A decent TV for the Price
Written: Jan 16 '08 (Updated Mar 19 '08)
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Pros: 40inch LCD, Price, Build Quality and Appearance.
Cons: Needs HD Signal or Blue Ray to look its best.
The Bottom Line: If you are running a HD signal or Blue ray this set is great for most people. If not I would up grade to a 1080p or XBR sony.
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| grahamwhite's Full Review: Sony BRAVIA KDL-40S3000 40 in. HDTV TV |
With all the choices of brands and makes of an LCD TV I finally settled on this one. A 40 inch sony TV that is 720p. Although most people would get the the 1080p I knew this TV was good enough for my needs.
With this TV I am planning on mainly playing a PS3 game system and watching blue ray movies. Let me start by saying that with a HD signal this television looks great. I am running a standard air antenna and for now I can receive 3 HD channels currently. With the 720p televison the HD signal is pretty clear but if your very close to the set you can still see some pixelation. I find that at about 5 feet this set looks great in HD. Also with faster moving images it does pixilate a bit more than the 1080p and there top of the line XBR set. It is also noticeable at the stores where I bought mine.
The bad thing with this set is with standard air programing it looks terrible. I beleive that is how it is with most of the LCD TV's. With a 1080p and the XBR it would look much better but you will still need to have a HD signal for it to look fantastic. Also I ran a standard 480p dvd player through this set as well and it looks pretty good. There is still some pixelation when you are close up to the set. But normal viewing distance is descent.
As of now I have not used the hdmi connection or played a blue ray movie with the playstation 3 because I do not have one. I will update the review in a couple of months when I recieve one. For someone that is using a LCD for there main TV I would recommend the 1080p or XBR. Its just better all around but there is a higher cost associated with them as well. If you are going to run a HD signal, Blue Ray, or a PS3 the price of the 720p tv is not a bad option.
I just bought it about 2 days ago at best buy for 1199. Again like most of my reviews I will update them in a few months.
3/19/2008
Well I finally have a PS3 to use with my LCD TV. I can only say that the blu-ray discs look fantastic on this TV. I was watching Gone in 60 seconds and everything looked crystal clear and this was a movie that had to be digitally remastered for blu-ray. I have a movie that was completely shot in HD and it was basically underwater scenes. Everything is so vivid even with the the 720 p tv I am using now. If you play a blu-ray disc the player will upvert up to 1080 which is even better quality this set. Think of it like putting race gas in your regular car. Thats how good the quality is.
I am using the HDMI connection also which helps the signal quite a bit. The sound is more precise as will with the connection. Regular DVDs look ok when run through the PS3 with a bit of upverting so the picture is pretty decent. Games of course look extremely realistic with the PS3. So far I have not had any problems with the TV or the PS3. I will do another update in about six months.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1150
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Epinions.com ID:
grahamwhite
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Location: Colorado
Reviews written: 13
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