advice & feedback!
__________________
Dave

[roughy]

Hi,

I've posted an observation in a separate thread named "40W3000, poor gray level performance using VGA connection ?"

Has anybody tried/experienced this ?

Regards,
Roughy

[pavi]

Does anyone know or remember the size of the packaging for 40W3000(L x B x H)?
I will need to go get the delivery from the warehouse and i was wondering if it would fit in my A4 Avant with back seats down?

Pavi

[noppah]

Hello,

I have bought this KDL40W3000 yesterday. i have only one deadpixel.. (not bad)

but i have major problem with COMPONENT input..

when i choose component input (even not plugged any cable) i put brightness to : 57-60 around
there's some cloudy and noisy picture appears (on black screen)

important: this problem is only on component input and brightness level: 57-60

anyone here can test this please? and let me know what happens

Thanks!

[Sjaak]

I Have the Sony KDL-40W3000 for 3 months now. Generally said this LCD-TV is fine.
BUT, if the viewing angle is larger then -let's say- 40 degrees the dark areas of the image become very 'posterized', if you are watching a very bad 16 coloured early days PC screen, some colours also faint significantly. This really annoys me.
I've tried every possible setting and I only judge the digital TV (DVB) and DVD/XB360 inputs.

Does anyone have a solution for this ?
My friend has a 40W2000 which doesn't have this problem at all, the 40W2000 can be watched at any angle up to 175 degrees or so.

So bear with me that I can't understand the 'Highly recommended' score here.

[Ringo1]

I often see reference to DRC settings but this option is never available to me on my tv. The DRC Mode/Palette is always greyed out with the message "Not available with current signal". This is the same with DVDs played through my PS3 and with both SD and HD played through my Sky HD box (both connected with HDMI cable). SD is being fed through at 576p on the Sky HD box. Any ideas?

I have just read again the HDTV review and it says that the DRC option is only available for 480i and 576i - the lowest feed I have is 576p (SD tv through the Sky HD box and SD DVD through the PS3). Though interestingly the review then (under 'Video processing') talks in terms of leaving DRC turned off when watching 1080i. I can't find any way of making DRC active with I have a picture on the screen.

[nicked]

Hi,
I had a 40W2000 for a few months but it got damaged when my flat got broken into recently. My insurance has offered to replace it with either 40W2000 or 40V3000 - which one should I choose?
Thanks.

[steven.jhons88]

I saw this model on display in a major retail store and was quite impressed with its SD picture quality in relation to those around it. Right next to it was a 40W2000 and News 24 looked most satisfactory and marginally less grainy on the 3000’s from a distance of about 9 feet. I also noticed that they have employed a slightly more reflective coating on the W3000 screen. The TV’s were high up on a raised shelf and there was slightly more detail in the fuzzy reflection of the shop lights above the pair of them. This of course wont be a problem in the home and was nowhere near online payments approaching the mirror-like effects seen on plasma screens. I see what Vince means about the ’spatial filter’ employed in the noise reduction circuitry, the news readers face did have marginally less detail in it on the 3000, but this didnt seem to detract from the overall PQ. Sony have been a bit crafty here by not giving the W3000 100Hz motion flow, instead making us wait and spend more for the X3500 or less for a lower specced D30000. I cant help thinking that 4 months down the line they’ll announce something like a ‘W3500′ with it on, or even what I happened to catch a glimpse of amongst all the hyrogliphics on Sony’s wireless internet Japanese website, a ‘W5000′ which is actually already out over there. Annoying or what, come on Sony, dont keep all the best sweets for yourselves. Knowing just when to take the plunge in this market is highly frustrating. You just know something better is going to come along just a few wage packets down the line, but the desire to buy is here and now. GRRRR!
For now it looks like dsl X3500 is going to be the daddy, with its 100Hz and BE Pro picture processing. Trouble is its nearly 12cm wider than the W3000 and it wont fit in my tv space, gutted. We’ll have to wait for the review to see if the motion flow really is that beneficial. From what I’ve seen in the shops with the D3000 its an improvement, but not a huge one.
Keep up the good work HDTVtest, we depend on you.