Official Sony KDL 32EX400 40EX400 46EX400 EX401 - Page 17

Same thing happens with my other TV's. Even when going through my Cable box. Basically the TV has to take the signal and descramble it with the tuner, then resize the source to 1080p (480i, 720p,1080i all have to be resized to 1080p).

I think this is more the norm nowadays.

Yeah, after comparing it to my old Vizio GV42LF, its about the same.

Just picked up a KDL-40EX401 from Costco this past weekend.

I originally tried out a Panasonic TC-42LD24 (42" 1080p LED edge-lit LCD), but UGH, that lasted all of one night before flinging it back to Costco as fast as I could manage. The black levels were HORRIBLE, and the right 2/3 of the screen was significantly lighter than the left.

I nearly gave up on LCD technology entirely, but while retuning the Panny, I decided to try out the Sony KDL40EX401 that Costco had, since it was (a) there (and I needed something on the wall even if I ended up returning it and going with the Panny G25 Plasma) and (b) saved me a chunk of money. It wasn't great out of the box, but after calibrating it with my DV Essentials bluray, it was surprisingly tolerable. I'm sure the G25 would have been superior, but the wife really likes this Sony, and I gained major points for saving money. Plus more savings to come (over my old, power-hungry plasma) with LCD's power-sipping tech (it's SO much cooler-running than my old plasma!), and I don't have to cringe every time she leaves the set on while leaving the room for an hour or three ("I was going to be right back...") or leaves the plasma paused on the Tivo menu for 45 minutes.

Overall, I still think I would have been happier with the Panny G25, but she is happier with the Sony LCD, and that makes my life easier. TV content from our DirecTivo HD (although there's little HD remaining in MPEG2 at this point) is ok... certainly a noticeable step up from the EDTV we had before in some cases, and it's at least tolerable on others. Fortunately we're really not into sports because an SD broadcast of a football game was pretty horrid. But we watched a bluray and it was pretty damned good, I have to admit. And SD content played back at 720p from my AppleTV actually looks pretty amazing, I was pleasantly surprised to see. The Sony has a slightly bigger black bezel than my old set (Akai 42" plasma EDTV), so the loss of 2" isn't quite as noticeable as I through it would be. In fact, the 40" set fits the space a smidge better than a 42" set did.

Black levels are definitely tolerable. Viewing angles are a non-issue for me since it's wall-mounted directly in front of the bed, which puts us at a very nice angle for the set. Audio comes from the 5-speaker surround stereo anyway (via optical or coax) so the TV speakers aren't used at all.

I didn't have a chance to write down my settings (post-DVE calibration), but I'll try to note them and post back this evening, and perhaps snap a photo. I'll also make sure I'm running the current firmware, but considering the June release date I'd be surprised if a set purchased late November didn't already have the current release installed.

Two quick questions:

1) Does anyone know what, if any, differences there are between the 40EX400 and the 40EX401, other than the 401 is a Costco-only model? I figure there must be SOME difference, else why bother creating a new number?

2) My set did NOT have any "Cinema" mode I keep seeing listed. I used Custom to calibrate the settings to my bluray player, and copied the same settings over to the DVR and AppleTV inputs. Seems to work well so far, but I still wonder about the Cinema mode. Is that a difference between the EX400 and EX401, perhaps?

I'm curious about "Cinema" mode myself. I have the 46EX400, and AFAIK there are two "user" video modes: standard and theater. Last night I was watching a HD broadcast on cable and hit the "Display" button a few times, and sometimes the screen said "Cinema mode" and sometimes it said "General (Auto)". Note that I didn't change anything... it seemed to have more to do with the screen content than anything, unless I was unknowingly toggling something on and off by pressing the Display button.

If you press the Scene button on your remote, you should have a bunch of different modes to use: Cinema, Sports, Photo, Music, Game, Graphics, General, Auto.

The Auto one probably switches based on the content/input, not sure never have used it myself. The General one is the one you select if you want to tweak Custom mode. (General Scene mode has Standard and Custom and I think Vivid)

Cinema for me has given the best picture. I think it's gamma ramp and possibly grayscale is better than on any other setting. General/Custom gives you massive control over everything, so if you have the equipment to calibrate it hardcore (such as getting IRE readings to adjust the White Balance and get a more accurate greyscale) then you would of course use General/Custom.

Hey Rob, what are the dimensions of the box on that tv? do you think it would fit in a taurus?

Thanks, fairchild!

How do you determine the Panel Manufacturer again?

Thanks!

With the TV turned on, input this code:

Left > Right > Muting > Center + > Muting > Menu

You will pull up another service menu with white balance calibration among other things here:

http://www.turuta.md/SMODE/KDL-32EX600.pdf

Information and Options from my service menu:

Factory Mode: Off
Aging Mode: Off
Internal Pattern: Off
EDID WP: Protection
Site Air Channels: Off
Site Cable Channels: Off
White Balance: Off
Color Temp: >>
ADC Calibration (Greyed out): >>
Factory Reset(limited): Off
Auto Phase (Greyed out): Off
Factory Reset(default): Off

Panel: T315HW04 V0
Model: KDL-32EX400
Serial number: --------
Picture Quality: PQ1.003
Audio Quality: AQ3.1000
MCU Verion: ----------
Panel Info: MT0001.0019.0000?T3
EDID Version: 4

The box is gone by now... I just checked the garage. But it just so happens that I did bring this baby home from BB in the back seat of my '06 Taurus SE... no trouble getting it in and out of the back door (though if it were any larger it probably would not have fit).


BTW - these guys that keep posting service panel access codes must have a different unit... those codes DO NOT WORK on the 46EX400. What up with that?

If you are referring to me, either you have some new EX400 where they changed the SM access (highly unlikely), or you are not following the instructions correctly.

There are 2 different SM's for the EX400, the method I posted above, and this one which for my EX400 doesn't display panel info. This method is with the TV off:

Display, 5, Vol +, Power

or

i+, 5, vol+, power

or

i+, vol+, 5, power

I would have never thought the 40" would have fit in my back seat of my 97 Taurus. You fit the 46" in your back seat in the box or out of the box?

Come to think of it, the 46" was delivered to my house by BB. Sorry - I do distinctly remember bringing home a flat panel in the back seat (sitting on the floor, actually, and in the box) but it must have been our older 37".

Sorry I mislead you... the image is very clear in my mind, but just WHEN that was has escaped me. I bought the Taurus 5 years ago specifically because the doors opened wider than most other cars (got a bad leg).

Okay now I got it. Sorry for the third person reference (no offense please!)

Starting with the power off is what made it work. I get a blue screen with FW version and INT VER along with some more common stuff like "ch: 5". Is there actually a mfr code in here somewhere? Just curious. Thanks!

The first method I posted with the power on is the one that gives the panel version.

i bought ex401 from costco. just curious to know if audio return channel supported in this tv?

I connected BDV-t57 home theater connected to tv in HDMI port#1.
then i connected my macpro to tv in HDMI port#4. i can get video/audio from mac in my tv. but trying to get audio from mac on home theater system without addition wire. i read that if HDMI ARC supported in tv, then i can get audio. but not getting the audio in the home theater. please advise.

Thanks

I got the 46EX401 yesterday at Sam's and today I did some input lag tests with it; after a lot of screenshots and different clock tests at different websites, I can say that this set in 1080/60p in Game Original mode only has an input lag of 16ms. 60% of the shots showed 16ms and the other 40% of the shots I got different results from 10ms to 32ms.

For me this 40% is just not to really take care of, because most of the pics (40 out of 100) where not too clear at all, showing numbers between frames and you can really tell the exact number.

On the other 60% ALL the pics where crystal clear and showing a difference of exactly 16ms.

The computer used was a MacBook Pro 15" wich has 0~1ms input lag (tested a CRT with it via DVI to confirm) connected from the built-in DVI to an HDMI port of the 46EX401 and the TV set at 1080/60p native resolution. I ran tests on both Windows XP Pro SP3 and Mac OS 10.6.5. Both showed the same results on 2 different runs.

The settings on the TV where:

Scene: Game
Picture mode: Game Original
Power Save: Off
Full pixel

BTW, I did noticed an increase on input lag on any other Scene modes and even between Game Original and Game Standard, Game Original is the only one I could get 16ms.

I can't post pics or links, but as soon as I get some of the pics with the best results I post them on the Input Lag wars post as well.

I bought this set to replace a Panny P42S1 and after calibrating the Sony, I'm very happy with it, the blacks are better than I expected and the picture quality is great, for my eyes, this two sets are on par, with a little advantage for the Panny in the blacks and colors area. I put both TVs side by side and I can't believe that the Sony is a great TV, even if I'm a Plasma fan.

I was going to buy the P50S2 but the issue with floating blacks stopped me for getting it, so I decided to go with this Sony after researching for about a week.

Don't worry, the Panny is going to the living room, this Sony is for gaming (tired of IR on the Panny every time I finish playing, it goes away after watching full screen content, but I hate to waste energy just to wash the IR) and Bluray, the Panny will be for Bluray and HDTV and it's going to look great where I'm planning it to be.

"With the TV turned on, input this code: Left > Right > Muting > Center + > Muting > Menu"

That's the one that I was referring to earlier. It doesn't do anything, for me anyway, other than mute the audio, unmute it then take me to the "photo/music/video/settings" menu.

I don't know what you are doing, but it's a total of 6 steps. You have to do them in succession and pretty fast. It might take you a few tries I suppose. If you are not fast enough then yeah, the last step just takes you to the menu.
GL

Crap! I was already doing the runningman over here
I ordered one yesterday for 549 bucks+tax(590 ish). I'll be picking it up in about a week or so.

Great price! Think I paid ~850 w/tax back in March. Sorry again for the mixup.... showing my age.

you got the 46ex400 for that!? where?

I have been reading here and over at the Hardforum about displays for the last few years. At the same time I've been looking at 32" lcd tvs to use as my primary computer monitor.

I tried a Sharp Aquos a few years back that was impressive but to expensive and almost jumped the gun on last years Panasonics but never did. Since then I have tried two lg ld450 IPS "W" models and right this moment testing the Sony 32ex400.

I'm not a pro gamer but do play a lot of CSS and other fps and from my experience both the ld450 and ex400 both have really low input lag and did not seem to affect my game play. I wish I still had my old crt or a laptop so I could do some tests but others have already tested these sets I'm pretty sure.

I'm pretty happy with ld450 other than the poor black level but the two sets I tried both had bad light bleed uniformity issues which I can not stand. Lg needs to step up their QQ.

I'm also happy with the the ex400 for the most part but have a very strange issue in counterstrike players that walk by me and objects that i walk by are ghosting really bad. I have never experienced ghosting this bad on any TV or monitor. is there something I'm missing? I have hdmi input 1 as PC and all post processing features turned off and in game mode standard. Anybody that has used the ex400 want to help me out it would be appreciated!

I have a AMD hd6870 hooked up to the ex400 with hdmi using RGB full 4:4:4 in my ATI CCC. The part I really notice ghosting bad is in Dust 2 when starting as a ct in spawn players and the big crates there have major ghost trails when moving around. I'm worried this is another deal breaker for me does anybody know if the 32ex500 would have the same problem?
Just so nobody thinks I'm crazy I will try to post a video of the ghosting but considering the ld450 and my computer monitor have pretty much perfect gaming performance I highly doubt that this is the case.

Try using Game Original instead, that's the best for gaming because of the lowest input lag... Game Standard gave me the same results as other modes with more input lag, I guess some kind of processing takes place in that mode and not in the Game Original one.

To select it just go to Scene>Game and then Tools>Picture Mode>Game Original

Hope it helps!

Hello, I'm pondering on a Sony KDL-40EX402 after knowing that the latest Samsungs don't allow us to adjust Color Saturation in VGA input.

I hope Sony KDL-40EX40x series allows us to do this (adjust Color Saturation in VGA input)? And you can still adjust Color with Game Mode too?

Also is there Game Mode for VGA input or it's unnecessary?

I have a Samsung LE40R2B from 2006 and I can set Gaming mode + adjust Color even in VGA. And I do need it since even with Expanded on the X360 the colors still felt a bit washed out.
Was shocked to find 2010 Samsungs don't allow it.

Also there's the question of Analog sound output, which Sony TVs have. Ridiculous that Samsung has completely replaced with Digital output. And besides all that it seems both 40EX400 and 40EX402 in specific have one of the lowest input lags in Sony's LCDs, even when compared with the EX403. Might have to do with the fact EX400 and 402 have BE2 and EX403 has BE3.

Many thanks in advance.

For those interested in the results for input lag for the 46EX401, I just posted them in the Input Lag Wars thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post19604778

Thanks for the suggestion! I have tried both of the game mode setting and just about everything else I can think of but I still notice a lot of ghosting. Input lag seems too be low but the ghosting is driving me crazy. I wonder if I try another one if it will be just as bad. It does not seem to be possible to get a good tv these days wtf.

Thanks Fairchild. I finally got this to work. You're right - it must be done quickly. Turns out I have a Samsung panel.

I've only experienced, minor ghosting on SD content from netflix, and it's only really visible to me on dark scenes with text. I had thought maybe it was the content, but watching the same content on my panasonic plasma/player in the living room, doesn't produce this. Probably the sony doesn't do with SD content from Netflix. TV, DVD, and other HD sources seem to be ok from what I've observed.

I thought I'd add a note to this and say, it's only been some animation from netflix I've noticed it on. I am not sure if I'd even call it ghosting. It might just be compression problems for the content. What seems to happen is when the back ground is black and credits for a movie/cartoon, etc whatever the source is that has the problem are displayed, i'll see faint artifacts on the screen that disappear when the next item shows up on screen. By the time the actual program starts, this seems to go away and it's not ALL programs. Also to note, it's not even always an intelligent image, or text. Sometimes it's just different colored pixelated blocks or blotches. It seems more of a source thing then the TV to be honest. It only happens with netflix and select titles. At least that's what I have observed.

Guys,
I have a KDL-46EX402 (european model, BE2, LTY 460HM01 Samsung S-PVA SLCD) and was looking for calibrated settings. So far my panel is HM01-type, and FairChild99's is HM01-A02 type, would it be adequate for me to use his settings in spite of the diff.size? If not, could someone point me out where have I missed those calibrated settings? I looked all the pages of the thread, briefly.