KDL-40W3000 gradation/transition issues

[Tronyx121]

I've just bought a second hand (great condition!) KDL-40W3000 which is also my first LCD TV. Overall I'm very pleased with it except for the fact that gradations (transitions) don't seem very smooth

Here's a quick Photoshop example of what I mean where the first image shows a smooth transition from black to white:

However, the image below has a much more uneven transition, like I see on my TV:

It seems to be most noticeable in shadows where the unneven smoothness makes them "dirty" looking. I've tried changing all sorts of settings but haven't succeeded in fixing the issue. I also reset the TV after buying it in case the previous owner had messed things up.

I never had any such problems with my old CRT type TV (also a Sony).

So is this something I should expect from an LCD TV or might I have missed a setting (or rather a combination of settings it would seem as I've tried everything)?

[JoshStark]

I recently purchased a KDL-40RD453 and have this exact issue as well. The effect is similar to watching a heavily compressed video and completely ruins the immersion of the film/TV show you're watching.

I have managed to abate the issue slightly by tweaking the manual picture settings (relatively high contrast, min sharpness, medium noise reduction, neutral colours) but it's still noticeable in the darker scenes.

I'm amazed this is happening on a £300 TV in 2017... I've done some reading and it seems that the Smooth Gradation feature helps, but it's not present on my model. Is there anything else that can be done?

[Anonymous]

Hi there @Tronyx121

LCD technology is totally different to CRT.  The KDL-40W3000 TV came out in 2007, so we are already talking about a 10 year old TV now. 

So I think I have come up with 3 things:

1. It could be a case of wear and tear due to TV age.
2. It could be the case of you are expanding a SD picture to 40" and hence expanding the imperfections of the video quality - Do you have a bluray player that you can connect to the TV via the HDMI port and see if this is the case?
3. Have you had a look at the TVs picture settings, in particular the DRC Palette?  But unsure on this though.

In the end, I am unsure on what can be done to fix this.  But certainly test using a HD video source instead of SD content. 

Cheers

[Anonymous]

HI @JoshStark

As I mentioned above in my reply to the OP - can you test using a bluray player or some other HD source and see if it produces the same or different results?

Cheers

[JoshStark]

Hi @Anonymous, thanks for the reply.

I have run some more tests from various input sources. I put on some random scenes from a Blu-ray and it does appear that the uncompressed source is much cleaner than that of the Chromecast. The artifacting is almost non-existant. I did change the Picture mode to 'Standard' (beforehand it was mostly custom).

However, the artifacting is definitely still present on anything I watch via Netflix on a Chromecast. I can only assume this is due to the compression required to transmit the video source.

It is likely that the BRAVIA's 'lighter' tone in the blacks is showing this off more than my old TV (or my other Samsung).

So, I'll wind my neck in and chalk it up to video compression. 

[Anonymous]

You're welcome @JoshStark - it does sound very much like the video source quality (i.e. compression related)