Sony KDL40EX503 screen not bright enough.

nuttyspark

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Hi. First post here. On a bit of a downer at the moment as I've just spent best part of £700 on this bit of kit and I am so dissappointed at the picture quality. I have set the screen to Vivid, (backlight on max) contrast is on max, brightness is on max and colour is on 60, oh and I've turned the ambi sensor off, yet the picture still seems dull to me. :(
Any ideas people? I can't believe this is the same tv that is getting rave reviews.
 
Vivid is usually the display mode used on shop floors to try and make the TV stand out. The colour settings, brightness, etc are all pumped up way beyond normal viewing levels to do this. This sacrifices picture quality and doesn't show the TV at it's full potential. I'd never recommend using the Vivid mode at home. Start with the standard or custom mode (reset to default if need be) and work from there instead.

If you set the brightness too high the picture will lose clarity and begin to look grey and flat - worsening the higher you set it. To be honest, I'm not surprised you think it looks dull with the brightness set to max. If you're in a bright room then you may need to increase it slightly, but never to the maximum.

Do you have the TV setup in a particularly bright room?
 
Hi Stevie. Thanks for your reply. I have tried all the settings that come with the tv. It was only out of desperation that I selected vivid as I could not get the picture bright enough. The room is not really bright, I even drew the blinds to see if that would help. It didn't. Even when watching at night the screen is not right. I have spoken to Sony and I am taking it back in to the shop to compare it with a new one. If it turns out there is no difference and I can't get a refund, then I will be selling the set as there is no way I can put up with the dark dull images. :mad:
Even using my brand new sony blu-ray player to watch X-men origins left me feeling totally under whelmed. Stopped the film 3 times to try to get it bright enough, though never tried it in vivid mode, and as my girlfriend said...... it's too dark, so I know it's not just me, an her tv is a £300 Morrissons special. :(
 
:blush::blush::blush:
Returned the TV to Sony. Plugged it in next to the same model and it was really dark. Got a new TV and set it up when I got home. I used all the same settings as I did the first time, only this time I noticed when I set the eco setting to high, the screen went dark. Probably as dark as the set I took back.:blush:
As you can imagine I'm feeling pretty stupid about now. :facepalm:
In my defence, (1) This is the first LCD TV I've owned. (2) Most of the user manual is on the TV its self so did not have chance to read the manual before setting up the TV. (3) I rang the Sony centre about the screen being dark and they never tried to resolve the problem over the phone.
P.S. TV is superb, I would recommend it to anyone. :D
 
:blush::blush::blush:
Returned the TV to Sony. Plugged it in next to the same model and it was really dark. Got a new TV and set it up when I got home. I used all the same settings as I did the first time, only this time I noticed when I set the eco setting to high, the screen went dark. Probably as dark as the set I took back.:blush:
As you can imagine I'm feeling pretty stupid about now. :facepalm:
In my defence, (1) This is the first LCD TV I've owned. (2) Most of the user manual is on the TV its self so did not have chance to read the manual before setting up the TV. (3) I rang the Sony centre about the screen being dark and they never tried to resolve the problem over the phone.
P.S. TV is superb, I would recommend it to anyone. :D

Happens to us all mate, I once did something similar with the down firing speakers on a samsung, complained that they sounded awful only to find that there was a cling film type protective film over the speakers for transportation:blush:, of course when I removed it sound was fine....:clap:
Dont be hard on yourself........:facepalm:
 
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Thanks iybyisyl. I am so loving my new TV. Can't find fault with it at all. I don't have sky or virgin, just freeview and am amazed at how brilliant the freeview HD is. Don't like watching SD chanels now.......;)
Can't wait til there are more programs on HD.
:clap:
 
glad you're enjoying your Sony ---- they are great LCDs (when you finally get a good one!). In your defence, the guys at the Sony Centre (I'm assuming you got it from there) should have looked at the Eco setting, as they know it simply cranks down the backlight to save energy ----- thus making the screen dull.:lesson:
 

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