Sony BRAVIA S3000 Series Owner's Thread [No Price Talk] - Page 11

muggsie: Thanks for the tip. I loosened the screw behind the flashlight, and I'll see now if it helps at all. It takes about a half hour after the TV has been turned on for the flashlight to become visible, so I'll know soon enough.
I also found that my build date is April, 2007.

i just bought a 40s3000, what is the best way to test for clouding, i put in a dvd and paused it during a black screen, there is no uneveness in the lighting field, as far as turning the backlight and brightness up, there is some whiteness that shows, but is that normal, i imagine if i turn the brightness and backlight up, i would see some some of the backlight, but is there like a cd i can get to test, whats the best way to test for it. I have a 40s3000 made in April of 07

I just got my 32S3000 in and it looks beautiful.
I havent sen any clouding effects on min, no banding.
But I yet still have to check a really dark picture.

Overall, looks great.

It was manufactured in June 2007, so if anybody has had any problems with those, let me know and I'm gonna look at mine just to be sure =)

Loosening the screw behind the flashlight did not help, unfortunately.

is their a thread for calibration for the s3000 models?

evenness is basically it.....its a TV is projects light....you can not get around that if you turn up the settings.

does anybody have any settings for standard tv, there is alot of noise when i watch regular tv, like around letters and sometimes people, turning down the sharpness helps a little, but i thought the noise reduction would help but it doesnt do anything, on some channels its good and other channels its bad. also i did a side by side with a regular CRT and noticed that the reds aren't as red as they are on the CRT, any setting that would make it more red without messing up the other colors. I bought this TV because most of the people on here said regular was good, but if its that bad, i might as well go back and get the Olivea.

make sure that when you watch sd you dont use the component cables, use the composite. (yellow)
anyways here are my sd settings i like them a lot, give your opinion plz, ok then here we go

picture mode-vivid
backlight-5
picture-max
brightness-47
colour-70
hue-0
colour temp-neutral
sharpness-12
noise reduction-off
mpef noise reduction-low
gamma-off
black corrector off
advance ce- off
clear white-off

i realy like these settings for sd, but hey my eyes are different then yours, post your opinion, if it helps i have the 46s3000
good luck

How do you have it configured for SDTV, source and connection? Who is to say the red was correct on the CRT. The difficulty in calibrating colors is knowing what the correct color level should be.

Now does anyone have any hd settings they would be willing to share?

Holy crap, that is bright. Are you just messin with people here?

OK, I ususally don't get into calibration discussions because everybody has their own opinion and can cal for themselves but... I used Avia and came up with these settings:

picture mode - cinema
backlight - min
picture - 85
brightness - 49
colour - 43
hue - G4
colour temp - Warm 2
sharpness - 4
noise reduction - off
mpef noise reduction - off
gamma -off
black corrector - off
advance ce- off
clear white-off

These are conservative because it is the TV in my bedroom so it usually is watched in near darkness. If it is on during the day I'll bump the backlight up to 3 or 4 but in a darkened room, a higher backlight requires a lower picture setting.

I tried the light sensor but it doesn't work. It seems to lower the backlight even more than my settings above making it too low for even a dark room.

actually, i agree with the other guy, when i did the side by side with my CRT, i noticed in the dark areas of the picture, i could see more on my CTR than the LCD unless i turned the brightness and backlight up. i guess its a more natural effect with the LCD, but it has me wondering, what also sucks is i have a cloud on the TV, not real big, but i know its there, so i have to pack the thing up and exchange. question to you guys, the when i first opened the TV, the cloud wasnt there, then i moved the TV and it very slightly bumbed up against a door as i was moving it, then the cloud appeared, are these thing that sensitive that if barely hits something, i have to worry about cloud forming. this is a 1600 dollar TV, i thought it would be able to take little hit.

Anyone with the 32" watching from further than 12 feet away? Is it easy to see? Does it seem like it's too small? I'm trying to decide on a bedroom tv. The 40" would be nice but the 32" is more in the range of what the wife wants to spend. Damn, why don't they make a 37"?!

The 32" is ideal at 8ft, 10ft max. At 12ft+ you will be wishing that you had bought the 40". SD on the 32" is 25"-26" w/sidebars so keep that in mind.

no actually im not i just like a bright picture remember that a human eye first notices-

brightness
the effects of contrast ratio
colour accuracy
resolution

in that order

well i sit 12 feet away from my 46 inch set, so i guess you should upgrade to 40 or move the couch closer

I've been enjoying my 32S3000 for a few weeks now, and I think it's a great display. I'm using it for gaming (all systems) and SD/HD cable.

I find the colors very true and the "black" good for LCD. Playing classic 2D games, I see a bit of expected motion blur but this is pretty much a non-issue in 3D games and in watching movies and TV. Metroid on Wii looks awesome, as does LAIR on PS3!

I have low backlight and brightness settings, and the display is simply pleasing to view at all hours.

To me, this was an inexpensive set. I remember paying $2400 in 2003 for a 34" 1080i/480p CRT. For much less than half that I have a really beautiful digital panel that is also much more energy efficient and lightweight. The only great sacrifice was in losing my CRT blacks, but I figure I'll get those back in a couple of years when I buy whatever tech has delivered near-perfect blacks in a moderately priced flat-panel. At which point the S3000 will migrate to the bedroom. Isn't that the way?~.~

~ciao

since there has been many calibration questions for sd, hd, and videogames, im going to start a thread be sure to post in it so it does not die like the first one

since many people have calibration questions for sd,hd, and video games i will start a calibration thread, be sure to post in it so it does not die like the first one.

I have a 40s 3000 and i notice that reds on this TV are not very red. I have yet to see a very deep shade of red, I have calibrated and messed with all the settings. I have seen maroon where red is suppose to be, but never a good solid shade of red. No, i'm not color blind, i dont need my eyes checked out. On the CRT, the red looks red, on this TV, red looks maroon. any thoughts on this? build date april 2007.

Just picked up a KDL40SL130 from Costco for my in-laws last night based on the generally positive comments here. While setting it up for them, I found that out of the box, it was a bit too much color so I turned that down a bit. Also switched out of Vivid mode - way too artificial looking. I will try to calibrate later with Avia and will post settings when I do but a few minor tweaks seems to result in a pretty decent picture.

Would people generally prefer posting calibration settings here or in a seperate thread? I generally find that tracking one thread is easier than two. But for those that want a seperate thread, here is the link for the other thread on calibration settings:

S3000 Calibration Thread

common people post on the calibration thread the link is on the post before me

I picked up the 32S3000 last week, and have had just enough time to put it through the gauntlet in terms of all kinds of content, both high quality and bad. Keep in mind, I'm no videophile, but I consider myself to have a pretty critical eye. I've been happy with Neutral color, Standard picture, with a Backlight of 3.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the set, and am relieved to have gotten a quality panel the first time around. I recognize the tendency to post more about your displeasure than anything else (and that the satisfied owners are likely just enjoying their set), but after reading about buzzing, clouding, banding, flashlighting, tearing, dead pixels, and the myriad problems inherent in all LCDs across all brands and lines, I still felt as if I were playing Russian roulette buying anything. When the TV arrived I apprehensively set it up, fully ready to take in my 500+ dead pixels, searchlights, and more clouds than an afternoon in Seattle. Instead, I was greeted with a near pristine, uniformly black screen. I was ecstatic. I watched The Lives of Others (excellent movie, by the way) on DVD via my 360's HDMI. I was prepared for lighter black levels than my 10 year-old Panny CRT, but I found the Sony's blacks more than adequate. Later in the week I watched The Office's "Traveling Salesman" from my laptop via VGA. It is a torrent with a funky resolution of 624x352, sub-SD. It was still very watchable, and there were very few picture anomalies to serve as distraction. The only egregious issue was around 0:16 when Michael is interrogating Dwight about his tardiness that morning; the shot is partially blocked by Michael's shoulder. Where Michael's dark blue/black shoulder should have been was a messy stew of blocky pixels all seemingly arguing about what shade of color it should be. Overall, however, the picture was just fine.

Finally, I popped in Bioshock for the 360. That's when this set came alive. The haunting, off-kilter atmosphere of the game really drew me in. This very "contrast-y" game could easily bring a cheap LCD to its knees, but the S3000 handled it with aplomb. I had no HDMI issues (I heard Samsungs, before a firmware fix, had really bad tearing/dropouts), and I didn't notice any lag/ghosting/smearing/etc. Looked beautiful in 720p. Here are a few very unprofessional shots of Bioshock. They're non-action scenes, so they don't quite capture the feel, but the Sony really made the colors and shadows pop.

http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...=Bioshock1.jpg
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...=Bioshock2.jpg
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...=Bioshock3.jpg
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/c...=Bioshock4.jpg

cnbuck: I'm glad to hear you got a great screen the first time around. I've already returned 2 TVs (Samsungs), and I'm trying to decide which of the 2 I currently have (Sony 32S3000's, still in the 30-day return window) I want to keep: the one with the flashlight in the top right corner, or the one with uneven backlighting from any angle but DEAD STRAIGHT ON. In dark scenes, the latter shows lighter areas on different places on the screen (beyond the normal shade changes you get when viewing an LCD from an angle). If I sit on the couch on the side of my family room and a dark scene comes up, there's a lighter zone, rather large, on the top left. Move a little, and now you see one on the bottom of the screen. Noticeable, not just nitpicky stuff. I know this because the one with the flashlight does not have this problem at all.
I'm rather dispappointed right now. I watched my brother's 46-inch Samsung LCD for a weekend and it looked great from any angle, and I watched some Battlestar Galactica episodes on it (insert geek joke here) with lots of dark scenes with no noticeable issues at all.
Are we just NOT supposed to watch sci fi (or night scenes) on LCD TVs?
Whichever I decide to keep, it's mine for good. No more 30-day trials. I think.

whats your manufacturing date some 32s3000's had problems with the may of 07 manufacturing date, or was it april.....

The set with the flashlight is April 2007, the other is July.

if they are both in the 30 day reurn period, just return both, and get a new one, if i was paying attention right both your tv's have problems

so you guys are just going to ignore me about the red color problem, i'm telling compare it to a CRT or go to BB or CC and compare it to another model, the reds are not that dark, all the reds are lighter or look maroon, even after calibration.

maybe its just a problem in your set, im no expert but the red in my s3000 seems fine???

REDS re SONY

I do not own a Sony... but .. I have A,B,C' ed the 32" M, S, XBR4, & 2400 models against most of the competition. Franklly they all are pretty much the same to me. In particular,

* the Sony's looks very similar to the Panasonic LX70/700all brands although the Pannies tend towards yellow

* the Sony 2006, 8-bit machines (2400) looks a bit less saturated and sharper!

* the XBR looks a bit over-saturated and less sharp

On all sets, the reds of hockey shirts -- or the Canadian Flag -- come thru strong and clear.

Why not post a pic -- of maybe a photo of the American flag?