Sony Bravia KDL-EX700 review: Sony Bravia KDL-EX700

The Sony KDL-EX700 is the second edge-lit LED-based LCD we've tested from Sony this year. If you read the KDL-NX800's review, you will notice more similarities than differences between the two. The price disparity--of $400 between the two series' 46-inch models--gets you improved styling, Wi-Fi networking, and a couple of other minor niceties on the NX800; however, for some reason you lose the innovative "presence sensor." That feature turns the EX700's picture off automatically when you leave the room, and it can really lower power use if you're prone to leaving the TV on. Even without the sensor, the EX700 sips as little power as any TV we've tested--although we expect other LED models we review this year to post similar results.

Careful comparison shoppers might be surprised to learn the two Sonys have nearly the same picture quality. The major performance-related difference is that the EX700 has a matte screen, while the monolithic exterior of the NX800 apparently calls for gloss-- in a bright room, we preferred the matte finish. The EX700's picture won't wow anyone looking for a home theater centerpiece, but the TV earns the practicality nod over its more-expensive brother for buyers who still want Internet video and superb energy efficiency.

Series note: We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 46-inch Sony KDL-46EX700, but his review also applies to the other sizes in the series: the 32-inch KDL-32EX700, the 40-inch KDL-40EX700, the 52-inch KDL-52EX700 and the 60-inch KDL-60EX700. All sizes share identical specifications, so they should deliver very similar picture quality.

Design
Editors' note: Many of the Design and Features elements are identical between the KDL-EX700 and the KDL-NX800 series we reviewed earlier, so readers of the earlier review may experience some deja vu when reading the same sections below.

Sony applied the standard "step-up" philosophy when it designed the exteriors of the EX700 and the more-expensive NX800. While the latter gets Sony's so-called monolithic touches--a highly integrated look featuring a single pane of glass, a narrow gap between the stand and panel and uninterrupted swaths of glossy black--the EX700 looks more traditional. The EX700's screen and frame are clearly separate, the latter glossy black on three sides and brushed dark gray strip along the bottom with no major interruptions. While we liked the design of the NX800 better, the EX700's design is nice as well.

The EX700's glossy black stand swivels, but it lacks the tilt-back action of the NX800, and the TV's backside is matte and exposed--unlike the glossy, panel-concealed rear of the NX800. Both sets share the same thin, notched profile that's 2 5/8 inches deep at the widest.

We also liked the EX700's remote control, albeit not quite as much as the NX800's slicker clicker. The EX700's remote loses the nice, flush plastic keys that the NX800 has in favor of the standard raised rubber variety; it also losing the backlighting feature, and you can't command other gear with it via infrared. However, the remotes excellent button arrangement and nice concave shape stay intact, as does that weird power button on the back of the remote and the stealthy sliding battery compartment (yes, we just praised a battery compartment).

Sony didn't touch its menu system on the EX700, and that's generally a good thing. The XMB interface, inspired by the company's game consoles, does a good job of surfacing the TV's many Internet services, inputs, and miscellaneous doo-dads and arranging them in a logical fashion. While we'd love to see more customization options and less clutter (how about the capability to "hide" unwanted interactive services or even entire verticals, such as the TV channels section, which is useless for cable box users), the snappy navigation--the best we've seen on any TV, and reminiscent of the PS3--makes up for a lot.

We also appreciate that Sony included ways to avoid having to navigate the big XMB, from direct-access remote keys to a Favorites section that remembers often-accessed inputs--you can also manually add items, like Netflix--to the context-sensitive Options section with quick access to scene modes, MotionFlow settings, and Netflix options.

Features
Sony is using the same kind of edge-lit LED scheme to illuminate the EX700's screen as many other TV makers are using this year. Aside from its thinness, another major advantage of doing away with traditional CCFL backlights in favor of LEDs is improved energy efficiency. On the other hand, the choice of an edge-lit scheme as opposed to true local dimming, as found in Sony's high-end XBR-HX800 series, generally results in some picture quality trade-offs.

Internet features: The EX700 and NX800 share most of the same Internet features, with the notable exceptions being the latter lacks the Yahoo Widgets and built-in Wi-Fi found on the NX800.

In 2009, Sony offered more Internet-connected services than any other TV maker, once it upgraded its compatible TVs to include Netflix; however, in 2010 it hasn't added anything new so far, such as the Skype service announced by Panasonic and LG, or the "Apps" platforms touted by Samsung and Vizio. That will change in the upcoming weeks as the company launches QRIOCITY (pronounced "curiosity"), an online movie service about which details are still scant.

Netflix is the main draw on the EX700, but according to our tests, it's video qualty fell significantly behind the quality we've seen from other Netflix devices--looking basically the same as the NX800 did. We compared scenes from "Lost," one of the best-looking streaming titles in the Netflix library, and both Sony TVs looked equally soft, evincing more pixilation and artifacts than either the Roku player or the LG 47LH50 we used for comparison purposes did. It was as if the Sony was streaming Netflix video at a lower bit-rate, although we couldn't confirm that since, unlike most Netflix devices, the Sony interface gives no indication of what streaming quality you can expect.

None of the other video services we tested, namely YouTube and Amazon Video on Demand, evinced unusual video quality issues. Minor video services abound on the EX700, including Sports Illustrated (no sports highlights--just swimsuit model clips when we checked), the minisode network, Blip.tv, Style.com, Howcast.com, and numerous video podcasts. Aside from Amazon VOD, which looked excellent, and Netflix, the image quality for online media is generally bad--think non-HD YouTube--probably because in most cases the video content was designed for the Web. The free videos from CBS offer generally better quality, but don't expect anything close to TV.com, the network's official web portal for full TV episodes. Instead there's a confusing hodgepodge of clips and the rare full episode. (Note: CNET Reviews is a division of CBS Interactive). We appreciate that Sony added a keyword search across the various minor services, but it would be much more useful if the search encompassed all of the video services, including YouTube, Amazon ,and Netflix.

In terms of music services, Sony lacks the Pandora service found on Vudu-app-equipped sets such as the Mitsubishi LT-249 series, but does offer Slacker as well as select content from NPR (no live radio streaming though).

The final piece of the interactive puzzle, and one we didn't test for this review, is the Sony's capability to stream photos, music, and video from networked PCs that are running compatible DLNA-compliant software, such as Windows Media Player 11.

While this step-down Sony lacks the built-in Wi-Fi connection found on its more expensive brethren; however, you can add an optional USB dongle (model UWA-BR100, $80 list) to connect to the Internet sans wires. Of course, you could also use a third-party Ethernet-to-wireless solution, such as a wireless bridge.

Picture-affecting features: Sony also removed the NX800's 240Hz refresh rate feature from the EX700, leaving it with 120Hz instead--although we still don't think you'll miss the extra Hz. More importantly, unlike Samsung and Toshiba's implementation, you can't get the benefits of reduced blurring, which is admittedly extremely difficult to discern, without also engaging dejudder processing. The latter, which Sony calls MotionFlow, is available in two strengths, and happily you can also turn it Off.

The EX700 series provides the welcome capability to apply your settings to just the current input, or globally to all inputs. The choice works with any of the three basic picture modes, Custom, Vivid or Standard, so you could conceivably have three different sets of picture settings for each of the inputs. There are also seven separate Scene modes, such as Game, Cinema and PC, that annoyingly aren't accessible via the main picture menu, and you can also apply settings from each of them to either the current input or all inputs. The result is a relatively confusing, albeit staggeringly customizable, array of settings. We're willing to bet folks who care deeply about having different settings for every input/situation will be OK with the complexity. To make things simpler, pressing the Theater button on the remote engages the Cinema scene.

One extra picture tweak feature that is offered on the EX700 but is missing on the NX800 is an ambient light sensor. It's a sensor that "automatically adjusts the color and brightness according to ambient light." We left it turned off in our critical viewing tests, but some viewers might appreciate it.

More advanced picture settings are in full attendance on the EX700, and Sony thoughtfully provides separate "Reset" options for the standard and advanced picture settings menus. They include four color temperature presets, full white balance controls for further tweaking, two kinds of noise reduction with three strengths apiece, a CineMotion option that affects the TV's 2:3 pull-down, a seven-step gamma control, and a passel of additional options--most of which should be left off for optimum picture quality.

Sony includes four aspect ratio modes for HD sources, and a "Full Pixel" option that displays 1080-resolution content without any scaling or overscan. We recommend using this setting unless you notice interference along the extreme edges of the screen, which is the fault of the channel or service, not the TV. You can also apply your aspect ratio settings to all inputs or just the current one.

Other features: Another big difference between the EX700 and the NX800 is the former's inclusion of the same kind of "presence sensor" included on the company's KDL-VE5 series, which can be set to turn off the picture temporarily if you leave the room, saving significant amounts of power. If the sensor fails to detect movement after a specified period of time--you get a choice of every five-minute interval from 5 minutes to 60 minutes, plus a 5 second "demo' mode--the picture goes dark while sound remains turned-on, and the TV's power consumption drops to about 26 watts (less than a third of the default picture-on power consumption). If the sensor detects movement again within 30 minutes, the TV turns back on. If not, it shuts itself off completely, cutting its power use down to nearly zero watts.

In our tests, the system worked as advertised. We liked that a "TV is about to turn off" warning message appeared prior to automatic shutoff, and that simply moving an arm or head usually served to reset the timer, remove the warning and keep the picture on as we watched ("gesture control" indeed). Not once in a week or so of intermittent testing did the EX700 turn off while we sat in front watching it, even in the most-sensitive 5 minutes setting.

Other power-saving features are more typical. A two-step power saving option in the Eco menu that limited peak brightness and really cut down on energy consumption. Sony also includes a manual mode to turn off the screen but leave the sound on, and another mode that automatically turns off the TV after you fail to press any buttons or otherwise interact with the TV. New for 2010, you can elect to switch the TV off completely using a power switch on the side, which eliminates standby power draw (which is negligible anyway, so the switch is pointless), and also choose whether the TV remains "awake" to download automatic updates. All told, the EX700 has more energy-conscious features than any TV we've tested.

We'd also like to mention that the 2010 Sony offers an excellent onscreen user manual that makes exploring the TV's features a breeze. Chapters and sections are easily accessible, and illustrations are provided when necessary. There's also a prominent product support section with Web site and phone number information along with the set's serial number and software version to aid communication with customer service representatives. Speaking of software, we appreciate the option to enable automatic updates when the TV is turned off.

The EX700's connectivity is complete enough, but the company arranged the ports in an unusual way. It split the four HDMI inputs evenly, mounting two on the back panel and two on the side, an arrangement we feel provides a good balance of more and less temporary connection options. The side panel also gets a USB port for music, photos, and video as well as an AV input with composite video. Meanwhile, the rear panel gets the VGA-style analog input for PCs, a pair of component video inputs (one can also handle composite video), an RF input for antenna or cable connections, the Ethernet port, and some analog audio connections.

Performance
The two 2010 Sony edge-lit LED-based LCDs we've tested, the EX700 and the NX800, deliver very similar picture quality. Both are characterized by average-for-an-LCD black level performance and solid color accuracy, with the exception of dark areas being tinged bluish--more so on the EX700 than on the HX800. The differences, namely the EX700's superior uniformity and bright room performance, and the NX800's better shadow detail and motion resolution result, aren't enough to cause any difference in the rating for this category; both scored a 6.

As with the NX800, the EX700's most accurate picture setting prior to calibration was Cinema, although again it was a bit too bright for our dark room (67 footlamberts) with a gamma that was too high (2.97). Afterward, using the Custom mode and the available user menu controls, we tamed both to match our standard calibration (40 and 2.2, respectively), although we couldn't do anything to improve the blue cast in very dark areas of the grayscale.

The comparison for this review involved lining up the EX700 next to the NX800, the Samsung UN46B7000, the LG 42SL90 (all edge-lit LED-based models), as well as the Samsung UN55B8500 and the LG 47LH90 (both local dimming LED-based models). We also included Sony's standard-backlit KDL-52XBR9, along with our reference plasma, the Pioneer PRO-111FD. We chose to watch Ninja Assassin on Blu-ray for our image quality tests.

Black level: The shade of black produced by the EX700 was relatively light in our lineup, falling short, to a greater or lesser extent, of the other displays aside from the outlier LG SL90, which fared poorly. At times, the EX700 delivered a slightly deeper black than the NX800, especially in the lower letterbox bar, but in most other areas the two delivered similar levels of black. Compared with the XBR9 and the B7000, the EX700 appeared a bit lighter, while its separation from the other displays was proportionately larger.

The differences were most visible in darker scenes, such as the rain-spattered night in Chapter 12, where the EX700's rendering of the black umbrellas and the black clothing of the ninjas and Lord Ozunu, as well as the letterbox bars, was mediocre and typical of standard LCDs. Shadow detail was slightly worse than on the NX800 and the other displays aside from the XBR9, however, with areas like the edge of the umbrella and the folds in the master's coat appeared a bit more obscured on the EX700.

Color accuracy: The issue of dark areas taking on a bluish tinge was quite a bit worse than we saw on the NX800 or on the rest of the displays in our lineup. The black bars and rain gear dipped into blue quite noticeably; however, in its favor, the EX700 reproduced lighter areas, rare as they are in this film, with much more accuracy than it produced blacks.

In Chapter 2, for example, the skin tones of Ben and Naomie appeared natural next to our reference, and the EX700 outdid the B7000 and the XBR9 in this department. Primary and secondary color accuracy was quite good, although red measured a bit worse than we'd like to see, which along with the lighter black levels contributed to the somewhat less-saturated look of some areas, such as Naomie's lipstick.

Video processing: The Sony KDL-EX700 doesn't allow much tweaking of dejudder processing, supplying only Off, Standard, and High options for its MotionFlow control. As we expected, we preferred the look of Off best with film-based sources like most Blu-ray movies, which looked too smooth and video-like in the other two settings. However, we did prefer Sony's lowest-dejudder mode, Standard, to the equivalent modes from Samsung and LG because it didn't introduce as much smoothing and delivered a less video-like look.

One good example of why came during Chapter 5, as the camera tracks follows Raizo during a training session; the LG and Samsung sets looked too smooth, with less of the visceral feel of the jerky camera, while the Sony preserved some of that feel. Of course, the Samsung sets let you tweak that smoothness as much as you'd like, which in our book is the best way to handle such video processing.

As usual, we saw artifacts in the High dejudder mode. As the camera follows a circling Ozunu in the courtyard in Chapter 4, for example, we saw a halo effect--where his profile disturbed some of the background as he passed. Artifacts were much less common and objectionable in Standard.

motion resolution tests on the EX700 revealed results on par with other 120Hz sets. With MotionFlow processing engaged in either mode, the EX700 registered between 500 lines and 600 lines, and when we turned it off that number fell to between 300 lines and 400 lines. 1080i d-interlacing was also par for the course; the EX700 handled both film and video-based sources properly, although passing the film test required engaging the CineMotion Auto 1 setting. As usual, seeing any of these effects in program material, as opposed to test patterns, was exceedingly difficult.

Uniformity: While the differences in brightness across the screen of the EX700 weren't as bad as we saw on the NX800, or as prone to bright corners as the XBR9, it still left something to be desired. The edges appeared a bit brighter than the middle, and the top edge was somewhat brighter still, although again the difference slight, and wasn't noticeable in areas like the film's letterbox bars. The EX700 also lacked the brighter areas in the middle of the screen that we saw on the NX800. When seen from off-angle, both Sony TV's images became brighter and more washed-out, to about the same extent as the other LCDs, and reddish/bluish discoloration also set in.

Bright lighting: The matte screen of the EX700 served well in this test, putting the set among the best in our lineup at maintaining picture integrity under brighter lighting conditions. Compared with the glossy-screened LCDs, such as both Samsungs and the NX800, the EX700 reduced reflections--like the light from this reviewer's face, a table, and the glare from a couch--to the point where they weren't as sharp, bright, or distracting. The EX700 also maintained black levels better than did the Pioneer plasma and generally as well as did the other LCDs.

Standard-definition: With standard-definition sources, the EX700 turned in a mediocre performance. It delivered every line of the DVD format, although details were a bit softer than we saw on the Samsung UNB7000. It didn't reduce jaggies from diagonal lines as well as either the Samsung or LG SL90 did. Its noise reduction worked well to remove noise and other artifacts from low-quality material, and the Sony did engage 2:3 pull-down correctly, albeit a bit more slowly than the other sets.

PC: Via analog RGB the Sony looked excellent, with only some very slight flicker in the highest frequency test patterns to differentiate it from HDMI, which as perfect as we'd expect from any 1080p LCD displaying a 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution signal.