Sony Bravia KDL-52EX700 52-Inch 1080P 120Hz LED HDTV, Black Review
Sony Bravia KDL-52EX700 52-Inch 1080P 120Hz LED HDTV, Black Feature
- Full HD 1080p Resolution
- Bravia Internet Video
- USB Input
- Edge LED backlight
- Wi-Fi Adapter Ready
I chose this television as an exchange for a defective Sony rear projection unit, the KDS-50A2000. This was an LCoS (or in Sony parlance, SXRD) set from 2006 that, until its malfunction, provided a wonderful 1080p image with good contrast, great color, and nice detail. So I am comparing the 52EX700 to my former set.
That said, what are the criteria for a great TV? In my opinion, the criteria can be broken into 5 areas, weighted equally:
1. Black & White. How dark is the baseline black level of the set? How bright is the brightest white? What is the contrast ratio? How well do the two interact on normal viewing material?
2. Color. How accurate is the color? Is it vibrant but not cartoonish? How adjustable is it?
3. Processing. How well does the television handle fast motion? Is there a lot of video noise? Are detrimental picture “enhancements” defeatable? Is there a sharpness setting that reveals maximum detail without edge halos or other artifacts? Are there jagged edges or moire effects on challenging material?
4. Build Quality. Is the screen reflective or matte? Does the screen have uniform lighting? What sort of viewing angle does the set have? Is the cabinet sturdy? Is the remote ergonomic? How much power does the TV consume? How much heat does it generate? Is the unit reliable overall?
5. Feature Set. How many and what kinds of connections does the set have? Does the TV have internet connectivity? How comprehensive is the user menu? Is there Picture in Picture? What other sorts of convenience features are present?
I will rate this set on a ten point scale in each of the 5 categories. There are two categories specifically in picture quality, which means that the picture is the most heavily weighted feature. A perfect set (whatever that is) would rate a 50. An average store-brand cheapie set from a big box retailer would probably rate in the 30s.
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Black & White = 9
The 52EX700 is capable of displaying a very dark black. Blacks which are too bright can wash out an image, making it seem grayish and foggy. This is most definitely NOT the case with the EX700. Blacks are darker than my previous 2006 model television, and at least as dark as the best LCD sets from last year. Some professional reviewers (such as CNET) have said it is not as dark as some of the current competition. Frankly, I have a hard time seeing how. In daylight, the black areas of the screen are completely black. In a darkened room, if you’re watching a black screen, sure, a tiny bit of light is evident. But who besides a professional TV reviewer sits in a darkened room watching a black screen? To the human eye, on any real program material, the blacks are effectively at zero light output. On the other end of the spectrum, this set gets very bright, once you turn off the “ambient sensor” and take full control of the backlight. At half backlight, the set is quite bright. At full, it’s as eye-searing as a rear projection model with a bright lamp. Blacks remain inky and deep at any backlight setting, but of course are deeper the lower you go. This set also was able to display lots of detail in shadows, that is, “near black” areas of an image. The gamma control allowed lots of tweaking of this quality. It didn’t “crush” blacks at all. Any way you slice it, this set was more than bright enough to watch during the day, and it was more than dark enough for the black level not to be an issue at night. The contrast ratio is quite high, and the image has a lot of “pop.”
Color = 9
Colors are vibrant but not cartoonish. It was easy to get them dialed in to a pleasing, natural looking palette by changing the “temperature” to its warmest setting. White Balance controls afford more chances to tweak the color. Sometimes, the darkest areas of broadcast HD seemed to tint a little green or blue, but this was likely the source, since this flaw was not evident in Blu-Ray material.
Processing = 8
Overall, processing was good. I never noticed even one instance of motion blur, whether I was watching sports, drama, or action-packed Blu-Ray movies. There is no video lag, regardless of picture settings, which is very important for video gaming (some sets make you turn off all processing in order to eliminate lag, which can lead to a diminished picture). Detail can be very strong even at lower “Sharpness” settings (mainly, sharpness puts artificial enhancements around the edges of objects on the screen, so the lower the better). This picture is a bit noisier in dark areas than my SXRD set close up, but this noise is invisible at normal viewing distances. I noticed a few jagged edges in nearly horizontal lines on Blu-Rays (grates and fences can be torture tests for digital televisions). This is a 120hz television, affording the opportunity for Sony’s “Motion Flow” setting, which interpolates frames to smooth out “juddering” on video (60hz) and film (24hz) sources, giving everything a very non-juddering smooth kind of motion. This was OK on TV programs, but was distracting on movies (which are filmed at 24fps). I generally left it off. 120hz is an even multiple of 24, however, and this set is able to decode 24fps video (such as Blu-Ray) with no artificial frame interpolation (i.e. frames created by the TV that aren’t actually in the image source) or processing. This leads to an extremely stable and sharp picture on movies without any additional and artificial “enhancement” such as Motion Flow. In the end, 60 vs. 120 vs. 240hz processing isn’t nearly as important as black level and color. Most 60hz sets look fine regardless of source, and many would say that frame interpolation modes lead to unnatural-looking images. 480p DVD looks fine. 480i broadcast standard definition performance is not going to win any awards, but it is perfectly acceptable. Just remember, garbage in=garbage out. You can only polish a turd so much, as they say. Speaking of OTA, the on-board HD tuner is very strong – it pulls in channels very stably even at 60-70% signal.
Build Quality = 7
The cabinet is understated and stylish, with a thin “metallized” gray strip below a shiny black bezel. The set is impressively thin, but not so thin that jacks are laid out in a less easy-to-access sideways orientation. I wish the input jacks had been closer to the center of the rear, but they are laid out nicely. The included stand swivels, and keeps the television stable. The screen is a matte finish (thank goodness), and does a decent job of attenuating reflections from the room. The LED edge-lighting does lead to a small bit of “flash light effect” near the edges of the screen, but it is not really noticeable on normal material, and it is not as bad as competing edge-lit sets. The “Achilles Heel” of this set is viewing angle – the image washes out a fair amount more than 45 degrees to either side of center (90 degrees total), and more than 30 degrees vertically (60 degrees total). This is, however, pretty common for LCD sets. It is neither the best or worst in this regard. There are still plenty of great seats for this set in an average living room. The remote control is average – it could have used a few more shortcut buttons, and the D-pad could have been made more ergonomic (it’s a little shallow).
Feature Set = 10
Until “Google TV” equipped sets come out next year, the EX700 is tops in terms of internet features. Netflix, Amazon VOD, and Youtube streaming are the stars, and they all work well. Picture Quality on these is decent to very good, but set-top devices perform better, since the TV seems more sensitive to connection speed. Entering your login info for these services lets you access their respective queues, right on the TV. A plethora of other, smaller internet features offers podcasts, videos, music, and other things. The haphazard organization of these is not ideal, however, and typing in search queries with the remote is cumbersome. Also extremely impressive is the implementation of TV Guide for over-the-air HD signals. The TV downloaded listings based on Zip Code, and only displayed a schedule for channels I had selected as “Shown.” The user menu is modeled after the XMB menu of the PS3 – both a blessing and a curse, because so much information is contained in it, one can easily get lost. A “Favorites” button lets you bookmark favored inputs, channels, or internet features. The VGA PC input works perfectly, and the image is automatically scaled to fit the screen perfectly, with no overscan or loss of fidelity with text. Power saving is another big feather in this set’s cap – the LED light source is already very efficient, generating almost no heat and using about half of what a normal CCFL LCD set does, but you can also shave power use further with the “Eco settings,” and the “Presence Sensor,” which turns off the screen (but keeps the audio on) when you leave the room. The only feature that really fails to impress is Picture-in-Picture, as it is limited to PCs (which must always be the main screen, and there is no swapping), broadcast TV, and component input devices (like older DVD players). It is by no means the full-featured and flexible PIP that sets used to have, and is only marginally useful.
A note on 3-D: This set is not 3-D ready. I, however, am of the opinion that 3-D in the home is a flash in the pan, and will always be, until consumers are not required to buy 0 glasses for each family member in order to view it. Also, there is currently no media to play on such a set. Therefore, I will not dock points for lacking this “feature.”
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All told, this set rates a 43 on my scale of 50. While this might sound like it’s low or disappointing, it isn’t. My dad has a Samsung UN55B8000, a very comparable edge-lit LED set, which performs similarly, but offers fewer features. I would rate that set 9/9/8/8/7, for a total of 41. The Vizio VF550VXT, from 2009, rates 7/8/8/7/7 for a 38 (it crushed blacks and didn’t have a particularly good black level). My 50A2000, a rear projection SXRD set, would rate 9/10/9/5/6, for a 39 (the 5 is for its unreliability and the irritation of replacing lamps). The Insignia set I helped my grandmother purchase for her kitchen would rate 7/6/6/8/6 for a 33. I imagine the absolute premium LCD television today (which I haven’t seen) wouldn’t go much above 46 or 47. So anything over 40 is very likely a solid all-around performer with good features.
Thus, I rate this a 5-star set on Amazon’s scale, especially given its price point in the current marketplace. You’re getting a large, efficient LED edge-lit set with top-flight internet features and very good picture performance for under k. I am thrilled with the performance this set offers and consider it an upgrade in nearly every way over my previous 2006-model set (with the exception of viewing angles). It should be on the short list of anyone searching for a high-quality, full-featured set that can handle both home theater and HD cable/broadcast television chores. It may not be at the top of the roost this year, but for the money it is probably as good as anything out there.
Given the CNET review of this set, I was not expecting to like it as much as I did, and I was prepared for some compromises. Well, I guess pleasant surprises come in slim packages. This is an uncompromisingly good television with only a few minor flaws, most of which are endemic to LCD televisions. Its greatest strengths are its robust online offerings and its extremely punchy contrast ratio.
Sony Bravia KDL-52EX700 52-Inch 1080P 120Hz LED HDTV, Black Overview
Enjoy Full HD 1080p, incredible contrast and smooth motion performance with the slim Edge LED backlit Sony BRAVIA EX700-Series LCD HDTV. Connect to the internet and instantly stream a wide variety of movies, TV shows, videos and music using apps from Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Slacker and more
Sony Bravia KDL-52EX700 52-Inch 1080P 120Hz LED HDTV, Black Specifications
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 01, 2010 13:10:20
