Motionflow 100Hz
By far the biggest selling point of Sony KDL40X3500 is "Motionflow 100Hz", their version of motion compensation frame interpolation (MCFI) which you can engage through the [Motion Enhancer] control under the [Video Settings] submenu. However, depending on the type of video signal and [Film Mode] setting, the effects of [Motion Enhancer] can range from very subtle (perhaps even none) to very dramatic. As the manual doesn't explain the interaction between all these elements at all, reading between the lines and a lot of experimentation were necessary for me to assess the effects of each combination.
But before I proceed to describe my findings, it is important to understand what each of the different [Film Mode] settings does. The manual doesn't help much, so a full clarification is probably well overdue:
* [Film Mode] "Auto 1": Film mode deinterlacing with a dash of frame interpolation that reduces telecine judder for 60Hz material (like the [PureCinema] "Advance" a.k.a. ADV mode on Pioneer plasmas, just not as effective). The MCFI component will be nullified (i.e. no interpolation will take place) if [Game/ Text Mode] is engaged.
* [Film Mode] "Auto 2": Classic film mode deinterlacing with reverse 3:2/ 2:2 pulldown. If applied to 60Hz material, more telecine judder will be seen than "Auto 1".
* [Film Mode] "Off": Film mode deinterlacing not engaged. Suitable for video material.
Pairing [Film Mode] "Auto 1" with [Motion Enhancer] "Standard" or "High" would yield the smoothest and most blur-free motion, but then movies would look like camcorder-shot video since the 24p judder (crucial for filmic quality) would be removed. The effects of Motionflow were more subtle when [Film Mode] was set to "Auto 2"... for PAL 576i content I certainly couldn't detect any difference between [Motion Enhancer] "Standard" and "Off".