Typical price: £1,600
What is it: 40-inch high-definition LCD iDTV with full 1080p support
What we think: Even better than the best large screen plasma
Average user rating
8.6
excellent
Average user rating from 17 users
Agree? Disagree? Write your own review of the Sony Bravia KDL-40W2000
Sony Bravia KDL-40W2000 user reviews
June 4, 2007
Posted by: kevin weaver
"Perfect for me"
What I like:
PAL images through HDMI
What I don't like:
Some backlight clouding in low light
Review:
I bought this TV some months back now, and still love it. There are a couple of weaknesses but it's strengths more than compensate.
The truly astounding thing is how good standard definition material is. When using the in-built digital tuner, the image is stable and vibrant and really does make the best use of the source.
This was a particular concern for me as although I wanted a 'future-proof' TV, I had no immediate requirement to run high-def material through it, so a PAL image on a 1080p screen had dodgy definition written all over it.
The truth is though, Sony's engineers have done an admirable job with this set as it really isn't so bad at all. Plug in an HDMI DVD player (I have the RDR-HXD860 connected with QED Qunex-P), and you'll be seeing some of the best standard definition images available (let the TV do the upscaling).
I can't wait to pipe some Full-HD material into it, but more than happy with PAL DVD for the timebeing.
Shortfalls are that the set is very tweakable. In fact too tweakable, and perhaps some of the more important options should be enabled out of the factory. The power save setting is one that can be used to improve the contrast without having to up the backlight or contrast setting (thus reducing the backlight cloud issue), as with the gamma setting.
Persevere though and you'll obtain a remarkable picture - try using one of the THX optimizers found on the Lucasfilm or Pixar DVDs.
Sound is also a little weak in that it hardly comes close to presenting something that matches such a fine image. It's more than ok for standard viewing though, and likelihood is you'll be pairing this up to a home cinema system anyway.
Overall then, if you're in the market for a large TV and have £1200 then there really is no contest.
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