Sony KDL-40HX723 40in LED 3D TV
A better class of Bravia
Review The KDL-40HX723 is a feature-heavy 40in Freeview HD TV from the posh end of Sony’s 2011 catalogue. While it sells for a tad more than a looky-likey from the brand’s bread and butter EX range, the premium is worth paying if you want to see what Sony’s picture boffins are really capable of.
Quality viewing: Sony's Bravia KDL-40HX723
A quick rummage around the menus unearths a science lab’s worth of image control: Advanced Contrast Enhancer, Black Corrector, Edge Enhancer and Variable Gamma? They’re all here, professor. You can also engage a Clear White setting which gives the set an authentic Akihabara blue-ish white balance, which I rather like.
All of which may seem to imply that this screen is a challenge to set up. In truth, the Standard picture preset is so well judged you’ll probably not feel any screaming need to fiddle with its settings for quite some time.
A functional rather than flashy remote
Colour fidelity in particular is excellent. Reds have a rosy accuracy that sets this TV apart from more orangey rivals. Similarly, blacks are deep and smooth – and there’s more than enough tools to extract copious levels of shadow detail from the darkness.
Motion picture resolution is equally impressive. The highest iteration of Sony’s proprietary Motionflow technology, dubbed XR 400, combines frame interpolation with backlight blinking for blur-free pictures. It comes in four strengths: Standard, Smooth, Clear and Clear Plus. All make a positive contribution to moving picture clarity.
Menu options
You can elect to turn Motionflow off, but you’ll notice a significant softening of the image when you do. The most aggressive Motionflow mode, Clear Plus, reinstates a full 1080 lines of moving detail; unfortunately the process steals a significant amount of brightness from the screen, which makes it largely unusable.
Next page: Motion carried
COMMENTS
So...
The far side of a grand and they don't throw in any 3D glasses. That's sure to boost sales.
Can't we just agree that 3D was a headache-inducing flash in the pan, scrap it from TVs and make them cheaper?
judged purely on picture ?
this perhaps shows why it would be good to have groups of ratings rather than a single score
sure this set has a knockout picture, one of the best - but so it bloody well should for over a grand for a 40" set!
and while it may be a show stealer for the eyes it's a pickpocket when it comes to features - no drive for DVR, single tuner, no MKV support, and no wireless dongle ?
and not to forget the lack of glasses. i could understand this in 3-5 years time when maaaybe someone is upgrading their 3DTV so already has the binlids ready, but not now whilst the tech is still in it's infancy and pretty much every 3DTV purchase is a first born
Oddly, I preferred the NX
HX is supposed to be their top of the range for image quality, but doing a side-by-side comparison I went for the equivalent NX model, because the glass they use to get the monolith look seems to give better black levels, as well as making the presentation of 2.35:1 material (where the black bars blend seamlessly into the frame) far better. Although for some Godforsaken reason you can only have the monolith look on 46" or larger models this year, rather than last year's 40". Go figure.
Formats
Sometimes I wish that the various bits of Sony would talk to each other. Whilst my PS3 is quite happy with most things I can throw/stream at it, the BDP-S780 seems to throw a strop about the same (video) files. It sounds like this TV has the same sort of issues...
Like AC above my several year old Bravia was passed for non-smokiness this week (it was the backlight transformers apparently) and the engineer bod said he was checking loads but hadn't found any dodgy ones at the time he visited.
that's rule #1 of sony in general
indeed; that's rule #1 of anything sony, really. their low-end crap is as bad as anyone else's low-end stuff but costs $100 extra. their high-end stuff is usually expensive, but usually has some pretty good features and build quality to justify the expense.
