Sony Bravia KLV-32S200A HDTV

[pascal]

This is my first week impressions with the Sony Bravia KLV-32S200A HDTV.
This is an unprofessional impression but maybe this info can be helpfull for someone then I will share.

This is a 32" widescreen LCD HDTV with WXGA native resolution (1366x768) S-PVA panel.
It is part of the s-series for 2006/2007 in Brazil and similar to s-series worldwide.
It has seven input channels: 1 VGA (for PC connectivity), 1 HDMI, 2 components, 1 composite + 2 composite with s-video. I wish it had one more HDMI.
It is trinorm: PAL-M, PAL-N and NTSC.

I initially tested this TV with a cheap Cyberhome progressive DVD player (CH-DVD 300) but both signals (composite and component) did not work well. Lots of black crushes of many parts of the screen with composite and only one color working with component. It was changed then to a Sony DVD player DVD-NS325S (interlaced 480i component) and the image quality improved a lot.

This TV comes configured in "Vivid" mode which is extremelly bright, and is what we see in stores.
This mode can give headaches for some people and many black and white details are lost.
The second pre-configured mode is the "standard" mode with the backlight in the middle of its range. The TV worked better but still something was missing for me.

This TV has a third "custom" mode which gives you lots of control and I tried to manually adjust it, but I could only improve some parts in some scenes while lose others.

This TV has lots of control possibilities and you can control the backlight level, which is a great thing.
Then you have full control of the Luminance equation, which is probably something like:
L = (B + CX**G)W ; where L=luminance, B=Brightness, X=signal, G=gamma, C=contrast, W=backlight.

There are two good resources threads in the net.
avforums: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330125
avsforum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=650533&page=1

But I am a lucky and I found this review of the 46" big brother of my s-series TV: http://www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com/lcdtvreviews/sony-kdl46s2000-review.shtml

I then tried their professionally calibrated (ISF standard) settings below.

Sony KDL-46S2000 Optimal Picture settings (ISF calibration)
Picture Mode Custom
Backlight 2*
Picture 85
Brightness 60
Color 47
Tint R4
Sharpness Min
Color Temperature Warm2
Noise Reduction Off
Advanced Settings All Off

This settings is excellent and work very well night and day
At night I usually reduce brightness to 40.
My thanks to lcdtvbuyingguide for their great work.
Probably I will not be able to do a better job than what they did.

All little details are now visible. It now has a good scale of blacks and a good scale of whites.
I tested it with the following DVDs:
- Sphere (dark interior scenes)
- X-Men - The Last Stand (some action, lots of colors, indors and outdors, blacks and whites scenes, some close-up)
- Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
- Over the Hedge (animation)
- The Incredibles (animation)
- How to lose a guy in 10 days (wife like it)

I have a Sony X-Black LCD monitor and this TV looks like have deeper blacks. About this monitor see this thread: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26047

I noticed that the measured contrast ratio of the this calibrated HDTV is 700:1.
This is curious because a similary calibrated top-tier Panasonic plasma has 788:1 contrast ratio.
See more about this Panny: http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th42px600u-review.html

Overall the image quality is just great and I cant notice any ghost or other artifacts.
Family is very happy :smile2:

The next step is try to connect it to the PC using VGA. I will post more later with pics.

 

[London Geezer]

Great post!

I will be buying a W-series one of these days, and i'll surely post my review too. Can't wait!

 

[pascal]

Thanks LB and others :smile2:

The W series should be a winner. Unfortunatelly only the s-series is available here at premium price.
I am dreaming about a LED backlight in maybe a couple of years.

More impressions and info:
The TV bezel looks very good in a refreshing style. It is most silver with an small strip of very light green in the bottom. You can rotate the TV and find a better angle for your viewing.

It is lightwheight with only 17 Kg and you can hold it with your both hands on the sides. I am using it with the stand. Today it is in my multimedia/computer room. In the future years maybe I can wall mount it in the bedroom.

The 32" size is good for me because it reduces the need of eye movement. We see it at 5~6 feet viewing distance (eye to panel) and at this distance all pixels are blended. I cant perceive any screen door effect.

The remote control is simple, easy to hold but is not integrated with the DVD. I am looking for a good universal remote control.

The professionally calibrated TV is less bright than the "standard" mode. Closer to a plasma look. It will give the TV a longer lifespan.

I dont have any High Definition source but with the VGA I will test some 720p demos available. Now I need to find a VGA cable.

I will try to get some nice pictures tonight.

Sometime ago I compiled some HDTV links on this thread (I will update it on the future): http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25998&highlight=HDTV

edited: and the "new Sony HDTV" thread http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33854 with some more info.

 

[pascal]

I managed to connect the PC to the TV using a generic DVI-HDMI cable and the newest nvidia WHQL drivers for Windows XP. Problems:
- I have only one DVI output in my old card, which means I have to setup the resolution, turn off the PC, change monitor cable for TV cable and boot again to see some images.
- The image is not 1:1 pixel mapping and has overscan, which degrades a lot PC content and a little movies.

Lyris has an excellent "Unofficial Bravia Tips & Tricks" page with usefull information: http://www.lyris-lite.net/bravia_tips.html
Includes service mode tricks, how to change factory defaults and settings, Advanced white balance adjust, etc... But be carefull kids because you can damage your TV.

Pics latter because I am cold and slow this weekend. Nice excuse to stay at home enjoying the new toy :smile2:

 

[pascal]

Now I have some new pictures. Still not the best with this new camera.
Night picture of a Star Wars Episode III.

Some X-Men 3 pictures.
The robot head have details that can be dificult to see with some settings.
The white room is hard too.

All with a 720p signal from PC to HDTV :smile2:
edited: the lcdtvbuyingguide settings are originally for HDMI connection, and image is best with DVI-HDMI.

 

[pascal]

Two more pictures from "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift" DVD with video component 480i.
See the two solid black side bars in the first picture.

I will try to test it with games in the future with videocard upgrade.

For now the conclusion is I give 9 out of 10 for this digital TV.

 

[London Geezer]

Two more pictures from "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift" DVD with video component 480i.
See the two solid black side bars in the first picture.

I will try to test it with games in the future with videocard upgrade.

For now the conclusion is I give 9 out of 10 for this digital TV.

Ok i didn't understand the two black side bars? Shouldn't the picture be widescreen and take the whole screen?

 

[pascal]

This is the 4.3 format presented in the widescreen panel (you control up 5 presentations mode with 480i, cant do that with 720p).
The side bars are the lack of signal or the absolut panel black level (below 0 IRE) for a given backlight intensity (my guess).

 

[London Geezer]

This is the 4.3 format presented in the widescreen panel (you control up 5 presentations mode with 480i, cant do that with 720p).
The side bars are the lack of signal or the absolut panel black level (below 0 IRE) for a given backlight intensity (my guess).

But the video IS in widescreen... *confused*

I do see how you use that to see the black levels though. I've seen that TV in a dark room and they're not black, like most other LCDs...

 

[pascal]

The video is widescreen format, coded in 480i and presented in 4:3 (think 12:9) format in a 16:9 panel. (yes confusing)
Then the side verticals bars are not part of the video signal. These side bars are not affected by any image control.

The horizontal bars are part of the video signal (I think) and show some higher level of black (maybe 7.5 IRE). I am not an expert, maybe someone could help us.

This HDTV side-by-side with the X-Black monitor show minimal leak of light in the absolut black. (edited: in the night)

 

[Bobbler]

But the video IS in widescreen... *confused*

I do see how you use that to see the black levels though. I've seen that TV in a dark room and they're not black, like most other LCDs...

There are some poorly mastered DVDs that are actually like that (not sure if tokyo drift is or if it's something messed with the dvd player/tv). It's really frustrating when studios put out discs that are widescreen, but in a 4:3 window (so you get black bars all around on a widescreen tv, but on a 4:3 tv it looks widescreen like it should). There are ways to fix it (zoom), but it ends up looking like garbage. I have a couple movies that do this and it drives me nuts.

This is probably the most frustrating thing with dvds, right above accidently purchasing fullscreen versions of movies.

 

[pascal]

There are some poorly mastered DVDs that are actually like that (not sure if tokyo drift is or if it's something messed with the dvd player/tv). It's really frustrating when studios put out discs that are widescreen, but in a 4:3 window (so you get black bars all around on a widescreen tv, but on a 4:3 tv it looks widescreen like it should). There are ways to fix it (zoom), but it ends up looking like garbage. I have a couple movies that do this and it drives me nuts.

No, this was my option/control in the HDTV to present this specific scene it that way. The idea is to show the no signal black level. See the second picture of Tokyo Drift and it has only horizontal bars.

 

[Bobbler]

No, this was my option/control in the HDTV to present this specific scene it that way. The idea is to show the no signal black level. See the second picture of Tokyo Drift and it has only horizontal bars.

Yeah, I didn't figure Tokyo drift would be like that... the few times I've encountered a disc that actually does that is on older movies (or relatively low volume presses of lesser known movies that had their transfer done by a group of monkeys).

 

[pascal]

One more picture of Half-Life 2 in widescreen mode 720p resolution.
With the DVI-HDMI cable.

I think I will start to play games this way

 

[pascal]

Minor update.

I found this cnet review (written and video) of the KDL-32S2000, which is equivalent to the model I have: http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_KDL_32S2000/4505-6482_7-31694898.html?tag=pdtl-list

After some inspection during the night with a no signal situation I found four Mura defects (bleeding), in the form of four 15cm diameter lighter areas closer to the center of the TV. These defects have no impact in overall image quality because of the very low intensity of it, and are not remotelly perceived during any movie situation day and night.

The Sony DVD player remote controler can do/control some basic functions of the HDTV, but still need the TV remote to do the settings.

The main use now for the HDTV is EDTV movies (DVDs) using a video component conection. I am thinking about buy an DVD player with HDMI interface (upconversion to 720p). There are three models available here from Samsung HD860, LG DF9921N, Philips DVP5965K.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

The main use now for the HDTV is EDTV movies (DVDs) using a video component conection. I am thinking about buy an DVD player with HDMI interface (upconversion to 720p). There are three models available here from Samsung HD860, LG DF9921N, Philips DVP5965K.

In that sort of price range the Sony NS76H and the Pioneer 696 are both better players.

 

[pascal]

Thanks for the info BZB, but both DVD players are not available here.

 

[pascal]

Some calibration update.

Something happened and my family eyes adapted (speculation) to the new TV and we start to see shades of grey.

Then I continued my search for a newer calibration. I tried the Avia guide basic calibration and it was a failure. The brightness with Avia was in the 26/30 range (night/day) and too low to be usefull. The contrast was maxout.

Then I started to test in deep many calibration for other Bravia TVs because of the high similarity of panels and controls:
cnet XBR2 tips http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_KDL_40XBR2/9603-6482_7-31901205.html?messageID=2506754&tag=tip-2506754
avsforum V2500 calibration thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=743609&page=1&pp=30

Right now I am using the uncalibrated settings below (with DVD-video component) which is a mix of all settings I tried:

Picture menu

Mode: custom
Backlight: 4
Picture: 95
Brightness: 45
Color: 50
Hue: 0
Color Temp: cold
Sharpness: 15
Noise reduction: off

Advanced settings

Black corrector: off
Advanced C.E.: off
Gamma: low
Clear white: off
Live color: low
MPEG Noise reduction: off

Setup menu

Power saving: off
Light sensor: off

Blacks are deep. Unfortunatelly I can see sometimes some blacks crushes but the low brightness cleaned the colors and the grey effect dissaperead.
Colors are vibrant and the overall sensation is more exciting, few times like looking through a window.
Since it is all about perception and family is happy and I will keep it this way for now, but I continue to search and will try the DVE disc later.

Please, any advice/comments will be appreciated.

 

[hey69]

i just saw an ad for a philips dvd player with HDMI and upconversion to 1080i. it was only 99euro. i will try to find the model number of it

 

[pascal]

Well, looks like our eyes adapted, but the black crushes was not the TV fault. It was a newbie fault I have a few premium DVDs movies in my collection which I use to do repetitive test. I was using 4.5G backups as a way to protect from eventual scratch, but it has an horrible effect in the black levels and shadows.

The latest stable settings is (back to close 6500K with video-component):

Picture menu
Mode: custom
Backlight: 4
Picture: 95
Brightness: 50
Color: 50
Hue: 0
Color Temp: warm2
Sharpness: 15
Noise reduction: off

Advanced settings
Black corrector: off
Contrast Enhancer.: off
Gamma: low
Clear white: off
Live color: off
MPEG Noise reduction: off

Setup menu
Power saving: off
Light sensor: off

The first BattleStar Galactica DVD looks great in the TV now