Sony KDL26S3000 - 26'' Widescreen Bravia HD Ready LCD TV - With Freeview

Give me samsung or give me death!
Review date: 2009-12-16 Rating: 2 out of 10

Hi,
I brought this on jan 29th 09, and i feel SO strongly how bad this tv is ive come on to review it nearly a year later to try and stop some one else making the same mistake i made. This is one of the worst peaces of junk Sony have ever rolled out.
I brought this Tv to use in my bedroom to play ps3 games, watch dvd's/bluerays and watch tv. Now the quality of free view isn't so bad once you get used to it! Though on some channles the coulor is awful but im not sure if that's the channels rather than this television.
Ok these are things you need to know if your buying this tv.
1: the contrast is awful! Dont know what contrast is? you soon will if u buy this. Contrast is the ability to see the difference between black/grey/white. If you have low contrast when your watching a dark movie like Darkknight, lord of the rings fellow ship of the ring (The mines of moriah scenes) anything black will just look shiny black mass! You cant make any detail out if its in the shadow (not unless u turn the brightness up and down during each scene)Or if you have the dynamic contrast feature on (thats honestly the most irritating feature on any tv i have had (including crt's the old chunky ones.)When your watching a dark scene and say some one puts on the torch.. the screen will flick 2-3 times and will auto raise the brightness of the screen.. Now if your watching a horror movie.. where some one is walking through a long dark passage way and there torch starts flicking.. its barely watchable. Now i know you could say this is my own fault. (for not checking the contrast) but I was fairly new to flat screens and i was taken in by the reviews on here and the words "sony" and "bravia" and the price tag!
2: there are only two picture programs. Theatre on.. and theatre off. This is one of the biggest pains as if you configure the tv settings for playing video games, then blue rays... DVD's will look awful! so you have to retune the settings for it to look half decent on dvd's... then if you want to watch a blue ray again.. yep you guessed it you have to re tune the settings in for the blue ray to look half decent once again.

Since i brought this television i have brought a PC monitor for 3 quarters of the price i paid for this television. The monitor is in HD 1080P with 20,000:1 contrast (i think this tv is 800:1 or around there.) HDMI slot, VGA slots, DVI etc if it only had speakers id get one for my room! So what I'm saying is PLEASE don't fall for the hype and the brand name sony.. Now i knew it wasn't going to be perfect! But i did expected something that looked better than a CRT. Go for a Samsung or even Panasonic! and make sure the contrast is up above 10,000! -_-

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Reviews

Great TVI have had this TV
Review date: 2009-05-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

I have had this TV for a while now and have been very pleased with it. The picture and sound quality are both very good. It was very easy to set up. It is my first LCD TV and I have been impressed. Travel and wild life programmes are brought to life and action shots in rugby matches (which I'd been warned would be poor) are very good. My only complaint is that it is not easy to access subtitles.

Nice TV, pity about the problems switching it on
Review date: 2009-01-28 Rating: 4 out of 10

Bought this TV back in September after reading good reviews. Within 3 weeks it had developed a fault, when you switched it on it would flash the picture a couple of times and then switch itself off and flash the standby light 4 times. This happened most times for over a week. It went off to the Sony service centre (35 min drive away) where it worked perfectly for the week they had it. Got it back and the problem has now started again. When it works it's a great TV but ruined by the fault.

So Far So Good
Review date: 2008-10-09 Rating: 10 out of 10

I have had this Sony model for a few days now and the picture is so good that my eyes have not quite adjusted to it yet. I opened the box plugged it in and it was all up and running in a matter of minutes. I played with the picture settings for a few minutes and they are now how I want them.
I replaced an 8 year old tv that was not even a widescreen so you can imagine the difference. The 26" is perfect for a smaller room that I only really use for chilling out and watching tv in. I am really glad that I did not go for the 32". All I will do with this set is watch tv & dvd's.
I was initially going to go for a Samsung but after going to actually look at the various models in John Lewis I decided that I wanted a matt black finish and not a shiny black and I must say this Sony is very smart looking. I decided to buy this model after research and reading the reviews here. For the price of £344 I would really recommend it. So far So Good.

Very disappointing, don't be fooled by the Bravia tag
Review date: 2008-10-07 Rating: 2 out of 10

I ordered one of these 10 days ago as LG are having difficulties supplying the UK with the 26LG3000 which was my first choice. Yes it has the usual good Sony features (reprogrammable Freeview, really great feature and amazes me that others don't offer it) and the Smart picture aspect feature.

However, this TV suffers from poor viewing angles - in particular this size is most suitable for bedrooms where you watch TV in bed and the TV is higher than your head. The viewing angles are really only any good when directly in front of the TV at eye level. To the side by more than 30 degrees, or higher/lower than the screen and the picture is poor.

The colour tones are disappointing, the blacks appear grey rather than black.

Most disappointing is the high pitched screeching sound that appears when the TV is on (whether on mute or not). When you watch the TV late at night, when it's quiet and you have the volume low, there is a constant screeching sound which is unbearable.

I thought I had a faulty set for this reason (and also the wake up feature - vital on a bedroom set - simply did not work) so arranged a replacement via Amazon (excellent service by the way, was with me in less than 24 hours and collection via City Link arranged). However, the new one has exactly the same faults. I am either very unlucky, or these faults are considered features.

I will be returning the replacement set and waiting for LG to sort out its distribution products.

It's a sad day when Sony's Bravia range is so effortlessly outclassed by an upstart like LG, but the truth is their TVs are better and more stylish looking.

Product Details/Specifications

Recording label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Model: KDL26S3000U
EAN: 4905524449761
Binding: Electronics
Release date: 2007-09-12
Brand: Sony

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