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A
well equipped reasonably priced package
Doubts
remain over LED
Design
The brushed aluminium lower edge of the EX703 contrasts well with the gloss black finish of the rest of the screen to produce an LCD TV straight from that typical Sony mould of understated style.
While those who occupy neutral ground when it comes to the look of flat panel TV's may find the Sony to be a little uninspiring, the design will no doubt appeal to those who have come to appreciate Sony's unique talent for chic understatement.
What will disappoint even those die hard Sony aficionados is that EX703 can't quite match the ultra slim profile enjoyed by the likes of Samsung and LG with some of their LED TVs. We would still describe the profile as slim, but it is not quite narrow enough to carry that 'wow' factor.
Features
It is a bit of a misnomer to categorize the EX703 as part of an 'Essential' range of LCD TV's, the feature list being more comprehensive than most panels at this price level.
Screen: 40in 16:9 Tuner: Digital Sound System: Nicam Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Contrast Ratio: na Other Features: Edge LED, 100Hz, Freeview HD, Iinternet Video, DLNA, Wi-fi ready. Sockets: 4 HDMI (v1.4), 2 SCART (RGB), USB, S-Video, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input, Ethernet.
In fact, the EX703 sits at the top of Sony's 'Essential' range with the less well specified EX603, EX503, EX403 falling more easily into the 'budget' LCD TV category.
The HX703 enjoys the benefit of an LED screen and 100Hz processing while the HX603 has to make do with 50Hz. Interestingly, the EX503 gets 100Hz processing but no LED technology.
The HX703 has a built in Freeview HD tuner and although the high definition choice is limited just now, it will grow and of course the service is subscription free, direct through your existing aerial.
Freeview HD services are currently being rolled out across the UK, so it is important to check via Freeview whether they are available in your area.
The HX703 is one of the cheapest Sony's available with LED backlighting (the HX603 being the cheapest). In this instance, Sony are using an 'Edge' based implementation of the technology.
Associated with ultra slim panels from the likes of Samsung and LG, for some reason the Sony looks a little bulbous in comparison. Of course, if the technology works, then this little misdemeanour will be forgiven.
The EX703 can connect directly to the Internet (via Ethernet or an optional Wi-fi dongle) to access online services. These services will vary from country to country, but in most cases will offer full-screen videos and catch-up TV services.
In the UK, 'Bravia Internet Video' will enable viewers to access the likes of YouTube and Dailymotion (a YouTube competitor). An interesting service comes in the shape of Sony blip.tv, providing an online 'channel' for 'quirky' independent TV series (some in HD).
Ok, many of us have never heard of The Ford Models channel, Daily Motion, livestrong.com, OnNetworks or the SingingFool, but there are some hidden nuggets if you look hard enough. You can get access to National Public Radio, various popular podcasts and of particular interest to LoveFilm subscribers a service enabling streamed films accessed via your LoveFilm account.
A Presence Sensor on the HX703 detects when you’re not in the room and turns the picture off automatically; it will even tell your kids if they are sitting too close to the screen. Ambient Sensor will automatically establish the best picture brightness to suit the room and save energy when the lights are low.
The EX703 comes with Sony's core pictures processing in the shape of Bravia Engine 3 along with MotionFlow 100Hz, Scene Select, live Colour and Cinema Mode.
Scene Select allows you to optimize picture and sound by type of screen content. You can choose to select settings best suited for General, Cinema or Sports viewing, or Gaming, Photos, Music or Graphics.
Deserving of the highest praise, Sony's Xross system is near faultless piece of onscreen navigational design. Also providing access to other pieces of compatible kit such as Blu-ray players, the main menu is arranged along two axes which take some getting used to but are actually extremely intuitive.
Elsewhere, there are four HDMIs, USB 2.0 input for MP3, JPEG and AVC/AVCHD/DivX/MPEG4 video file playback. Via DLNA you can stream movies, music and photos to the EX703 from compatible devices, such as a laptop, mobile phone or music player. The KDL-EX703 is available in 32in, 40in, 46in, 52in, 60in sizes.
Performance
We have always had mixed feelings about LED technology, appreciating the enhanced contrast, brightness and colour vibrancy but worrying about the 'hyper' processed look of some implementations. The EX703 seems to present something of an enigma with its particular implementation of LED.
LED technology in this case appears to present a softer, less processed look than the majority of TVs employing something similar. While the resulting picture is commendably sharp, we didn't consider it to be a great deal more so than Sony's own EX503.
The picture is, however, brighter than your average LCD TV and Sony's problem with inconsistent backlights seem to be a thing of the past, whatever the screen technology.
Sony now do Colour just about as well as any other manufacture, managing to strike the right balance between vibrancy and the subtle representation of hues essential for a truly realistic image.
The sheer depth of colours available is impressive on its own; but the EX703 manages to combine the available combinations with a subtlety that presents tricky areas like skin tones more accurately than just about any other manufacturer. Add seamless blending and no visible colour bleeding for a class leading performance.
Contrast levels are good, with a Black Level performance which picks out detail in darker scenes which can be lost on lesser TVs.
We wouldn't go further than describing the EX703 as a competent black level performer however, the best TVs we have come across in this respect offering the kind of graduated detail across darker scenes that the EX703 misses.
What we do like about the EX703 is its Standard Definition ability. The EX703 can upscale the 576 or so lines of a Freeview picture and present them on the 1080p screens with very little distortion. In fact, this is one of the most accomplished SD pictures you are likely to come across, comfortable with anything you throw at it maintaining its composure with even the lowest quality feeds.
The SD picture is not entirely 'noise' free, but you have to look pretty hard to notice any inconsistencies. As a general day to day screen, considering that the majority of us still watch mainly SD material, the EX703 works well.
High Definition pictures on the EX703 are predictably good, with a level of detail and accuracy we have become accustomed to from the major TV manufacturers.
While higher end TVs can produce that 'wow' factor when it comes to HD, the EX703 produces a High Definition picture which pretty much just about what you would expect for the price.
Once again, we are left in two minds about the effectiveness of 100Hz processing, which supplements the 50fps (frames per second) of the 'real' TV feed with processed extra frames slotted in between the existing ones.
Sony's implementation of 100Hz, MotionFlow, with a very small amount motion blur, is not perfect, but along with the tried and trusted ability of Sony's core Bravia 3 picture processing engines, creates a reasonably watchable picture with fast on screen action.
The reservation we have with most implementations of frame enhancing technologies is that in most cases, in our opinion, they don't offer any significant advantage over regular TVs. We have to qualify this statement however, because we are fans of the 'softer' picture you are more likely to get from a plasma screen - we know that many prefer the more precise look and feel of electronically enhanced frame insertion technology.
Once again we are left feeling a little underwhelmed by the Acoustic performance of a flat panel TV.
The Sony KDL-40EX703 along with the vast majority of flat panel TV's suffers ultimately from a lack of 'Bass', that low down powerful Acoustic that offers real depth to a soundtrack. For the majority, this won't be a problem, but for those who enjoy the impact of a demanding cinematic score the lack of power will become all too noticeable
In Sony's defense, the acoustic performance is just about on par with the majority of flat panel TV's out there, the manufacturers having made the decision to compromise on sound quality for the sake of style.
Conclusion
The KDL-40EX703 is a well equipped TV which demonstrates a better than average level of overall performance. We have some reservations though in that Sony's own KDL-40EX503 compares favourably in terms of performance and is significantly less expensive.
A well equipped
reasonably priced package
Doubts
remain over LED
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