Sony KDL-37U4000 > Reviews (1)

My TV in XL

Introduction

Me and my Partner had been offered a new Flat in March 2009, we took the flat and to cut a long story short, we had almost finished renovating and decorating the flat some 2 or 3 months later so we were starting to shop for the larger items for our flat. One night the other half comes running into the kitchen to me saying “I’ve spotted a bargain and we’ve got to have it“. It was a 37 inch LCD TV for £429.99 at Sainsbury’s, I wasn’t too keen as I wasn’t that bothered about having a huge super-modern TV stuck on a wall above my mantle piece. However, he managed to talk me into buying it. And I must say now that it’s grown on me, it was the best purchase that I’ve made for the flat.

Once we got the TV home

On first thoughts the box is huge and quite bulky, although there are handles built into the sides of the box which my partner failed to notice, was funny watching him struggle for a few moments until he realised. Opon opening the box I noticed that everything had been packed in very neatly and safe with lots of polystyrene and protective wrapping.

We had purchased a separate wall mountable stand although we did get a table-top stand free, we wanted our TV out of the way of little fingers. It’s a bit awkward changing leads over when you can’t access the back of the TV without taking it off the wall. So I would suggest to use the table-top stand if you want to be able to access your cables easily.

Set up was very easy and my partner managed to do it without even looking at the instruction manual. The remote control is similar to a sky remote with the functions of the buttons and the way the Freeview menu looks, the remote doesn’t look anything like a sky remote. It’s black and silver and has a corrugated effect in the back of the remote. The TV itself is a dusty black colour (see pictures for more info).

Features

• Experience sharp, vibrant and life-like images with BRAVIA engine picture enhancement technology (see my picture of finding nemo in HD attached to this review)
• Watch digital TV with the integrated standard definition digital terrestrial tuner (MPEG-2, also receives normal analogue TV). It’s so much easier than the old TV’s where you have to buy a set top box to get digital.
• Watch cable TV with the integrated digital cable tuner.
• Three HDMI inputs (on the back of the TV, all with CEC) make it even easier to connect to HD sources such as Blu-ray, xbox 360 and PS3.
• Watch TV, movies and games in superb detail thanks to the 3.1 mega pixel resolution.
• Featuring the ‘draw the line design’ concept, this TV also has a 178º viewing angle so you can watch it from almost anywhere in the room.
  *Experience the effect of digital surround sound from only two front speakers with Virtual Dolby Surround and BBE ViVA sound technology.
• Sync up to VCR so you can record any program and only have to use one remote.
• Wall mountable.
• Table-top stand.

Technical Specifications

Here is all the information that I could sort through on the Specification page of the manual.

It was a bit confusing to say the least.

Name: Sony Bravia KDL-37U4000. Description: 37 inch, Widescreen, LCD, HD Ready. Sony Bravia Engine Digital Tuner Type: DVB-T Built-In Digital TV Tuner / Freeview. Power Consumption (In use / Standby, in Watts): 123W / 0.6W . NTSC Playback. TV Type: LCD. Screen Size: 37.0 inches. HDTV Compatible, HD-Ready. Contrast Ratio: 22000:1. Image Enhancement Engine: Sony Bravia Engine PIP (Picture in Picture), Progressive Scan. Screen Resolution: 1366x768. Screen Format: Widescreen. Supported Picture Formats: 480i/p, 576i/p, 720p, 1080i. Viewing Angle: H/V 178/178 degrees. Zoom available. Speakers: Stereo. Speaker Output: 2x10 W. Supported Sound Formats: Dynamic, Standard, BBE ViVA, Virtual Dolby. 1 Component Input. 1 Composite Input . 1 Composite Output. 3 HDMI Inputs. Phono Output, S-Video Input. 2 Scart Connections. 1 VGA (HD-15) Input. Sleep Timer. Stand/Cabinet is included. Dimensions: H60.9cm x W93.1cm x D11cm (Height x Width x Depth). Weight: 17.5 kg

All the technical jargon Explained

• Bravia: Sounds a bit trivial to some, but there is meaning behind this name. BRAVIA stands for Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture.
• Bravia Engine: BRAVIA ENGINE is a high picture performance engine used in the latest Sony LCD televisions. An original picture tuning and noise reduction process was developed by Sony to guarantee vivid and high contrast images. The complex noise reduction process enhances low contrast images until they are crisp and realistic, and processes blues, greens and whites within each frame to generate the richness and colour accuracy.
• Standard definition: Standard Definition is the traditional format used for TV and video made up of 576 Horizontal lines across the screen.
• High definition (HD): High definition makes it possible for you to enjoy home entertainment with stunning picture quality and sound. When you watch Blu-ray disc movies, it’s just like being at the cinema. Plugging in your Playstation 3 or xbox 360 is the same, with characters and scenes springing to life on screen. It’s all down to the much higher resolution in High Definition TV sets, producing an incredibly clear and detailed picture. Standard Definition TVs have 720 x 576 pixels. High Definition TV screens have a lot more; in some cases up to 1920 x 1080 pixels, the more advanced you get. So the more pixels, the better the resolution and the finer the detail you see in the images.
• Digital terrestrial tuner: An integrated television tuner that receives digital terrestrial TV channels and radio broadcasts.
• Cable Tuner: Selected BRAVIA TVs now include integrated television tuners for use on cable networks. This allows you to connect your BRAVIA TV directly to the cable network via the aerial lead without needing a set top box.
  *HDMI: High Definition Multimedia Interface is a type of connection, designed to carry high quality digital video and audio content. It will enhance your BRAVIA experience by catapulting next-generation films, games and music into your living room with breathtaking picture and sound quality.

• A single high speed cable is all you need to connect any HD devices. Ideal for Playstation 3 and xbox 360 gaming and also Blu-ray Disc™ 1080p HD movie playback, you get crisp images and vibrant sound straight to your BRAVIA Home Theatre set up.
• Draw the line: A brand new concept from Sony, “draw the LINE” is a design theme integrated into the latest BRAVIA LCD TVs. It’s about clean, understated lines that enhance your environment without distracting from the total viewing experience. Excessive parts and unnecessary spaces are taken out, so you can focus on the stunning screen and high-resolution picture quality. The design and its elements are entirely unique to Sony.
• 576i: 576i relates to the number of Horizontal interlaced lines used by a Standard Definition output device (e.g. a TV)
• 1080i: The number 1080 relates to 1080 lines of vertical resolution, while the letter i stands for interlaced or non-progressive scan. 1080i is considered to be an HDTV video mode and is often used as shorthand to describe a group of video standards.
  Virtual Dolby: Provides the effect of Dolby Surround Sound while only using two front speakers.
• BBE ViVA: BBE ViVA high quality sound and built-in Virtual Dolby creates the effect of full surround sound from just two front speakers. Built in to the BRAVIA TV range, it counteracts the distorting effects of 3D sound – such as lack of high fidelity, unclear dialogue and a distant centre channel. The result is a natural, three-dimensional sound with crystal clarity for solo vocals and spoken word.

If there are any technical terms that I’ve missed out, I’m sorry but I don’t think I could fit all the meanings on here, so leave me a message in my guestbook and I’ll explain the meaning.

Summary

All in all this is simply the best TV at the moment. I really like the built in Freeview and the fact that you can link up your VCR to the T.V. so you don’t have to use your VCR remote to set a record timer, the T.V. remote does all that for you. On the downside, it’s not a good idea to mount the T.V. on the wall if you’re the sort of person that has a lot of electrical goods linked up to the T.V. because every time you want to connect or disconnect cables you have to take the T.V. off the wall brackets. Not good if you have to do it all the time, a 37 inch Bravia T.V is very heavy, so beware!

Thanks for reading, your r/r/c's are much appreciated. Fazel x : )