My lovely black box!! (Sony KDL-32S3000)

Member Name: charlie1979

Product:	Sony KDL-32S3000
Date:	23/12/08 (324 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good picture quality, easy to use

Disadvantages: Limited features

When my old faithful big box of a TV finally gave up the ghost a year ago I began my search for a new TV. I have always been a fan of the Sony brand and it was a brand that I have always trusted with other electrical equipment such as my camera so I decided to buy a Sony TV.

**About the TV**

I purchased the 32" TV. I was a little worried it would be a bit too big but to step up from the 28" models it was only another £60 so I decided bigger would be better! The TV itself is black in colour and I decided to buy a black glass stand to go with it, together they looked really smart!

This model is and HD ready LCD TV. High definition TV's offer a far better picture quality compared to the old standard definition. It also has an integrated digital tuner and freeview. When the digital switchover finally comes into force I will be up and running already. It also meant I could get rid of my ugly little silver freeview box that I used to use with my old TV.

There are plenty of connection in the rear of the TV for connecting your separate components. You have two HDMI sockets, two scart sockets, one component input, one S composite video input and PC input.

One of Sony's main selling points of their TVs is the Bravia engine. This is their picture enhancement technology and reduces colour distortion, smooths motion and overall give a much clearer picture.

This TV comes with a smart black remote which feels like it is good quality. I have seen TVs that friends have purchased which look really smart but have a horrible grey tacky remote to go with them! You can access all the usual features from the remote to adjust picture and sound settings. There is also a one touch button which brings up a list of digital programmes and acts like a TV guide.

**My experience**

First impressions were good as far as the looks of the TV. I was used to the traditional silver TVs but in black it looks really smart. I was also amazed at how light it was, my old TV took two men to carry and I could lift this one easily myself!

The initial setup was easy and full instructions were given to on screen. This mainly included setting up your digital channel list and tuning the TV. Once tuned it was time to see if the picture really was worth all the hype! In one word yes! I was amazed at how clear the picture was and how vibrant all the colours looked, I had been missing out all these years!

The sound was also pretty good on the TV. You can adjust the sound by bass and treble etc or choose a sound effect pre-programmed on the TV. These include standard, dynamic and Dolby Virtual. I prefer to set up my own sound settings though. Whilst the sound was good I decided to buy a surround sound system for watching films and this makes the whole film experience amazing!

You can set up the picture yourself by adjusting brightness and contrast etc. Like the sound there are also pre-programmed settings. By switching to the vivid setting the picture became a lot crisper and brighter and this is my setting of choice.

You can edit your digital channels via the onscreen menus. I have found this really handy as you can delete channels you don't want on your programme list. If I retune my TV I go through the list and delete channels I don't want to watch such as QVC and Bid TV!

I have noticed lately though that certain fast moving pictures such as scenes with moving water tend to become a bit 'pixcelated'. I don't have any problems watching DVDs so I put this down to the digital signal quality. As with many LCD TVs the further away you can sit from it the better. If you sit too close the picture does seem a bit grainy.

**Price**

Now this is the painful bit for me! I paid £799.99 for this TV in Currys just over a year ago. After a quick internet search you can now buy these TVs for half this price at around £400! Oh well!

**Summary**

After a year the TV is still going strong. The picture quality is really good and the colours are bright and vibrant. I have used many different accessories on this TV and the one that really brought the TV to its full potential was the Playstation 3. Linked up with an HDMI cable the high definition function of the TV really shone through and the picture was amazing.

Overall I would say that if you can get this TV now for £400 then it is a real bargain! The functions on the TV aren't brilliant and the user adjustments are somewhat limited but overall I have been really pleased with this TV and highly recommend it.

Summary: A great quality TV

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