40in LCD Picture Sound Features Usability Value One of the most accomplished large LCD TV's currently available. HD Ready: yes Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Rating: 92%

Design

Give yourself a moment to take in the supreme build quality and the 'floating' clear glass frame which surrounds the KDL-40X3000 and most other flat panel TV's pale in comparison.

The Sony KDL-40X3000 (40in and 46in screen sizes only) is available in black and also in a range of optional colour bezels. These additional colours include Pale Gold (shown), Light Beige, Deep Mauve, Mocha, and Scarlet Red. The KDL-40X3500 is available in a dark grey brushed metal finish only.

Features

With Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) and 100Hz picture processing to name but two of the KDL-46X3000's attributes, the KDL40X3000 is packed to the rafters with the latest technological wizardry.

	Screen: 40in 16:9 Tuner: Digital Sound System: Nicam Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Contrast Ratio: 2,200:1 (18,000 dynamic) Brightness: 550cd/m2 Other Features: Motionflow +100Hz, BRAVIA Engine Pro, Live Colour Creation, 24p True Cinema, BRAVIA Theatre Sync. Sockets: 3 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input.

 

Sony's 'Motionflow +100Hz' technology doubles the number of frames shown on screen from the usual 50 to 100 by interpolating an extra frame in between each source frame. The technology has been designed to remove the stuttering effect that is visible with fast action sequences as the frame rate struggles to keep up. The feature can be turned off if desired.

Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution can potentially give a marked improvement in the display of sources such as Sky Tv (1080i) where the 1080 lines of resolution match the resolution of the screen negating the need for any picture scaling to fit.

The KDL-40X3000 sports the latest version of Sony's 'Bravia' picture processing engine - BRAVIA Engine Pro. With Sony's 'Digital Reality Creation technology' on board, BRAVIA Engine Pro claims to enhance a High Definition (HD) signal for greater resolution and picture performance.

The Sony KDL-40X3000 is equipped with '24p True Cinema' which enables the panel to display films at their intended 24fps (frames per second) rather than the standard (for tv) of 25fps.

With 24p True Cinema technology on board the KDL-40X3000 does not need to speed up the film to reach 25fps. Alongside 24p True Cinema is Sony's 'Theatre Mode' technology which adjusts colour, contrast and brightness settings to makes movies look as authentic as the original.

Theatre Sync, which is Sony's name for CEC (Consumer Electronic Control), is a control standard that functions over HDMI 1.3. The technology facilitates one-touch control over compatible devices and in practice means that if you fire up your compatible DVD player, the all connected devices such as your LCD TV will also spring into life.

Sonically, the KDL-40X3000 comes equipped with Sony's S-Force Front Surround which is their latest virtual surround sound technology.

Performance

The most impressive aspect of the KDL-40X3000's is the black level performance. Along with Samsung's LE52F96, benchmarks in this area have been raised. While still not quite on par with the best Plasma's, the gap has been closed to the extent that it should not be a deciding factor when choosing between the two technologies. Shadow detailing is the best we have seen on an LCD and makes viewing 'Darker' films, for once on an LCD, a real pleasure.

The KDL-40X3000 achieves an exceptional level of detail and sharpness with High Definition (HD) material. Quite possibly the best performance from an LCD TV in this respect to date. Colours are absolutely stunning, with a vibrancy that is simply unmatched by anything other than top notch Plasmas from pioneer and Panasonic.

Reaction to the effectiveness of 100Hz processing on LCD TV's has been mixed, but with Sony's 'Motionflow +100Hz' the implementation brings some positive results. With most input sources 'Motion Blur' has been visibly reduced, and while the effectiveness of the technology was not consistent across different sources, on the whole it worked well. Unlike some other manufacturers version of 100Hz processing, with the KDL-46X3000 there is also an option to switch on/off if the results are not to your liking

Like its bigger brother the KDL-46X3000, we found Standard Definition (SD) material a little disappointing, possibly because we were expecting so much having witnessed exceptional performance in other areas. While not as pronounced as on the 46in screen, there is still a noticeable 'jaggedness' to pictures, which becomes more apparent when switching from Sky SD/cable to terrestrial Freeview. There were no significant problems with video noise/grain etc with the KDL-40X3000 performing well in this respect, and SD problems are relatively minor compared to lesser LCD TV's.

Conclusion

The Sony KDL-40X3000 has joined a small but growing band of LCD TV's that have closed the gap when it come to the traditional Plasma strengths of black level performance and smooth fast motion capability. While hardened Plasma enthusiasts may not be tempted to switch camps just yet, others who may not previously have considered LCD will undoubtedly think twice.