Sony BRAVIA KDL-37EX403U (KDL37EX403) 37in Full HD Ready LCD Television with Freeview-HD

I will take you through first of all the sockets on the rear of the TV.  You are looking at two HDMI sockets, two scart sockets, one PC input, one Component, which is the red/green/blue socket - a lot of DVDs, Xbox 360s use Component - but it has got Component on the back of the TV.  You have also got one Optical Out, so if you want to feed the sound digitally from the TV through an external amplifier, you can do so.  It also has an Analogue Audio Out, which is the red and white socket.  And you have also got an Ethernet connection if you want to connect this TV up to your Internet service at home.

On the side of the TV you have got one USB - so if you want to plug a memory stick into the side of the TV; if you have any photographs stored on that memory stick you can have them displayed directly on the TV screen.  You have got an additional two HDMIs on the side of this set as well, making four in total.  You have also got a headphone socket, a Composite Video socket, which is the yellow, red and white connection - things like Wii Games consoles use that connection - you have got that on there as well.  And you have also got the CAM card slot, which if you want to get subscription TV such as ESPN, you can do so - put the CAM card in the side of the TV and you are up and running with a subscription service as well.

So, we will go through the details regarding the specification on this range.  First of all, they are all full HD.  So, three types of high definition:  720p, 1080i and 1080p resolution.  So, what does that mean?  Well, basically, if you want to put, say, Sky HD through this TV, Virgin HD or Freeview HD service, the broadcast standard is 720p, 1080i resolution - it will cope with that with no problem at all.  However, if you want to connect a Blu-ray DVD, games console such as PS3 or Xbox 360 - yet again, you can do that, it has got the sockets to do that.  And a lot of the games and Blu-ray DVDs are in a 1080p format - so a higher resolution still.  This range will cope with that resolution as well.

On the set itself, as I said, it has got full HD capabilities.  But this set has a new facility, which is Freeview HD.  So you have got your television aerial on the back of the TV.  You plug your TV aerial into the back of this set - and if in your region they are broadcasting HD transmissions through a standard digital service network, then you will pick it up on this TV.  So at the moment we have got on here BBC HD.  If we click up from there you have got ITV HD, which should come on here now; there is also Channel 4 HD - and there are going to be more HD services coming along.  This is not coming through any satellite service, any cable service; this is just plugged into a standard TV aerial and you are getting a high definition service through the TV aerial.

Now, it is not being broadcast in all regions at the moment.  The Northwest of the UK has high definition transmissions.  Some parts of the south in the London area have HD transmissions.  The Yorkshire area is due to switch on very shortly as well, as is Coventry and various other areas.  But this TV has HD built into the TV from your standard TV aerial.

On the Menu system, if we run through this now, as I said, this is a brand new model - so the menu is new to me as well.  So we will click along the usual Sony crossbar menu system, and we get to Display.  Now, on the remote control we have got Up, Down, Right and Left on here, and OK in the centre.  If I just press the centre button there, it will put us into the Picture Settings.

Underneath the picture there, if we just click down, it says Ambience Centre.  At the moment it is switched off.  If we just click over to the right, it will give us an option to switch the Ambience Centre on.  What that does is that on the front of the TV there is basically a little photocell which is constantly then measuring the ambient light of the room and will adjust the picture to keep it at optimum performance for the lighting conditions of your room as well.  So generally have that switched on.

So if we go back to the Menu system - if you just press the Home button on the remote control, the blue button there - and when we press that, as I said it puts the Menu system up.  We can click over to the left, and we get Display.  We click Display Picture.  We click OK again for Picture Settings and then it will give us all the different adjustments for backlight, contrast, brightness and colour. 

Up here at the moment it says Standard.  You have got preset modes in here from the manufacturer which will say Standard, Vivid, Custom - and back to Standard.  If you are in one of the other preset modes such as Vivid, it alters the contrast, brightness and colour and sharpness to a predetermined level by the manufacturer.  If we now click down on there we can still adjust those settings but one setting it doesn’t give you, if we go right down to the bottom, here it is blanked out - you can hardly see it - it says, Advanced Settings.  We can’t get into that at the moment - it says Not Available when I try to select it.  If you go back up in the Menu, back to Picture Mode, press OK and change that from Vivid to Standard, it will also then open up that Menu for you.  So at the bottom of there we will have Advanced Settings - which is now illuminated, so we can get into that and it will give us a whole host of other adjustments you can make to the TV picture.  We have got Enhanced Contrast Adjustments we can do, to get an even better black level; clearer white levels… If we go into White Balance we can adjust all the three primary colours - the red, green and blue - independently as well.  So a lot of adjustments to the TV picture.

If we come out of that for a moment and come into briefly the Sound Menu, which is just down from there.  And in the sound menu you have got adjustments, yet again, preset for Dynamic, but we have also got in there Standard and Clear Voice.  If you select Clear Voice, if you have got background music on anything that you are watching and you can’t pick out the vocals very clearly, it will cut down the background noise and enhance the vocals for you as well.

You have also got in there, in the sound system, Surround Sound Off or On, where it will attempt to throw the sound out and around you as well. 

So, plenty of features packed into this range of TVs.  So, as I said, it is four models in the range - 32, 37, 40 and 46. 

I would say if you want some more details, please give me a ring - my name is Chris.  You can get hold of me at the shop on 01204 861 861.  Or what you can do is go to our website which is www.soundandvision.co.uk - you will get more details on there.  Or call into our Leeds shop - we have got a brand new store open in Leeds now; their phone number is 0113 244 3030.  Please give us a call, call into the shop, have a look at our website if you want any more details.

Thank you.