New House - New TV! Sony KDL40V3000?

[adskin80]

Hi Guys,

I'm moving home in a few weeks, and want to upgrade my TV, I have an LG 32LX2R at the moment, which has been good to me. However the new home has a lot bigger lounge, which crys out for a bigger TV.

I'm looking for a 40"-42" LCD 1080p TV. My budget is max £800. I've seen the Sony KDL40V3000 for around £700 which I think is a good buy. What do you guys think.

The new TV will be used mainly for Sky HD, DVD's. It will also be used for my PS3 when the wife isn't watching some dodgy soap!!

Thanks

[Arthur Hucksake]

Cracking TV and really shines in the HD department.

Have a look through this thread here....

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=483589

Got mine hooked upto an Elite 360 and HD DVD player, and can't fault it at all.

[adskin80]

Thanks, I'll have a good read of the thread today at work! ;)

[CHRISGEO]

Its the best at this price range

[bowfer]

Its the best at this price range

I don't agree that it's the "best".
You can get a Toshiba 42X3030 for £660 from Dixons online.
That's an equally good TV, if not better.

[CHRISGEO]

The 40V3000 costs the same but even though the 42X3030 is a good tv the sony is better especially on black levels

[LazyDonkey]

Depends what you want it for?

Must say that I haven't been blown away by my V3000. HD is great as is my PS3, but watching sport is a painful experience. The motion blur with football makes me pine for my plasma.

Each to his own I suppose :confused:

[Waynester]

SD is truly awful on the V3000
no matter how much you play with the damn settings!
blurry and smeary, hazey etc

thinking of sending mine back

[dibdab]

SD is truly awful on the V3000
no matter how much you play with the damn settings!
blurry and smeary, hazey etc

thinking of sending mine back

Sounds like you have a dodgy tv Sd is perfectly fine on it, both freeview and dvds.

[Waynester]

i cant even tell IF i have a faulty one or not!
looks pretty good on upscaled DVD and crap compared to a CRT TV Set on it

the picture just seems blurry, smeary, hazy on SD programs, and i mean SKY+ (Not SKY HD)

When watching SKY+ - there seems to be blurring on the writing on living or challenge TV channels and quite a few others aswell


I CANT GET A GOOD PICTURE OUT OF THIS JUNK

[dibdab]

i cant even tell IF i have a faulty one or not!
looks pretty good on upscaled DVD and crap compared to a CRT TV Set on it

the picture just seems blurry, smeary, hazy on SD programs, and i mean SKY+ (Not SKY HD)

When watching SKY+ - there seems to be blurring on the writing on living or challenge TV channels and quite a few others aswell


I CANT GET A GOOD PICTURE OUT OF THIS JUNK

If your really not happy, send it back and get a tosh 42z like i am.

But seriously have you tried messing around with the settings and turning of all the extra stuff like DNR.

[Waynester]

If i send it back i have to pay £50 to digital direct

i have tried all the settings on and off and SD looks absolute crap
blurry, ghosting, just rubbish!

i wish someone could see this picture and tell me if its faulty or its the norm

[Arthur Hucksake]

If i send it back i have to pay £50 to digital direct

i have tried all the settings on and off and SD looks absolute crap
blurry, ghosting, just rubbish!

i wish someone could see this picture and tell me if its faulty or its the norm

Can you take some photos of somekind?

Could you have one of very few faulty sets reported on here?

I personally think the Freeview on this set is pretty decent, but then I can't vouch for other sources as I don't have Sky. :(

[Lt. Dang]

If i send it back i have to pay £50 to digital direct

i have tried all the settings on and off and SD looks absolute crap
blurry, ghosting, just rubbish!

i wish someone could see this picture and tell me if its faulty or its the norm

SD is fine on my V3000. Pictures from Freeview and my SD Sky+ are crisp and clear on the good bitrate channels.

It sounds like your V3000 is either faulty or you are feeding it with a composite rather than an RGB signal.

Have you seen my response to your query on the V3000 Calibration thread? Go through that first because feeding your TV with a poor composite signal would produce exactly the results you are describing.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

[adskin80]

Thanks for the replies guys, Once you've watched sport on HD, everything else looks rubbish IMO.

At the moment I've got the virgin V+ box connected via HDMI and the SD picture is OK.

I think also the price from digital direct is also swaying me £617.01 with £50 for delivery. Has anybody had a TV from them and what were they like? I got my LG from 247electrical and they delivered with no problems.

[The Evil Monkey]

Hello all,

This is my first post and i'm in the same situation as adskin80.

I'm hoping to move in to my own pad soon, once all the boring stuff like the plastering, kitchen and bathroom fitting has been done! So i'll need a telly for the living room and as the room is quite spacious i was looking at buying the Sony KDL40V3000 and using this to play PS3 and watch Virgin or Sky or Freesat depending on what funds will allow.

I've heard good and bad things about this set. The good being it's awesome with blu ray and the bad thing being that the SD picture is not brilliant and the sound is pretty poor. Which? magazine didn't really rate it much at all.

Will the distance to which you're sat away from the telly affect the SD picture quality? and the sound can be sorted i suppose by hooking up a surround system?

Any help would be much appreciated!http://www.avforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

[POWDER69]

Hello all,

This is my first post and i'm in the same situation as adskin80.

I'm hoping to move in to my own pad soon, once all the boring stuff like the plastering, kitchen and bathroom fitting has been done! So i'll need a telly for the living room and as the room is quite spacious i was looking at buying the Sony KDL40V3000 and using this to play PS3 and watch Virgin or Sky or Freesat depending on what funds will allow.

I've heard good and bad things about this set. The good being it's awesome with blu ray and the bad thing being that the SD picture is not brilliant and the sound is pretty poor. Which? magazine didn't really rate it much at all.

Will the distance to which you're sat away from the telly affect the SD picture quality? and the sound can be sorted i suppose by hooking up a surround system?

Any help would be much appreciated!http://www.avforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

Ditto !! In exactly the same situation as you mate, so whats the verdict then ppl ?

[Lt. Dang]

Hello all,

This is my first post and i'm in the same situation as adskin80.

I'm hoping to move in to my own pad soon, once all the boring stuff like the plastering, kitchen and bathroom fitting has been done! So i'll need a telly for the living room and as the room is quite spacious i was looking at buying the Sony KDL40V3000 and using this to play PS3 and watch Virgin or Sky or Freesat depending on what funds will allow.

I've heard good and bad things about this set. The good being it's awesome with blu ray and the bad thing being that the SD picture is not brilliant and the sound is pretty poor. Which? magazine didn't really rate it much at all.

Will the distance to which you're sat away from the telly affect the SD picture quality? and the sound can be sorted i suppose by hooking up a surround system?

Any help would be much appreciated!http://www.avforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif


I watch this TV every day using the internal speakers for Sky+ and it sounds ok to me. Just as good as my previous TV.

I only use my Yamaha AV Amp and KEF surround system for movies with multi-channel dolby or when I am watching DVD/BluRay.

I still find the SD picture very good on decent bandwidth channels and of course HD content from BluRay or gaming is simply superb.

Unlike other brands, such as this year's and last year's Samsungs, you get a good reliable set with excellent build-quality - which is important when you are handing over your hard-earned cash. :smashin:

The last thing you want to buy is a set with faults/problems.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

Lt Dang

[The Evil Monkey]

Hi there Lt. Dang,

Thanks a lot for your reply it was very helpful. The only thing i was concerned about was the SD viewing but i'm sure it will be good enough for me and will hook it up to a home cinema system when watching dvd's.

Which raises another question, what is the clarity like on standard dvd's? as i have shedloads of these and haven't invested in many blu-ray ones as yet.

Cheers.http://www.avforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Boostrail]

I certainly was not happy with the freeview SD that I saw in a fairly extensive demo at a "specialist" shop of a Sony 40D3500 which according to the other posts on this forum I have read is the same beast as the 40V3000 but with less connectivity. This was on the high bit rate channels after experimenting with various settings. It looked slightly better on SD on a SkyHD box via HDMI but in both cases whilst static shots looked OK any movement was accompanied by a trail of blurred artefacts. Surprisingly a 40X3000 in the same shop which boasts full "Motion Flow 100Hz" did not look much better if at all.

I think that if you are into gaming and / or BRD / or watch mainly HD movies on demand then I am sure the V3000 is as has been said excellent value at the moment and I am sure a safer bet than any Samsung, but like "Which" and several reviews I did not rate it as a TV on which to watch SD Freeview or other SD programme sources.

[Lt. Dang]

I certainly was not happy with the freeview SD that I saw in a fairly extensive demo at a "specialist" shop of a Sony 40D3500 which according to the other posts on this forum I have read is the same beast as the 40V3000 but with less connectivity. This was on the high bit rate channels after experimenting with various settings. It looked slightly better on SD on a SkyHD box via HDMI but in both cases whilst static shots looked OK any movement was accompanied by a trail of blurred artefacts. Surprisingly a 40X3000 in the same shop which boasts full "Motion Flow 100Hz" did not look much better if at all.

I think that if you are into gaming and / or BRD / or watch mainly HD movies on demand then I am sure the V3000 is as has been said excellent value at the moment and I am sure a safer bet than any Samsung, but like "Which" and several reviews I did not rate it as a TV on which to watch SD Freeview or other SD programme sources.


I think feedback from multiple happy owners who have used the V3000 for SD viewing over many hours probably carries more weight than an "extensive demo" and "a bit of fiddling" on a different model.

Properly set up, with settings from the calibration thread, this TV is reported by many to be spot on for SD. You can also adjust the backlight for each individual input source which is more than some other TVs can manage.

All in all a great set for a very good price. :smashin:

Regards,

Lt. Dang

[Lt. Dang]

Hi there Lt. Dang,

Thanks a lot for your reply it was very helpful. The only thing i was concerned about was the SD viewing but i'm sure it will be good enough for me and will hook it up to a home cinema system when watching dvd's.

Which raises another question, what is the clarity like on standard dvd's? as i have shedloads of these and haven't invested in many blu-ray ones as yet.

Cheers.http://www.avforums.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

PQ for DVD via component on my DVD player is top notch, crisp and clear with no marked smear or motion blur.

Upscaled playback of DVDs from PS3 via HDMI is even better again looking almost as if it was from a true HD source.

Hope this is useful.

Regards,

Lt. Dang