Sony KDL40HX803 Review

We’ve had a look at 3D TV offerings from Panasonic and Samsung, but now it’s time for Sony’s entry-level 3D display to go under close examination. The Sony KDL40HX803 is an edge-lit LED LCD TV, and is also a “3D Ready” set, meaning that although it ships without any out-of-the-box 3D functionality, this can be unlocked with a little bit of additional expenditure. You’ll need to add a pair of the Sony TDGBR100 3D shutter glasses (at £99), and surprisingly also a Sony TMRBR100 3D Sync Transmitter module (at approximately £50) if you’d like to experience 3D on the Sony KDL40HX803.

On the other hand, you can enjoy the built-in Freeview HD tuner (DVB-T2), the “Deep Black Panel” screen coating, and the Motionflow 200hz PRO technology straight out of the box. Our test results and impressions on the performance of the Sony KDL40HX803 follow…

Note: The specific model we tested was the Sony KDL40HX803U, i.e. the 3-pin-plug United Kingdom version. The same HDTV may be advertised by retailers and etailers as Sony KDL40HX803, Sony KDL-40HX803 or Sony KDL40HX803U; and we may use these terms interchangeably throughout this article to refer to the same model. While we did not review the 46-inch Sony KDL46HX803/ KDL46HX803U, there shouldn’t be any drastic difference in picture performance.

Our Sony KDL40HX803 review sample featured an SPVA LCD panel, manufactured by Sony/Samsung’s facility. We were expecting this model to feature one of Sharp’s UV2A panels instead. This difference has no significance for the majority of buyers, but we include the information for LCD enthusiasts keeping track of any potential “panel lottery” situation.

Design

If we rated HDTVs based on their design alone (fortunately we don’t!), the Sony KDL40HX803 would get an almost perfect 10. With its thin bezel, one segment of which has a brushed steel style, the Sony KDL40HX803U is one of the best looking displays we’ve seen lately. Unfortunately, the other three strips are styled in gloss black, and the TV ships with protective plastic over these areas, suggesting that they will soon become scratched. We can only imagine how perfect the Sony KDL40HX803’s aesthetics would be had the entire bezel been styled with the brushed steel look.

Sony KDL40HX803

Build quality is good: unlike a cheaper Sony LCD television we reviewed, the brushed steel bottom panel doesn’t feel as if it could be pulled off easily. The Sony KDL-40HX803 can swivel left and right by a generous amount on the included tabletop stand (which is, you guessed it… gloss black).

The Sony KDL40HX803 also features a Standby switch, as well as a complete shutdown switch (labelled “Energy Saving Switch”), on its right side.

Connections

The Sony KDL40HX803U features no unusual connectivity interface. There are 4 HDMI inputs in total, with 2 of them being on the recessed side panel. There’s also a USB port for accessing media files, and a network (Ethernet) port for hooking up to the web. A single RF input feeds the tuner, which is capable of receiving terrestrial and cable broadcasts (although here in the UK, the latter capability is of no use).

Rear connections on Sony KDL40HX803
Rear: 2 x HDMI, VGA, Component, 2 x Scarts, aerial, ethernet, audio outs, 3D Transmitter jack
Side: 2 x HDMI, USB, Common Interface, Composite Video, Headphones

Operation

Unsurprisingly for a modern Sony HDTV, the KDL40HX803 uses the XMB (Xross Media Bar) user interface, which I’m not personally a huge fan of. Some of the useful controls can take a while to reach, and all of the available options are not displayed on screen at once, although these are fairly minor complaints.

More important is the amount of control given over video. After selecting “Cinema” from the “SCENE” button on the remote (there’s no need to use any of the other modes, except for the “GAME” mode), the [Display] > [Picture] screen acts as a starting point for full setup. All of the basic options act as expected, with “Motionflow” being the first Sony-specific option, which we’ll investigate later when we test the KDL40HX803U’s motion resolution.

Strangely, one of Sony’s [Colour Temperature] (Greyscale) modes is called “Neutral”, and it promises to “give white colours a neutral tint”. Sony’s definition of “neutral” must be a little off-kilter, because this mode produces very blue-tinted pictures! “Warm2” is in fact the most correct setting.

The [Advanced Settings] submenu contains several redundant controls, but the useful ones include a [Gamma] adjustment, and [LED Dynamic Control], which is an attempt at implementing a local-dimming-like feature on a side-lit panel. There is also a user-accessible Greyscale calibration menu called [White Balance]. Shockingly for such an expensive display, there are no proper colour management controls at all, so it would appear that Sony has some confidence (perhaps too much?) in its preset modes.

The remote includes Sony’s usual orange “THEATRE” mode button. This is essentially a shortcut to selecting the “CINEMA” picture mode. We used this picture mode for everything (except gaming), to get the highest quality picture at all times, so we had no use for this button.

[Picture] menu [Picture] menu
[Picture] menus

Sony tucks its 3D settings away in a more difficult to locate [3D Menu], which can be accessed by pressing the “OPTIONS” button on the remote, then selecting the relevant option. (The “3D” button on the remote control simply toggles the Sony KDL40HX803 between 2D and 3D display modes).

3D Menu on Sony KDL40HX803
3D Menu
[3D Display] replicates the functionality of the remote control button, switching between 2D/3D drive mode. [3D Depth Adjustment] controls the depth of genuine 3D material, whereas [Simulated 3D Effect] can be set to “Low”, “Medium” or “High” to control the intensity of 2D-to-3D conversion.

[3D Glasses Brightness] can be set to three different modes; we used “High” to minimise the light loss imposed on 3D images by the shutter glasses. This option seems to largely change the Sony KDL-40HX803’s Colour Temperature (by default, it emphasises Blue to make the image appear brighter), as well as the shutter synchronisation of the 3D glasses themselves. As usual for our 3DTV reviews, we will be performing 3D calibration on the Sony KDL40HX803 through the 3D glasses to offset any unnatural colour shifts.

Finally, the [3D Format] can be switched between “Side-by-Side”, “Over-Under” or “Simulated 3D”. With “Full HD 3D” content such as 3D Blu-ray Discs, there is no need to select this option, since the Sony KDL40HX803U automatically switches to 3D mode in this case.

2D Calibration

Note: Our Sony KDL40HX803 review unit was calibrated using Calman Professional, the industry-leading video calibration software.

2D Mode Greyscale

After performing basic calibration work on the Sony KDL-40HX803, which involved shutting off the “Adv. Contrast Enhancer” and “LED Dynamic Control” systems, we measured the TV’s output:

Pre-calibration CCT
Pre-calibration CCT in [Cinema] mode
Pre-calibration RGB Tracking
Pre-calibration RGB tracking and delta errors (dEs)

This is certainly not the best attempt at an uncalibrated preset mode that we’ve seen from Sony; some of their previous (traditional back-lit) LCD sets have actually managed to achieve near-perfect accuracy without any adjustments. With LED-lit sets, though, this seems to be a thing of a past.

First, the top-most Correlated Colour Temperature chart shows that the overall temperature is too high (the orange line indicates the ideal position). A more detailed breakdown can be seen in the “RGB Level Tracking” chart, which shows that sure enough, the colour of Grey contains excess blue at all points, leading to slightly steely-looking, cold images. We used the Sony KDL40HX803’s [White Balance] menu to fine-tune Greyscale tracking as best we could with the help of Calman Professional software and a Klein K10 measuring device, and managed to bring about this improvement, to give readers some idea of what the Sony KDL40HX803U is capable of at its best:

Post-calibration CCT in [Cinema] mode
Post-calibration CCT in [Cinema] mode
Post-calibration RGB Tracking in [Cinema] mode
Post-calibration RGB tracking and dEs in [Cinema] mode

The Greyscale tracking quality that we obtained from our first calibration attempt on the Sony KDL40HX803 wasn’t the most even that we’ve ever seen (that accolade would go to Samsung’s current standard LCD TVs with their 10-point White Balance control), but it did not produce blatant errors on screen. However, instead of measuring 20% and 80% brightness for the low-end and high-end sections respectively, we tried again, this time measuring 10% and 90% instead. This allowed us to remove a visible blue tint in the 10% area, without adversely affecting Greyscale quality elsewhere.

You may notice that there appears to be a thresholding error at the 100% position on the chart, where the amount of blue takes a small dip downwards. Normally, this is the result of having a display’s white level control (usually “Contrast”) set too high. This was not the case with our 40HX803 review sample – although the TV does come with a much more visible red contamination in bright parts of the picture, we eliminated errors at 100% as best we could.

Gamma curve in [Cinema] mode Gamma tracking in [Cinema] mode
Gamma curve in [Cinema] mode Corresponding gamma tracking

We didn’t need to make any adjustments to the Sony KDL-40HX803’s basic [Gamma] control to achieve good performance in this area. Overall gamma measured at 2.14, producing slightly too much proportional brightness in lighter parts of the picture. We did try reduce the [Gamma] control to -1, but this resulted in lessened shadow details, so we left it as-is.

2D Mode Colour

The only adjustment we have to control the colour reproduction on the Sony KDL40HX803 is the single [Colour] control. There is also a control called [Live Colour] which masquerades itself as an “Advanced” video option, but in reality this has much the same behaviour as turning up the basic [Colour] control, simply increasing the Luminance of all of the on-screen colours together rather than individually. In other words, it is basically useless, since it does nothing to allow us to control specific colours. With this limitation in mind, we simply set the [Colour] control to reduce errors with Red (although we could just have easily done this for Green or Blue, since perfection won’t be possible anyway).

Post-calibration CIE chart in [Cinema] mode
Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec.709

Since no individual control is given over the Hue or Saturation (chromaticity) of the colours at all, it is fortunate that there are no drastic errors in this area. Like LED-based LCD sets we’re reviewed from Samsung and Toshiba, the Sony KDL40HX803U also has difficulty in fully saturating red (although not to the same extent as Toshiba’s effort). Blue is also somewhat incorrect, appearing very slightly more purple than it would on a fully accurate screen.

Post-calibration Luminance levels in [Cinema] mode
Post-calibration colour luminance (coloured bars = targets; black bars = measured values)

We are unsure exactly how many of the errors are intrinsic to the hardware (white LEDs as a light source are not renowned for their accuracy), but fortunately, none of them present a serious on-screen problem without a perfectly accurate screen nearby. Still, we wonder if we could have squeezed just a little more accuracy out of the Sony KDL40HX803 had we been given the chance. Sony would be well advised to step up and add Colour Management controls at the first opportunity, given that rival brands’ mid-range models now include these.

3D Calibration

As usual for the uncharted waters of 3D display calibration, we began by measuring the Sony KDL-40HX803’s Greyscale and Colour accuracy with the TV set to 3D mode, but without placing the glasses in front of our calibration meter’s lens. This acts as a control of sorts, and allows us to see if the Sony KDL40HX803 has any trouble producing linear Greyscale and accurate colours when its 3D driving mode is engaged. In other words, it gives us a rough idea of what to expect once the 3D glasses’ own colour tint are factored in.

It is worth noting that, at present, there are no specific calibration guidelines for home 3D displays. We calibrate displays in 3D to the same standards as for 2D, in lieu of any orders to do otherwise.

Fortunately, Sony appear to recognise the need for separate 2D and 3D calibration to get the most out of a 3D TV. In 3D mode, the KDL40HX803U applies separate picture settings for all the basic video adjustments, as well as [White Balance] (some other, less useful options are disabled in 3D mode). Panasonic’s TX-P50VT20 did not account for this, meaning that we had to manually switch to a different picture mode manually for 3D material, in order to get the most realistic image.

Here are the measurements on the Sony KDL-40HX803 3D TV with the 3D glasses attached:

3D Mode Greyscale

3D CCT in [Cinema] mode
3D CCT in [Cinema] mode
3D RGB Tracking in [Cinema] mode
3D RGB tracking and dEs in [Cinema] mode

You might be wondering, “where are the 3D Greyscale measurements from BEFORE calibration?” As it happens, the Sony KDL40HX803’s performance in this area was almost completely accurate out-of-the-box. We only reduced the “R-Gain” control by one click to achieve marginally more accurate high-end Greyscale tracking. As a result, we have omitted the “3D Pre-calibration” charts to avoid clutter.

To say that we were stunned by this excellent performance is an understatement. At first, we wondered if the Sony KDL40HX803U was using our 2D calibration work as a basis, and then intelligently offsetting for the 3D glasses’ own colouration, so we went back to 2D mode and cleared our Greyscale calibration work to test this theory. Yet, there was no difference with the 3D performance: we were astonished to see that the Sony KDL40HX803’s pre-calibration Greyscale performance was better in 3D than it was in 2D! In any case, the fact that Sony has matched a D65 white point with its default 3D settings could perhaps be taken as a sign that the content production community will eventually settle on a D65 white point for 3D in the home.

This is the best Greyscale tracking we have seen yet from a 3DTV display. In fact, it makes the uncalibrated 3D pictures of Panasonic’s VT20 Plasma (which produced a very off-coloured, red-tinted image) look very unnatural by comparison. Even after calibration – which at present is very difficult to do for 3D displays – the Panasonic VT20 Plasma had some difficulty in maintaining linear Greyscale characteristics at the higher panel refresh rate. We’ll give our impressions of how Sony’s impressive accuracy impacts the KDL-40HX803’s 3D picture quality later on in the review.

3D Gamma curve in [Cinema] mode 3D Gamma tracking in [Cinema] mode
3D Gamma curve in [Cinema] mode 3D Corresponding gamma tracking

3D Mode Colour

3D Post-calibration CIE chart in [Cinema] mode
3D Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec.709
3D Post-calibration Luminance levels in [Cinema] mode
3D Post-calibration colour luminance (coloured bars = targets; black bars = measured values)

There is little to discuss in terms of colour performance in 3D mode, but like 3D Greyscale quality, the 3D colour is every bit as good as the decent 2D performance. Some colours are not as bright as they ideally would be (most notably, Green) but this is not surprising given that a) the colour performance on the Sony KDL40HX803 was not perfect even in 2D, and b) the active shutter glasses impose a loss of brightness on their own.

Benchmark Test Results

Dead pixels None
Screen uniformity Brighter corners visible in dark room, very obvious non-uniformity in 3D mode
Overscanning on HDMI 0% with [Display Area] set to “Full Pixel”
Blacker than black Passed
Calibrated black level 0.05 cd/m2 (0 cd/m2 with LED dimming on full black screen)
Black level retention Essentially stable: auto-dims after 7 seconds of full black
Primary chromaticity Very good
Scaling Very Good
Video mode deinterlacing Very effective jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing Excellent: Passed 2:2 PAL and many NTSC cadences
Viewing angle Very Good: slight loss of contrast and tint from sides
Motion resolution 800 with [Motionflow] set to “Clear”, 300 without
Digital noise reduction Defeatable noise reduction
Sharpness Defeatable edge enhancement
Luma/Chroma bandwidth Full Luma, Full Chroma in all picture modes
1080p/24 capability Accepts 1080p/24 video signal; no telecine judder
Input lag 31ms in “Game Mode” compared to lag-free CRT
Full 4:4:4 reproduction Yes, full colour resolution, but only in “Game” mode

Power Consumption

Default [Normal] mode (2D)* 68 watts
Default [Normal] mode (3D)* 132 watts
Calibrated [Cinema] mode (2D) 78 watts
Calibrated [Cinema] mode (3D) 86 watts
Standby 1 watt

* The default picture settings adjust LED light intensity relative to the brightness of the on-screen pictures. These measurements were taken with a 50% grey screen.

Picture Performance

Black Level

Those who pay close attention to the LCD performance of different panel types will know that Sony and Samsung SPVA LCD displays have been renowned for their unusually good contrast performance for many years. We weren’t surprised at all to see the black level on the Sony KDL40HX803 measuring at just 0.05 cd/m2, because when viewed with just a little ambient light in the room, blacks appear rich and deep to the eye (with the usual LCD proviso that the user is required to sit on-axis and not view the screen from the sides). Sony’s promotional material mentions that the KDL40HX803U features a “Deep Black Panel”, which refers specifically to the screen’s anti-glare coating. Thanks to this coating’s effectiveness, black levels were actually best experienced with a little ambient light present, due to the way our eyes perceive light in a darkened room.

The Sony KDL40HX803 also features a [LED Dynamic Control] setting, which dims the intensity of the LED light sources to correspond to the amount of lightness in the video signal. Although this will allow the Sony KDL-40HX803 to produce deeper black levels during fully dark scenes, it comes at the expense of shadow detail and overall contrast. Consider the example of white text placed on top of a fully black background: with this feature enabled, the white text would become greyish so that the screen could make the black area appear deeper. Unfortunately, we can’t have the best of both worlds on a side-lit LED TV (for this, you need a local-dimming LED TV, or an emissive display such as a Plasma television).

Additionally, this feature affects Greyscale tracking in an unpredictable way, making calibration and accuracy essentially impossible. For these reasons, we turned the [LED Dynamic Control] feature off on the Sony KDL40HX803 – the TV’s “natural” black level is nothing to sniff at, anyway (at least, it’s not after adjusting the [Backlight] control to match our usual standards). Sony should be commended for providing control over this feature, unlike Samsung who have been forcing users to tolerate visible light fluctuations on their LED LCD TVs for some time now.

Screen Uniformity

Like many sidelit LED TVs, the panel uniformity on the Sony KDL40HX803U was average. From a direct sitting position, we noted that the middle of the screen was quite visibly darker than the sides when we displayed a full 10% grey test screen. In a dark room, the edges of the screen also appeared quite distinct from the middle. With actual TV material, the issues are naturally much less visible, but fast camera movements across an otherwise static scene revealed the fault. Fortunately, uniformity errors were much less visible with brighter shades, and typically didn’t appear with real-world content.

Motion Resolution

Using the tried and tested FPD Benchmark Software Blu-ray Disc, we investigated the Sony KDL40HX803’s ability to portray clear motion. Unsurprisingly, with [Motionflow] turned off, the moving chart appeared very blurred, with the KDL-40HX803 managing to resolve only about 300 lines of resolution, which is standard for a “normal” LCD panel.

There are various [Motionflow] modes to help alleviate blurred motion. As well as the option to turn the system off completely, users can select “Smooth”, “Standard”, “Clear”, and “Clear Plus” settings. With the scrolling resolution test chart, we observed different effects with each. “Smooth” and “Standard” both caused the thin lines in the chart to flicker upon movement, whereas “Clear” caused a very subtle “ghost image” of the thin lines to appear as the chart scrolled. The “Clear Plus” option uses some sort of method which severely cuts light output from the screen, so we used the standard “Clear” setting.

We also did some subjective testing comparing the Sony KDL40HX803 to a mid-range Plasma HDTV (Panasonic TX-P42G20) with both displays running the same content (a high-motion, 60-fields-per-second sample video from Panasonic’s own VIERA promotional disc, which is obviously intended to showcase the benefits of a Plasma TV). With the [Motionflow] setting on “Clear”, Sony’s LCD display was actually not appreciably worse than the Plasma. The Sony KDL40HX803U displayed the usual LCD trait of black-on-white pixel changes leaving black/grey smears in the picture, but these were small, and the Plasma was hardly innocuous either: it displayed yellow/green streaks instead due to the uneven phosphor decay times. Both displays produced clear motion with small side-effects, meaning that for many users, the choice will come down to individual preference.

Since MCFI (motion-compensated frame interpolation) systems like Motionflow incur an extra processing step, they are not ideally suited to all types of content. For example, we often talk about MCFIs introducing an unnatural “soap opera effect” to low-motion film material. Sony’s HDTVs have a [Film Mode] option which does more than most other manufacturers’ similarly-named controls. In addition to controlling Film Deinterlacing, it can also be configured to minimise the possibility of film material being adversely affected by the Motionflow system. Sony’s documentation mentions that the “Auto2” film mode setting will reproduce the film content without further revision, although strangely, with some 24p Blu-ray material, we noticed some tearing at the top of the screen during camera pans, which “Auto1” fixed. In any case, artefacts are quite rare, and if they become troubling, the Motionflow system can be shut off entirely.

Standard Definition

The KDL40HX803 continues Sony’s track record of delivering overall good Standard Def performance. While the Sony KDL40HX803U doesn’t produce the crispest SD images we’ve ever seen, users are unlikely to ever notice a performance shortcoming. The Sony KDL40HX803 is highly capable of disguising jaggedness in material such as TV broadcasts, and also (usually) detects film content “wrapped” in an interlaced video signal properly, so as not to damage its clarity.

BBC News on Sony KDL40HX803

We input a standard-def PAL resolution test to the Sony KDL-40HX803, to see how its built-in video processor upconverts SD material to the HD LCD panel. The performance here was consistent with other Sony HDTV displays: it’s good, but there is room for improvement. All of the details from the SD source were sufficiently captured, but the image still appeared a little soft. The grey lines in the bottom-right corner of the chart appeared slightly faint as opposed to appearing as strong black, and the small text in the chart didn’t appear as crisp as it does with the best upscalers. However, this is more than adequate given that most Standard Definition sources don’t contain a huge amount of detail.

Earlier in the Motion Resolution section, we described the working of Sony’s [Film Mode] control, and how it should be set to avoid introducing “fake” motion into film-based material. During tests with PAL DVD material, we caught it introducing some tearing and other unusual image artefacts during panning shots in the Film-based version of Spirited Away. This wasn’t surprising, and we had expected some level of artefacts to arise from the use of Motionflow.

The Sony KDL40HX803 does also feature an [MPEG Noise Reduction] control, but as usual, this does more harm than good and simply destroys genuine detail in the image, making it look akin to a watercolour painting. For this reason, we chose not to use it when watching over-compressed SD TV channels.

High Definition

American Beauty Blu-ray on Sony KDL40HX803

There is no denying that, when viewed face-on, the Sony KDL-40HX803 can produce beautiful images. The slight colour saturation deficiencies (which we speculate are imposed by the white LED light source) were not terribly apparent on their own, and needed an accurate reference to become notable – although this is still a picture inaccuracy that ideally wouldn’t be here.

Kevin Spacey in American Beauty

We ran a variety of our favourite Blu-ray Discs through the Sony KDL40HX803, and had no complaints beyond what we’d already learned about the panel’s own limitations. Full detail was reproduced cleanly without any additional aliasing, moire or blurring, and the Greyscale and Gamma qualities of the calibrated KDL40HX803U allowed the image to appear suitably natural, with a great sense of depth. High-frequency film grain textures were rendered cleanly with no selective motion averaging (an issue that some other LCDs have suffered from), resulting in faithful video reproduction.

3D Material

When we first flipped the KDL40HX803 into 3D mode, it was immediately apparent that Sony are using a very different high-refresh panel-driving method to Samsung’s. When we reviewed the Samsung UE46C8000, we noticed that its 3D mode appeared to place a “dither” over some parts of the image. We theorise that Samsung’s method is to only drive every second pixel in certain areas in an attempt to speed up response time, but we would love to hear any other thoughts or concrete explanations of what’s going on. Sony’s method does not cause a visible dither in the same way as Samsung’s, but does appear to introduce static noise specks into the picture, particularly in darker gradation areas. Neither method is hugely troublesome, and for completeness, we should also mention that Panasonic’s 3D Plasma featured a much higher amount of Plasma panel noise (PWM noise) in its 3D mode.

Putting technicalities aside, how did the Sony KDL-40HX803 fare with 3D content by eye? Thanks to the accurate Greyscale, the image looked remarkably natural, without any strange colour tints (provided users keeps their heads level with the KDL40HX803U, that is – the 3D glasses add a colour tint if users move their heads to one side). It is pretty remarkable to see 3D images looking this “clean”: it was literally possible to flip in and out of 3D mode and observe the same natural white balance with both 2D and 3D images.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t entirely forget the inner workings of 3D TV and become fully immersed in the experience, because like all LCD-based 3D TVs on the market so far, the Sony KDL40HX803 suffers from crosstalk. Crosstalk is the strange “double image” effect that tends to appear around bright objects on dark backgrounds (or vice versa), and occurs when a 3D display’s motion rendering abilities aren’t up to the task of displaying then clearing images from the screen under the very rapid time constraints that 3D demands. The end result is ghostly “after-images” which are typically highly distracting and do a lot to spoil the sense of depth that 3D TV is supposed to give. Out of all the 3DTV sets we’ve tested so far, Panasonic’s 3D Plasma TV (unsurprisingly) featured the lowest amount of crosstalk, so for its other faults, it still produced the most satisfying 3D viewing experience.

That’s not to say that 3D Blu-ray content on the Sony KDL40HX803U looked bad – not by a long shot – but we have a hard time imagining an artefact as glaring as 3D crosstalk being tolerated on a 2D display. It is an unsightly blight on an otherwise very compelling experience.

Everything we’ve discussed so far relates to Full-resolution 3D material from 3D Blu-ray. Much of what we say here will relate nearly as well to lesser forms of 3D, such as the “Side-by-Side” format which is being used by Sky in the UK. “Side-by-Side” signals use the exisiting 2D encoding and transmission systems to (quite literally) squash the Left and Right eye images into one HD frame, which limits the horizontal resolution (and thus the resulting picture clarity). Fortunately, the Sony KDL40HX803 handled Side-by-Side signals wonderfully. When we reviewed the Samsung UE46C8000 3D TV, we noted how poor its video processing for Side-by-Side material was, so we are glad that Sony has not fallen into the same trap (we also hope that Samsung have a fix in the works). For comparison, have a look at how these two competing TVs handle 3D Side-by-Side broadcasts:

Sony KDL-40HX803 3D Side-by-Side mode
Sony KDL-40HX803 3D Side-by-Side mode
Samsung UE46C8000 3D Side-by-Side mode
Samsung UE46C8000 3D Side-by-Side mode

As you can see, fine details from Side-by-Side 3D signals were displayed clearly on the Sony KDL40HX803, without appearing “eroded” as they did on the Samsung UE46C8000. In this regard, Sony’s Side-by-Side implementation is on par with Panasonic’s, making it suitable for use with Sky’s 3D TV channel.

2D-To-3D Conversion Mode

Like Samsung, Sony also have a feature which takes ordinary 2D video signals and attempts to convert them to 3D – something that they have kept surprisingly quiet about. When you consider the differences between these companies, this starts to make sense. Sony owns a Hollywood film studio and, like Panasonic, a Blu-ray Disc authoring facility. Unlike Panasonic, Sony also has a computer games division (we’re sure Panasonic would rather nobody mentioned their attempt at breaking that particular market). Samsung has neither of these content bases, so it makes sense that they have been especially preoccupied with 2D-to-3D conversion.

Ultimately, our opinion of Sony’s conversion is the same as it was for Samsung’s: it probably won’t make any lasting impression, but it’s fun for a short while. In fact, it doesn’t seem to have complicated inner workings – it seems that taking a 2D image, shifting it in each direction, then sending the two shifted signals to each eye goes a long way in creating at least some sense of depth – phony or not.

We engaged the 2D-to-3D conversion on some plain old Digital TV broadcasts, and were relieved to see that unlike Samsung’s 3D TVs, the Sony KDL40HX803 doesn’t add any jerkiness to 50hz video, scoring it yet another point for its superior 3D implementation.

Console Gaming

Gaming was largely enjoyable on the Sony KDL-40HX803 thanks to 31ms of input lag, which will either be relatively unnoticeable, or very slightly irritating, depending on the reflexes required by the game (and your familiarity with how it plays on a totally lag-free screen).

We also took this opportunity to try some of the 3D game demos from the Playstation Network Store. After connecting the PS3 directly to the Sony KDL40HX803U (connecting through pre-3D AV receivers is a no-go), we gave Motorstorm a spin. Frankly, the experience was not really eye-popping. While we certainly did observe the extra depth, it was only when we went back and played the game in 2D that we began to appreciate it. With that in mind, we wonder how the public will react to the technology, and if 3D gaming can convince consumers to part with their hard-earned cash. Certain types of games (first person shooters in particular) seem like a natural fit for 3D treatment, but as it stands, none of the racing games seem to be the “killer app” 3D gaming needs.

One thing we did find incredibly interesting was that when we enabled the 2D-to-3D conversion mode with a 30fps video game (in this case Halo: Reach), motion appeared much, much smoother when we wore the 3D glasses. This is without the TV performing any motion interpolation trickery. It appears that feeding slightly offset images to our Left and Right eyes also gives the perception of much smoother motion.

Unfortunately, the “Fake 3D” mode upped input lag to around 47ms, meaning that we don’t advise it for fast-paced, competitive online games.

Online Functions

Hook up a LAN cable to the port on the back of the Sony KDL40HX803, and you’ll be able to access select internet video services through the HDTV. All of the services – which include BBC iPlayer, Demand Five, LoveFilm.com, and some other providers from across Europe – are integrated into the Xross Media Bar menu.

The image quality from these services is, more often than not, absolutely terrible, although this is no fault of the Sony KDL-40HX803, but that of overdone (and poorly done) video compression used by the content providers. In particular, the so-called “HD” trailers from the LoveFilm service might as well be used by the Blu-ray Disc Association as a shining example of why high-definition movies deserve to be on disc, rather than “in the cloud”. Of course, this was a particularly shocking example: other services provided image quality that could be described as “just below broadcast TV” (how’s that for a ringing endorsement?). Nevertheless, these features could be useful for catching up on less worthy programmes that you’ve missed on TV.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the BBC iPlayer feature to work due to poor interface design: each time we tried, we were told that the Sony KDL40HX803 required a software update, and were instructed to leave the service and enable the TV’s “Automatic Software Update” feature – which we eventually found out was already turned on anyway. Why not simply have a button allowing users to download the new software immediately?

Conclusion

Although our last couple of Sony LCD TV reviews have been largely positive, the company’s LCD line has been fighting to stay relevant in recent times, given that Samsung have been implementing similar LCD technology with marginally better colour accuracy and crucially, lower prices. Although Sony is still lagging behind in terms of accuracy due to their lack of colour calibration controls, the Sony KDL40HX803 LED-powered LCD TV shakes things up a little, because it is superior to Samsung’s most recent efforts – especially when it comes to 3D.

Compared to the Samsung C8000 (and by design, we assume also the C9000) models, the differences are in the details: Samsung’s 3D implementation introduces judder with 24p films and especially also with 50hz material such as UK TV signals… and Sony’s does neither. Samsung’s features a lack of detail and pixellation with Side-by-Side broadcasts (eg Sky’s 3D channel), Sony’s does not. For both 2D and 3D, the Sony KDL40HX803 has clearly superior viewing angle performance, with the image still looking somewhat natural and rich when viewed from the sides.

Unfortunately, as we expected from an LCD-based HDTV, its 3D images are still marred by a moderate amount of crosstalk. This is a pity, because if it weren’t for this, the Sony KDL40HX803 would have been the best 3D performer yet. The Greyscale accuracy of our KDL-40HX803 review sample’s 3D mode was absolutely excellent, meaning that for once, there was no unwelcome yellow-green tint to the image after putting the 3D glasses on (they still make the picture somewhat darker, though). This means that, in spite of featuring superior Greyscale tracking, the Panasonic VT20 Plasma is still a superior 3D performer thanks to its relative freedom from distracting crosstalk. We are glad to see that the competition is catching up, though, and hope that the next generation of LCD-based 3DTV displays will reduce the crosstalk somewhat.

This all puts the Sony KDL40HX803 in a pretty favourable position. The Sony KDL40HX803U can be found online for around £1300, and although this is slightly high for a 40″ display, we think that its 3D Ready-ness and overall high image quality make it just about worth the money.

Recommended

103 comments

  1. I’m looking for a TV that is both great for watching sports (rugby union and cricket) and for the kids to watch their movies from the HTPC. Many movies are watched with letterbox bars and FoxSports tends to have solid logo’s. Do I buy a ‘fast’ LCD or a burn resilient plasma?

  2. First, kudos for (another) grest review!
    two questions:
    did you test ansi contrast with checkerboard pattern, and if yes what was the result?
    and how would you compare general viewing experience and image quality of the HX803 to the Panasonic Plasma V20?
    tnks

  3. So, you’d happily watch this TV with film content in Motionflow smooth? If so, that’s a major acheivement from Sony!

    There are some interesting points regarding the panel type though, since this has input lag more like the ASV EX703 you reviewed. Did this also show the chroma upsampling that model appeared to have?

  4. Thank you so much for this amazing review! you are awesome!

  5. Thanks for the kind words!

    @Evan: We didn’t test ANSI. Maybe we should start doing that as standard?

    @MarkD: Manufacturers of PDPs promise permanent burn in is a thing of the past, yet they still cover themselves with warranties – it sounds like you may be tempting fate though if you watch *a lot* of Fox Sports, but letterbox bars should hopefully be OK.

    @YellowSphere: I’d use “Clear” but with the Film Mode set up to avoid introducing “soap opera effect”. This still does give occasional motion artefacts, but on the whole, I think it’s watchable.

  6. You wrote that “Clear Plus” setting cuts light output of the screen. Is the quality and motion resolution same as “Clear” setting? I think it can use the same algorithm as “Clear” setting with backlight scanning enabled (200Hz mode). It explains lower light output, but resolution could be slightly better.

  7. The motion clarity in Clear Plus, to my eye, looked pretty much the same as Clear. To be frank, when you have motion resolution as good as “Clear” can give, it’s difficult to see further improvements. Backlight scanning as you say should bring some benefit, however small.

  8. Perhaps you guys could expand on the recommendation system and have catagories for “best TV’s” for watching sports, movies, gaming, all-round etc..

    Best regards and thanks for the fantastic reviews that I look forward to so much.

  9. So if one to were to buy an LCD for sports and movies, which one would you recommend at this present time?

  10. As Evan, I’d be interesting in direct comparison of this TV with V20 as well, since I have the opportunity to buy for the same price both TV and not sure which way to go. Also given this year’s quality problems with Panasonic’s plasmas…

    Would it be possible? Thanks

  11. Great Review.

    I’ve had a 40HX803 for a few weeks now, generally happy but I seem to get smearing on bold block colours, you mention something about this in the reveiw (black on white etc) but motion doesn’t seem as good with grey colours either – is this normal?

    Also something else, I have sharpness levels on 15 on Scene’s ‘Auto/General’ and ‘Game’ mode, but the picture on Auto/General seems Sharper depsite sharpness levels being identical, is this the same with all these sets, and again normal?

    And i’m being a little thick, what is 4:4:4 reproduction on game mode?

  12. Thanks Chris.
    I didn’t use any modes other than Movie or Game – from what I’ve heard, the other scene modes do some “behind your back” adjustments, so what you’re seeing could well be correct.

    Are you seeing grey streaks? This will be normal with an SPVA LCD panel.

    4:4:4 reproduction is when each pixel in the video signal has its own unique colour value. Basically, coloured nuances look very crisp and detailed. A TV that didn’t reproduce full 4:4:4 would show slight colour bleed around fine details. Remember though that the only 4:4:4 sources are computers and games consoles, so it’s only with these that you’d see a difference.

  13. Thanks for the response..

    So the TV only recognises 4:4:4 on the game mode setting? or if you put a PS3 on Scene ‘Auto’ or Cinema would you still get full 4:4:4 reproduction?

  14. “Cinema” had slightly blurred colour. I imagine Game mode will be the only one that shows the full chroma resolution.

    I didn’t try any of the other scene modes, since they seem fairly pointless.

  15. Johan Verschuren

    What where the calibration settings for 2D during the test.

  16. What will be Input lag when you use Motion flow/Clear motion & etc?

  17. It’s higher, so I didn’t use any of those modes for games. The Game mode shuts off Motionflow and doesn’t let you enable it.

    @Johan: I don’t have any White Balance settings (they’d be pointless on another TV anyway) but will dig out the basic controls.

  18. @MarkD: Manufacturers of PDPs promise permanent burn in is a thing of the past, yet they still cover themselves with warranties – it sounds like you may be tempting fate though if you watch *a lot* of Fox Sports, but letterbox bars should hopefully be OK.

    So if one to were to buy an LCD for sports and movies, which one would you recommend at this present time?

  19. Right now, all the LCDs have a few issues. This one is a pretty strong choice.

    Alternatively there are Samsung’s CCFL-backlit TVs, which are a good bit cheaper. The 3D isn’t as good, if you care about that, and the Motion Plus system can cause the picture to judder occasionally (not to say that Sony Motionflow is perfect either though).

  20. David Mackenzie on 5 October 2010 12:18 am

    Right now, all the LCDs have a few issues. This one is a pretty strong choice.

    Alternatively there are Samsung’s CCFL-backlit TVs, which are a good bit cheaper. The 3D isn’t as good, if you care about that, and the Motion Plus system can cause the picture to judder occasionally (not to say that Sony Motionflow is perfect either though).

    Thanks David,

    Looks like a good plasma still wins in the motion resolution stakes…

  21. Thank for the review David.

    You didn’t mention anything about the Ambient Sensor feature.
    I assume you shut it off during tests and calibration?

  22. Yes, we leave that off.

  23. Any chance you could post your 2D calibration settings? It would be very much appreciated.

  24. These guys put input lag at a game wrecking 40-50ms:

    http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1281011605

    This input lag thing s doing my head in. Maybe they measured it through a connection other than HDMI? Who knows.

    Could you give a quick explanation of how you conduct your input lag tests? Is lag usually consistent throughout a test or does it fluctuate?

    Have you guys written (or would you consider writing) a feature on input lag.

    Oh and PLEASE review the Bravia EX710 and the EX600.

  25. We output 1080p/60 over DVI to the TV and enable any Game mode option. Then we take a lot (20-30) of high speed photos. Often, the same number appears in most of the images, and we use that. Otherwise, we average.

    I’ve played games on TVs that I’ve measured as being 40-50ms before. This is definitely not one of them.

  26. hi im really interested in this tv for 3d gaming. i dont fancy a plasma due to ir etc and am unsure if the input lag would be really noticeable as never new about it until looking for a 3d tv. anyway i would like your view on is this the best 3d lcd tv for gaming at the moment for a budget of £1500 max and is 31ms of input lag a big distraction im not a hardcore fps player more rpg and action (seems to be mainly online fps players that are effected)

  27. Thank you for the review, we are probably going to buy one of these this week but, as someone who loves films but has no interest in 3D or gaming and is buying a Blu Ray player (370 or 570?) to go with it, could you tell me how in your opinion I can get the best looking image from this TV (i.e. your recommended settings and what to play with if I want to make my own adjustments without recking the others)? Cheers, Stuart

  28. Just got my new 3d Tv and I have to say the 3d is fantastic. But tried to watch the England game last night in HD and found that I was getting some something that I can only describe as smearing when the camera was panning fast. Its very hard to explain but I did not get this with my last sony when watching football in HD. Anyone know what Im talking about because im beginning to to feel that the £1900 I just spent may not have been worth it. Help?

  29. Aaron i think you will want to try some different options of the motion plus settings set it top clear or off it think.

    Anyone got any extra input on my 3d gaming question

  30. Tony…Thanks Ill mess about with it. you can hardly see it, and maybe its because the 3d pic is so clear that I am noticing it when watching 3d. it could also be an issue with sky. I have been playing 3d games on my ps3 and its fantastic. I can defo recommend the Sony.

  31. Folks evaluating this model should take a look at the Sony HX903 as well, this is their top-of-the-range model with full autodimming LED backlighting (as opposed to edge-lit), it’s quite magnificent with its UV2A panel. It’s more expensive and pretty hard to find, however this is the best LCD TV money can buy right now and beats all current plasmas in its price range as well, in terms of overall PQ.

  32. I’d love to take a look at an HX903. Surely it doesn’t beat the 3D PDPs in terms of crosstalk, though?

  33. thanks aaron in reference to the ps3 i assume you dont notice any lag etc when playing? and is crosstalk off putting in games or not really? any input would be great im 90% gonna get this tv just like some user input.

  34. The 3d gaming is perfect. I tried many Tvs before plumping for this one. I can honestly say its Fantastic. I need to mess with the settings regarding the Football. But apart from that its perfect. Tho I do have the 46″ not the 40″.

  35. thank aaron for your input im also thinking of the 46″ but that all comes down to the misses puttin her foot down lol

  36. David, the HX903 beats the VT20 in 3D mode in terms of how natural and clean the colours and the PQ looks out of the box. Crosstalk is a minor component in the equation of 3D picture quality and I feel its effects are grossly exaggerated in the reviews I have read of these sets. I can’t see any crosstalk on the HX903 so far just by watching normal programming on Sky’s 3D channel, but I’m sure I could find it if I scrutinise certain demo content. Haven’t tried any PS3 games so far, but I will soon. Bear in mind my previous TV was a VT20 and before that, I had a Kuro 5090 which was calibrated by a professional, so I’m comparing it to some pretty high quality competition. This is the first LCD TV which easily bests PDP sets in terms of overall PQ in 2D mode and I wouldn’t have believed this could happen myself until I saw it with my own eyes (every single TV I owned until now over the last 8 years have been plasmas because comparable LCD sets at the time came up very short indeed – seems the tables have finally been turned).

  37. I’ve just received one of these (my first hd tv) and I quickly tried to use iplayer. Needless to say, I get the same update error as stated in the review. Has anyone succesfully used it yet?

  38. Please please please review the EX710 and NX710 Bravia TVs.

    I want reliable reviews so I can compare these 2 models to the HX800 and buy before XMAS. Would it be a fair bet that these 3 will all have similar input lag results?

    The EX700 had about 31ms lag but does the ex710 use the same panel? And is the NX710 essentially just an EX710 in nicer packaging? (oh but how nice the packaging is. No doubt the best looking TV when its switch off).

  39. @Kotan

    “Crosstalk is a minor component in the equation of 3D picture quality and I feel its effects are grossly exaggerated”

    OMG! lol are you for real? Crosstalk effects are far from grossly exaggerated, quite the opposite in fact as the effect’s of watching 3D on a LCD tv is completely un-watchable, headache inducing, eye’s bleeding.

    If you want to watch 3D there is only 1 option at the moment and that will be the VT20.

  40. @Jack

    Yes, I am for real, are you? Have you had first had experience with both? I have watched a lot of 3D content on the VT20 via PS3 games and Sky 3D programmes before sending it back. I’m now watching the same content on the HX903 and I’m not finding it worse. Neither set gave me headaches, but that doesn’t mean anything since it’s presumably dependent on how sensitive an individual is. The only discomfort was from wearing those heavy glasses for several hours at a time and that applies to all current 3D sets. It’s completely misleading to claim the VT20 is the “only option” for 3D content at the moment; it has its own problems. The fact is this is new technology and each set will likely have its own set of associated quirks in 3D mode. Anyway educated buyers will try both and conclude for themselves, but I didn’t find a world of difference between the two in terms of 3D picture quality….

  41. I have no problem with Crosstalk on mine.

  42. Personally I feel crosstalk is the biggest issue with 3D displays right now. It seriously damages the illusion of depth. All of the current 3D displays I’ve looked at so far have crosstalk issues, the LCDs being the worst affected.

  43. Hi David

    Thank you again for your interesting and thorough review of this TV, ours arrived tomorrow and I am deperate to ensure the best quality settings withou the aid of any special disks could you provide a short-cut to getting the best to this TVs 2D performance?

  44. Hey Stuart,
    Press the SCENE button on the remote and select CINEMA for all your inputs. That gets things pretty close. Also go into the Advanced Settings and make sure that Black Corrector and Clear White are off. I’d recommend turning off Adv. Contrast Enhancer as well.

    Back in the main picture menu, make sure Sharpness is set low (or off totally for HD), the Noise Reduction systems are both off, Motionflow is set to Clear, and Film Mode is set to Auto2.

  45. Pretty close to getting the HX800 especially now Sony has a promotion going. Was going to wait for a review of the EX710 but I wont now. I’ll imagine it’s safe to assume that the higher end HX800 trumps the upper mid range EX710 in picture quality. Input lag unlikely to be better than the HX800’s 31ms (btw has anyone else tested and confirmed this figure?).

    Okay. 3 silly questions.

    1. I like the dark brushed steel across the bottom. But i noticed that how it’s cut leaves a rather shiny silver line just below the screen. Is this at all distracting when watching the TV in your home? Or merely a classy feature that I’ll rarely notice? I noticed it in store but I was looking for something to worry about…..

    2. I’ve ZERO interest in 3D. Id almost say Im against it. I just want a really good LCD based TV for 2D HD movies and gaming. With this in mind would it be stupid to get the HX800 for its 2D abilities only? Am I just wasting money buying a set with a feature i’ll never use? (I just figured all the best sets will have 3D built in so avoiding it might mean missing out on the nicest TVs. At least while the fad lasts).

    (I dont buy into the 3D ‘future proofing’ notion. Im sure this fad with either die or be reborn without eyewear in the not too distant future. ….And yes I even saw Avatar in 2D!!)

    3. I know that 3D has meant improvements in plasma technology (less phos.trailing in the Panasonic VT20 for example). Any such beneficial bi products with the implementation of 3D in LCDs?

  46. Albert Wolkiewicz

    Hi All,

    Is there any chance you could post the best and optimal picture settings in menu picture settings terms ? I’ve bought the 46HX803 and still struggling to get the best out of it.

  47. Hi, first of all many thanks for the excellent reviews!

    Can you please let me know how the HX803 compares to the Z4500 & Z5500/5800 as far as motion blur is concerned in real viewing conditions (sports is what I am basically interested in). I am wondering how the HX803 which is meant to use latest Motionflow 200Hz PRO technology (i.e. 200Hz plus backlight blinking) can only manage up to 800 lines of resolution, whereas the older/simpler Z series can go up to the full 1080 lines… And I am guessing that those 300 lines of difference when watching sports should actually be visible (eg. fast camera pans, players running etc)… Also you did mention in your review that the Clear Plus setting (which i guess is the backlight blinking activation feature – the “PRO”) doesn’t do much…. So all in all, a less effective 200Hz system and a backlight blinking that simply makes picture darker!

    So I am basically wondering whether I would be better off with the older Z series as my main concern is (as you probably guessed) motion handling! ;)

    Thanks in advance

  48. Thanks for the recommendations David, I’ll try them tonight! Just one other thing, can we switch off the iritating “bleep” from the TV everytime we press a setting button on the remote? Cheers, Stuart

  49. Albert Wolkiewicz

    Hi,

    Tried to set it and still not too happy with the picture.Must say that my previous set “W” series was way better.

  50. Hi,

    If possible could really do with a quick response please as looking to make purchase tomorrow.

    I’m torn between this and the Samsung UE40C8000. I love the style and look of both sets, from what I have seen in store both sets look good in HD and 3D albeit on manufacturers demo discs and now need some gentle persuasion into which set lands in my living room. Also, how close to the demo 3D bluray do Sky 3D and PS3 3D bluray come?

    The Sony is the better offer as it comes with a free Sony 3D blu ray player, 5 free 3D blu ray film’s, 2 pairs of free glasses, v.a.t back offer and already discounted price.

    Ive managed to get a pair of rechargeable glasses and a Monster 1.4 hdmi cable thrown in with the Samsung, £170 discount plus the £200 manufacturers cash back.

    I will be using my PS3 for 3D blu ray playback so not sure if the Sony would be better for the free player or if my PS3 will do a similar job in terms of picture quality.

    Any advice/recommendations would be much appreciated.

    Thanks

  51. You’re probably looking for a recommendation other than mine, since I made my preference for this over Samsung’s quite clear in the review – but I’ll give my opinion again in any case!

    @Stuart: that option is somewhere in the menu on the far left.

    Will respond to other questions when I get a spare sec!

  52. am oscar i want to buy LCD 42 SONY BUT CAN YOU SHIP TO UGANDA?

  53. Oscar by any chance are you rich and going to want to pay by cheque ? or an ebay millionare

  54. Would it be possable for you to post the settings you finished with for 3D and 2D modes?

  55. hi,just brought the 803 and watching a grand canyon imax 3d film was very impressive, even my wife impressed too!
    please could you tell me how to get to the advanced settings and picture menus,and anymore setting adjusts….i also agree this is a better picture than the samsungs…also bestbuy selling this for £1399 then deduct vat.£1191.bundled with 40″ tv, bd player470, transmitter, 2x glasses and 5x br discs

  56. Sony NX810 HDTV calibrated

    DDAY LAB

    contrast ANSI di 8931:1
    black level 0.015 CD/m2

    http://www.avmagazine.it/forum/showpost.php?p=2805225&postcount=566

  57. Great review!, I was wondeering if the changes you made to the picture during calibrating this tv could be prsented to calibrate my own model?

    thanks

  58. Great Review

    Just took delivery today of the TV with a 3D bundle. Very happy person. I’m with Aaron in asking for the changes you made to the 2D during the calibration

    thanks

  59. Excellent review, thanks.

    Just picked up one of these in Currys for £999 with VAT back discount that I have to send off for (£1174 paid) and with free 3D Blu-Ray Player, 2 Glasses, Transmitter and 5 3D Blu-Ray movies….

  60. So I’ve had this for a few days, having had a Toshiba LCD for years. This blows the Tosh out of the water. Sky Sports HD or Movies HD are astonishing. Motionflow actually works incredibly well. Black levels are, simply, amazing; I feel like I’m seeing some favourite content for the first time.

    But I’m flabbergasted by the calibration recommendations I’ve been finding. I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with my eyes!! Generally, they are way too orange.

    Here are my settings on a Virgin V+ box, on HDMI.

    Picture Mode: standard
    Backlight: 5
    Contrast:70
    Brightness: 50
    Colour: 65
    Hue: 0
    Colour temperature: cool
    Sharpness: min/5 (depending on HD or SD)
    Noise reduction: off
    MPEG Noise reduction: off
    Motion flow: clear
    Film mode: auto 2
    Black corrector: off
    Adv. Contrast enhancer: off
    Gamma: 0
    LED dynamic control: low
    Auto light: off
    Clear White: low

    I’ve tried settings based on the “cinema” setting but find the images much too warm and orange (particularly whites, which are really horrible). There’s also an insane loss of detail.

    So far this is working best for me. Thoughts?

  61. Hi Spk

    Those settings will be giving you a very inaccurate and tinted picture.
    In particular, Colour Temperature “Cool” skews white towards blue and gives things a colder, frostier look. “Clear White” does the same.

    If you find images in Cinema mode too warm, it sounds like you’ve watched a lot of “Cool” TVs before so it will be a shock at first. The thing is, the “Warm” look is the correct (or at least MORE correct) one that the lighting technicians, colorists, directors etc. intended, and you’ll get used to it quite quickly – so my advice is that you stick with that and see things as intended.

  62. Hi David,

    I fired up the interminable and impossible to navigate Digital Video Essentials DVD I bought (but had difficulty using) years ago. After a while listening to the rabbiting narrator, I got to the calibration settings and gave it a go. I think you may be right that I’ve been watching on “cool” for a long time.

    Does hdtvtest

  63. Hi David,

    I think you might be right about my viewing on “cool” settings on the old Tosh. I just rant through the interminable Digital Video Essentials DVD and when I finally got to the calibration tests, I activated “cinema” and ran through the tests. I suspect you might be right that I’ll get used to the new settings, although I’m on “Warm 1” as whites on “Warm 2” have a reddish tinge which just look really unnatural.

    Did you record the full gamut of adjustments you made to the Sony to get the optimum picture? It would be great to have them as a benchmark; indeed, might this be something you include in all reviews with the caveat that room and lighting settings may vary?

  64. P.S. Pardon the partial penultate comment – damnable iPad!

  65. Could you post best setting for 2D & 3D movie watching?

  66. David , thank you for the review, could you help answering, I have bought sony kdl hx800 and cannot find anywhere in settings this 24p mode for movies, so is this automatically everytime when I choose cinema mode or I have to do something else…

    thanks in advance….

  67. Excellent Reviews!!!! xD
    By Far the best 3D TV Review Website and definetly UKs number one ;)

    Thanks to these reviews i am going to purchase this sony over the samsung UE46C8000X (despite that ts 6 inches bigger)

    Thanks

  68. Really good reviews.
    Thank you so much. I have bought that model after reading your detailed review.
    I feel a bit stupid but I cannot turn off the sound of the interface (when using the remote or browsing through the menu). (got the tv yesterday)

    Where would i find the answer?

    Many thanks

  69. @Marc: I didn’t save them, sorry. But if you select the “Cinema” mode from the Scene button, and make sure Sharpness is at 0 for HD and Film Mode is on Auto2, you should be mostly good.

    @Beni: If you have Film Mode set to “Auto2” and your Blu-ray player is sending 24p output (almost all do this now by default) then you are getting proper 24p and don’t have to doa nything else.

    @Julien: that took me ages to find. I can’t remember where it is, but it’s in there on the far-left menu column!

  70. Just purchased this set for £749, with the 2 glasses and a 3d transmitter setting me back another £246. I have a Sony PS3 and hooked up the picture with a HDMI cable. The picture quality on 3D blu-ray is great.

    However, slightly disappointed with the 2D and 3D picture settings.

    Can’t seem to find the right balance for the settings. Any help would be appreciated…

  71. Hi Simon Farid,

    Where did you get this set for £749? I am eager to buy at this price.

  72. was on market for £799 at prc direct last week on 03/01/11. Got a £50 discount for taking the glasses and 3d sync transmitter which set me back £246.

    Total cost was £995 – the 40″TV, 2 3d glasses and 3d transmitter. Some better deals might be out there I’m sure.

    It’s a shame no one has an accurate setting for the picture, but will update everyone with my current settings which I’m pleased with..

  73. Hello David:

    Please could you post or send me the setting you have found to be optimum for this TV?

    Thank a lot in advance

  74. i would appreciate if someone would post the optimum settings for tv and bd/dvd playback here

    thanks in advance

  75. Some advice please I can pick one of these up from John Lewis through a price match with a 5 year Warranty for £779 Inc Delivery, do you reckon I should go for this or wait for the new batch of tv’s? I am also able to get the LX903 for £949 with 2 pairs of glasses and built in 3d transmitter, it seems though that the tv isn’t as highly rated as this one, has anyone seen both?

    Thanks

  76. Hi,

    just got one of these and I’m noticing slight darkness in the corners and under the top of the screen. About 2cm in width max. It’s just slighlty darker. Is this normal for an edge lit tv or do I have a bad one?

    Great site.

    M

  77. @Max: totally normal I’m afraid.

  78. Hi David! Thanks for a great review!

    I have had a KDL-40HX800 for about 4 weeks now, and I think it’s a great TV, but now I’ve noticed that my set has got some “vertical banding” that is visible during dull and foggy scenes. They are also visible when I watch football or icehockey games and the camera pans sideways. It’s very annoying when you start looking at these greyish stripes. Is this a faulty TV or is it normal? I still have a couple of days of my return period. What to do?

  79. Sadly that’s totally normal for LED sidelit displays. If it makes you feel any better, the Pioneer KURO plasmas (often regarded as the best flat panel TV ever made!) often featured a similar “dirty screen” problem.

    Whether or not it’s common is irrelevant though – if you’re not happy with the TV, do return it. (A replacement would likely have the same issue).

  80. @david mackenzie:

    can you please post and e-mail me the current optimal Settings for the Sony 40HX803(i have the german equivalent HX805)!

    do you have an overall settting?

    or 2 slightly different ones:

    one for tv playback with the built in tuners and the other for blu ray/Dvd playback.

    – have you made a white balance for this set?

    how can this be different on the same panel….

    thanks in advance?

  81. dmackenzie: sorry i meant : you post the settings here or e-mail them to me

    and the other correction: the question mark at the end was unintentional

  82. @l.Jung:

    I didn’t save any calibrated settings for this TV. Sometimes we’re so rushed that we don’t have time before the review sample has to be returned. Also, if the TV’s preset “Movie” or similar mode is not bad, copying settings from the internet likely won’t get you any better result. Basic advice is to select the Cinema/Movie mode and make sure the Sharpness is lowered.

    As for your white balance question: this can vary from panel to panel because of manufacturing tolerances. Light sources and colour filters often vary, meaning that copying White Balance settings from TV to TV is often futile.

    If you’re interested in getting the absolute best performance from your KDL-40HX805, call an ISF Calibrator near you and ask them about calibration: http://www.imagingscience.com/dealers.php?search=Germany

  83. Hi,

    I have pickup one of these a couple of days ago and have been playing around with the callibration settings.

    I have tried the setting that have been posted on the 6th Dec, and they seem a good like bench mark.

    Does anyone else have a decent setting that they can post?

  84. Well, David was right about my recommended settings, above. I’ve adapted to the ‘Warm’ settings and am getting some cracking results. I’ve also run the tv through various calibration tests and they confirm these as pretty good.

    For general viewing, I have the following settings:

    Picture mode: standard
    Backlight: 5 or 6
    Contrast: 90
    Brightness: 50
    Colour: 55
    Colour Temp: Warm 1
    Sharpness: 4
    Noise reduction: off
    MPEG noise reduction: off
    Motion flow: clear
    Film mode: auto 2
    Advanced
    Everything other than ‘LED dynamic control’ (which is set to ‘low’) is off.

    For HD or Blu-ray or movies, I hit the ‘theatre’ button, with the following adjustments:

    Backlight: 6
    Sharpness: 24
    Advanced settings/ White balance:
    B bias: +5

    This is the result of *hours* of fiddling. I think they’re pretty bang on. Thanks to David for shocking me out of ‘cool’ settings, which i’d become used to because it was the only setting, I later recalled, which prevented ‘blooming’ on my old Tosh LCD.

  85. Best Setting:

    Scene mode: GENERAL
    Screen Width: WIDE 16:9

    Picture mode: standard
    Backlight: 6
    Contrast: 93
    Brightness: 45
    Colour: 59
    Colour Temp: Warm 1
    Sharpness: 3
    Noise reduction: off
    MPEG noise reduction: off
    Motion flow: clear
    Film mode: auto 2

    Advanced

    Black corrector: High
    Adv Contrast Enhancer: High
    LED dynamic Control: Low
    Live Colour: Medium

    Other features in the menu: OFF

    hope this helps. I would leave the setting on Vivid but the picture doesnt allow any advanced correction.

    under custom, the picture is too grainy and dull… not ideal for general viewing but perhaps for movies.

  86. Have just ordered the 40″ for £799 with free delivery and 5 year guarantee from M&S….bearing in mind the price these were going for even a couple of months ago I think this was a great great deal!

    ….especially as I almost ordered the NX803 which looks prettier but apparently has major reflective and panel problems (or ‘features’ as Sony has called them!) props to the massive threads at avforums for saving me from that fate.

    looking forward to receiving this set, sounds like it’s a good ‘un.

  87. I was torn between Samsung C8000 & Sony HX803. After reading this review I bought the 46″ HX803 from John Lewis for £1399 inc x2 sets Sony glasses & 3D Transmitter + 5 year guarantee. Pretty good deal I think. Offer available until end of March.

    Had some stock issues in store (no glasses) – JL went totally out of their way to find stock for me. I ended up going to the Sony Centre in the same Mall to collect the glasses that were free with the set. Amazing customer service!

  88. Sorry – I meant £1299 not £1399

  89. Hello spk,
    I used your settings and they are really the best I found.
    Really, thanks for having posted!

  90. Spk can you please help me, I am trying to apply your settings but am wondering can I apply the settings to the TV and then HDMI or do I have to change them every time.

  91. Don’t take this tv. I have bought and sold this tv. Take Samsung LCD (not LED). LED tvs show white areas too white (so many details are lost). This tv shows horizontal lines for 1080i sources.

  92. @Darkmanx123,

    If you change “target inputs” to “common” and then apply the picture settings this should simplify things: thus, when you switch to DVD or Blu-ray, change your “target inputs” to “common” rather than “current” and that should do it. It should be said that having this options is a help rather than a hindrance.

    @teo129,

    You’re welcome. I spent so long trying unsatisfactory settings I found online that I thought I’d calibrate the tv as thoroughly as possible and then post here. Hope others find these useful. My thanks go to David for waking me out of my “cool” malaise, caused by my old Toshiba!

  93. @spk Thanks for the settings they are by far the best i have found.

    Do you change any of the setting when watching 3D?

  94. John..buy a samsung and have it break down after a couple of years because of all the cost-cutting they do to make the sets cheaper?? no thanks!

    samsung sets might be good to look at, but sonys are far better to watch tv on and own for the long term.

  95. @al

    I don’t bother with 3D I’m afraid! Not interested!

  96. sinclair dowey

    Hi Great info on here ..thanks.
    I am quite a novice at these tellys but i hope you can help me. When i am watching online stuff through my ps3, the picture goes faded after a while and returns after pressing the Tv remote. It can be a bit of a pain as it brings BBCi to small screen every time i do it.
    Thanks

  97. David Mackenzie

    @Sinclair Dowey
    Sounds like some sort of screen saver feature gone wrong. Can you disable that on the PS3?

  98. Hi David,

    Great review! Bought this set from M&S yesterday, fantastic price and set-up is so easy. Picture was fantastic at first, but now only works in “game mode” in the scene settings. In every other setting, there are loads of horizontal and vertical lines on the screen (almost like noise). Thought it may have been a setting change but have reset all to no avail.
    Any Ideas???

  99. Just picked one of these up for a little over £600 via a freind who can get discount from Sony – Absolute bargain given the price at launch.

    Only had a little time with it but very pleased so far. Great review overall, will go and play with the settings properly this evening.

  100. Apparentely today this TV stands as Sonys best 3D (??).The reviews of the 720/820 dont seem to show 3D has actually improved.Maybe Sony knew this being its first 3D TV & would be looked at closely.The Deals that are going on the 40/46″ hx803 seem like theres something suspicious is going on,but apparentely not,so these prices must qualify this TV as a monster bargain.But then again panasonics p50vt20 is going for a simular price,so maybe these COs just want to make room for new models?But if thats a case why keep manufacturing hx803s 6 mths after sony said thet were to be discontinued?Who knows but if its a choice between a new model or the 803,im going for the 46hx803 regardless of price!

  101. Just for the record,A lot of LG PX990 & Pana VT20s were/are being sent back.Ive seen both good & bad reviews of both these plasmas.Strangely ive only seen V-good/good reviews of sonys HX range.Generally folks on user forums are happy with the 40/46 HX803.Its the opposite about the Panas & LGs,with multi faults being reported.It seems in the long run the Sony was the most reliable.What hifi gave the LGPX990 a grouptest win against 11 other TV incl pana,sony,samsung ETC. Just look at AVF user forums of this TV & the Pana VT20.If/when These COs can solve this crosstalk/unifomity problem,LED will be the format for both 2D & 3D.

  102. Its now 2012 & this sony 46 hx800 led tv stands shoulder to shoulder even with panasonics mighty p50VT30,because i got the vt 50″ & yes its a quality made tv.But i sent it back & kept the sony hx803 1. 2DHD performance is still better on the sony esp. bluray,handsdown 2 .Much brighter,more vibrant 3D,you can watch 3D with curtains fully opened on a bright day.You cant even see the panasonic vt30 in daytime like the sony hx803. 3.Much more web apps and internet tv,the vt is not as much a smart as the bravia hx.I was expecting the panasonic to blow the sony hx803 away-NO WAY im keeping this baby until oled makes it to manufactured status after this fiasco,it beat the sony in build quality only,not even blacks were beaten by any noticeable amount.SERIOUSLY people dont believe the hype,dont just buy thinking your getting better,research hard 1st.

  103. I am still having problems getting my hx803 to work with virgins side by side display. I can see the 3d content when displayed in full screen; and side by side I see two 3d images. There does not seen to be any settings to allow for side by side. When I press 3d button only get off or simulated options.
    Please help.

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