Sony KDL32-EX503 colour and pixellation problems

[richliv]

Hi there  I am having problems getting the colours right with this new TV, the colours seem either too grey (on the standard settings) or too bright and unreal (on the vivid setting). Now, I realize that it is completely configurable  and to some degree, subjective, but surely I can't be the only person to think this? My wife agrees, and we've spent ages playing with the settings, returning it to the factory defaults and starting again. Has anyone got any thoughts on sets of setting values to try out, so I don't spend the next year getting more and more ticked off with what looks on the face of it to be a lovely TV. it has to be user error, right?

[HostatheDog]

Which? in their review recommended the following settings as optimum:

Brightness 50/100

Contrast 93/100

Colour  63/100

Picture  profile Standard

Sharpness 19/30

Backlight 3/10

Other  settings

Hue:  0/R50-G50

Colour  temperature: Neutral

Noise  reduction: Medium

MPEG  noise reduction: Low

Motionflow: Off

Film  mode: Off

Black  corrector: Off

Adv.  contrast enhancer: Off

Gamma:  0/±3

Auto  light limiter: Medium

Clear  white: Off

Live  colour: Off

White  balance: R, G, B

gain:  All 0/-40 to 0 R, G, B

bias:  All 0/±20

Ambient  sensor: Off

Power  saving: Off

Hope they help.

[richliv]

Many thanks; I will give it a whirl tonight and see if I can get a result.

[richliv]

A bit better but not much, really. The colour and greyness compared even to a small 20" Samsung LCD set we bought is striking - and bumping up the colour, hue, backlight etc doesn't really seem to help. Maybe there is a fault with the set, I don't know. I will be RTB to Amazon, anyhow, spending £500 on a set that is worse in some ways that the old one, and is mostly worse than a £100 small LCD TV, is not great.

Thanks for your hlep - if you have any other suggestions, I'd be glag to hear them.

[HostatheDog]

Sorry to hear you are still unhapppy with the picture.

I expect that there are those that will say it is subjective, but I would suspect you may have a duff one.

I bought the same tv just two weeks ago, and my family and I have been perfectly happy with the picture, so I think that if you get a replacement chances are that this will fix the issue.  Good luck!

[richliv]

I suspect so too as I see lots of happy comments on the web about this TV. Anyway, DHL have picked it up now and the new one is arriving today, snow allowing. I'll post my results

[chrisb]

I bought the 32EX403 and feel much the same.  Yes, I am happy that the picture is sharp and pretty free from artifacts, but the colour - OMG - how can these **** TVs get such good reviews?  Glad I didn't spend the extra money on a 503!

hdtvtest suggest some settings for the 403 that helped a bit: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/sony-kdl32ex403-kdl32ex403u-20100418346.htm, but my old 21" CRT is still seems so much more life-like, even though the resolution is much lower.

I seem to have the greyness and also a green tinge a lot of the time that I can't get rid of, despite turning the green gain and bias to minimum in the white balance settings.  Could it be faulty?  I don't know how to get Currys to entertain the possibility.  Currys seem to take the attitude that if there is a picture, there is no fault.

I haven't yet found much help on the Sony website - or any decent explanation for what all the settings in the advanced picture settings do.  In general they seem to make things worse?!

[richliv]

Hi Chris  I didn't post my findings in this thread although I did elsewhere on this forum. Basically  after going through the same process as you I returned my 503 to Amazon and the replacement worked properly ie bright colours out of the box. Don't know how you convince Currys but i suggest sending links to this forum and quoting the sale of goods act. The retailer is obliged to sort out this sort of thing.

[chrisb]

Thanks, Rich.  To summarise, Currys pushed it onto TechGuys.  They agreed it was faulty by phone, but they wanted Sony to repair it.  Instead, I went back and told the whole story quite forcibly to the manager at Currys.  He was much more reasonable and agreed to swap it.  Not much stock in January, it seemed, but I nervously accepted another TV from the same batch and it is much better.  Still a colour tint, so I have to turn the green gain and bias way down, but the picture is bright and generally lifelike.  Good on power use, but too many niggles.  I don't think I would recommend this (or any Sony?) TV to anyone, but for £344 (assuming those slow Sony wheels keep turning and I eventually get the VAT back), I don't feel too hard done by.

[richliv]

Maybe it's a problem with the whole batch, though? A mate at work who bought a 37" Bravia which he said was great, told me that some panels are manufactured in China and some in South Korea, and the Chinese panels are not as good. I see the Sony have stopped shipping Bravias due to a patent dispute as well, so probably no hope of sorting this out anytime soon, unfortunately.   You got a much better price than me though so I think you've not done too badly. I paid the early adopter pre Xmas penalty! Looked great with the Kinect though on a swivelling wall mount, and the Iplayer is great too.