Sony Bravia KDL40EX503U 40-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz LCD Internet TV with Freeview HD

I bought this TV a few days ago and so far have been very pleased with it. The stand was easy to assemble and the TV itself very easy to set up - just follow the on-screen commands, and it is ready within 5 minutes or so. The Freeview HD signal, which is available in my area, tuned in perfectly - and the picture is noticeably better than the standard freeview signal. Shame there aren't a few more freeview HD channels yet but, of course, that isn't Sony's problem.

Overall the picture quality is excellent, with vibrant colours (a bit too much with the standard settings?), good contrast and dark blacks, and the sound very clear for built-in speakers. Controls and menus all fairly intuitive - so no need to look at the manual (which is built-in to the set and accessed via menus).

Connectivity is good: including 4 x HDMIs, 2 SCART, + Ethernet and 1 USB. The one niggle is the lack of an included wi-fi antenna to access Internet content. This requires purchase of a separate Sony Wi Fi dongle (which I haven't done yet) if you don't want to run an ethernet cable from your router. This sort of corner-cutting irritates me - if Sony can, for example, include full wi-fi accessibility in a PSP, why do they have to make this an optional extra in a television costing much more?

Update

I have now fitted the wi fi dongle to the TV. Initially, the internet functionality didn't work very well - the picture would freeze, or a message would pop up saying that the network was down (it wasn't). I figured my old wi fi router might be the problem - so I upgraded this to a good quality "N" router. This did the trick, and the TV streams video from the internet superbly. Using BBC i-player the picture is just as smooth as watching a normal TV programme. No problem streaming HD video either. Of course, as a result of using i-player, I received a message from my ISP saying I was exceeding my download limit - so I've had to upgrade my broadband package, but I can't blame Sony for that!

I got this TV to replace a 6 year old Samsung 32" for the main TV. I was going for another Samsung, but the new ones appear to only have 1 scart. This is great if you only have 1 item that needs scart, but I have my Sky+ and a DVD/HD recorder, so reluctantly, had to discard the idea of Samsung.

After much deliberation between plasma and lcd, I finally stayed with lcd, as the power consumption was better and the clarity seems to be similar. As I also did not want to keep upgrading, I thought it best to get a TV that was full HD, 100 Hz for smooth scrolling of fast moving images and freeview hd. After much searching and reading reviews, finally settled on this model.

After the initial easy setup for searching the channels with the digital and analog tuners, you can start watching straight away. I must confess that the clarity of the pictures far exceeded my expectations. It could be a natural progression of the technology since my last purchase, but what a difference in detail. Sky seems to be clearer, the normal channels seem more defined and the 3 freeview hd channels are amazing. It depends upon what is being transmitted on the freeview hd, but the nature programs are amazing to see, the detail and clarity is superb. I have played normal DVD's through the scart connection, and again, cannot fault the picture. I was apprehensive as a larger screen means more chance of pixilation, but have not seen it as I though I would. I have connected me xbox via component and the gameplay is just as smooth as to be expected. Ramped the settings on the console to 1080p instead of 720p, and with motion flow on, the gameplay is smooth. To be honest, cannot see that great a difference between 720p and 1080p on gameplay, but it could be the games as not all are 1080p encoded.

This TV is internet ready, so you can connect direct to a router through the ethernet port, which is what I have done. You can then access youtube, 5 on demand, lovefilm (which you need a subscription) and other channels. You can also connect wirelessly, but you will have to purchase a Sony USB wifi dongle at extra cost. Its a shame that this function was not built in. Why advertise it as a selling point only to be informed you have to buy the extra piece to make it work? Searching youtube can take time, as you enter the search parameters using the remote, which can take time.

There are several scene modes, like movie, sport, standard, game, which change the settings of the contrast, brightness, colour etc, but generally keep it on standard.

I have not tried surround, as I have no surround system. The sound on the TV is loud enough for me, and find that normal viewing the volume is on 20-25, just about a quarter way up. There is a great option than normalises sound, so all the channels are output at the same sound level. No more loud adverts, as the volume stays the same throughout.

The menu is easy, and is designed around the Playstaion 3 menu system, so users of the PS3 will feel at home.

All in all, a great purchase that seems to be more future proof than others, producing vivid crisp displays and smooth scrolling. Very happy with the purchase and highly recommend it,.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2010

I got a SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB Flash Drive 16GB and put about 20 avi movie files on. Just plug it in the TV and go to the menu and select movie menu, scroll to the usb and they are there. Highlight the film and press enter and you can watch your movies on the TV without streaming. Not all avi files work, but the most popular ones are supported as well as mp4 format. Now with iplayer also available this machine has got better.

When you get it set up right, it's a great TV. That said, thereare a few points worth making even if they are not faults in the product.

Firstly, if you are going from a 4:3 CRT to this product, make sure you set all your input devices (e.g. freeview box, VCR, DVD, BluRay, etc) to output to widescreen or 16:9 because otherwise Smart mode will do its best with a 4:3 picture, but you will get tons of nasty stretch effects.

Secondly, because its a big TV you tend to be more conscious of mpeg artifacts that occur within the video production process whether that be from live video cameras, video production or, most commonly, introduced during distribution e.g from the internet or via cable or freeview. There is not much you can do about that. As bandwidths increase the problem should lessen over time.

Finally, Internet TV is weak at the moment. There's not much content. Most of it is Pay-Per-View, advertising or specialist stuff geared to the US market. This will improve when Sony and BBC get their acts together on iPlayer, but we are all still waiting on that (assuming the government doesn't slash funding for BBC internet projects). Same with HD content on FreeView. If you are using cable you may need an upgrade to watch HD content.

Now onto the product. I attached the base on my own. I found it tough balancing the TV, the base, a screw and a screwdriver at the same time, so try to get someone to help you when you do this.

The default colours are a bit too red/warm for my taste, but you can adjust it.

I have never much liked the XMB (cross media bar) interface. Its OK, but a bit disorganised. Having vertical columns representing inputs or settings is OK, but they have now introduced new vertical bars for media types (image, move, sound) which means the same inputs can appear on different bars, but haven't added a vertical bar for network inputs, so the underlying model of the interface is mucked up. Poor interface design causes confusion. Fortunately, humans are intelligent and adapt.

There is no clear explanation of the interaction of the scene buttons and the per-input display and audio settings, so it is a bit of trial and error. Again we adapt, in my case by leaving it alone.

The Home button on the remote is too close to the down button. This sounds picky, but when you are making you fifth attempt at adjusting something only to accidentally hit the home button again, it's frustrating.

Because of this, I'll give it a four out of five, but I mean more 4.8 out of 5 rather than 4.1.

UPDATE: BBC iPlayer now works. The TV automagically updated its sofware (I have it always connected to the internet). It's currently a Beta version. The menus are a bit slow, but it's very good all the same.