SONY KDL 42 EX440 Review?? - Page 2

That would be great, thanks! Hope you enjoy the party

RE: 24p

CNet did a review on the 40ex640, and said 24p is handled well. I'm guessing this one is not that different? They both have the cinema mode, so I'm guessing you'll be fine.

can someone tell me if this tv has no lag AT ALL?

Neither. I have some speculations on the matter, but nothing concrete.

I speculate that the blacks wont be as good as Samsung S-PVA or AU Optronics MVA or Sharp X-Gen panels, but will be better than S-IPS, based upon the RGB subpixel structure and the way it operates. I also speculate that it doesnt have as high of light throughput as any of the others, but this can be compensated for with more lumens on the backside....but then that has negative impact on screen uniformity issues. The viewing angle seems to be good on all these type panels that Ive seen, including this particular Sony EX440.

Philips is using a lot of these panels as well.

Hope that helps. Take it all with a grain of salt.

Hopefully this isn't the case, especially as wsfanatic says there's minimal bleed at least. If he's still able to grab a photo in those conditions it should show up any uniformity issues from the edge lighting.

I'd also be interested to know if there is any feature in the menus that hints at being able to update the devices firmware? My current TV has no option for this which is frustrating as some of the issues I experience with it were fixed on the higher class models with USB where I was left having to endure them.

Well, wsfanatic seems to be a pretty knowledgeable fellow and he isnt complaining about black levels either which is a good sign with regards to this panel.

can i can conclude this tv has NO lag at all? because i did research and nowhere it says it has lag at all. remember i play fps games its important so i dont wanna waste money. ive looked at the bx and hx series and i know they will lag even a little

Sorry for the late reply, I've been sick as a dog. Here are a couple pictures of the set with showing a black 1920x1080 image to show uniformity and black level.

This first one is to show you where the TV is in relation to the picture. The second is from the same position but without the lights. The blue off to the left is from a USB drive since I used the set's photo frame feature.

Edited by wsfanatic - 11/22/12 at 8:25pm

Dfects, while there does not appear to be a menu option upgrade the firmware, this screen is presented when you select "Contact Sony" in the "Product Support" section of the "Setup" settings menu.

It's possible that the USB port can be used to upgrade the firmware. There is a "USB Auto Start" feature although it appears to launch the photo frame mode by default.

Has anyone compared Sony KDL 42EX440 with Samsung 40 in 6030series LED UN40EH6030F, it is 3D tv + has led array. Price wise Sony $550 and Samsung $499. Which one has better picture quality, sharpness, contrast, refresh rate, motion flow / CMR.

I am hardly finding any comparison and reviews between them, if you find, please post the links. thanks
Does Sony have monolith design ?

Hope to get reply ASAP.

wsfanatic this tv has no lag at all right?

Playing Assassin's Creed II Revelations, I didn't notice any lag but i must disclose that I really don't play games anymore (no time). I probably played that game more testing for lag than I had since I bought it.

AK, I looked shortly at the Sammy 6030 but decided against it because I required a PC (HD15) input which the Sammy did not have. I'm usually turn off most, if not all, "enhancements" (i.e. MotionFlow, CMR, etc.) so I cannot comment on a comparison from that standpoint. What do you mean by Monolithic design?

Also, 3D on a TV of this size (or really any size smaller than what you'd use a projector for) is of little interest to me. This is a personal preference based on the fact that you do not get the same 3D experience you'd see at a theater. Additionally, I do not want to wear glasses while watching TV. Try reading or using an iPad with those glasses on, you'll stop immediately. While this may not be your viewing behavior, I usually putz around while watching anything other than sports.

I bought this TV this weekend after a bunch of comparisons of price and features. There were minimal reviews online, but enough to push me in this direction. As a novice observer, I'm very impressed with the picture. I've thrown a bunch of stuff (bluray movies, pics, etc) at it and it performs well. I'm not a gamer so I can't comment on that but I've been impressed with action films like avengers. Sound on this TV is also good for my needs. Like wsfanatic, I have this set up as a bedroom tv. Got this for $499 at Costco (expires on 11-27-12) and have been very happy with it.

I pretty much plan on using this set for watching bluray movies and TV. If your on the fence about buying this TV, then I'd say go for it. You won't be disappointed.

At wsfanatic: What are your picture settings. I haven't found any calibration settings, but out of the box it was pretty close. I adjusted things a bit, but was open to looking at other settings.

Hi Guys,

It's my first post here on AVS Forums. You guys have been really helpful .
Got this TV at Sam's Club today .
Set up everything at home and switched it on.
I guess the stores have it calibrated to WOW you :-)
At home , did not look that impressive at first , I mean it was good but not great.

Played a video on youtube through my laptop and it looked great ! Sound was adequate.
Started playing Lord of the Rings blu ray and this is where I thought it needed some calibration.

Also , when the whole scene turned dark , I could see flashlighting from the top left and right corners .
Light from the LED's started off from the corners and faded towards the center.
I guess that is a curse of edge-lit LED's.Every TV is going to have some amount of it.
Will see if I can live with it , if not , will return it.

a) Anybody else experiencing this issue? I guess wsfanatic is lucky , he's got a good one.His black image looks awesome !
b) Anything you all did to calibrate this TV ? I mean I see it is a little on the darker side by default.Maybe the brightness needs to go up a notch.

I will post my settings once I am done with it.
Edited by xyzzxy - 11/26/12 at 11:24pm

I'll try to post my settings tomorrow. I've been super busy with work.

Thanks wsfanatic.

The TV is awesome after I played around a bit with the settings .
a) Good thing is that is fairly matte . WIN !
b) UI is very fluid .Remote is responsive and light to hold.Buttons are well laid out.
c) 60 HZ : I am not a gamer so not a big deal.Action shots looked beautiful.No muddling.
d) Sound : Everyone knows that huge and thin TV's have poor sound.Nothing great here but really adequate.Sounds nice.
e) The TV is a bit heavy and a bit thick compared to the Samsung Edge Lits.
Overall , I can describe it as being bang for the buck .
$498 + tax is a really good deal on this one if you can overlook that it just has 2 HDMI ports.I don't care about 3d. Get a smart blu-ray player or a Roku and you are good to go

I calibrated while playing a blu-ray disc of the Lord of the Rings . The movie has got got dark scenes,action,beautiful outdoor shots , nature , weird creatures etc.Perfect play ground
I am posting my settings below .Nothing advanced , just what suits me.It may not suit others but feel free to try and tell me what you think .

Scheme Select : General
Picture Mode : Vivid
Backlight : 5
Picture : 75
Brightness : 55
Color : 60
Hue : 0
Sharpness : 25
Color Temperature : Normal
Noise Reduction : High
MPEG Noise Reduction : High
Cine Motion : Auto
Advanced Settings : Did not set any . Everything is default.

Also , when I clicked the picture of a black 1080p image on the TV screen(fed through my laptop over HDMI) , the outcome did not look as bad as I felt in my earlier post. Maybe my phone camera took a bad shot or my settings reduced the flashlighting a bit , I cannot say.
I will leave that to the experts here.

The TV is ON:) . You can see the green light at the bottom right.


In this one , I guess I zoomed way too much but you can still see the edge lighting to the left edge of the screen.

Will update further as I play around with it for some time.
Edited by xyzzxy - 11/27/12 at 8:56am

@xyzzxy, your uniformity is great for an LED. I dont think it will get more better then that. If you like the TV, thats all that counts. I ordered mine from Amazon and it should be here on Thursday. I plan on calibrating myself with a Spyder3tv colorimeter, AVSHD for patterns and HCFR. I'll be using this link for help http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457 I will post my settings once I finish. I know Spyder3 is not the most accurate meter but hey, at least is better then nothing and thats all I have at my disposal.

Could you tell me about the Analog Audio Out? In the manual it looks like a single RCA output. I'm hoping that it is a 3.5mm stereo jack..


Edited by snovak - 11/27/12 at 2:56pm

Snovak, analog audio out is a 3.5mm mini jack. There is also an optical digital audio out available.

I'll post my picture settings after dinner tonight.

Here are my settings for my Comcast HD box.

Scene: General
Backlight: 3 (This may not be the best for brighter environments--I use this set in the bedroom so I prefer it to be darker)
Picture: 88
Brightness: 51
Color: 47
Hue: R2
Sharpness: Min
Color Temperature: Warm2
Noise Reduction: Off
MPEG Noise Reduction: Off
Cinemotion: Auto

Advanced Settings
Adv. Contrast Enhancer: Off
Black Corrector: Off
Gamma: 0 or +1 (I haven’t decided which I like best)
Clear White: Off
Live Color: Off
LED Motion Mode: Off

White Balance
I haven’t had the time to play with the white balance yet. The upper end of the blues are a little off on my set.

Just picked one up @Costco, thanks geohec for the tip re price expiration; it's very difficult to get B&M info online re: models and pricing, let alone effective price dates, very useful!

Have no interest in 3D at home, have a Roku+home theater setup, so this set is as Smart as I need. Been patiently waiting for a 40" Sony to dip to $500 in a LED backlit with Costco's great return/support policies, so this forum's info decided it. Am completely amateur in AV matters, but will post impressions once I've set it up, likely this weekend.

@Maverickaim9 , Thanks for your inputs. Yeah , I like the TV and there is no guarantee that I will get a better (perfect?) one next time.
I have been tweaking the picture to suit my tastes and it looks very nice now.

I also picked up a blu-ray player (BDPBX59 , same as the BDP-S590 , but with a HDMI cable) and it is flawless.It is a hit or a miss with blu-ray players as I see a lot of mixed reviews for any blu-ray player.
I guess I got a good one.The browser is terrible but atleast the apps are neat , never dropped connection to my router (My speeds are just at 4M/s).Amazon prime played beautifully.

Coming back to the TV , a question . When you are watching a documentary and the narration stops between scenes and the screen goes blank , does your TV look completely black(like OFF state) ?
I mean , it has to show some amount of light coming from behind the screen right ? (It is ON!)

Let me know if anyone of you has any other questions.

Thanks.

When the screen goes blank, you can tell the TV is on but I'm pleasantly surprised by this set's black level performance.

I just received this TV and the first thing I did was plug in my PS3 and played COD Black ops. I went 37 and 6. I can confirm that input lag is not a problem for this TV. Waiting for Sunlight to go down to test for flashlighting or clouding. I must say i havent notice any of this so far. keeping my fingers crossed. I will calibrate TV later and report back. So far I like it.

Keep in mind that the EX440 is NOT 120HZ...it's got "MotonFlow XR120," notice the lack of "Hz" tagged on to the end of that spec. Same as when Samsung says their 60Hz sets have "Clear Motion Rate 120." I'd say at best the EX440 might have a scanning/pulsing backlight to compensate for motion blur but the native refresh rate of the panel is most likely 60Hz, Tricky tricky.

Fatuglyguy, good catch. I misspoke. I was fooled by the marketing department. Nonetheless, I have a 120Hz Samsung and I turned off AutoMotion Plus. I can't stand the fake look that 120Hz, 240Hz gives to video.

Just finished calibrating TV and here are my settings:

Scene: General (Cinema Scene doesn't let you adjust white balance)
Backlight: 4
Picture: 81
Brightness: 50
Color: 50
Hue: 0
Sharpness: Min
Color Temp: Warm2
Gamma: -1
White Balance:
R-Gain: -24
G-Gain: 0
B-Gain: 0
R-Bias: +3
G-Bias: 0
B-Bias -4

Anything not mentioned is off. I calibrated using Spyder3TV sensor, HCFR and AVSHD. Gamma was at 2.17 max delta was 3.7 on Grayscale. Controls need more blue value at High End of Grayscale but this TV does not have anymore to give. Color temp was very close to 6500K and White point is almost spot on. Only 0 and 10% IRE readings are off, the rest of IRE values are spot on with D65. If anybody can tell me how to upload the graphs here from HCFR I'll be more then happy to post them. Unfortunately I do have flashlighting and clouding on my TV and its visible when watching any content in a dark room.
Edited by Maverickaim9 - 11/29/12 at 9:00pm

Maverick, you could take a screenshot of the graphs and upload them as you would any other image.

Where are you guys finding this set for under $500?