Sony KDL55EX720 User Reviews
Non-Techy Guy Review by heckler408
Pros: - Very good 2D picture.
- AWESOME sound quality: from default speakers and technology that turns down background noise and music and amplifies dialogue and voices. Surround sound setting actually makes a difference!
- Watched hours of 3D programming on oc
Cons: - Lighter black levels. Dark movies still appear sorta gray compared to the black frame lining the screen. - Crosstalk issues in 3D: But EVERY 3D TV has them right? It happens very infrequently anyway.
Summary: All in all, I'm very happy with this purchase so far. I was watching a crappy 37-inch Vizio that was six years old before, so anything would have been an upgrade. But not really getting a soap opera effect which I'm happy about. Also, the TV is not true 240hz, it's marketed as a MotionFlow 240 which basically means it's 120hz but with something Sony made up to "bring the quality up to 240hz levels." I doubt it would be very discernible anyway. There's no built-in wi-fi, but I plugged it directly into my router and getting good speeds with Hulu, Youtube and Qriocity. I absolutely love the interface, which is simple to use and very intuitively built in.
Worked right out of the box by John Hill
First of all the Sony box is huge. The two guys who delivered it put it in the living room and started their acceptance procedure by removing four plastic clips and sliding the the top of box off its shipping base to expose a 55-inch Sony encased in blocks of Styrofoam. I plugged it in, attached the satellite antenna cable and it worked like a charm. Am I keeping the box awhile? Oh Yeah! Lets sit back and see if this puppy is going to keep functioning for the next month or so.
For some buyers... here's the interesting part. My current set-up includes an Off the Air (OTA) antenna in order for me to get "all" the local channels. This Sony uses one RF coax jack for Satellite IN, Off Air IN and for Cable IN. Apparently the Sony KDX55EX720 design guy has some devilish scheme to toggle between the incoming sat signal and the incoming OTA signal. And.. here's where the 4-star rating comes in to play. The Users Guide and the iManual stored in the TV memory was not written by anyone named Hemingway. So during the very EZ initial set-up process you can get blind-sided regarding a feature called - Rovi On Screen Guide. The Set-Up Guide says "If you receive channels from a cable box or satellite and do not wish to use the TVs built in tuner, select SKIP. Selecting SKIP will disable the Rovi On Screen Guide feature". So I did this SKIP thing and while the satellite signal works fine there is no way to toggle back and forth between the Satellite antenna and the OTA antenna. I guess the writer figured people would only use one of the inputs, Sat, OTA or Cable. And guess what. There is zip in the Guide or iManual about how to undo SKIP to reenable the Rovi On Screen Guide feature. I figure there has to be a trick to using the "INPUT" button on the remote but right (in my first few days) I don't see anything in the iManual that would provide even the smallest of clues about "Undo SKIP". I'll see what I can find on the Sony Forum.
Best Thing In My Room Right Now by hamandrew
so I am not the consummate tv guru but when i put the tv in my room i was thoroughly awed by the experience. i didn't have time to purchase a blu-ray player yet but when i put standard def 300 dvd in my dvd player i was still blown away. easy to install and the sound quality is quite good for a LED.
recommendation: i suggest trying to purchase this on a website that bundles the 3d starter package with this tv for only 100 more. the 3d starter package is 250 by itself and is definitely a must buy so unless you hate 3d i suggest you look for the bundle on sale right now for around 1600 usd.
5/09/11: okay, don't look for the deal packaged with the starter kit. i did some research and the glasses they give you are older gen. go look for the new active 3d glasses on the sony website. they were on sale for 140 and they're a great deal. btw this tv has a built-in 3d transmitter so you don't need to go buy one, which is 50 dollars saved.
However, the 3d quality is not as nice as I would've hoped for. The reasoning is that tv ISNT actually 240hz but only true 120hz. In 3d the frame rate gets even slower, so i only suggest this TV if you don't have a great need for 3d but really want a tv with great internet features.
Sony KDL-55ex720 LED LCD HDTV by Justin H.
Black levels are nice on this TV. When I first received the TV, ran a calibration disc on it. The factory levels are very good. Hardly changed a thing. Plays movies at 24 fps very smoothly at 1080p. High-Def TV looks decent. At 240 Hz, fast motion panning looks odd, but that seems to be typically of every LCD TV I looked at. One cool feature on this set is called presence detection. Basically, the TV automatically shuts itself off when it cant detect someone watching it. This works well. Only complaint is that when wall mounted, the component and hdmi inputs are hard to plug into.
