Review: Sony Bravia KDL40LX903

Sony's 3D capable, edge LED-backlit KDL-40LX903 is, at £2,000, a high-end set by any reckoning.
The set carries some high expectations: the emitter that syncs with the supplied active shutter glasses is built in and you wont find a more engaging or higher quality 2D telly.
The 40LX903 includes a Freeview HD tuner, which ought to be standard issue at this high-end level of the market, but there are some notable exceptions, so it's good to see it here



Of just as much interest, arguably, are the 40LX903's widgets for Sony's Bravia Internet Video platform. Supported by a Wi-Fi module built into the TV, this streaming suite includes the likes of BBC iPlayer, Facebook, YouTube and the debut of phase one of Sony's own 'Video on Demand powered by Qriocity' application.
Dealing solely with movies for now, Qriocity will soon expand into a cross-platform content service for Sony's family of gadgets, with movies, music, games, comics and even ebooks available on the PSP, PS3, and Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players. For now, Lovefilm lurks alongside Qriocity on the 40LX903 – and its far larger catalogue of movies and £9.99 monthly fee appear much more attractive.
Less exciting, but more important for core duties, is picture processing. MotionFlow 200Hz ought to reduce the amount of blur in fast-moving sequences, though its real worth will be for 3D; are LCD panels really quick enough, or will blur and crosstalk dominate?
The GigaContrast feature should be self-explanatory, while an Intelligent Presence Sensor is styled as an eco-friendly slab of tech that senses ambient light levels and reduces the amount of energy being guzzled by the panel.
Elsewhere in Sony's 'Signature' range is a 60-inch version, the brand's current flagship TV. Whether the 40LX903 can follow suit could depend upon its far smaller screen; for complete immersion in a 3D game or movie, size is a massive factor.
On price, this TV's biggest competitor is the step-down KDL-40HX803, which sells for a startling £700 less – although you will have to live with a rather messy separate IR emitter for 3D duties.

Sony's 'Monolithic' design boils down to a gloss black shell that is not substantially different to other manufacturers' efforts and veers towards austerity and seriousness, rather than breathtaking beauty.
The lipped rear panel includes fewer connections than you might expect; a lone RGB Scart sits alongside a brace of HDMIs, optical digital audio, Ethernet, and an RF aerial input. That's a scant return, though the design does mean that if you do hang the 40LX903 on a wall, you won't be able to switch and ditch cables quite so easily as on most TVs – which is why Sony has fitted almost a full set of connections on a panel hidden just around the left-hand side of the screen.
There are two more HDMIs (taking the total count to a respectable four), inputs for PC video (VGA) and PC audio, a Common Interface slot (for adding subscription TV channels to Freeview via a viewing card), a USB slot, a set of component video inputs and some analogue audio video jacks.
Two pairs of 3D glasses are included with the 40LX903, which is more generous than some, but arguably still too few in light of the cost – £99.01 each, to be precise – of extra pairs, the absence of compatibility between rival brands' 3D kit and the telly's already enormous tag.
Elsewhere, it's nice to see DLNA networking included here as well as a media-savvy USB slot – though file support is limited.
Sony seems to have realised it could use its digital content clout and has put together surely the finest collection of streaming options on its burgeoning Bravia Internet Video platform.

The depth in the opening street scenes of Monster House on Blu-ray is fantastic, though immediately there's a problem; falling autumn leaves are lifted from the background, for sure, but fall too fast for the panel. The 3D effect is accompanied by disorientating flicker and double images of each leaf.
Aside from causing a slight flicker to the picture at all times, the shutter glasses remove a chunk of brightness (though not nearly as much as a 3D plasma) and add a slight green tinge to images.
Brightness might be the first casualty of the glasses, but they do appear to add some extra perceived contrast.
Some crosstalk (a slight echo of each left and right image to either side of a 3D object) is also discernible, particularly so with a PlayStation3. On WipEout HD there's plenty of depth effects and backgrounds are deep, detailed and impressively smooth as they whizz by.
The craft itself however, proves to be a vessel for a noticeable amount of crosstalk. It's not that the 3D image is destroyed, but you won't be able to miss an echo of the craft on each side (although if you're lucky, you may only see one echo). It's fainter than the actual craft itself, but not by much.
Does it hamper the 3D effect completely? Not quite, but it's a problem that only affects LCD TVs, LED-backlit or not, thereby ceding a significant advantage to plasma where 3D is concerned.
WipEout HD's in-game graphics plonk the positional indicator, lap counter and timer as fixed 2D elements at the front of the screen, which helps add an immediate sense of depth.
Gran Turismo 5 doesn't play in 3D unless you go into 'options', 'hardware', then '3DTV', and turn 3DTV mode on. Why it doesn't activate automatically is anyone's guess. It adds depth, but it's a mild effect that adds surprisingly little to the enjoyment of the game. Choose to play in 3D and the quality goes down to 720p, which does create the odd jagged edge, though there's an almost constant slight jerkiness to the picture.
Without the 3D glasses, the 40LX903's 2D image is first rate. Best of all, it is imbued with excellent contrast. Loads of shadow details are apparent in a 2D Blu-ray test disc of 2012, though the LEDs in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen on our review sample were noticeably brighter than the others. This kind of light leakage is noticeable on most Edge LED-lit LCD TVs, but that doesn't excuse it.
There's an extraordinary colour range on show in 2012 as Los Angeles collapses, with hundreds of elements each treated to varying hues and pin-sharp saturations.
The effect of the MotionFlow 200Hz feature is a more fluid image that's not blighted by any serious amount of blur or loss of resolution. Used on its highest setting 2012 looks even more laden with special effects than it really is, though it's worth experimenting with, since it does lose the judder from Blu-ray discs that some find irritating.
More enticing is the 40LX903's reasonable efforts at upscaling standard-definition sources; DVDs in particular, and most Freeview channels, are highly watchable.


Sound
The one area that drags down the marks of almost every flatscreen TV is speakers, and the 40LX903 is no different.
Low on low frequency and high on disappointment, the stereo speakers here are flat in every sense of the word. Par for the course, but on a £2,000 TV you really should be hearing something more than a fake surround preset that throws sound to the edges.
Value
Considering the 40LX903's talents and that its bigger brother is extortionately priced, the choice is effectively between this and the slightly cheaper – and bigger – Panasonic VT20. The latter's online functions are limited in comparison, though both its 2D and 3D image quality is superior.
And if the Panasonic is too rich for your taste, consider the Samsung PS50C6900, which is under a grand, full HD and 10-inches bigger than this Sony. All of which leaves the 40LX903 some way behind its competitors on pure value for money.
Ease of use
The 40LX903 is operated by Xross Media Bar – the user interface that first appeared on the PlayStation3 and now dominates almost all of Sony's gadgets.
Lined-up on the map-like 'XMB' are icons for streaming services such as its all-new (though slightly awkwardly named) Video on Demand powered by Qriocity, BBC iPlayer, Demand Five, Lovefilm, Sony Entertainment Television, the FIFA World Cup Collection and Eurosport.
Sadly, the FIFA World Cup widget is about to disappear – as we suspected, it was merely a stunt put together for the 2010 tournament. That's a shame, because it's a stunning collection of archived competition footage that's not available to stream from anywhere else, to our knowledge.
Other widgets are included that are in essence tailor-made TV interfaces for popular websites, such as Facebook and Flickr, with everything split into music, video and photo branches on the XMB; logical, easy to use and beautifully designed.
Tuned-in digital TV channels and other sources pop-up on XMB, too, which give an integrated feel to the 40LX903 that most TVs struggle to match.

As Sony's 40LX903 proves once again, LED tech lags – literally – behind plasma technology when it comes to 3D duties, but there's plenty to like.
We liked
BBC iPlayer is probably the highlight of a vast array of online content – and it's presented brilliantly as part of a user interface that's second only to those found on LG's TVs. The 2D image is stunning with colour and contrast impressing and SD is upscaled well, while USB file support is comprehensive.
We disliked
Awfully expensive – and sometimes just plain awful – the 40LX903 struggles to convince with 3D imagery. That's a real shame because in almost all other areas (the exceptions being the standard issue flat weedy speakers, some networking niggles and a tiny issue with light leakage) it's almost impossible to fault.
Final verdict
With better options elsewhere that cost less, there's no obvious reason to buy the 40LX903 if you're after a 3DTV.
That's a shame, given its stunning package of features, but unless you're addicted to BBC iPlayer, YouTube (the 40LX903 is the finest example of a 'connected' TV we've seen so far) or the Sony Bravia brand, you'll find far better value elsewhere.
There's no doubt that 3D's day will come, but on this evidence it might be worth skipping a couple of generations.