EX700 vs EX710 update
Here are what I gathered and observed while standing for an hour at the Sony booth in Bic Camera Ginza.
Panel maker: As for the Japanese EX700, the panel is supplied by Sharp. The 710 is not supplied by Samsung but by AUO (Taiwan). Samsung supplies the panels for the higher-end Sonys including the 3D Bravias. As for the reason for the change of supplier, well first of all, what I could gather at the booth should be considered as rumor at best but what the Sony store consultant said was intriguing – that although Sharp supplies them the panels as per agreed specs, and Sharp is consistently the number one LCD maker in Japan, Sharp seems to reserve their best products for Sharp’s own use (hehehe). I guess that statement covers most conceivable problems that Sony could have faced. As regards the overseas market, it is possible that Sony may be mixing panel makers here and there depending on level of supply and pricing levels.
At the moment, the 710 is available up to 40 inch only in Tokyo. The 46 and 52 inchers are still model 700. I can only guess that AUO can’t achieve the same level of yield as Sharp when it comes to bigger panels, or, perhaps there is a concern if a Sharp or a Samsung is not used for bigger models with LED-backlighting, specifically for the Japanese market, while it would be OK to use AUO overseas. “Stripping down” of overseas models to save on cost is a common practice by giant consumer electronic Japanese manufacturers but your guess is as good as mine.
Image Quality: Those terrible comments on the 710 are most true on the 32 inch model. For whatever reason, even though the maker of the 32 inch and the 40 inch is supposed to be the same AUO, the panels per se don’t appear to be of the same quality. The 32 inch panel is practically like a souped-up PC monitor with terrible viewing angle and rather dark image even when viewed straight front. No good desu ne.
Comparing the images of the 40 inch models is more interesting. The blacks and whites of the 700 are definitely stronger, but, the gradations in between appear to be finer on the 710. The contrast and sharpness of the 700 are striking while that of 710 is relatively subdued. However, when viewed as a whole, the 710 colors appear more natural – especially the skin tones and the yellows. So for those who actually hate aggressive contrast, the 710 would be more pleasing on the eyes. The 710 image is not as subdued as that of plasma, but gentle enough to be readily noticed when viewed beside the 700. Hence I think that if you are a big fan of movies or dark room viewing, the 710 would be great, but if you like high def TV variety shows or morning shows, then the 700 would be better.
Unfortunately, the 710 really exhibits some issues when it comes to angle of viewing. Although not as dim as the 32-inch gets, the 40-inch is clearly weaker than any other Sony model when viewed at an angle greater than 45 degrees. The 710 gets darker and it loses more contrast. On its own, the degradation of contrast and brightness is not that bad and only became more apparent because the models around it, including the 700, are able to maintain better images when viewed beyond a certain angle from the front. The swiveling pedestal that is supplied with the 710 should help somehow. Besides that, does anyone really watch TVs at obtuse angles? (actually I do when I eat at the dining area..but mine is a plasma..hehehe)
With regard to reported problems of clouding or other defects on the 700, well those kinds of problems cannot possibly be observed or simulated in demo booths.
Other Specs: Practically the same; the latest Bravia 3 Engine, LED backlighting, 120hz Tru-Motion, (pathetic) built-in speaker system, gimmicky internet portal, quantity and types of connectivity, etc. The 10% reduction in frame size is not even that dramatic when actually seen. The 30% reduction in power consumption applies only on the 32 inch model (which totally suck) so better to forget about that. In fact, the power consumption of the 40 inch 710 is 2W higher at 114W owing to the change in panel make.
In the end, and if you are not conscious of Sony’s panel supplier and angle of view, it boils down mainly to whether you prefer a striking LCD image or a slightly subdued one. On their own, the respective images of the 700 and 710 look really nice anyways - well not as nice as the HX models but that is not surprising at all.
