Official KDL..EX500/501 Thread - Page 14

its grown on me now ....i can get over it. besides costco electronic sales people have a "magnolia" attitude (we are the best) at least at my store gah.

I've seen the 46 and 55 at Best Buy - at different angles. It looks worse when up high, but even at eye level I didn't care for it. Neither did my friend.

It actually came as a shock, as you can't notice it on the photo at sony.com (which I feel is very misleading) so I had checked it out online and headed to Best Buy to see it in person. I couldn't have imagined a TV having 2 different colors like that.

I tried to talk myself into not caring about it. I looked at other TVs and then back at the Sony. The silver pulls my eyes down to the bottom in a distracting way.

I have a 27" silver Sony tube TV now in the bedroom....I don't watch it much, but the silver is a more distracting than a black TV....silver was big in the early 2000s, but not anymore. I decided long before seeing this year's models no more silver TVs.

I'm surprised they have a 501 version with black. I just can't figure out how to get ahold of one yet. If that wasn't available I don't know if I could settle for the 500.

Is anyone buying extended service plans with this set. I'm thinking of replacing a Sony LCOS SXRD with this set. I had an extended plan through BB and they are going to replace my set. I'm glad I had purchased the plan for the SXRD. Do we need one for the LCD sets, or is it a waste of money?

Since I only paid $225 for my 55EX500, no way do I need a warranty plan.

When I paid over $3K for an SXRD, it made sense, not when you pay for what is essentially an appliance. I'm sure this type of LCD will have a longer life than we found with the SXRDs.

Does anyone know what the MS speed is for the 32EX500? Is it 2ms or 4ms or ? I can not find it anywhere. I believe this should help to determine game lag? The LG I was also looking at had a 2 and a half ms speed. I hope this question makes sense lol Thanks

I agree about the service plan...glad I had it this time but it was a special circumstance and technically its still under recall warranty with Sony until June 2010. Even if you had no service plan you'd still be covered.

If something happens to these tried and tested ccfl LCDs...it'll happen within a year for sure. I didn't get one when Futureshop replaced my 60A2000 with a 60Ex500a week ago and aren't worried about it one bit. (famous last words)

I do have some some uniformity issues with my new 60EX500 only visible to me (not my wife) in a dark setting. Seems like a small 3-4 inch flashlight in the lower right hand side a foot from the edge where the assembly screw may be over tightened. I believe this is the cause since there seems to also be a even smaller, lighter flashlight in the exact same place opposite of center on the lower left hand side too. Besides that it's better than my SXRD but not as much as I have hoped it to be. Backlight has to be at 1 to watch at night although there is plenty of contrast on this set. The SXRD was almost unwatchable at night for dark movies (like The Descent or any outer space Sci Fi)

Should I loosen some screws or return it for another since lots of you guys are getting perfect sets? Are these screws accessible from the back directly or do I have to remove the back casing to get to them? I can get a 55HX701 as a replacement at no cost but think that I might miss the extra 5 inches and loath the reflective screen (but at least it has 240 Hz).

Or is it that most don't notice these types of things and think that there sets are absolutely uniform? I'd rather have a uniform lighter set than a darker one that isn't. These aren't plasmas you know...but i wanted to stick with Sony since it plays nice with all of our other equipment and remotes (and wife) and stuff.

We put our 55EX501 in the den and when I'm in my usual laid back couch potato position my 62 year old eyeballs(20/20 thanks to Lasic surgery) are 10-12 feet from the screen....so sayeth my Stanley tape measure. By comparison when I'm in that same couch potato position in the family room watching our 50" SXRD/XBR1 my beady little orbs are 17 feet from the screen. The interesting thing is that the sweet spot for eye-popping clarity for the XBR is in the 12 foot and beyond for me and 17 feet sounds like a long ways away but the TV looks great and I can see every shiny bead of sweat during boxing matches, etc.

So, how does the 55EX501 look in the 7-8 foot range?.....just great....and to me that's an interesting difference between the LCOS/XBR set and this LCD set. It doesn't seem to matter how close I get to the 501 screen, it still looks sharp. When you get closer to the XBR1 it becomes less and less sharp, at least to my eyes. So, long story short, I think your 7-8 distance will be fine......but I'm no expert on such things. Maybe you'll get brain cancer or headaches or gosh knows what by sitting so close to a big screen.

Since I got BB to match the Sony EPP price, I'll probably use the savings to purchase the 5 year Sony warranty, which is $250.

Hey Free888.
I called Sony on Tuesday night just before I purchased my 46EX500. They said that I could purchase a 5 year warranty/service plan within 6 months of purchase. No matter where I purchased the tv. They said it would be $150!! I couldn't believe it was that cheap. You may want to give them a call before buying one with any one else?

Chuck

You gotta write down who you spoke to cause the online store states that 5 year plan is $299. Hopefully what you said is right cause thats good news for all of us.

240hz is marketing and not much else. The consensus is it offers no difference over 120h. Me personally....I could care less because to me motion flow does nothing to make the PQ better for movie watching.


I think a lot of people don't notice or just don't really know what they're looking at. I'm someone who chose the EX500 series over the Edge lit EX700.....I chose it because of the uniformity issues I've seen in every EX700 set I've seen. When I voiced those concerns in the EX700 thread many people jumped on my claims saying theirs were perfect.

I attached a pic that shows what I'm talking about. Every EX700 I've seen has had this when a solid color was up the screen. Along the bottom and top edges you can see the uniformity problems caused by the Edge LEDs.

From this distance you will be immersed in the image rather than simply looking at it. Some people like this - others, me included, don't. Also you need to have a very good source signal for it to look good. With the mix of SD and compressed HD that cable and satellite normally provide, a person with normal eyesight will see signal imperfections.

Note that the industry standard is to measure this distance from eyeball to screen.

Thanks Chuck. It was actually Sony I spoke with. I think since the 60" is over $2k, that drives the cost up to $250. Still almost $200 cheaper than BB, and for a year longer.

Update - bad news on the warranty. Sony just informed me that since it was purchased from a 3rd party, the best plan they have is 4 yrs @$299. The 5 yr $250 is for purchases made from SonyStyle. Guess I'll see what Mack has.

Yeah Kevin I called Sony back just to double check and your right I should have wrote her name down. This rep told me today that Sony doesn't even offer a 5-year warranty plan if it's purchased from some one other than Sony. She said that if you purchase the TV through Sony they offer a 5-year plan at $150 but through another retailer the max is 4 years at $200. This isn't at all what was told to me previously.

I agree with you that many of the sets of a uniformity issue. I am now on my third and I am finally happy to report that I have a minimal lighting issue.

best buy wouldn't match my sony epp discount. but video only beat it....weak sauce, but doesn't matter i guess.

This set is 120hz... for video coming into the set at 30 frames per second it is displaying each frame 4 times in a row to eliminate motion blur caused by pixel lag. It always displays frames at 120 frame per second, correct? This cannot be turned off.

Motionflo adds frame interpolation to the mix... so instead of displaying every frame 4 times in a row it uses the current frame and the next frame to create intermediate frames in an attempt to smooth out motion and give it that video/soap opera look.

So... what is cinemotion? Is that sony's name for the process of handling telecined video, doing 3:2 pulldown?

The manual is kinda vague on this stuff...

This is what Sony had on their site about it:

"CineMotion® Reverse 3-2 Pull- Down Technology
Sony's term for a TV circuit that detects a 3-2 Pull-Down sequence and performs the reverse or inverse operation. When film studios release their work on TV, DVD, or videotape, they have to transfer film (which runs at 24 frames per second) to video (which runs at 30 frames per second). How do you get 24 into 30 without speeding up the film? Well, first take note that video actually flashes 60 half frames, called "fields," per second because of its interlaced scan. The film studio has a machine (telecine) that takes one film frame and transfers it to three video fields, then takes the next film frame and transfers it to two video fields-thus 3-2. The technology makes it possible to watch films at home, but creates imperfections and subtle speed shifts in the movie. A Reverse 3-2 Pull-Down circuit looks at the video as it's coming through the television, and in a split second rearranges the fields into whole film frames like completing a puzzle. The surprising thing is that the TV's circuit doesn't have to interpolate, or guess, how the film frames actually started out; it has all the necessary clues and can re-create the film perfectly. Sony's CineMotion® technology takes additional steps to make the image as close to the original film as possible.

Thanks for posting that... I searched the sony support site and the manual and checked the TV specs and couldn't find anything... Where/how did you find that on sony's site?

The other thing I'd like to verify is that the TV is always displaying 120 frames per second regardless of the motionflo setting. Anyone know the answer to that?

Found it on Sony's Learning Center page
http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/do...TVGlossary.pdf

Handy document although it doesn't look like they've yet updated it with info on the motionflow stuff. Regardless... the image looks great on the EX500 with the motionflow off so I'm guessing the 120 fps is on all the time (text in scrolling tickers don't appear blurred).

Thanks Heavytoka.

Has anyone noticed buzzing from the factory speakers on the 40ex501? Watching a a movie last night I couldn't believe how bad is was, like listening through blown speakers. Turning down the bass all the way helped but come on!

Anybody considering getting this tv ISF calibrated anytime soon? I'm anxious to dial this baby in...and my finances don't include a cal right now...

If the buzzing went away when you turned the bass down it sounds like maybe the speakers are blown.

While looking through the specs of the 32" EX500 on the Canadian Sony Style website, I noticed that under the Convenience section it lists "TV Guide on Screen, PSIP, XDS" under Info Banner.

I can't post the URL to the specs as I'm new to this forum, but here's how to navigate to there: sonystyle.ca > New Bravia TVs (under Featured Models) > EX500 Series > (model) > Specifications tab

Does this mean that it has an interactive TV guide for over the air channels? If so, has anyone tried it out? Thanks a bunch!

I'm considering an 40EX501 from Costco and Im wondering about using the USB port for HD video. The manual does not go into much detail about any limitations on USB video playback other than to say MPEG2 only. So can I put full HD (1920x1080) mpeg2 on a portable USB drive and play it ? Since the USB device has to be formatted FAT32 does this limit the maximum file size to 4gb ?

first time poster, long time listener.

well, there's not supposed to be any price talk or retail links, but i will say that i got mine at J&R for thirty-nine dollars less than their advertised price, or a dollar less than what PC Richards offers it for, plus ninety dollars for a three year service plan (includes in-home service, which is great since i don't own a car). i know there's mixed viewpoints regarding service plans, but i would like to add that J&R's 5 year is $149 (or $100 less than Good Buy's).

the only issue i've had so far deals with VGA input (i have no form of tv or dvd/blu-ray yet, only pc). picture is great (for low quality avi files), but i can't get it to fill the screen. my computer is set to output 1920x1080, but i'm left with a vertical black void on one side or the other (not both sides). default (after correcting settings in "right click on desktop>>properties>>setting") the picture favors the left side of the screen and leaves about an inch on the right. if i go to my tv settings to adjust horizontal image, as soon as i press right once, the screen jumps a good few inches to the right leaving a void on the left (slightly bigger than was previously on the right) and i can only move farther right from there; that is to say the only time i'm on the left, i'm too far left, but as soon as i go right, it jumps too far right.

and now for pictures. mostly pointless, but everyone loves pictures. i should have taken a screenshot of a tv show to make the off-centered picture more apparent. maybe later. i wanted to show the silver (aka gunmetal aka gray aka that thing everyone hates), but i feel that, without flash, it makes it seem darker than it actually is. should it be black? yes. is anyone who says that it would deter them from buying it mentally unstable. you betcha. get your heads checked.

I don't see any owners threads for the ex500/501 series. Anyone gotten these things dialed-in yet? I tinkered a bit with some of the settings mentioned way back in this thread, but I'd like to see how good this this thing can look without pro calibration.

In PC mode screen settings menu:

Auto Adjustment
Select to automatically adjust the display position and phase of the
picture when the TV receives an input signal from the connected PC.
Note that Auto Adjustment may not work well with certain input
signals. In such cases, manually adjust the options below.
Pitch Adjust uneven sharpness on screen.
Phase Adjust after Pitch to fine tune overall sharpness.
Horizontal Center
Allows you to move the position of the picture left and right.
Vertical Center
Allows you to move the position of the picture up and down.

Hah! I love the first picture!
Nice photo's.