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back to article Sony Bravia KDL-EX703 32in Freeview HD TV

Telly makers may be keenly touting 3D, but what rather more folk have been looking forward to this year is the debut of free-to-air HD programming that doesn't require you to have a satellite dish bolted to the side of your house. Sony Bravia KDL-32EX703 Sony's Bravia KDL-32EX703: look says 'TV', not 'design statement' …

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  1. jason 7
    Stop

    Smaller but more dense.

    I'll take a 32" 1080p screen over a 40"+ 1080p screen any day.

    A lot of large screen TVs are looking very poor. The density of 1080 pixels on a large screen doesnt really cut it. It's tough on a 17" laptop let alone on a 50" screen.

    1080p has allowed screen manufacturers to get away with murder and stifle resolution improvements. As long as a screen has a vertical res of 1080 that will do.

    In theory 2160p screens should be commonplace by now, upscaling 1080p images.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    About the USB interface

    Maybe you could clarify whether the file system on the USB interface is FAT or NTFS. Previous Bravia TVs (eg 40W5500) were FAT only, which meant the maximum file size was about 4GB - useless for decent HD content (eg compressed Bluray), which is typically more than 7 GB. Ironic for an HD TV.

    Also, you could include whether the TV is DLNA compatible. Sony's previous attempts at compatibility could be described as "barely" - such that most streaming software (apart from Sony's proprietary products) failed to work, despite being fully DLNA compliant.

    Still at least it ticks the USB & DLNA boxes, although only in a way that you would expect from a company that had no problems installing rootkits on consumers PCs...

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  3. jzedward

    DLNA & USB Limitations

    I bought one of these last week; the review covers some of the good points, but is pretty superficial

    USB: Needs to be formatted FAT, which means a 4Gb limitation. Plays back mp4, but AVI codec support is limited - I've successfully played only one of 20+ test divx/xvid avis

    DLNA: for video, only appears to support MPG2 files - great for a ripped DVD but not for my library of wmv/avi TV recordings

    Windows Remote Play: a promising feature, but works intermittently on my PCs - it's possible to stream video straight to the Bravia, and this works for pretty much all my avi's, but only on some of my (4) pcs, some of the time...

    BBC iPlayer - not here yet, due in the autumn

    Summary - confusing video format support, we have to hope for an update

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      For the DLNA shortcomings of this TV, use PS3 Media Server beta

      Available here: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3217

      (its important to use the beta as the stable version doesn't have the required functionality). I've had no problems with the beta, stability wise.

      Suggest you use a wired LAN connection as wireless may struggle with the bandwidth. Also, the PC needs to be a reasonable spec to cope with on-the-fly transcoding.

      To ensure all aspect ratios are correctly displayed, select the Transcoding settings tab, click on Mencoder (under Video File Engines on the left hand side), click Expert settings, then in the Custom parameters field, paste the following and select OK:

      vcodec == mpeg2 && srtfile == null :: -ovc copy -nosync

      (width/height) >= 1.8 :: -vf expand=:::::16/9

      Works a treat! Plays most video formats including avis, mkvs & mpegs

      Discussion forum is here: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/index.php

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  4. Dick Emery
    Thumb Down

    It's a Sony

    Overpriced. Overhyped and over here.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfokurUmoro&feature=related

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      But excellent HD picture quality

      And noticeably better SD quality than competitors products on larger screens (> 40").

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  5. Squirrel
    FAIL

    FAT only

    Why don't they just support Ext2. It's non-journalling and fast. Not quite as simple as FAT (multi-linked tables vs a singular table) but it's only required to read data not write.

    Even Windows can support ext2/3 (google: windows ext2 ifs).

    An opportunity lost.

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  6. GettinSadda
    Boffin

    Standby Power

    Your standby power reading is not the whole story...

    I have a similar Sony set (not the exact same model though) and what it does when you turn it off it it goes into a "hot standby" mode where it will turn on again in a second or so if required (takes 15W or so). After about 15 minutes it powers down into full standby, from which it takes much longer to power up. This means that if you turn it off for a short while it comes back on quickly - if you leave it off for a long time it saves power, but takes longer to come back up.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Standby Power.

      I was going to comment on the 15w standby draw! but your comment makes sense of the nonsense figures.

      My Panansonic is way way lower than 15w, (3w iirc) but it is capable of turning on the tuner without the screen so that you can record from digital to a legacy recorder. This (yellow light) standby mode draws about 15w.

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  7. John Burton

    Sony...

    it's a sony. They'll most likely update it after you bought it to remove the feature you wanted anyway

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  8. Nigel 11
    Thumb Down

    15 watts on standby?!

    What on earth does it do with FIFTEEN WATTS while standing by? My old 1980s Phillips TV stands by on just three watts (which I regard as three too many).

    We really need some EU-wide legislation on standby power usage, to force manufacturers to get standby power usage down to milliwatt levels. Hint: disconnect the switch-mode PSU *completely* from the mains, and run standby functions off a rechargeable battery which recharges every time you turn the set on.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    Standby power doesn't stay that high for long

    Standby power that high is only temporary while checking for updates to the channel list and for software updates in the broadcast. It will then return to its advertised amounts. There is EU regulation which this passes.

    Also you pick the most expensive 32" model that Sony sell and then complain it is expensive.

    Similar features except LED backlight are available from the 32EX503 at about £700 in Argos. If you don't need the Motionflow 100Hz you can go down to the 32EX403 at about £550 in Argos.

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    1. no_RS
      Reply Icon

      Does it stream avi over ethernet?

      There is EU legislation covering stand by power for electrical equipment, you need to look athe EuP Directive and the appropriate implementing measure for standby power, believe current legal requirement is 1W max, hence newer Sony TV's actually have an on/off switch.

      One thing I am very interested in the playback of Divx or Xvid over the ethernet interface, I have a readnas NV+ and would like to know if I can stream these avi files directly from the NAS to the EX series TV. I have read the sony manuals and it would only appear to play these formats from the USB port not the ethernet. Can someone please confirm?

      I would love this to work so I can lose some boxes out of my AV system

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      1. Craig Chambers
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        DLNA support

        See here:

        http://support.sony-europe.com/tutorials/tvhc/dlna/dlna_comp.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&m=KDL-32EX703

        Nothing new supported over DLNA from last season's 5500 models

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