Customer Reviews

Sony BRAVIA EX 700 Series 32-Inch LED TV, Black (KDL-32EX700)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent TV. You can read a lot of positive reviews about the EX500-32 on Amazon that will give you sufficient detail about the Sony Bravia EX's. Start with those reviews and note the differences between the 500 and 700 are:

- Video Processing : BRAVIA Engine 3(tm) Technology:
Many of the LCD tv companies share the production of various parts, including the screen. One of the major differences between the brands is the software that drives it. The EX 700 has the Bravia Engine 3 driving it. The EX500 and lower have the Bravia Engine 2. The Sony rep told me that Sony makes 90+% of the digital cameras and equipment so they have the software advantage when it comes to interpreting those inputs to get the output (the tv). Take this for what it's worth coming from a rep, but it's something to consider when comparing TV brands. With the Bravia 3 engine you know you have the latest available.

- The EX700 has a motion sensor (Presence Sensor) that turns off the TV when nobody is in the room. I think this is important because heat can damage your tv. If you accidentally leave it on your risk of damage is lessened by the auto-off. Also, this will save some $ in energy bills.

- The EX700 has Motionflow 120Hz Technology for Smooth Motion, the EX 500 does also. The EX400 does not.

Great picture, just as advertised. Sound adequate, easy to hook up a sound system for great sound. Only thing I don't like is that when you turn it on it has a "Sony chime" announcing it turning on. I would like to defeat it but don't know how.

A little pricey for a 32 inch-but I looked at Samsung's top non 3D 32 alongside it and the Sony had better shades of dark. A dark men's suit in the Samsung looked just black while the Sony had shades of black/grey.

As an owner of a 50" Pioneer Kuro, you can say that I am an HDTV snob when it comes to black levels and contrast. I truly missed the details seen in dark scenes on old CRT televisions when I first made the switch to HD with a 50" Sony Grand Wega. Though this EX700 does not attain the Kuro's degree of black level, it comes close, and as I have purposed it to be my bedroom TV, I am more than satisfied. The black levels are not the only strength of this set. The overall picture quality is superb... with a good HDTV signal. This is it's Achilles heel. This Sony is awful with standard def programming. I did not remove a single star for this fault, as I don't watch standard def TV. I purchased an HDTV to use it to watch sports, news/history/science and film, all in HD. Look at the (televisioninfo period com) review for this set and see not only the recorded black levels, but the overall review of picture quality and uniformity. That was the review that sold the set for me and I am glad I trusted it. In my research I did not find a 32" set with better black levels, but if you're fine when scenes of a night sky are shown as a field of gray with white dots interspersed then this review means nothing to you and you've wasted your time reading it!

When I decided to change the TV, I went to a local store to compare brands and to find out the recommended size for the screen (given the space restrictions we have at home). After inspecting nearly 20 models (maybe more), I got impressed for the quality of the image this series throws. It is kind of hard to compare the quality of the sound, when every TV on the store is turned on, so the image quality was the decision making main factor. I moved from an old Sony KV-25FV300 to this one...

There should not be a reason for comparing these two models... they have a gap of more than 9 years when talking about technology improvement. Nevertheless, I truly believe that the my old model has better sound performance than this new one.

With this new TV, I have to increase its volume up to 70% in order to get an acceptable sound. Notice that previous statement refers especially when playing movies from my Sony DVD Player or from my laptop by using a HDMI cable (I do not see any problem with the TV sound when seeing any cable movie, game, series, etc) Perhaps these new models are meant to be used along with a Home Theater, or a sound enhancer device.

Something I really miss is the jack for connecting my wireless headset. My old TV has the connector, this one lacks it (or I have not found it yet)

This TV comes with an integrated presence sensor. It basically detects when no one is in front of the TV, or if nobody moves for a predefined period of time. When the time threshold is reached, TV shows a message on the screen requesting for someone to touch any button from the remote. I wonder, why it is not enough to make a movement in order to make the sensor to start over the count.

To my surprise, integrated PIP feature only works when TV is connected to any other device (for instance a laptop), I was expecting it w/o any restriction of any kind.

I have not hooked the TV to Internet yet, I am expecting the Sony UWA-BR100 USB Network Adapter to come. I tried with a generic one I have at home, but for some reason the TV does not like it (could it be drivers related?)

Navigating trough the menus is difficult at the beginning, it is just a matter of time to get used to them, so you can find all functions TV has, rapidly.

Having written previous lines, I have to state that the quality of the image is very very good, blacks are really blacks, white is white (not yellowish). The flow motion feature of 120 MHz, creates the sensation of smooth images when moving from one scene to the next, not the blurriness you can find on any other TVs of the kind. The feature of Ambient Sensor makes you feel more comfortable when you are in front of the TV, as it adjusts the brightness of the image depending on the lighting room has at a given moment.

Bottom line, despite of the quality of the sound when using an external input (the other issues I mentioned are not a big deal), the TV is really a very good acquisition. The quality of the image one can get exceeds my expectation. Next step could be to purchase a Home Entertainment System, so the sound would not be an issue, and the circle of satisfaction will be completed.

-mov-

We bought a new TV when flat-screens first became affordable (NOT flat panel; flat panels were about $10,000 at that time). It was a 50" 200 lb behemoth; after a few years it started a high-pitched whine after the TV was on for a couple of hours, so we gave it away and bought the cheapest TV we could find to wait until the technologies settled down before buying a new TV. This was 7 years ago or so.

We want a GOOD picture and are willing to pay for it. We don't need anything real big and after some debate decided that 32" would be fine. We went to BestBuy to compare picture quality and this was the only LED edge lit option in the 32" size. We could see in the store that the picture quality was much better than the "old-fashioned" Sony LCD next to it. After some hemming and hawing we decided to pay $300 more for the better quality. The TV is also internet enabled with wireless LAN adapter (sold separately). The internet capability wasn't really critical to us, but we bought the wireless LAN adapter so that we could use that capability. It was a little tricky at first because when I went to the "video/movie" menu the only option was "QRioCity" which is pay-per-view. But, I just had to push the DOWN button and a whole menu of internet options came up - including NetFlix and YouTube (the ones I was interested in). I was able to watch a movie off my NetFlix "WatchNow" queue, and I went into YouTube and did a search and watched a video. So that all seems to be working.

[Edit: notes on "internet capability": It is up to the uploader whether or not to enable their YouTube video to be "syndicated" to mobile and other devices; so, the best YouTube videos are NOT available through the TV. Also; even though CBS offers full episodes for viewing on-line through your computer, when you go to the CBS channel through the TV it only has clips (20 seconds to 5 minutes with commercials). I think we'll only be using the internet capability for NetFlix streaming movies. I may look into "HuluPlus" and see if that's worth the subscription.]

Out of the box, the picture quality was disappointing. Since we had paid more because the quality was so good in the store, that was discouraging. I played with the settings, though, and am happy with it now.

Something that REALLY annoyed me out-of-the-box was that the TV beeps every time a button on the remote is pressed (including adjusting the volume - EVERYTHING). I think this is a ridiculous feature and can't imagine why anyone would want it. I went to the i-manual to find out how to turn it off: On "HOME" menu go to "Settings" and then "Sound." Click to select then go down to "Key Tone" and set to "Off." That fixes it!

We've only had it for a day, but so far very happy with the purchase. We paid $810 (+$80 for the wireless LAN adapter) at BestBuy. I also bought a cord to hook up my laptop to the screen to use as a monitor (I do digital art as a hobby), that was another $60. I haven't tried that yet, though.

As was mentioned in another comment, I was surprised that the picture-in-picture feature is specifically to display a picture from your PC in a sub-window. We had this feature in our old behemoth and could use it to watch a different channel in the PIP. It was a nice way to flip channels and wait for the commercials to be over on the main show. I can't think of a use for us of having the PC in a subwindow.

I bought the Sony KDL 32 EX-700 about 6 months ago and I have had problems ever since. The LED HD picture is beautiful but the audio kept cutting out and came back on after about a minute or I would have to turn the TV off and on to get it to have sound again. Well I got tired of this and called Sony and they sent me an exchange refurbished one and after about a week it did the same thing. I worked with phone tech support and changed HDMI cables, settings, ect. and it kept on doing the same audio cutting out problem on the second one. They sent me a third exchange refurbished TV and the audio hasn't cut out yet (I've only had it a week so far) but now the TV picture and sound will not come on at all but the green power button comes on and still nothing happens. Should I have to ask for a fourth TV of the same kind? I think not, its difficult moving the furniture and lifting the TV off of the wall over and over again. Isn't there some sort of "lemon law" for TVs ???

AUDIO:
Audio randomly drops out for 5 seconds, infrequently and randomly. I've found several other reports of this online, and it happens on TWO Sony Bravia 700 series flatscreens I have, the 40" and a 32" I purchased earlier this year. It's definitely not only HDMI input 4, but seems to be only HDMI. I've been hesitant about returning them, but I've got some time left on the Sony warranties and time to decide.

STREAMING:
The menus are clunky and goofy, but you get used to it. However the Netflix access through both my 40" and 32", whether plugged directly into the wire or the UWA-BR100 WiFi adapter, is terrible, with constant buffering. Switching back & forth with Netflix through an Apple TV proved to me that the Sony streaming system is junk. I put an Apple TV on both sets, and I don't worry about it. (Netflix access through the Bravia is very limited as well, such as not being able to add to your Instant Queue.)

So I'm torn, but I'm hanging onto both sets for now. The picture is good, the audio issue is infrequent, and they talk to my HDMI disk players. As a pro video editor, I'm afraid I have to start reminding myself again that Sony's consumer lines are from the clunky end of the building. But I can't help suspect it's similar with many other brands.

I was looking for a TV for my bedroom, now I barely want to watch my 42" 1080p LCD. The picture quality is amazing especially the blacks.

Since purchase of this TV, i have been loving every bit of it. I think that this TV for the price, was an incredible buy and has amazing features. There is no glare from the sun on the screen and it starts up really fast, with no annoying sound everytime you turn it on and off. One thing is that in standard def it is not as clear, but maybe its just because you are used to how incredibly clear the HD is. Would deffinitly recomend this to anyone considering it.

When you change the channel, a shadow in top of the screen appears. This shadow spend about 5 seconds. I hate this.