If you’ve been shopping for an LCD or plasma flat-panel TV recently, you’ll know the big buzzes at retail are full high definition and a built-in Freeview tuner.

The advantage of full HD is that if you can have it, then you might as well. As Blu-ray discs become more common and (hopefully) cheaper, it’d be nuts not to have a panel that does justice to the razor-sharp imagery that can be sucked off the medium. Broadcast HD is still in its infancy here and also promises noticeable improvements in picture detail.

And the big advantage of a built-in Freeview tuner is that it’s one less box to accommodate, one less power cord to plug in somewhere, one less thing to integrate.

The Sony KDL40W4000 is the first panel to pass through Tone’s luxurious product evaluation suite with both a built-in Freeview box and full hi-def.

It’s one of seven V- and W-series LCD Bravias now offering the Freeview tuner as part of its standard kit. Sony reckons a lot of New Zealanders have been holding off getting Freeview until HD broadcasts started and until sets became available with the box built in, so this is why it has assembled the big lineup.

Having a TV with the integrated tuner means the user can just plug in their UHF aerial cable and start enjoying as soon as the set has automatically tuned in all the channels.

Setting up or adding components to the Sony is dead easy, by the way; all the plugs are accessible on either the side or the back.

Don’t worry if you’re in the one-quarter of the country that can’t get the Freeview HD service; the tuner also accepts the analogue service that’s received via satellite dish.

Sony has made some other improvements in the 4000 series, one of which gives a slightly deeper black level — another small step closer to eliminating one of the advantages claimed by plasma adherents. Indeed, every aspect of this latest Bravia’s picture is first rate, particularly the way it renders skin colours.

Panels sometimes struggle to provide decent skin tones, so when shopping it’s one way to separate the excellent from the merely good. However, make sure the menu settings have been optimised, otherwise the lousy colours may be because the last salesperson was demonstrating contrast settings and left them set on high.

While the panel itself is a major factor in picture quality, the electronics that get the picture to it also play a key role and most manufacturers have teams of engineers beavering away to develop new — and improve existing — proprietary systems. One of Sony’s that really work well is its Wide Colour Gamut fluorescent backlight that’s designed to provide a purer white than the standard CCFL backlights found on most LCD TVs. Another is Live Colour Creation that stretches out or ‘scales’ colours into an extended space as needed, retaining natural-looking colours while improving vibrancy.

Many people are using their panels to view digital photos — today’s version of the projector and screen. Sony has recognised this and makes it all easy via its USB photo viewer feature.

Phil Hanson
Specifications
Sony KDL40W4000 40-inch LCD Panel TV
$2999

Display: 1920 x 1080
Sound output: 
2 x 10W
Connectivity: HDMI x 3, PC (RGB), USB, headphones, digital media port, S-Video, video input
Dimensions: 
986 x 646 x 110mm 
(W/H/D excl stand)
Weight: 19kg 
(excl stand)
Contact: www.sony.co.nz
Pros

    *     Built-in Freeview tuner

    *     Excellent picture quality with good shadow detail

    *     Good connectivity

Cons

    *     Motion resolution not quite as good as some

Verdict

Sony banishes the separate Freeview tuner with its new full HD offerings