Hi all
Sony was always a good brand name when I was a kid and I have just bought a Bravia 55XE7002 after reading rave reviews, but find that it isn't as good as my 5 year old Samsung 40" TV. I have messed about with the settings for a week and still find that in particular HD Freeview content is poor. I am running the Samsung and Sony side by side trying to match the screens, but the Samsung has so much more black and detail in the shadows than is possible to get with the Sony. The Sony has a misty haze across the screen when it is showing predominantly dark scenes and a colour cast towards red, so that even dark black areas look vaguely brown. I was watching The Hunger Games, Mockingjay part 2 on 4HD last night and the difference was huge. The Sony was a bland, uninspring experience whereas the Samsung captured colours and detail in the shaded areas that the Sony wouldn't even render. My old Samsung doesn't have local dimming, and uses a similar bog standard frame dimming method of displaying a picture as the Sony, so I am gobsmacked with the poor results. White screens on the Sony are blindingly bright, uncomfortably so, so why isn't this whitness available to heighten detail in shadows?
In addition, the sound is really poor but I have just about found a middle ground which is acceptable. Unfortunately using my optically linked Sony surround system is a no-no, because the Sony doesn't have optical output despite my being told by the Salesman that it did.
Not impresssed by Sony so far, at all.... so if anyone has any caibrations or settings that they swear by, I'd like to hear from you.
