Sony KDL-40HX803 review

While the majority of 3D TVs you can buy come with the transmitter that synchronises the active shutter glasses integrated into the TV, with the KDL-40HX803 you get a separate transmitter unit. This plugs into the rear of the TV and sticks on top of the bezel in a similar way to the IR receiver for the Wii. It’s not quite as neat a package, but does mean that Sony can sell a cheaper version of this TV without the 3D glasses, giving people the chance to upgrade at a later date.

Sony’s 3D transmitter is fairly stylish and small, so it doesn’t really break up the neat lines of this thin-bezel LED edge-lit 40in TV. As a result this is definitely one model that you’d be happy to have on display in your living room.

Of course, it’s really image quality that decides whether a TV is any good or not. With the KDL-40HX803 we found that it massive depended on the type of content that really defined how good the TV really was.

In 3D mode we found that the screen produced vibrant colours. Due to the active shutter glasses, the screen loses some brightness, but Sony’s done a good to ensure that colours don’t wash out as a result.

We found the glasses (two pairs are included in the box) to be fairly comfortable to wear, but wearing them we noticed two problems. First, on bright scenes in a film we noticed a high degree of flicker. Secondly, there’s a lot of crosstalk: this is where one eye sees the residual image meant for the other eye. It manifests itself as ghosting around moving objects or even a bit of double vision. It’s fairly prominent and makes some 3D scenes fairly uncomfortable to watch.

As with most other 3D sets, you can either view native footage or use the 3D ‘upscaling’ feature, which is designed to turn 2D footage into 3D. It’s not particularly good and regular footage is worth leaving alone.

It’s a shame that the 3D suffers so much, as in 2D mode this 40HX803 is a considerably better television. To get the best picture we had to manually adjust the contrast, brightness, colour and hue settings. We also turned down the sharpness, as it introduced too much noise into the picture; be careful, as the image can get very soft if you take it too far the other way.

Colours are vivid and bright, with the TV showing off its full potential in the opening snake-fight scene in Casino Royale. The myriad colours of the crowd’s clothes were reproduced faithfully without being too overblown. There’s a little less detail in some parts of the image than on other TV’s we’ve tested. In particular as the dust blows up in front of Bond the screen doesn’t capture all the detail and looks a little muddy.

Black levels and contrast were excellent. Watching the opening fight sequence in Casino Royal we were impressed with the dark blacks and bright whites. For an edge-lit television it’s an impressive feat.

If you find the action a little jerky, Sony has its Motion Flow option that creates extra smoothing frames. We’d avoid the Smooth setting, which turns films into fast-paced cartoonish versions, but Clear and Clear Plus seem to do a reasonable job.

For regular TV, there’s both Freeview HD and analogue tuners built-in. HD channels look superb, and the 40HX803 does a good job of cleaning up poor-quality low-bitrate channels, such as the 24-hour news stations. There are still some artefacts and the image can look a little too sharp when you examine it closely, but from normal viewing distances it’s very good.

Sony has done a brilliant job with the internet and network functions of this TV. There’s a wired Ethernet port to connect the TV to the internet. If you’d prefer wireless, there’s an optional dongle available that plugs into a USB port on the side of set.

Once online you can access some internet services, including YouTube and Picasa. However, it’s the on-demand section that really stands out with BBC iPlayer, Demand Five and LoveFilm the stick-out services. A DLNA client means that the TV will pick up video, picture and music from any compatible server, such as a Windows 7 PC running Windows Media Player. We managed to get the TV to play our Xvid files flawlessly, as well as browsing through our photo albums.

As with other Sony TV’s we’ve seen recently, the Bravia KDL-40HX803 uses the XMB menu system as seen on the PlayStation 3. It’s incredibly easy to navigate, as well as being smooth and responsive. It’s just about the best menu system that we’ve seen, putting the wide range of features within easy reach.

Audio is acceptable, rather than astounding. We found dialogue to be clear and easy to hear, but sound effects didn’t have a lot of bass to them. Even at full volume there wasn’t any distortion or cabinet vibration. If you want better audio, there’s a optical S/PDIF on the rear, so that you can plug this TV into a home cinema amp.

All-in it’s fair to say that the Bravia KDL-40HX803 is an excellent TV. Its image quality is brilliant, although the 3D side lets the side down a little, making this an expensive choice for a 2D only set. If you just care about getting the best image quality, the Panasonic Viera TX-P42G20B is hard to beat and it’s cheaper. If you want everything that the Bravia KDL-40HX803’s internet portal can offer and occasional 3D movies, it’s a decent choice.