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7 out of 9 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Be Careful - Very Good TV Only if Directly viewed"
Pros: Excellent Contrast/Brightness and Black Levels, Great Looking
Cons: Bad Green Tint all over the place when viewed at an angle
Summary: I bought this TV at Sams Club (different p/n KDL-46VL130), after returning the Phillips 47PFL7422D/37. The reason for the exchange was the difference in black level and the Sony had the best black level and I thought the extra $890 worth spending.
My first impression was "EXCELLENT". I watched Discovery HD channel for about 3 hours that night and played with the sttings, and it was really good (I was seated right in front of the TV).
However, next morning when I was watching at an angle (about 20 degrees), I realized the picture has distorted colors, specially when watching faces of people. The dark shades (areas like under the chin or near the ears) become OLIVE GREEN. This effect is more visible in a Standard Definition channel, where the faces looked like aliens at 45 deg or more. Also, even the normall Green scenes looks luminous (glowing) green at an angle.
I played with all kind of settings to get this issue resolved. Called Sony customer svc and they tried to walk me thourgh the settings too. Then they sent a Tech from Authorized svc center, and he said, to him it seems "Normal". He also suggested retuning the set and gettint something else.
I wanted to figure out if this is an issue with this particular set. So I went to Sams Club and compare all the Models thay had. Sure enough, the all VL130 (V3000) series TVs had the problem. They didn't have any other sony to compare with though.
I went to Best buy, they problem is apparent with all V3000 series sets, and even on Sony's top of the line XBR (slightly better though).
They had a KDL-46V2500 (older model) on display and it did NOT have this issue. Even though it had a little bit less brightness and contrast, it was perfect as far as I was concerned. So, I bought it.
Two days into the V2500, with HD and SD programs, I am so far 100% satisfied. I will be returning the V3000 set to Sams Club tomorrow.
Bottom line is, if you watch the tv pretty much straight to the panel (i.e. right in front of the TV), I don't think this would bother you. Otherwise, goto Best buy, take a good look at the TV from all possible positiotns you normally watch TV at home (I mean the distance and angles) and see if the pictures look ok. Vertical angle comes into play too, if you don't have the TV at your eye level.
With all said and done, I would still rate this set at 7 since everything else on this set is excellent. Even Sony's customer support was by far one of the best.
