Official Sony KDL-EX710 LCD-LED TVs - Page 38

This excerpt is from UK's DigitalVersus review of the NX8XX. Some of the commentaries "may" apply to your set. BTW - Cinemotion 1 is great for those who enjoy the so-called Soap Opera Effect and Cinemotion 2 is for those that like to watch movies as they were shot:

NX8XX
Image Quality: Factory Settings

Unlike the EX503, the default option, 'Standard' mode, is pretty poor on the NX803.* Sony has relied heavily—too heavily perhaps—on various filters to improve the quality of the image.* As a result, the colours look unnatural, the gamma curve is unbalanced and the average colour temperature is much too blue.

Image Quality: Custom Mode

Moving to 'Custom' mode allows you to get much closer to the original quality of the films you'd like to watch, and all of the artificial filters are removed.* The only exception is Motionflow, which you can activate to improve the fluidity of movements if you like.* You can have too much of a good thing though, and if you set it to 'High', the quality is adversely affected, introducing visual artefacts that detract from the otherwise excellent quality HD display.
http://www.digitalversus.com/sony-br...4_8474_16.html

Hi guys,
I recently received a 55 Ex 720 through the 60 a2000 buyback program. I am subscribed to "the official a2000 owners thread" and it has been invaluable over the last couple of years, as it emails me the discussions going on in that thread. Since I just got the ex720, I was looking for a similar thread about that particular line. Could anyone point me in the right direction. I did a few searches, but couldn't seem to find what I was looking for.
Thanks

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1311054

I saw that one, but since it wasn't titled "Official No Price Talk, ...." I didn't actually read it. It's close to what I was looking for. Thanks for taking the time to point it out.

Hello, I've connected the TV to the Net for the first time last night through an Ethernet cable. All works fine with the freebies. I wish to try Netflix (Canada) for one month. So I registered the TV on the Sony (My Essentials) website. First: still waiting for their return email confirming the registration even if it shows on the TV the device is registered. Second: from there I'm a bit confused on how to have Netflix to appear on the TV. For all I've read on registration procedure with Netflix, sign up with NF and there you go. But how do you get Netflix logo to appear on the TV? Surely a dumb question. Thanks for any help.
Karmin.

It just shows up. I already had Netflix when I bought the TV and after I connected the cat-5 cable to the router it showed up the next day.

Netflix should show when you hit home and then scroll to the video selections. If nothing appears you may need to "refresh internet content" after connecting to the internet. The "My Essentials" and "Quioricity" are a waste of time and may not even work currently due to the Sony PS Network security problems. However I believe these have nothing to do with Netflix.

If it still fails to work, you might try to manually update the firmware via USB stick. Could be the problem since I believe that Netflix streaming was only recently added in Canada. You might do a search on here to see if other Canadian users have been able to get NF to work on this set.

I remember seeing posters from Canada complaining that Netflix was slow in offering their services to Canadians.

Karmin - eberniard has given you some excellent advice. If they don't work, I suggest you contact Netflix.

Hello everyone, I have had a KDL 55EX710 since Thanksgiving. I have a very interesting situation wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. Here's what happens:

* I turn on my TV, it is tuned to the NBC HD affiliate, for example channel 1013. The TV though is displaying in 480i!
* I flip the channels on the cable box up and down a couple and back to NBC HD, still resolution 480i.
* I change the channel to a channel that I KNOW is broadcasting in HD, for example our Fox affiliate or ESPN HD. That shows up as 720p per the Sony banner.
* I change it back to the NBC HD channel, and now voila! it is showing that it is 1080i.
* This happens for other channels... it seems to be tied to when the TV is turned on, the HD channel that the cable box is tuned to doesn't display in HD, but after changing the channels a bit, then it does display.
* It doesn't seem to be a problem with the actual station because for example I checked the ABC station and it too was in SD.. then after I "triggered" the TV to go into HD mode, I changed it back to the ABC and NBC stations and they were all of a sudden broadcasting in HD.

So my question is -- is this an issue with the TV not taking the HD picture from the cable box and displaying it when it should? Or, is it a problem with the Cable box? I'm thinking TV... but open for suggestions.

Hopefully I have done a good job of explaining the situation?

Thanks
Tim

One follow up to the above post -- I just had it displaying in 1080i on NBC. Turned off the TV. Turned it back on, NBC is now broadcasting in 480i. Cable box stayed on -- no changes. So this almost guarantees that the TV is at fault.

Is there a setting somewhere to make the TV auto-default to SD mode when its turned on?

Just in case, unplug the cable box and see what happens after you plug it back.

If that doesn't help, do the above with the tv...it might help.

No luck... I tried cutting the power to the cable box, but that did not work. Then unplugged the TV, then plugged it back in, no luck.

Is there perhaps a setting on the TV itself that could be causing this? I searched but couldn't find anything.

Any other ideas?

Thanks
Tim

Wouldn't be surprised to find out it's the cable company throttling back your signal to make room for all the other crap they try to push thru an already overcrowded pipeline.

Same thing that happens with internet connections, and for exactly the same reasons. It's all about demand. How often do the "super duper" specs they quote when you sign a contract actually work? Latest cable development is Netflix, movies on demand, and other streaming video options taking up waaaaaaaaaay more bandwidth than just a year ago, and that's not gonna get any better. Doesn't matter if you're subscribed or not if your neighbors are heavy on the downloads. Wasn't that long ago maybe 50% average of the infrastructure was "dark" ... as in not in use. Now I hear quotes of around 10% - but good luck nailing it down - they tend to be closed mouthed about how much they're falling behind on capacity upgrades. Lawsuits flying and all because both Netflix and the cable companies think they're being screwed, when in reality ... it's probably just you ...

At the very least, I'd expect the cable company would be pleased as punch to come out and do a line audit on your service to see if there's any connection issues that force the box to step down signal quality to keep up. Most of the newer boxes are smart enough to do that if there's too many errors at the rated speed.

Anyway - give the cable guys a yell and ask them if that's the problem, and have them put it in writing if they say no. It'd really help to have a log of when the signal steps down, channel, program, all that good stuff.

Good idea!

Ever see if the problem exists in the middle of the night when usage should be down? Maybe 3:00 AM???

As usual, excellent post, NOSTRADIMWIT. Good to see you again. Don't be a stranger, ya hear?

Never had the problem - I'm on satellite, and still at 480P. HD scares me - too many pits 'n zits in real life - why pay for more? Besides, when I did check with Dish about an upgrade, they wanted me to sign for a two year service agreement. I told them I did that, like ... eight years ago and they could sit on something sharp. I figure eventually they're gonna cut the lo res stream anyways, and have to upgrade me for free or lose me as a customer.

I guess it HAS been a while, but I haven't really had any complaints on the 46EX710. Well ... other than the gawdawful BEEeeeeEEEp in all it's 7.1 surround glory when I turn it on with the outboard audio on (they still haven't fixed that, or I missed an upgrade) and it's still blipping the power every now and then if I leave the usb dongle attached. That's not a biggie - I don't use any of that online crapola anyways. Other than that ... still using the same settings, and working like a champ.

You're welcome. Yes, a good start.
IMO, I wouldn't think it'd be your HD signal throughput from the source (cbl co.).
If it were me, I'd be thinking physical cable to the tv from cbl/box, or 2) your tv. I have the tv. It is considered GREEN. Can't stand green products. It's evident to me that the quality of the tv's tuner doesn't live up to my expected standards. Very slow to warm up and allowed access to. If the on-sight is any indication to workmanship and quality components, I'd be looking closer at the tv as being the problem or pile of crap (

NOSTRADIMWIT - You know you can change to ATT-U-verce and if you don't like it within the first 30 days, you can cancel, no cost incurred, other than the 30 days you used.

After umpteen years with both satellite companies, I just switched two days ago after seeing my son's system. I have to agree, the pq is a bit better than the already great pq I was getting from Direct. They are way ahead of both satellite companies on other things they offer without additional cost and since they do not use a dish, there never is a rain fade problem.

We very seldom watch anything on standard def, but even here they seem to have a better pq than the other two. Might be due to less compression of the signal.

The usual refrain ...

NOT AVAILABLE IN MY AREA

They never did get around to DSL here either. I will keep it in mind tho. As far as the stellar quality you're experiencing, they are a new service. Be interesting to see how they handle growth. Another year or so, could be bogged as bad as the competition, and there ya are, locked into a contract. Yes ... I am a pessimist. I'd try to change, but ... expect I'd fail horribly. Doom ...

BTW - if you're truly desperate for entertainment, I'm currently hanging at the True RTA thread. Neet stuff if you're into audio. Feel free to stop by - I'll be there all week. Shirts and shoes optional - no cover ...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post20425485

Just checked True RTA thread. Appears to be very informative, but too late for me. Been there, done that.

I started in the hi-fi hobby way before stereo was here. Designed and built my own pwr amp with"negative feedback", etc. Even built my own oscilloscope kit so I could watch the sound waves...then I finally purchased a speaker. The speaker was a monstrous horn that didn't hardly let me in and out of the apartment .

After I got married and had children, I had to change my hobby couldn't afford it any more. Also, my hearing had deteriorated seriously...wonder why .

Have fun, buddy!

Been there, done that. Why, I remember when I had to walk 10 miles thru the snow to listen to my stereo ...

For me, it's all about the thrill of plugging it all in and making it work together. Hopefully well. Killer sound that doesn't kill is a pleasant bonus. One of my biggest issues in THE ROOM has always been one ridiculous peak at around 160hz. It's especially fun with vinyl. Bass goes out the speaker, hits the back wall and rebounds, hits the turntable, needle picks up the reflection PLUS the signal from the vinyl, goes out the speaker, ad nauseum. Comes a point where either the speakers melt (yes ... I have done that with phenolic tweets several times), your heart stops, or as a last gasp effort you yank the emergency disconnect. And yes, I do have one of those. 600 watts per channel (real watts - not those silly things they call watts nowadays) can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Most everything I've got is around 30 years old. I've personally rebuilt most of it over the years (including the cabinet), so it's been fun. The fact that it works at all is amazing enough, and every now and then some new tech works it's way into things. I laugh (HA!) at most of the latest and greatest audio wonders, but you'd have to pry my OPPO SACD out of my dead cold hands ...

Oh. Speaking of speakers. The same guy what wrote the True RTA also has a wOw package for speaker design. Check out his website and get to building.

http://trueaudio.com/index.htm

Been married for over 55 yrs now. Don't want to imperil our marriage by going back to that hobby...speakers, amps...still have over 600 lp's but don't miss using them anymore. Cleaning them, cleaning the stylus, balancing tone arm, etc. Don't have either patience or need for any of that...

But, hey, you are having a great time, keep it up, bud!

The tv is not tuning the channels, the cable box is. The "Sony Banner" is telling you what signal is being sent by whatever source device you're using, in this case the Cable Box. There's often confusion about this, the set is a fixed pixel display which means it always displays in 1080p. When it's receiving other scanrates (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i) it converts that to it's native 1080p. That info banner generated by the tv is only telling you what signal the set is receiving, not what the set is displaying. So when the Sony Banner says 480i it's because that's what it's getting from the cable box. The tv has no way of making the cable box change from 480 to 1080. Therefore your problem can not be the tv set, but must be either the box, the cable system, or the individual channel.

Cable boxes usually have settings for output resolution--they can be set to output 1080i, converting other scanrates to that, or 720p, or "native" in which case it sends out whatever the scanrate is from the broadcaster. Since changing channels back and forth on the box is making the box change output resolution on the same channel my guess is there's a glitch in the box. Again, the info display generated by the tv is only telling you what signal the set is receiving, and in the case of the cable box the set has no way of making the box change output resolutions.

Well ... there's always Plan B. I built myself an HTPC a while back with a terabyte of storage and have been slowly but surly converting everything in my collection to WMA Lossless. Big files, but hey, what's a terabyte for? Took some fiddling about and head scratching (always the best part), but I came up with a good system to clean and process the sound for posteriorerity ...

Of course, it takes as long to boot the HTPC as it ever took to clean the record, clean the stylus, balance the tonearm, blah blah blah ... but it does have it's advantages. Just click on a playlist, and sit back and let the system shuffle the good stuff into your ears.

Er ... what was the topic??

Which brings to mind an interesting point. All upconversion is not created equal. One would think the specs for the Sony Bravia Engine in the EX series would run rings around a lot of the older tech, but I find I get better (as in better perceived) results doing my upconversion from the lo-res satellite box (480P) using my Panasonic DVDr. Normal watching just passes thru the DVDr and is converted to 1080P for the EX HDMI input. The DVDr also has options to tweak the grayscale and black levels. I also get better results on playback from standard def recorded to dvd at 480P on the DVDr then passed as 1080P into the EX HDMI port. Not sure whether Bravia re-processes a true 1080P signal sourced into it or just passes it thru untouched. Don't matter to me - whatever's happening, I'm happy with it.

Moral of the story ... play with what ya got and go with what works best. For you.

Hi. Thanks to all of you who shared great info regarding Netflix on my EX710. After reading the posts here and gathering more info, I decided not to go for Netflix. I'm not sure the PQ will be there and the shows Netflix propose is not that much interesting after all. Will invest in blue rays rather.
Karmin.

Has anyone had problems with their 46EX710's having a audio/video sync problem when using the OTA tuner? I have a number of channels having this problem on and off, with a couple of them having it more often than not. I can tune to the channel, say 11.1 for example, get the audio right away, and then the picture comes in about 3 seconds later un-sync'ed. Also, why would my TVGOS work when I got the TV, but after going on vacation and flipping the power saver switch, it hasn't worked for 2.5 months. I am hardwired to the internet, use netflix, hulu, etc... I've re-ran initial setup a couple times to no avail. This TV is a real pile IMO. A def step down from the ex5's

I use the OTA tuner and have experienced the un-synched picture as well from time to time. What I've found that helps is to stay on the offending channel and redial the channel using the number pad on the remote. It usually synchs up quite nicely. See if that helps.

I also had a similar problem with the TV Guide. Check the setting under Home/Channels and Inputs/Propgram Information Source, it should be set to TV Guide. Mine was correct and I contacted Sony customer service using their chat help. We tried a number of things and to no avail. Eventually she suggested that I reset the TV to it's original out of the box settings. This did work for me and I haven't had a problem since. Here are the instructions.

*****
Please turn ON the TV. On the TV Remote Control, press and hold the UP ARROW button.

While holding the UP ARROW button, press and release the POWER button on the panel of the TV.

The TV will turn OFF and then back ON. Now, release the UP ARROW button.
*****

WARNING - if you choose to reset the tv you will need to go through the inital setup and re input all of you custom settings. This was not a big deal for me but it did take some time.

Good luck
George

Oh yeah. Just the other day I had a channel tune in un-sync'd. Switching to other channels, it didn't do it. Tuning back to the un-sync'd channel produced the same.

I've considered it to be the broadcast being messed up. I don't know how the tv itself would be able to un-sync the audio/video stream though (meaning, process an audio stream faster than a video stream). Audio and video are broadcast in seperate streams (as far as I understand it). The tv should only be able to decode the OTA signal as it is received - so I can't see how the tv would slow down one or the other itself.

The channel isn't un-sync'd now. Don't get me wrong, I think this "green" OTA tuner is a piece of garbage.