Sony Bravia KDL-32S3000

Pros: Sleek look, XMB (Xross Media Bar) is very impressive and easy to use, TONS of hookups for the price, great contrast ratio.

Cons: DIVX upscaling is poor, lack of documentation on Internet Video Ready feature,

Summary: I purchased this TV at the Sony Factory Outlet in Lake Elsinore. For what I paid for it, this is an excellent, I REPEAT, EXCELLENT, TV.

As of this writing I've had the TV a total of 2 days. I've hooked up a Phillips upscaling DIVX player using three different hookups - Composite, Component, and HDMI. Then I watched both regular DVD and high-quality (700+MB) DIVX rips on it through each connection.

Through HDMI, with upscaling on a regular DVD, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between a regular DVD and Discovery Channel HD (considered by many to be the best HD channel currently).

However, any sort of DIVX on this TV seems to suffer, even through HDMI. For testing purposes, I ripped the movies Children of Men and Hannibal Rising. During daylight scenes, the picture was clear - though nowhere near HD quality. During night scenes however, the contrast is - in a word - terrible. This could be the fault of the player, however, since in every other arena this TV shines. However, avid DIVX watchers may want to bring a player and test the set in-store before purchasing.

The XMB (Xross Media Bar, who came up with that name?) is perhaps the most innovative thing Sony has done in a long time. It's easy to use, and graphically impressive as well. Most people don't connect the XMB with the PSX home theatre system it was pioneered on - most people equate it more with the PSP and the PS3. Easy to use, functional, and no hectic, three-teirdeep menus to navigate.

The looks...the TV just looks bad as can be. It's a sleek, semi-matte black that looks good in any entertainment centre, with little to distract the eye from the gorgeous picture. The remote is rather basic, but it gets the job done and is an equally impressive shade of black, with big easy to read buttons. My only complaint is that the SONY logo does not have the option of lighting up as on the XBR2 and XBR3 models, but this is a minor personal preference.

All in all, I would highly recommend this set to anyone looking for an entry level high definition set.

All in all,