squarejawhero
Established Member
Did a search, didn't come up; Scooby said it was ok to make a thread, so hopefully this is ok!
Just took delivery of the 42" version today. I'm not massively techy but I'm very fussy and so far it seems really good; however, bear in mind I've returned a good few LED/LCD's this year for faults.
Out of the (long) box it's a slick looking set. Like the led power lights and silver bezel, overall it's a nice piece of kit! Easy to put up; nice to swivel on the stand.
Turning it on, after a splash screen you set up your wireless (nice interface, could be nicer for input though); remember to press back after entering your key. Onwards takes you to setting up the channels; then it's BANG! Straight into the homescreen tutorial, replete with female robot voice. It's very handy, actually.
Currently playing Skyfall and it's ridiculously crisp. The image is better than the HX853 and motion is really superb. Colours are really rich, detail is superb; naturally, it's a passive screen so there's that slight filter effect to it but it's so slight compared to the LG's I've seen you can barely see it.
I've been fiddling with the colour settings (of which there are tons, of every variety imaginable) but need to calibrate it properly at some point. I've heard there's a good app for it on Android so I'll give that a shot! However; I will say they're very natural to look at. Unlike the HX853 which was overly blue/purple tinted and somewhat digital.
Blacks I'll have to come back to this evening.
Using it in a relatively bright room at the moment so can't comment.
Screen uniformity; there's a slight darkening of the bottom left in the menu's but relatively solid. Again these things don't rear their head outside of certain conditions; certainly blacks are black enough in a daylit room compared to the crappy previous TV's I've sent back so far. It's not as inky as the HX853 and the dimming options dim the screen, bit annoying. Not sure they'll be needed though. Not seen any DSE yet.
Motion handling appears to be really good. Very little blur. IFC set to min during film playback; I'm not a purist, it needs to be said. Any more than that and it gets very soapy. There's a load of options for HDMI I need to look into. It's a tinkerers nightmare/dream.
SD broadcasts are good - I'll need to check that out in more detail and play with the options. HD the same.
3D is really nice. Nicest passive I've used so far. I found active hurts my eyes and despite liking the picture quality, I'd rather watch a movie without having to stop every five minutes. Personal choice innit! Avatar was very smooth; had to use some IFC to even the motion but not at any great cost.
The sound is, predictably, tinny. Not that great. Plug it in to what you can.
The Smart interface is really slick; I'd imagine higher end models smooth out the transitional motions, but it's the nicest interface I've used. Lots of apps to play with.
I'll see how I get on with it over the weekend, but so far so good. Early days; but a really good first impression.
EDITS AND UPDATES;
1) Does seem to have some DSE on viewing Rango via Netflix. Will look into that with some other inputs. UPDATE; DSE fades the higher your backlight is on, so could be manageable.
2) Viera Remote 2 Android App; Really good fun to play about with. Do like the connectivity, really responsive. No sign of those image calibration settings yet; either it's not on this TV or it's a future update?
3) Also like Youtube's functionallity. Scrolling around it is very slow using the remote, but it's quite fun to use the Nexus 4 I have here to search and play from.
4) Homescreen is good fun to play about with. Could be handy; yet to find out properly.
5) Updating from night-time viewing; yes, you can tell it's an IPS panel. But it's a really good IPS panel. It's dark enough for my tastes on viewing The Dark Knight Rises and it looks really quite sharp; natural colours and it handles scenes with shadow detailing quite well.
6) The HX853 I had had some serious motion trailing. This handled Skyfall really well; the pin-sharp shot of Bond in the gun barrel only had the slightest trail and you'd have to be really looking for problems to be unhappy with it.
7) Screen uniformity; amazeballs. It's top-notch; no flashlighting, no visible clouding, no backlight bleed. But...
8) Dat DSE. My girlfriend didn't notice it today (and she was really looking) but I'm finding it difficult to get past; I'm going to give it a few days to see if I start to get used to it. It's a real shame because it's otherwise the best LED/LCD I've seen; bright, sharp images, good SD/HD broadcasts, great connectivity and interface, lovely physical looks, good movement. Just that one thing.
Just took delivery of the 42" version today. I'm not massively techy but I'm very fussy and so far it seems really good; however, bear in mind I've returned a good few LED/LCD's this year for faults.
Out of the (long) box it's a slick looking set. Like the led power lights and silver bezel, overall it's a nice piece of kit! Easy to put up; nice to swivel on the stand.
Turning it on, after a splash screen you set up your wireless (nice interface, could be nicer for input though); remember to press back after entering your key. Onwards takes you to setting up the channels; then it's BANG! Straight into the homescreen tutorial, replete with female robot voice. It's very handy, actually.
Currently playing Skyfall and it's ridiculously crisp. The image is better than the HX853 and motion is really superb. Colours are really rich, detail is superb; naturally, it's a passive screen so there's that slight filter effect to it but it's so slight compared to the LG's I've seen you can barely see it.
I've been fiddling with the colour settings (of which there are tons, of every variety imaginable) but need to calibrate it properly at some point. I've heard there's a good app for it on Android so I'll give that a shot! However; I will say they're very natural to look at. Unlike the HX853 which was overly blue/purple tinted and somewhat digital.
Blacks I'll have to come back to this evening.
Using it in a relatively bright room at the moment so can't comment.Screen uniformity; there's a slight darkening of the bottom left in the menu's but relatively solid. Again these things don't rear their head outside of certain conditions; certainly blacks are black enough in a daylit room compared to the crappy previous TV's I've sent back so far. It's not as inky as the HX853 and the dimming options dim the screen, bit annoying. Not sure they'll be needed though. Not seen any DSE yet.
Motion handling appears to be really good. Very little blur. IFC set to min during film playback; I'm not a purist, it needs to be said. Any more than that and it gets very soapy. There's a load of options for HDMI I need to look into. It's a tinkerers nightmare/dream.
SD broadcasts are good - I'll need to check that out in more detail and play with the options. HD the same.
3D is really nice. Nicest passive I've used so far. I found active hurts my eyes and despite liking the picture quality, I'd rather watch a movie without having to stop every five minutes. Personal choice innit! Avatar was very smooth; had to use some IFC to even the motion but not at any great cost.
The sound is, predictably, tinny. Not that great. Plug it in to what you can.
The Smart interface is really slick; I'd imagine higher end models smooth out the transitional motions, but it's the nicest interface I've used. Lots of apps to play with.
I'll see how I get on with it over the weekend, but so far so good. Early days; but a really good first impression.
EDITS AND UPDATES;
1) Does seem to have some DSE on viewing Rango via Netflix. Will look into that with some other inputs. UPDATE; DSE fades the higher your backlight is on, so could be manageable.
2) Viera Remote 2 Android App; Really good fun to play about with. Do like the connectivity, really responsive. No sign of those image calibration settings yet; either it's not on this TV or it's a future update?
3) Also like Youtube's functionallity. Scrolling around it is very slow using the remote, but it's quite fun to use the Nexus 4 I have here to search and play from.
4) Homescreen is good fun to play about with. Could be handy; yet to find out properly.
5) Updating from night-time viewing; yes, you can tell it's an IPS panel. But it's a really good IPS panel. It's dark enough for my tastes on viewing The Dark Knight Rises and it looks really quite sharp; natural colours and it handles scenes with shadow detailing quite well.
6) The HX853 I had had some serious motion trailing. This handled Skyfall really well; the pin-sharp shot of Bond in the gun barrel only had the slightest trail and you'd have to be really looking for problems to be unhappy with it.
7) Screen uniformity; amazeballs. It's top-notch; no flashlighting, no visible clouding, no backlight bleed. But...
8) Dat DSE. My girlfriend didn't notice it today (and she was really looking) but I'm finding it difficult to get past; I'm going to give it a few days to see if I start to get used to it. It's a real shame because it's otherwise the best LED/LCD I've seen; bright, sharp images, good SD/HD broadcasts, great connectivity and interface, lovely physical looks, good movement. Just that one thing.
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