[Noss]

Bought a 55EX723 from JL recently and happy with it so far. Having just returned a panasonic 50GT30 for green tinge, buzzing, fan noise and phosphor trails, just didn't make me smile and was I so aware of these issues while trying to watch stuff.

Sure the sony isn't perfect, but no tv is, and I can live with the minor stuff on the sony.

Not played with many setting yet, just disabling overscan cropping on all sources, dropping the sharpness and disabling other stuff.

Streaming works really well from serviio on my desktop via homeplugs too going to look into a sleeker solution soon, nas or hp micro server.

Also going to look into a speaker upgrade, q acoustics q-tv2x looks ideal (for me) but too small for a 55" TV

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by verdig

I set up a KDL-37EX524 for my elderly parents and noticed that previously recorded 4:3 format programs played back from a Panasonic DVD recorder (via SCART) had narrow black bars top and bottom.

Does anyone know if this is because overscan is off by default on these full HD TV's?

If so, do most people leave it off so it doesn't crop the full HD and then use the zoom for 4:3, or is it easy to switch overscan on/off depending on format?

I wasn't there long enough to work my way through the on TV manual!

Thanks for any replies.

Overscan, generally, like most processing modes, is usually best left to "off".

Some 4:3 programmes do tend to have small black borders, top and bottom (which along with the correct side borders) is a little off-putting, but I've found it depends what channel (on freeview for example) you are using/recording - most 4:3 stuff on my set doesn't have the black borders top and bottom.

Is this on all 4:3 stuff - have you experimented on quite a few programmes/channels?

[verdig]

Originally Posted by Paul Cooksley
Overscan, generally, like most processing modes, is usually best left to "off".......
.......Is this on all 4:3 stuff?

Thanks for the info Paul.

It was only the odd program that had bars top & bottom, so not a big problem.

It just had me wondering about Overscan now that there is a mix off SD & HD Freeview as my SD only Freeview Panasonic default is Overscan On, but I knew for HD Overscan should be Off.

I will leave it off for their TV and they can always use Zoom if necessary.

[kingdread]

Hello all,

I have the chance to purchase a 46EX723 at a heavily discounted price via my father inlaw who works for sony and them having a staff sale soon. I had a read through this thread and many others and was just after a firm opinion of whether this will be a good purchase or would another similar size tv from another manufacturer be better as from reading through the thread many of you have had other brands and also many of you seem to have issues with these models.

Cheers for any advise.

Jon

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by kingdread

Hello all,

I have the chance to purchase a 46EX723 at a heavily discounted price via my father inlaw who works for sony and them having a staff sale soon. I had a read through this thread and many others and was just after a firm opinion of whether this will be a good purchase or would another similar size tv from another manufacturer be better as from reading through the thread many of you have had other brands and also many of you seem to have issues with these models.

Cheers for any advise.

Jon

I guess it all depends on what cost you are being offered this set at?

If it's a really good price, then yes, essentially it IS a good TV. I had 2 of them last year - but sadly they both had to be returned due to excessive clouding on each one. So, perhaps, something to think about, although clouding to some degree or another seems to be present on an awful lot of edge lit LED/LCD sets these days - and certainly not just Sony.

It's not one of the brightest edge lit LED sets out there, but having said that, properly set up, the images, even SD, can look very good indeed.

Beware though: This TV's major downfall, is undoubtedly the 3D element. Whilst not having played around with this myself (I have a big fat ZERO interest in 3D!!) most reviews pick up on the fact that it is VERY poor, with an awful lot of cross-talk etc... Something to think about if you are interested in the 3D element...

Other than that, if you are being offered this set at a decent price (does it come with a 5yr warranty too?) then it is certainly worth considering...

[kingdread]

Originally Posted by Paul Cooksley

I guess it all depends on what cost you are being offered this set at?

If it's a really good price, then yes, essentially it IS a good TV. I had 2 of them last year - but sadly they both had to be returned due to excessive clouding on each one. So, perhaps, something to think about, although clouding to some degree or another seems to be present on an awful lot of edge lit LED/LCD sets these days - and certainly not just Sony.

It's not one of the brightest edge lit LED sets out there, but having said that, properly set up, the images, even SD, can look very good indeed.

Beware though: This TV's major downfall, is undoubtedly the 3D element. Whilst not having played around with this myself (I have a big fat ZERO interest in 3D!!) most reviews pick up on the fact that it is VERY poor, with an awful lot of cross-talk etc... Something to think about if you are interested in the 3D element...

Other than that, if you are being offered this set at a decent price (does it come with a 5yr warranty too?) then it is certainly worth considering...

Im not really interested in 3d so thats not too much of a consideration for me. The price is £499 which is considerably less than anywhere else and that still inlcudes the 5 year warranty plus the father in law carries quite a lot of clout at Sony so any issues would be quickly sorted!

I guess i just need to have a look around and see if anything is going to compare at that price point.

Cheers
Jon

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by kingdread

Im not really interested in 3d so thats not too much of a consideration for me. The price is £499 which is considerably less than anywhere else and that still inlcudes the 5 year warranty plus the father in law carries quite a lot of clout at Sony so any issues would be quickly sorted!

I guess i just need to have a look around and see if anything is going to compare at that price point.

Cheers
Jon

Well, I paid £1,200 last July, so, at that price, I personally wouldn't really hesitate. Whilst of course, the price has dropped anyhow, it is certainly a good price.

[kiyomitsu79]

I recently bought a 40EX723 from Amazon, manufacture date 10/2011 and it has a T400HW04 v1 panel which I assume is A-MVA. I was surprised as I read online that most of the 40 inch use Samsung panels.

I was considering returning it to Amazon but the panel has virtually no backlight bleed / no clouding or other problems and I'm generally quite happy with it. I guess its not worth the risk of trying to exchange it for a different one?

[kingdread]

I took delivery of my 46EX723 today and have to say i'm most impressed, there seems to be no clouding or backlight bleed at all.

Picture looks great in SD and HD, and also blu-rays look stunning and that is with all standard settings, i'll have a play with some of the settings others have posted during the week.

Think i've got a good one as seems to be quite hit and miss from all the reading i've done over that past couple of days! If anyone would like pics of a 'good' one let me know.

Jon

[russ331]

My portable HDD was briefly used with an EX723 to record Freeview programmes.

It's now been deregistered so it can be used with a PC again.

The PC recognises that hardware has been plugged into the USB port, however, the drive doesn't appear in Windows Explorer.

This being so, I cannot reformat the HDD for use in the PC, as the PC doesn't 'see' the HDD.

Help!!!

[kiyomitsu79]

Originally Posted by russ331

The PC recognises that hardware has been plugged into the USB port, however, the drive doesn't appear in Windows Explorer.
This being so, I cannot reformat the HDD for use in the PC, as the PC doesn't 'see' the HDD.

On Windows use Disk Management in Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Remove all the partitions that are on the drive and create a new one.

[russ331]

Originally Posted by pcfarrar

On Windows use Disk Management in Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Remove all the partitions that are on the drive and create a new one.

I remembered that I have a free copy of EASEUS Partition Manager from GOTD. Used that. Job done. Thanks anyway.

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by kingdread

I took delivery of my 46EX723 today and have to say i'm most impressed, there seems to be no clouding or backlight bleed at all.

Picture looks great in SD and HD, and also blu-rays look stunning and that is with all standard settings, i'll have a play with some of the settings others have posted during the week.

Think i've got a good one as seems to be quite hit and miss from all the reading i've done over that past couple of days! If anyone would like pics of a 'good' one let me know.

Jon

Excellent, I certainly think you've been lucky there!

What settings are you using, just out of interest?

[kingdread]

Originally Posted by Paul Cooksley

Excellent, I certainly think you've been lucky there!

What settings are you using, just out of interest?

Currently I'm still on factory setting but I'll have a play with some of the ones posted on here over the weekend, hopefully it'll only get better.

Jon

[JB204]

Originally Posted by russ331

My portable HDD was briefly used with an EX723 to record Freeview programmes.

It's now been deregistered so it can be used with a PC again.

The PC recognises that hardware has been plugged into the USB port, however, the drive doesn't appear in Windows Explorer.

This being so, I cannot reformat the HDD for use in the PC, as the PC doesn't 'see' the HDD.

Help!!!

Ok, try going into start, control panel, administrative tools, computer management, storage, disk management, find your attached disk, right click and hopefully you'll find an option to activate the disk. Once activated you'll be able to format it and use it.

Hope this helps, let me know if it doesn't.


Edit: bugger!!!!!! Didn't see the other posts!!! I too use Easeus, good piece of software.

[Stockholm]

I received my 40 inch EX723 yesterday and I'm very impressed by it. It replaced my two year old Samsung LE40B550 and the level of detail in games and online is a big improvement over the Samsung. I only use the Sony as a PC monitor and have it plugged into the HDMI connection from a mini-display port cable running from my graphics card.

The reason I opted for this set is because of the review on HDTVtest where it states that the Sony has very low input lag and reproduces colours very accurately and vividly.

I have to agree with that statement: it is smoother than my old TV and colours are richer and more detailed in games like Skyrim, for example.

Also, the fact that I can get a lot of content through the internet menu (free LoveFilm account for 3 months; Eurosport; BBC iPlayer; and so on) is very pleasing. I can upload pictures, songs and videos from my USB flash drive which is a bonus.

When I first turned the set on I got a fright as it seemed very dim, and no matter how I configured the Picture Settings it didn't brighten the screen. Then I discovered the additional screen settings via the Home menu and thankfully I was able to turn off a setting that was automatically dimming the screen. Immediately the screen became as bright as I'd hoped it would be!

I also had to disable a setting that caused the set to automatically change its settings whenever I went to watch a YouTube video. Now the set retains the settings I've input regardless of the situation.

I'm very pleased with the Sony KDL40EX723.

Edit - The only frustration I have with the set is that black levels aren't as deep as my old Samsung. I'm sure I'll be able to improve the black levels by calibrating the colour and greyscale settings.

Does anybody have any settings I can try out that'll improve on my black levels? I wish HDTVtest would post the settings they input into their set in order to get the colour balance and greyscale settings right. Actually, I just found some information about that on their Facebook page.

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by Stockholm

I received my 40 inch EX723 yesterday and I'm very impressed by it. It replaced my two year old Samsung LE40B550 and the level of detail in games and online is a big improvement over the Samsung. I only use the Sony as a PC monitor and have it plugged into the HDMI connection from a mini-display port cable running from my graphics card.

The reason I opted for this set is because of the review on HDTVtest where it states that the Sony has very low input lag and reproduces colours very accurately and vividly.

I have to agree with that statement: it is smoother than my old TV and colours are richer and more detailed in games like Skyrim, for example.

Also, the fact that I can get a lot of content through the internet menu (free LoveFilm account for 3 months; Eurosport; BBC iPlayer; and so on) is very pleasing. I can upload pictures, songs and videos from my USB flash drive which is a bonus.

When I first turned the set on I got a fright as it seemed very dim, and no matter how I configured the Picture Settings it didn't brighten the screen. Then I discovered the additional screen settings via the Home menu and thankfully I was able to turn off a setting that was automatically dimming the screen. Immediately the screen became as bright as I'd hoped it would be!

I also had to disable a setting that caused the set to automatically change its settings whenever I went to watch a YouTube video. Now the set retains the settings I've input regardless of the situation.

I'm very pleased with the Sony KDL40EX723.

Edit - The only frustration I have with the set is that black levels aren't as deep as my old Samsung. I'm sure I'll be able to improve the black levels by calibrating the colour and greyscale settings.

Does anybody have any settings I can try out that'll improve on my black levels? I wish HDTVtest would post the settings they input into their set in order to get the colour balance and greyscale settings right. Actually, I just found some information about that on their Facebook page.

What settings as regards brightness/contrast etc are you using?

[Stockholm]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the suggestion re. my settings. I went over them again during a session of Metro 2033, a particularly dark game, and I recalibrated them to produce deeper blacks. I turned the backlight down to 6 and the brightness to 60. I've left the contrast setting as is, Max, and I'm very happy with the levels of blacks now. I also picked the relevant settings in the advanced menu that produced deeper blacks.

As it stands just now the black levels are indeed superior to the old Samsung I was using.

Thanks again.

[HaRd2BeAr]

Originally Posted by Stockholm

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the suggestion re. my settings. I went over them again during a session of Metro 2033, a particularly dark game, and I recalibrated them to produce deeper blacks. I turned the backlight down to 6 and the brightness to 60. I've left the contrast setting as is, Max, and I'm very happy with the levels of blacks now. I also picked the relevant settings in the advanced menu that produced deeper blacks.

As it stands just now the black levels are indeed superior to the old Samsung I was using.

Thanks again.

Brightness 60

Personally i would have brightness to around 50, i have my Sony 46HX823 set to 48, this is based on using the spears and munsil benchmark blu ray. Any higher and i would be over exposing dark areas of the screen ie showing detail that i shouldn't be seeing.

What scene setting are you using?

Aaron

[HaRd2BeAr]

Well here is the Flatpanels hd review.

Sony EX720 review - FlatpanelsHD

Here are there settings. Maybe the EX needs higher brightness.

Picture mode: Custom
Backlight 5
Contrast 89
Brightness: 57
Color: 50
Hue: 0
Sharpness: 0
Color temperature Warm2
Noise reduction Off
Mpeg noise reduction Off
Motionflow On
Film-mode Auto 1/Auto 2
Black corrector Off
Adv. Contrast Enhancer Off
Gamma 0
Auto Light Limiter Off
Clear White Off
Live Colour Off
Detail/Edge enhancer Off
R Gain -10
G Gain -9
B Gain 0
R Bias -2
G Bias -1
B Bias +1

[Stockholm]

Hi Aaron,

I'm using the set as a PC monitor via a mini display port to HDMI cable. As such the set only allows for Graphic mode which causes a lot of options to become unavailable for reconfiguration.

I just tried brightness at 50 and I don't really notice much difference on Windows 8, but admittedly it's most white and blue rather than black or the like.

In advanced settings I've changed the RGB Gain channels to values like -2 -1 0 etc and it looks better than it did before I changed them.

I'll try the values suggested in your post above.

Thanks

[HaRd2BeAr]

Originally Posted by Stockholm

Hi Aaron,

I'm using the set as a PC monitor via a mini display port to HDMI cable. As such the set only allows for Graphic mode which causes a lot of options to become unavailable for reconfiguration.

I just tried brightness at 50 and I don't really notice much difference on Windows 8, but admittedly it's most white and blue rather than black or the like.

In advanced settings I've changed the RGB Gain channels to values like -2 -1 0 etc and it looks better than it did before I changed them.

I'll try the values suggested in your post above.

Thanks

Ok no worries.

Just purely as a 40inch computer monitor?

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by HaRd2BeAr

Brightness 60

Personally i would have brightness to around 50, i have my Sony 46HX823 set to 48, this is based on using the spears and munsil benchmark blu ray. Any higher and i would be over exposing dark areas of the screen ie showing detail that i shouldn't be seeing.

What scene setting are you using?

Aaron

Thing is Aaron, I kind of see where he's coming from with that brightness setting - I have mine on about 58 - it's not the brightest of LED sets around, although of course, at this level, you are more prone to clouding issue's....

How's your set Aaron? Still all ok?

[HaRd2BeAr]

Originally Posted by Paul Cooksley

Thing is Aaron, I kind of see where he's coming from with that brightness setting - I have mine on about 58 - it's not the brightest of LED sets around, although of course, at this level, you are more prone to clouding issue's....

How's your set Aaron? Still all ok?

Still loving mine mate.

How you getting on with yours?

I still really think brightness 55+ is just to high, and the test patterns i have used support this. 48 is the sweet spot, i would go 50 but then i know it isn't quite right. I have tried 55+ even 60 but it just looks plain washed out. On the pluge low and high test pattern (for setting brightness) 60 just shows all the bars and the checkered pattern that you are not supposed to be seeing even just over 50 is the same just not so severe.

I appreciated it is personal preference but if you had the test pattern in front of you that i have i don't think you would disagree with me. If the image is to dark i would raise the backlight setting.

Also i have contrast set to 97, 98 and the white bar on the end of the test pattern disappears into the white background (which means contrast is to high) 97 and it is visible.

Sorry for my rant but i just get very passionate about it.

Aaron

[Paul Cooksley]

Originally Posted by HaRd2BeAr

Still loving mine mate.

How you getting on with yours?

I still really think brightness 55+ is just to high, and the test patterns i have used support this. 48 is the sweet spot, i would go 50 but then i know it isn't quite right. I have tried 55+ even 60 but it just looks plain washed out. On the pluge low and high test pattern (for setting brightness) 60 just shows all the bars and the checkered pattern that you are not supposed to be seeing even just over 50 is the same just not so severe.

I appreciated it is personal preference but if you had the test pattern in front of you that i have i don't think you would disagree with me. If the image is to dark i would raise the backlight setting.

Also i have contrast set to 97, 98 and the white bar on the end of the test pattern disappears into the white background (which means contrast is to high) 97 and it is visible.

Sorry for my rant but i just get very passionate about it.

Aaron

No worries! I don't doubt you for a moment, you are spot on, thing is, I am sure that the EX723 and NX723 are a little duller than yours, so maybe having to compensate a little? I do fully know what you mean as I probably do like to have the brightness a tad OTT, but there again, I guess, as you say, it all comes down to preference.

Thing is, if I have my brightness setting down to 48-50, the picture (well dark pictures or pictures that have dark "areas" picked out within them) just looks overall too dark, blacks look crushed and you can't pick out as much detail - as I say, this happens on scenes that maybe are generally a little darker than others....I've tried brightness at 50 and for some things it is fine, but others - well - I am just constantly feeling the image is too dark. I've had three of these now (well 2 x EX723 and my current NX723 which is exactly the same panel and processor) and they are all the same, hence why I mentioned at the start that maybe the image is generally a little duller than yours?

Anyhow, glad you still loving your set! Mine is great (even with brightness on 58!!!!!!) Started to watch some HD stuff on it (via BBC iplayer and the built in internet You Tube function) and it looks amazing.

Not tried out the 3D yet, as I still have no interest what so ever!

[Stockholm]

Perhaps an image rendered by an Nvidia graphics card and sent to the screen differs in terms of brightness and colour representation than it would do from a digital source such as Sky HD and the like?

I tried to lower the brightness to 50 and below and it is just too dark for my liking. However, I've kept contrast at 97 as you suggested Aaron and I lowered Gamma to -1. I have film mode off (what does it do anyway?) and turned colour up slightly to 55. Sharpness is set at 60 as text looks very blurred at 0 to about 30, for instance. 60 looks nice from where I'm sitting. Above that, however, and it looks terrible.

Edit - Oh yeah, I changed it from Neutral to Cool as it emphasises the whites and brightens things up a tad. Warm 2 contained too much yellow and Neutral had a similar tinge of that colour.

[HaRd2BeAr]

Originally Posted by Paul Cooksley

No worries! I don't doubt you for a moment, you are spot on, thing is, I am sure that the EX723 and NX723 are a little duller than yours, so maybe having to compensate a little? I do fully know what you mean as I probably do like to have the brightness a tad OTT, but there again, I guess, as you say, it all comes down to preference.

Thing is, if I have my brightness setting down to 48-50, the picture (well dark pictures or pictures that have dark "areas" picked out within them) just looks overall too dark, blacks look crushed and you can't pick out as much detail - as I say, this happens on scenes that maybe are generally a little darker than others....I've tried brightness at 50 and for some things it is fine, but others - well - I am just constantly feeling the image is too dark. I've had three of these now (well 2 x EX723 and my current NX723 which is exactly the same panel and processor) and they are all the same, hence why I mentioned at the start that maybe the image is generally a little duller than yours?

Anyhow, glad you still loving your set! Mine is great (even with brightness on 58!!!!!!) Started to watch some HD stuff on it (via BBC iplayer and the built in internet You Tube function) and it looks amazing.

Not tried out the 3D yet, as I still have no interest what so ever!

I think you are right mate with regards the settings. I wish someone on the HX823 got their set calibrated, i am still waiting for a response on the review thread about settings etc. Looks like i am the only one really interested.

I have to say the new 3D glasses have got my curiosity going about trying 3D i am sad to say, weather or not i pursue that is another matter.

Hands-on with Sony's 2012 3D glasses | CES 2012: Home Theater and Audio - CNET Blogs

Glad you are enjoying your set mate.

Take care,

Aaron

[HaRd2BeAr]

Originally Posted by Stockholm

Perhaps an image rendered by an Nvidia graphics card and sent to the screen differs in terms of brightness and colour representation than it would do from a digital source such as Sky HD and the like?

I tried to lower the brightness to 50 and below and it is just too dark for my liking. However, I've kept contrast at 97 as you suggested Aaron and I lowered Gamma to -1. I have film mode off (what does it do anyway?) and turned colour up slightly to 55. Sharpness is set at 60 as text looks very blurred at 0 to about 30, for instance. 60 looks nice from where I'm sitting. Above that, however, and it looks terrible.

Edit - Oh yeah, I changed it from Neutral to Cool as it emphasises the whites and brightens things up a tad. Warm 2 contained too much yellow and Neutral had a similar tinge of that colour.

I hope contrast 97 works on your set as if brightness wasn't right there is a chance contrast wont fit you panel 100%

Everywhere i read 20 is the sweet spot with regards sharpness where higher adds artificial sharpening and lower adds softening. Guess this model could be different but it has been the same in 2 Sony reviews on here.

I personally find cool to cold i am playing with color temp neutral as i fancy messing around with the settings a little. Although i know Warm2 is the most accurate setting.

Aaron

[Stockholm]

I had the mini display port to hdmi cable connected to HDMI 3 on the back of my 40EX723 but then I read on the Sony website that there is a dedicated PC HDMI slot on the back of the set. So I changed the cable from HDMI 3 to HDMI 4, which is the slot that I believe is the dedicated PC/HDMI one.

Is there any tangible advantage to using the PC/HDMI slot 4 over HDMI 3, 1 or 2? The only things I've noticed so far is that I needed to recalibrate my preferred settings again and now the TV momentarily goes black and appears to change when I visit certain sites like YouTube. I disabled this on HDMI 3 and as far as I can tell I've disabled the necessary settings again yet it still appears to want to change the settings, even though it doesn't once it establishes the picture. It's quite annoying and I'll be heading back to HDMI 3 if there is no other benefit to using PC/HDMI 4.

Thanks

[mrapriliafalco1]

Did anyone else have a software update this morning
Has anything changed ??????