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7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"A great 720p high-def TV from Sony"
Pros: Great picture with little video calibration required, numerous features. Menu & GUI very intuitave, weight is easy
Cons: Mild screen door effect, moderately priced, all other cons of a microprojection TV
Summary: Sony's solution for people who don't really care about conserving space and are looking to replace their 32inch CRT tvs.
Design: (8/10) Depth of TV is as good as what you can expect from any other rear-projection microdisplay television (RPTV). Standard fare. You do want some space on the rear side of the tv as a cooling fan is built in to cool down the projection bulb. The remote is very easy and simplistic though is probably hard to see at night or in low-lit rooms. Numerous inputs including 3 components, 2 HDMI, 1 s-video, 2 composite.
Picture: Excellent high-def picture quality for a TV resolution of 720p. Standard-def picture was good. DVD quality was excellent. Mild calibration is needed (I used Digital Video Essentials though you can use any THX certified DVD movie just as long as you have a color filtre) for the best picture..though out of box, video quality is still excellent. One thing nice is that the tuner will display both analog and digital channels (I'm using an antenna) without having to switch back and forth on the tuner.
Viewing angle is excellet going from left to right. However when looking above and below you will loose some of the brightness of the TV (this is also inherent problem in all RPTVs).
Sound: 9/10. Sony includes a 5.1 decoded for highdef channels, and the tv is loud at default settings @ 25% of max volume. 1 digital output connection is avaliable on the back of tv for those who have a home theatre system.
Faults / Cons: Brightness is slightly loss compared to DLPs simply due to the fact that mild amount of light from the projection bulb is lost after interfacing with the 3LCD panels as opposed to no loss when reflected upon the mirrors of a DLP RPTV. Blacks are still not quite as deep as DLP but to really notice that you have to set this TV next to another which uses DLP. Also sometimes during analog channels broadcasted in interlaced videos not in widescreen format will show a green or other line on the border of the video frame, but this does NOT distort any of the picture and might be inherent to any HDTV that receives information coming from an antenna. Also price is almost now equivalanet to 37inch (but not major brands yet) of 720p FLAT PANEL LCDs. Lastly..minor point for those who don't know much about projection tvs, the projection bulb will eventually need to be replaced (current replacement lamps cost 200 dollars and can be done by the owner of the TV)..I've been told hte life span of the bulb is around 3-4 years if used 8 hours per day. However, once the bulb is replaced the brightness/color/picture will become just as good when you first bought it. This is something that must be done in all projection tvs but not in flat panels & plasma tvs.
In Summary:
Pros: Excellent picture out of box picture quality with minor video calibration needed, excellent DVD quality, very good standard def tv viewing. Excellent tuner that can display both analog and digital channels without having to change any of the settings. Numerous inputs.
Sony name is assocaited with better reliability than other brand names.
Cons: Mild (very MILD) screen door effect, issues with a noticeable variable colored line on the border of any non-wide screened 4:3 interlaced video that sometimes occurs (this can be removed by forcing the video format into 16:9 format). Price could be better as many non-major brand flat-pan 37 inch LCDs at 720p are now at the same price. All other issues with RPTV including viewing angle problems when looking above & below the tv set and replacement bulb issues.
Overall: 9/10
