Give your TV a new home from IKEA
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- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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26 out of 26 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Awsome, Much better than DLP and LCD RP, TRUE 1080p input"
Pros: LCos technology, Bright lamp, good remote, lots of inputs.
Cons: No Cable card system, average tv speakers, long warm-up times.
Summary: Ok, I will start out on the good, then the bad, then the overall.
The good:
First off I have to start with this TV puts out amazing images, even on SD signals. The WEGA engine really cleans up the image. You can still tell its a SD picture, but I have seen the same channels on other Projection TVs and this out does them all. If you have a very bright room you might want to look into LCD and not rear projection, but if you have a room with lighting control to cover the windows this TV looks simply amazing! The TV is fairly light for what it is (only weighing about 83lbs). I have also heard some people complain on some RP TV's they can hear the fan for the bulb, while this is true for this TV, I can only hear it when I'm within 3 feet of the TV and its DEAD silent. if I'm sitting on the couch I can't hear the fan with no other noise around me. And to wrap up the good side is the ability to accept and display TRUE 1080p signals. The XBR1 series couldn't accept TRUE 1080p signals, they could only receive 1080i, then upconvert to 1080p. Looks like the XBR1 owners are out of luck with HDDVD and Blue-Ray being 1080p, sorry. To help the SD 4:3 pictures they have "wide zoom", which cuts off very little of the top and bottom, but stretches the image very little as well, filling the screen. There is almost no distortion from this and I would recommend at least giving it a try.
Ok, Time for the downers...
First and most important, if you want Cable Card Access you will need to move up to the XBR2 series of SXRD's. This is not an issue for me because I have a HD box from Comcast so I wasn't concerned. The XBR2 will have an improved WEGA engine while the A2000 series is one step behind the XBR1 series. Sony doesn't include a new lamp for the TV, just the one in it. Side note, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, GET AN EXTRA LAMP SOON AFTER PURCHASE OF THE TV. The lamp will blow in that important moment when you want or need to watch TV, like the Super Bowl. The speakers aren't anything to write home about, they are just average TV speakers, but I'm assuming that if you have purchased this set you will be setting up a home theater sound system to match. One last note is give the TV time to warm up when you turn it on. It is a very bright light bulb and turns on slowly to help make it last. Turn the TV on a min or two before your ready to watch TV. The time from when you turn it on to when you get an image is about 10 seconds, but almost 40 seconds till its all the way on. Could be worse, I have seen worse. Not a huge complaint, but something of concern for some folks.
Ok, time for other thoughts that don't fit into good or bad.
The remote is pretty good, has nice layout, but is a little long for the lack of buttons on it. This doesn't matter though as I am using a Harmony 880 so the remote stayed in the packaging. If you buy it at a local big name store and they offer in-home delivery I would suggest you do so. Not only will they deliver it (if you purchase it at the right place) they will also bring it in, and turn it on to make sure its not a dud. That little extra money is well spent, saving you from having to haul it home, carry it in and put it on the stand. If the delivery folks are nice they will take the packaging with them so you don't have to dispose of it. Overall I'm very pleased with this set, and I plan on having it for many years. Now if we could just get more HD content and channels (this is true to ALL providers), this TV would really shine.
- 1 reply to this review
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I WAS GOING TO GET A 2005 OPEN BOX SPECIAL 2005 50 KDS BR1 BUT WAS TOLD THAT THE NEW 50 OR 55 A2000 SXRD WOUOLD BE BETTER FOR THE SAME MONEY.
