Sony Bravia KDL-46EX503 review

Now we’re the first to admit that the vast majority of the standard definition Freeview channels employ such low bit rates that any TV will struggle to make them look good. However, even BBC1 looked pretty ropey on the 46EX503, and that’s about as good as standard definition Freeview gets. And if you’re thinking that you won’t be watching SD content because this TV has a Freeview HD tuner, think again – there’s very little native high definition content on Freeview HD right now, and that’s unlikely to change for a good while.

The problems with standard definition content are numerous, but suffice to say that the picture looks, well, messy. There’s a distinct lack of sharpness and detail, which is completely at odds with the 46EX503’s high definition performance, along with significant compression noise that couldn’t be dealt with no matter what level of MPEG noise reduction was employed.

Audio quality was another surprise, with the 46EX503 producing reasonable sound from its internal speakers. Even the pseudo-surround setting produced a noticeably wider soundstage that added to the immersion, especially when watching a movie. Obviously there’s not much going on in the bass department, and much of the impact of a high octane action movie will be lost, but the same could be said of the integrated speakers in any LCD TV.

Another string to the 46EX503’s bow is that it plays nicely with PCs. So if you’re looking to hook your PC up to a big screen TV for a bit of gaming action, the 46EX503 should fit the bill. Whether you’re using HDMI or the analogue D-SUB connection, the 46EX503 locks onto a full resolution 1,920×1,080 signal instantly and it looks pretty good too.

The EPG is both easy to navigate and good looking, and there’s a preview window so you can keep watching the current channel while you’re looking to see what else is on. That said, we did find the EPG to be quite sluggish in use, which is in stark contrast to the slick XMB interface. It’s not glacial levels of lag by any stretch of the imagination, but we did find ourselves wondering if we had pressed the button or not a couple of times.

Much of Sony’s desirable reputation was borne out of its stylish design, but it has to be said that the 46EX503 looks a bit, well, plain. It’s in no way an ugly TV, far from it, but it doesn’t ooze style like Sony products have in the past. To be fair though, this is not a high end, high price model, and the glossy black bezel, coupled with the brushed metal fascia look do have a certain minimalist appeal.

Finally there’s that price that we keep mentioning, and we’ll say it again, a 46in Sony TV for under £1,000 does look like good value. In fact, a bit of snooping around the web revealed that the KDL-46EX503 can be had for as little as £890, which makes it easier to forget some of its shortcomings.

If you were to limit your viewing to high definition sources such as Blu-ray, PS3 or even HD Freeview channels, the 46EX503 could be something of a bargain. Frankly though, if you’ve got around £900 to spend, you’re better off buying Panasonic’s Viera TX-P42G20B even though it’s 4in smaller.