I've just bought one of these (KDL-42W829) after having had a disastrous few months with a KDL-47W805. My first 805 has major 3D issues unless you sat on the floor, which is not ideal. The replacement 805 had about 20% of the screen (right hand side from top to bottom) that was darker than the rest. They offered me the 50W829, but I rejected it because it was too big, and it was active 3D as opposed to passive 3D. So they are refunding me the W805 to resolve the problem.
The W829 is much better than the W805 as far as picture quality and on-screen interface is concerned. The startup delay feels longer than the W805, but I usually just switch on as I am passing, knowing that it will be okay when I sit down. The most annoying thing I find with it, is that they have removed the Aspect Ratio button from the remote. I have a motorised satellite dish, and I tend to watch a fair amount of non-UK material, including Korean TV on Arirang World. That channel broadcasts a 16:9 picture, but in a 4:3 output, so I have to zoom the output for it to work properly. The AR button made it easy, so that's just a bit annoying.
When I was chatting to a salesman in Richer Sounds, he was saying that attention was diverted from the standard LCDs last year, to get the 4K stuff out, and as a result, the quality dropped. But this year, they've focussed more on the normal LCDs again, which has resulted in much better quality. They have a W905 and a W829 in the shop side by side, and the W829 has a much better picture. Black levels are a vast improvement, and the contrast enhancer doesn't suffer the same problems.
The W829 is much better than the W805 as far as picture quality and on-screen interface is concerned. The startup delay feels longer than the W805, but I usually just switch on as I am passing, knowing that it will be okay when I sit down. The most annoying thing I find with it, is that they have removed the Aspect Ratio button from the remote. I have a motorised satellite dish, and I tend to watch a fair amount of non-UK material, including Korean TV on Arirang World. That channel broadcasts a 16:9 picture, but in a 4:3 output, so I have to zoom the output for it to work properly. The AR button made it easy, so that's just a bit annoying.
When I was chatting to a salesman in Richer Sounds, he was saying that attention was diverted from the standard LCDs last year, to get the 4K stuff out, and as a result, the quality dropped. But this year, they've focussed more on the normal LCDs again, which has resulted in much better quality. They have a W905 and a W829 in the shop side by side, and the W829 has a much better picture. Black levels are a vast improvement, and the contrast enhancer doesn't suffer the same problems.
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Now I need to decide whether to keep it.
