Sony Bravia KDL-46EX503 review

If you own a PlayStation 3 or even a PSP, you’ll instantly recognise the XMB interface that the 46EX503 uses. It’s a ridiculously easy way to navigate all the features of the TV and gives you quick access to the integrated tuners, the Internet video or the selection of AV inputs. You can also access all the TV’s settings and adjustments via the XMB, although there is a traditional settings menu accessible via a button on the remote too.

Talking of the settings menu, there’s a decent amount of picture options, so much so that it took us a good while to find the 1:1 pixel mapping setting – rest assured though, it’s in there. It’s also worth noting that both the Standard and Vivid Picture Mode presets are far from ideal, and you really need to tweak the Custom setting to get the best out of the 46EX503. The good news is that spending a little time setting up the picture on this TV definitely pays dividends.

Watching a high definition source, whether that be the integrated Freeview HD tuner or a Blu-ray, revealed a very sharp image, far sharper than we would have expected given the price and size of this TV in fact. And despite only sporting the 100Hz implementation of MotionFlow, there’s little sign of motion blurring even when the action hots up. Even if you hook up a high definition gaming console, there’s no discernable loss of resolution to most moving images, although steady pans in cut scenes do occasionally judder, but not enough to really annoy.

Unfortunately the black levels, and consequently the colours don’t live up to the sharp and detailed images that the 46EX503 can produce. Of course this isn’t surprising considering that this TV uses a traditional CCFL light source as opposed to the LED backlights that higher end sets use. The result is blacks that never quite look black enough, and colours that just aren’t as vibrant as we would have liked.

We threw the gritty and unashamedly dark action thriller Taken into the Blu-ray player and selected the 1080p 24Hz mode to see how the 46EX503 coped. Sure enough the relentlessly dark (both in terms of lighting and subject matter) scenes took on a slightly misty grey look, albeit a very dark grey, but grey nonetheless. And although the film is shot with a slightly grainy look to it intentionally, it seemed ever so slightly dirty on this Sony. To be fair, the grain effect was probably highlighted by 46EX503’s excellent sharpness.

Interestingly the equally dark Coraline looked pristine. OK, so the colours weren’t as vivid as they are on a nineth generation Pioneer Kuro, and the black levels still leave much to be desired, but the overall picture can only be described as lovely. Clearly the crisp and clean animation benefits from the sharp and detailed pictures that the 46EX503 produces, and the fact that the colours are so oversaturated in the first place, means that they appear very pleasing to the eye regardless of the set’s limitations.

On the whole it’s hard to complain too much about the high definition performance of the 46EX503. For a 46in Sony TV that costs less than a grand, it put in a truly sterling performance. Unfortunately, when it comes to standard definition content, things don’t look quite so peachy.