HDTV Trends

Superb
Superb picture, everything works from home theater sound to ordinary DVDs (on an upscaling player) to the Red Sox. Price through Amazon marketplace was excellent for the date, and vendor went out of his way to make replacement of the first set delivered in a damaged box quickly and without hassle.

Fantastic!
We have had this Sony Bravia 52XBR5 for 8 months and it is the best TV picture we have seen. It arrived in great condition, easy to hook up to the satellite receiver. It made viewing TV a pleasure just to see the detail.

It does take two people to move as one cannot lift it by using the bezel.

I love this TV!!!!!
I actually bought the XBR4 version, which I didn't really see much difference between the XBR4 and the XBR5 except for 0. I did all my research and shopped around for months. I finally had my choices down between the XBR4 and the Samsung 8 series. The XBR4 won out, just by the fact that it doesn't have a shiny screen and doesn't have glare all that much. The picture is phenomenal, it's great for playing my XBox 360 in high-def and it's got more inputs than I'm gonna use cause I got everything running through my stereo. No complaints here except that's it's pretty heavy. Hanging it would be a 2 person job, I barely got it up on my entertainment center. Other than that, this is the best TV out there,in my opinion.

Simply the Best!
I am a semi-professional photographer and I'm very sensitive about image quality. This TV replaced an existing wide screen tube TV that was working fine, so I was able to take my time and fully research a replacement. To cut to the chase, this TV represents the current state of the art in image quality. Period. No compromises.

First, as to screen size. Make sure you take the time to explore the various web sites that discuss the proper screen size for your viewing location. You'll probably be surprised at how large a screen is recommended. I was initially looking at screens in the mid-40" range, but after doing the math it was clear that the 52" was the answer. And they were right, this 52" is perfect for my viewing room -- you get immersed in the film.

Second, image quality. Sony has always been at the leading edge, but I carefully evaluated the competition. Samsung came close, and the Samsung TV was a bit cheaper, but the Sony had deeper blacks and more saturated colors; not by a lot, but it was noticeable. Now here's the important part. A lot of the TV's look great when displaying a Hi-Def picture, and that's what they have connected in the stores, but the proof of the pudding is how the sets present non-HD images. The Sony XBR wins this one hands down. It's not even close. Don't make the mistake of not evaluating the non-HD capabilities. You might be very disappointed once you get the set home.

My only complaint about this TV is that it does not have true picture-in-picture (PIP) because it only has one tuner. So the ability to split the screen and watch two channels at once isn't available. While I'd like to have that capability, it's a fair trade off for the spectacular image quality.

In summary, this TV simply has the best image quality available today. Connect it to any HD source, particularly Blu-Ray, and it will take your breath away. It's a bit more expensive than the competition, but saving a few hundred dollars would be a false economy. You're going to own this TV for years and it will only cost you a few cents more a day to own the best -- it is definitely worth the cost of admission.

A Quantum Leap!!!!!
After many months of careful product research and price comparisons I finally opted to go HD. Truthfully, I had second thoughts about getting rid of "ole faithful"-a 1999 36" Toshiba, which has not required one bit of maintenance nor experienced any downtime whatsoever since I've owned it. Nevertheless, the time came to jump ship from SD to HD, especially since I subscribe to most of the sports packages DirecTv has to offer.I chose correctly. The Sony 52" Bravia is a magnificant package-somewhat more pricey than their competitors-but certainly worth it. Outstanding picture quality and a very easy remote to navigate. Instead of mounting on the wall I chose instead to place "the monster" on a solid cherry finish console TV/components table manufactured by Hooker Co.It warmed the family room immeasurably and looks like it truly belongs. DirecTv quickly and accurately changed out the dish and receiver, and Firedog completed the install with my Sony surround system and combination VCR/DVD player.Trust me when I say you won't go wrong with the 52" Sony Bravia purchase.

Best 32" out here....
I bought the Sony 32XBR6 about a month ago at Circuit City. They charged about 0 more than it's selling for here. I've had literally dozens of TVs in my lifetime, and this is by far the best set I have ever owned. Color, even in non-cable broadcasts, is absolutely gorgeous. Rich, vibrant colors even on regular setting. I have the set in a 10 x 10 room and have had no problem with "smelly" odors. Set has very minor lag warming up, maybe 5 seconds before overlapping menus disappear. Once that's done, I can't think of one single thing to complain about (other than occasional weak signals from our local HD stations). They don't have all their bugs worked out yet. The widescreen feature on this set is unbelievable, making the screen seem twice the size it actually is. I'm a senior lady and had very little trouble unpacking it and setting it up by myself. I couldn't have done that with my last CRT TV! I totally recommend it.

Great TV, but the TV Guide function is very poor
The TV itself, superb. Brilliant colors, plenty of contrast, tons of features. Viewing angles are good, not as good as a plasma or CRT TV but better than most. As you get to the side, you do start to lose contrast, but the picture is very viewable and when I say get to the side, I mean at least 45 degrees to one side or the other. You can get confused going through the menus on setup, but once you're through them, it's fine and you can go back and forth easily. I do like the menu layouts and the use of the options button on the remote to get to the most useful. I just use the build in speakers, and the sound is great. The simulated surround sound is quite pleasing. The hookup to my VCR/DVD/DVR (1080p upconverting) was simple....one HDMI cable and it's all ready to go.

The TV Guide interface is my one complaint. The interface itself isn't so bad...but the TV guide data is horrible. I get off the air TV in the Denver area, the TV guide, when properly setup, shows multiple different stations on EACH channel! So if you don't put the proper station at the top of the list at each channel....the information shown on screen as you change channels is wrong. In addition, if you hit the TV Guide button, you get an overload of listings. If you turn off any one of the multiple listings for each individual channel...it turns off the channel from being selected. This is mostly TV Guide's problem, not Sony's but the 'turn off any one listing and you turn off the whole channel' is Sony's problem.

Bottom line....I am VERY pleased with the TV, I would buy another one in a heartbeat and would strongly reccomend it to my friends. I tend to be a perfectionist about skin colors and color saturation (to me, most people set their TV's with the color control turned up way too high) so the picture looks natural. I was not disappointed in this TV in this area. For me, it takes a lot of back and forth between all the various options...but the end result is as close to perfect as I've ever seen in a LCD based TV (or computer screen for that matter).

I believe the additional cost over Sony's similar 32" 720p (KDL32L4000) set is worth the extra money. To me, the difference between the two was very visible when looked at side by side. Your mileage may vary.

Excellent TV worth the Money
This is an excellent TV. Not many TVs of this size are Full HD (1080P). It also has really great contast ratios. It has a 25000:1 contrast ratio. The menus are really easy to use and very intuitive. It shipped quickly, and I was called the day before delivery to schedule a few hour window of when they would arrive with the TV. That made it very convenient.

Tickled pink.
Oh dear! I can hardly believe my eyes. I thought my Wega 23" from Sony was an unsurpassable bedroom set due to its stunning picture quality and vividness, but I was wrong. Even within a couple of feet this 32XBR6 simply blows my mind. And what a rabbit it pulls out of the proverbial hat with standard cable channels! Through HDMI, it upconverts everything to 1080P and, by gosh, these standard cable channels actually look pretty darn decent. If this set is as reliable as my previous set, and I don't see why it wouldn't as they are both from Sony and the XBR family is this company's top of the line TV's, then my friends, you have here an outstanding winner that leaves everyone begging for a place in front of the screen.

best TV for the bedroom
you can not go wrong with SONY XBR !. and this set is perfect for a bedroom.. I watch Late night show everynight before go to bed. Love this TV

exelent hdtv
ive had this tv for 2 weaks now , i was concern because the price was low compare to another hdtvs.. but let me tell u it was worth it not only image is great , has a great sound and is easy to set . my brother has a 50 inch samsung and when he saw this one he decided to change to a sony bravia like mine lol
well in coclusion the tv is worth the money ....

Sony Bravia
I bought the 40" Sony Bravia for a house warming gift to my daughter. The Picture is so clear especially High Definition. I bought a Sony Bravia 32" for myself last year. I would highly recommend the Sony over others. It's worth the cost.

Great Buying Experience
This television just arrived this morning and I have much to learn about it, but I wanted to write about the great buying experience I had at Amazon. Ordered the television on a Friday -- because it was over 40" we received free White Glove shipping and it arrived on Monday! The delivery person brought the tv into the house, unpacked it and set it up. When I went online a little while later I saw that the price for this tv had dropped so I emailed and called Amazon and in a few hours received written email confirmation that the charge would be adjusted on my credit card. I was very pleasantly surprised and am very pleased with this entire experience so far.

Very Pleaased
We are very pleased with the Sony Bravia TV. The picture quality is great! I would recommend this TV to everyone. Just keep the remote away from German Shepherd's, ours ate the remote!

Sony Bravia HDTV 1080p
The television was packed beautifully. Easy to set up. The picture is beautiful and I am very happy with it. I highly recommend it.Sony Bravia S-Series KDL-40S4100 40-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

Excellent size for the bedroom
I was very impressed with all of the features and the picture is very clear and the colors are vivid. It was very easy to set up and connect to my HD satellite receiver, DVD player and even my old VCR.

Perfect HDTV for bedroom or 1st HDTV
I wanted a larger TV to replace the old 22" 720P HDTV I had in the bedroom, but I couldn't justify spending a huge amount of money. I've been checking prices and comparing TV's for about 2 months. At this screen size, I can't tell the difference between 720P and 1080P. I got this TV on sale at Thanksgiving for the exact same price as some other lesser brands at the same size. I think it is the perfect TV for the bedroom. The sound is decent and the picture is fantastic. Plus, it's a Sony product, so I am MUCH more comfortable about the quality than some of the no name brands I see in this price range. Through my job, I know Sony has extremely demanding quality standards. This means fewer problems and lower failure rates. I've read of people buying a no name "doorbuster" and then buying an extended warranty because they were nervous about it. For about the same price, you can get this TV, the quality of the Sony name and a good warranty. I also already own a Sony 50" 1080P LCD TV, I've had it for a year, never had any problems and love it also. The TV remote is basic, but that is fine with me.

excellent
Just bought this tv from Target at total cost of 6. Price was great! Have not hooked up to hd source but have upconverter dvd player and s-video hookup from directv tivo. Very suprised that the standard source looks as good as it does, much better than my 55" sony does with same source, probably because of blowing up of picture. It does lag with motion in the standard source but looks very good with upconverted pictures, watched Finding Nemo at looked very close to hd. Sound is good, as good as can be expected from a smaller tv. Have only one hd source which is not near this room so will upgrade later but for now, no complaints. Very nice smaller tv

Great Secondary TV
I purchased this TV locally at Wal-Mart in June for 6. In the store it has rolled back to 8 in November and was 8 on line Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday (Out of Stock on line). WOW!!

The Wal-Mart extended warranty mirrors the Sony warranty, meaning in home service, which can be purchased in the store for two years and there is a three year option (True three year - after the Sony one year warranty expires) on line. Wal-Mart has a ninety day no hassle return policy. Great selling points.

After my 30 inch Toshiba CRT television failed I compared Sony, Samsung and Panasonic 32 to 37 inch varieties. For a viewing distance of about 15 feet, I thought the 32 inch would suffice. However, it is just a bit too small. I opted for the 32 inch TV, since one person could carry it and it would easily fit in the backseat of my car to bring it home from the store. In retrospect, the Sony 37 inch may have been a better fit in the room, and it might have just squeezed in the back seat of my car. However, there are limited places to purchase the 37 inch TV; the closet to me is Target. My Primary TV is a Panasonic 50 inch, with Yamaha Surround Sound.

The set up out of the box was fairly simple by attaching 3 phillips head screws to the pedestal provided. However, the TV was pretty low on my current TV stand, so I purchased six 8x12 black shelves and raised the TV up to a better viewing level. The TV is not top heavy and remains stable on the raised shelves. I expect in a home with a child, a more secure option would be warranted.

NOTE: The packing in the box is typical, with the four corners protected by styrofoam (and a styrofoam piece on the bottom), with a thin sheet over the screen for scratch protection, having several inches of open space from the screen to the box interior. The TV I purchased locally was in perfect condition and in a sturdy cardboard box, with cut outs for side handles. Years ago I purchased a TV on-line and it took three attempts, before it arrived undamaged, but this was a 20 inch CRT set that was a bit more bulky.

The local cable was simple to hook up and numerous High Definition channels are available, from the bigger networks, PBS, etc. There are numerous inputs for DVD, computer, gaming, etc. There is even the older one line video input as well as the S video input, which will complement the older AV equipment.

This TV is 720P and will accept the 1080I and 1080P, but only displays 720P. The screen refresh rate is said to be 60hz (From a review I saw), but I have not seen this confirmed by Sony. The pixel response time rating varies by site and I have seen it rated at 8 ms and/or 10 ms.

Depending on the film stock the image clarity is excellent to fair. High definition channels and DVDs like Finding Nemo are fantastic. Standard TV is great too. Older DVD TV shows need more tweaking for a better viewing experience.

I tweaked all of the settings for Vivid, Standard and Custom for cable and component one. Each input requires calibration to adjust settings. Another nice feature is that the backlight has a level adjustment to raise or lower the brightness, to suit your room light level (Day glare, night level, etc). Also, there is a video noise reduction control, which is a must for the poor DVD transfers that need the grain reduced, but it also darkens the screen - NOTE: Before tweaking your settings, make sure the noise reduction is set to off....

I opted to tweak all of the image controls comparing Hi Definition, regular TV and DVDs. I used an older 480i DVD player with component cables. I have THX DVDs that have a calibration option - The best use was to set the blackness level and sharpness from the DVD disc. Otherwise, I set the other options by eye for my best viewing experience.

The sound quality was pretty good right from the TV, but my viewing on this set is mainly nightly news or older TV shows on DVD. The TV audio does not need to be maxed for a favorable listening level. I did tweak the audio a bit for my desired sound. A negative is that the audio out (Stereo L & R) is fixed - I have the stereo audio run through an older Sherwood amp era 1980s, which I do not use very often. With the TV having fixed audio out, the volume on the amp is not raised by increasing the volume on the TV (Something my old Toshiba TV was capable of doing).

When inputting with component cable sources (DVD player, etc) for video, only a stereo (L & R) input is available. I do not use HDMI cables and can not confirm or deny their usefulness. I have heard that inexpensive HDMI cables are available on Amazon and the in store to 0 plus varieties are overpriced.

The Digital Audio out port is an Optical Audio out (Thin line for Digital Sound). There is no Component Audio out, (One Cable for Digital Sound). I am not a fan of the Optical audio lines.

Above, I noted that there is an audio optical out port. However, I can not confirm or deny that the audio optical output will actually transfer a 5.1 sound from the TV input sources, such as coax cable, HDMI inputs, etc. to an amplifier.

Logic tells me it is doubtful if the TV can process or transfer sound to an amplifier in 5.1 sound.

The closed caption feature works well. I was playing an older DVD TV show (BBC), with no caption features, but the TV picked up the closed captions, which was great. The size of the caption font is easily read.

The TV also has a display button for the information banner - TV channel and displays (when available for the channel) - the show title, time remaining, resolution, etc. The downside is the display banner font is too small for my viewing distance, and can not be changed (as far as I can tell).

The non-learning remote is simple, with basic features and easy to use.

Another great feature is the widescreen mode, which fills the screen rather well with the pan and scan pictures of the older DVD TV shows. The Full mode feature expands the picture, which looks too stretched to me.

Overall, I am happy with the quality of this TV. With the price drop of nearly 0 since I purchased it, it is now the deal of the day at 8. I have not seen a sale ever on the Sony 37 inch TV. If I did, I would have returned the 32 inch TV, within the ninety day return period and purchased the Sony big brother.

NOTE: If you go to the Crutchfield web site, the owner's manual can be downloaded, plus there are many TVs to compare with.

[...]

What's in the box?
32" LCD TV
Pedestal stand
Wireless remote control (RM-YD025)
2 "AA" batteries
6' AC cord
3 Machine screws (each with a flat washer and lock washer)
Cable strap
Operating Instructions
Quick Setup Guide
Instructions for attaching the table top stand
Diagram for attaching the table top stand
Instructions for wall-mounting television
Warranty sheet
On-line product registration card
"Notices and Licenses for Software Used in this Television" sheet

NOTE: I added a few pictures on the main product page of the TV with a widescreen and Pan & Scan picture for comparison.

Hope this helps, j.

EXCELLENT QUALITY, EXCELLENT PRICE, AWESOME!!!
Ok, at first I was afraid to buy this set since it is not 1080. I have to admit that for its size you don't need to spend any more money on 1080. Leave that to your larger sets 40" and above.

Shipping was fast! Ordered through Amazon, shipped from J&R. They even open the box before shipping and add extra padding to make sure your purchase arrives safely.

Out of the box and watching digital TV in less than 15 min. I mean it couldn't be easier. Out of the box, on the stand, 3 screws, power cord, and connect to an antenna or source. Turn on the power; confirm your language choice and the system starts scanning for analog and digital channels. All that was the easy part.

Now for the hard part. Tearing yourself away from the awesome HD picture from over the air broadcasts. You'll say to yourself, wow what a deal!!! Picture is great out of the box. I might make a few adjustments but this is great. I highly recommend this size set for the bedroom or someplace that its size is right. Sitting in bed it is the perfect size. In addition, Sony has continued to lay out the controls on the remote in their standard places, so for me there was no learning.

For 9 you can't go wrong. Great Sony Quality, Great Price, and Excellent ordering experience with Amazon. (Seriously, why even go to the store and buy one...Amazon makes this too easy!!! Now to find a nice Sony 52" for the main room)