Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony KDL-26U3000 - 26'' Widescreen Bravia HD Ready LCD TV - With Freeview

We had the misfortune of my old JVC CRT TV which weighed a tonne to stop working just before Christmas, which was not really what we wanted. So we searched around for a replacement and came up with the Sony Bravia KDL-26U3000. The build quality is excellent and looks superb either switched on or just switched off. The colours are amazing and as with Sony TVs the black is really black giving excellent contrast and sharpness, when the TV is off this is apparent as you can just see how dark the screen is rather than that greyness some TV's have. So far we have connected Sky, DVD RAM recorder by Scart lead giving excellent picture quality, along with and old PS2 by component lead which gives a better picture and sharpness than standard Scart or leads supplied by Sony originally. You can label or rename your inputs with 4 letter rather than just AV1 etc, so you can have HDMI, PS2, SAT, DVD etc making selecting inputs a lot simpler .The Digital / Freeview tuner has given excellent picture results, using a non digital aerial, just amplified by a powered booster; along with its own built in menu display and favourites menu you can select you own list of favourite channels. Sound wise it's pretty good, but we have it connected to a Teac Stereo, as this just gives a richer sound than the standard TV speakers. Looking forward to trying a PS3 by HDMI sometime to see what it really can do picture wise. All in all this is a great TV, you feel you get your monies worth, with the build quality, feel and look of the TV, and after all it is a Sony. We have a 22 inch LG, which is excellent for the price, but lacks a little as it just seems not in a league of the Bravia's build although it in itself performs excellent as a TV, it just looks cheaper whereas the Bravia is like a piece of quality furniture and an excellent TV all in one. So if you're looking for a great TV you will not be disappointed with this one.

Just plug it in, and the TV sorts all the analogue and digital channels for you. Picture is great - we typically watch from about 3m away. Hiding the shopping channels took a bit of time, but as long as you read all through the manual, it's all there. Very pleased so far!

I have been looking for a 26" flat screen for the bedroom for some time, lingering over a Toshiba, a Panasonic and this one. I quickly discounted the Panasonic (though if I had the money I would have gone for it but couldn't justify the expense on the basis that you wouldn't be able to clearly tell the difference on a 26" TV!). However, having had some good sony stuff in the past, I went for Sony. And I am pleased I did.
Easy to use, easy to unpack, excellent delivery (normal free delivery), easy controls, fantastic picture too.
Quite a neat a little package for a small TV!!
Sound is ok, bearing in mind that it's a small flat TV - copes well with the virtual dolby too.
Lots of output slots means you can always find an excuse to plug something into the TV to show something off on it!!!

Bought this tv as an additional tv for conservatory. Fantastic picture and even better sound quality at a great price. ive seen some comments about buying s and t series over the u series but i find it hard to believe the difference is that much greater. Superb for watching sport.
Great service by amazon oredered Thursday night received at 9:00am Saturday morning.

Purchased as a refurbished unit so unit did not have all the correct packaging or batteries for the remote controller, but arrived OK.
Set-up was very easy and quick and all the channels were in the correct order.
According to my wife and ,I must agree the picture is not very sharp "soft" and is slightly disappointing when viewing TV or an alternative DVD source.Tweaking of the controls does help but is still not up to expected Sony standards, especially when compared to our Panasonic, and LG.
The audio is fine and perfectly adequate.