Sony KDL-40X2000
Product Rating 
Sony KDL-40X2000 ReviewRating:
Date: 04/10/2007
It may not be cheap, but the Sony KDL-40X2000 has become a best-seller now that the price has come down to more affordable levels. Even though the price has come down by around £500 since launch, it's still a lot more expensive than most LCD TV's, but with good reason.
Reason 1: it offers a picture quality that is best described using adjectives like "breathtaking", and that competes with any plasma TV.
Reason 2: its "floating" screen design makes it into a designer icon and will have your friends drooling all over it (or congratulating you on your good taste - depending on what sort of friends you have!)
The X Series goes beyond anything normally seen in LCD technology and is available only in sizes of 40 inches and upwards, and supports full HD 1080p signals with an ultra-high resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. This is the highest resolution available, and enables you to enjoy Blu-Ray and HD DVD to the full. Sony's BRAVIA ENGINE EX renders all scenes smoothly and makes motion blur and digital artifacts a thing of the past. Response times are very fast at 8 milliseconds, and the display is bright with superb colour saturation and a wide viewing angle. The KDL-40W2000 uses a special kind of backlight called WCG-CCFL, which significantly enhances colour quality compared with conventional backlights used in LCD displays. An outstanding dynamic contrast ratio of 7000:1 puts it in the same league as a plasma screen with regard to making its blacks look black.
Audio quality is excellent too, with 22W of total power from twin speakers with a digital amplifier. Virtual Dolby Surround Pro Logic II helps to reduce sound distortion, improve the intelligibility of dialogue, and generally "widen" the sound to simulate a 5.1 speaker setup with just two speakers.
Our only complaint about this TV is that it has only two HDMI ports - a third would have been nice to have, especially for the amount of money this thing costs! Still, two ports is sufficient to connect a HD satellite or cable plus a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player. In addition there are two component video connections, three SCART's, S-video, AV and PC inputs and a digital audio output and a headphone jack. A PCMCIA card slot is also provided.
Other features worth noting are the integrated digital tuner with Electronic Programme Guide and digital teletext with a 2,500 page memory. Various PIP (picture-in-picture) options enable you to view two picture inputs simultaneously (e.g. watching the football scores whilst viewing a film) and you can also use this to pause a scene whilst the sound continues. Also worth a mention is the fact that it carries the Energy Saving Trust's "Energy Saving" logo, which means that it meets strict criteria on energy efficiency.
The Sony KDL-40X2000 is easily one of the best TV's that you can buy this year. The new Sony KDL-40X3500 will beat it with various picture improvements and a third HDMI socket, but you won't be disappointed with the Sony KDL-40X2000.
Features of the Sony KDL-40X2000 include:
- 40" X-series BRAVIA LCD TV
- Integrated Digital TV Tuner (also receives analogue)
- 1920x1080 resolution LCD panel
- High Performance LCD panel
- 1080p capable via HDMI
- WCG-CCFL Backlight
- BRAVIA Engine EX
- Live Colour Creation
- HD Ready HDMI sockets
- Supports 1080p signals
- Digital Audio Amplifier
- Dolby Virtual (Prologic II) and BBE Digital
- BBE technology for clear and easily audible sound
- PIP Freeze to Pause Important Scenes on the Spot
- High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
- PC Input for use as a PC monitor
- "Timeless" Floating Design
- Changeable colour bezels (not included) - Black Blue Red Brown White
- Non-Reflective coating on TV frames
- Dynamic contrast 7000:1
- VESA Hole Spacing Compatible
Sony KDL-40X2000 Consumer Reviews
(1 review)
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Reviewed by CJ Smith on 05/10/2007
I bought this TV after viewing a few of sony's 1080P LCD tv's. The X2000 was a lot sharper at closer range. This would prove worthy in a smaller living room. I bought a PS3 at the same time and sony's 2m scart cable. After a few months use I think this TV along with the PS3 will probably be the best thing I've ever bought. After watching blu-ray films, gaming, browsing on the playstation network and on the web, The technology thats inside the TV can be appreciated. The price though is a lot of money but I think I've spent well. The screen is easy to clean using a weak mixture of warm water and washing up liquid. The default settings can easliy be changed to obtain a very good freeview/DVD picture. If I was to advise anyone to buy this TV, I would ask them to consider how much HD programs/games etc they would watch. If I'd not bought the PS3 with it, it would not be worth just watching freeview to appreciate it. If you see this TV in a shop it will be set to the default settings, but believe me the picture can be made alot better stand back and admire.
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