Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22362 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: KDL20S3000U
• Released on: 2007-09-12
• Dimensions: 15.43 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

BRAVIA S3000 Series LCD TV

Available in 20, 26, 32 & 40" Screen sizes Are you looking for an affordable but high quality, stylish HD Ready LCD? Then you should seriously consider the S3000. The BRAVIA S-Series LCD TVs are HD Ready and come fully loaded with technology plus it’s Ideal for use with a Sony Home Cinema system. The 20" version in this series, is available in Metallic Silver / Black / Light Blue / Lilac / Mocha / Silky White and Pink giving you the ability to match the TV to your lifestyle & environment

HD Ready To appreciate just how good a high definition picture is, it helps to know how TV’s, DVD’s and VHS worked in the past. Until recently, there was only one type of broadcast format – Standard definition - SD. With SD, the level of detail in the picture resolution is limited. SD has a resolution of 720 X 576, which means 576 horizontal lines of 720 pixels each. Pixels are the dots which make up a digital picture. The new HD formats boost resolution far beyond SD, giving your TV a level of clarity and detail that is absolutely breathtaking.

Integrated Digital Tuner / Freeview Having an integrated Digital Freeview Tuner means that your TV has a built in receiver that will give you access to many more channels without the need to have any additional hardware, such as a Freeview box. In 2007, the government will begin switching UK broadcasting to digital, so if your TV doesn’t have an integrated digital tuner feature you wont be able to view any channel without buying the additional hardware.

HDMI Sockets The S3000 LCD TV has 3 X HDMI sockets – 2 at the rear of the set and one at the side. Your HDMI socket provides a connection point on your TV that is able to deliver a high definition picture. Quite simply, the more HDMI sockets that you have on your BRAVIA LCD TV, the more components you are able to link up to for HD picture quality, for instance, a Blu-ray player, your camcorder and your gaming console. Having the socket located in the front of the TV means that you no longer have to get into awkward positions or move the unit in order to gain access to the connection point, great if you’re viewing your photos on your TV via your digital camera.

BRAVIA Theatre Sync A one touch control over your whole Home theatre set up. Simply press the Theatre button on the TV’s remote control, the TV’s sound turns off & the picture settings configure automatically to an optimal movie watching mode. BRAVIA Theatre Sync cuts out the complexity so that you can concentrate on enjoying your movie.

Live Colour Creation Live Colour Creation is a backlight system which produces a wider colour gamut, seen particularly with the red and green areas of the spectrum. So your TV picture will have more lifelike and natural colours with no smudging or dulling of the image.

BRAVIA Engine This picture enhancement technology ensures that the image produced on screen represents perfection. It reduces colour distortion by decreasing 'cross colour', 'dot crawl' and 'moire' the sort of distortion that you get on patterns such as a checked shirt. It cleans up the haze that you often see around lettering such as titles or text so that they appear perfectly sharp on screen. It enhances specific areas of low contrast within the image giving an overall crisp picture. It smoothes the motion, preventing jagged edges and bleeding colours on fast moving objects, ideal for sports & action sequences. It matches colours, which ensures the final image is reproduced exactly as the original source intended meaning that you see incredibly natural colours.

Dynamic Contrast Contrast ratio is improved and all shades between the brightest white and the darkest blacks are maintained, so the picture has more depth and detail. This is achieved as the backlight brightness adjusts according to the brightness of the scene. Sony’s unique dynamic contrast system features ACE (advanced contrast enhancer) which ensures all of the subtle shades of grey are maintained.

VESA Hole Spacing VESA-Standard or Video Electronics Standards Association is a perfect template for hole spacing (screw holes) in flat screens. So providing your wall bracket is also VESA standard, hanging your TV on the wall, for example, is a simple process without the frustration of drilling the holes incorrectly and in the wrong place.

Available In Various Colours The 20" version in this series, is available in Metallic Silver / Black / Light Blue / Lilac / Mocha / Silky White and Pink giving you the ability to match the TV to your lifestyle & environment

Box Contents

• Remote Commander
• Batteries
• AC power cord
• Coaxial cable
• Support belt
• Screws (for Support Belt)
• Operating Instructions and Leaflet & quick set up guide
• Warranty Card
• On-line registration card

Customer Reviews

Smaller than you think?
Another fine product from Sony. If you are looking for a small(ish) LCD Tv for a kitchen or bedroom you will not be disappointed with the 20s3000 series.
I did loads of research & had a shortlist of Samsung, LG & Philips 19" sets & this 20" Sony. If you are going down the same route, go to a retailer first & listen to the sound quality before you make up your mind. These thin LCD sets dont have anything like the sound quality of traditional CRT TV's, there just isn't enough space to get decent speakers in.
The Philips & Sony have some fancy electronics to enhance the sound quality & it does seem to work.

The Samsung is the smallest (and some may say best looking) set but like the LG, sound quality is poor with no decernable bass, even after adjusting the sound quality in the shop. The 19" Philips is enormous thanks to its wide screen surround. It's substantially taller and only marginally narrower than the 20" Sony which seems the best sound and a brilliant quality picture - but you do pay for it at the checkout.
I was also concerned about dead or locked pixels. I needn't haver worried, the screen is perfect.

If overall size is important, go to each manufacturers website & check the measurements as sometimes the quoted hight includes the built in stand, sometimes it quotes the hight without the stand. You'll find that the size of the stand does vary considerably between sets.

At time of writing, the best deal was at Amazon, and delivery was brilliant. Placed my order Thursday evening, set delivered 10am Monday - on standard free delivery. Excellent!

Hint, dont automatically go for the black 20s3000. The dark silver 20s3020 won't show dust like the black sets do, particualarly in a bedroom where case static will act like a dust magnet! And at time of writing this, they were both the same price at Amazon!

Nice little TV
A nice little TV for secondary use (e.g. bedroom, study), it has a whole load of connections (2xRGB SCART, Component, Composite, 1xHDMI, PC VGA) that should suit most applications. It also has a coaxial link for receiving terrestrial TV, Freeview, and a card slot for Top-Up TV. I currently have mine set up with an AV sender hooked up to one of the SCART sockets, and a Wii hooked up via component. (It's worth noting that one of the SCART sockets is Smartlink compatible, for connecting up to other Sony video products.)

As with other Sony products, the manual is clear, and well presented - although if you're fairly gadget-savvy, it should be pretty easy to set the TV up without it. The on-screen menu is pretty straightforward, you can adjust the picture and audio to your heart's content. The sound effects are worth experimenting with, although don't expect the full cinematic experience from the onboard speakers, which are quite decent for a TV set this size (they're actually better than those on my 32" LCD TV, not a Sony I hasten to add...)

The quality of the casing is solid, if a little bit plasticky, and you have manual controls on the top of the set. I was surprised at how thick this TV is, but it has VESA spaced holes on the back if you wish to hang it off a VESA-compatible wall bracket (you can remove the stand that is attached). You can tilt the vertical angle of the screen if using the stand, but it's a little bit stiff - I wasn't sure it would move at first.

As another reviewer mentioned, depending upon the angle at which you view the screen, the image can appear darker in some positions, so it's worth getting it set up correctly. The image quality is good for a screen this size - DVDs play clearly, and TV images are good if not exceptional.

All in all, there are few LCD TVs in this size that have this many features for this kind of price (the Amazon price is decent, although I got mine for a bit less elsewhere).

Expensive but worth it
For a bedroom this TV is ideal. Great picture quality, good sound variations including a decent virtual surround and perfect for HD gaming.

Digital freeview added is very useful and it tunes all channels automatically.

I find the contrast from very bright to deep black is fantastic with all shades noticeable.

Probably too small for a living room tv but great closer up.

Also quick delivery from Amazon as others have quoted already