Sony 21" LCD WEGA(TM) Flat-Panel HDTV Monitor (KLV-21SG2)

Rating:
Summary: LCD TVs are not ready for Prime Time
Review: Last week I purchased a Sony KLV21SG2 LCD TV, banking on the fact that Sony has always produced an outstanding product, and that the five Sonys I have purchased over the past three decades (all CRT's), while expensive, were well worth the extra cost. This is the first Sony set that I am returning, because while it delivers excellent HD pictures and sound, it strikes out in virtually every other category.

I get my TV reception through Cox cable, which has a few (very few) HD channels, and a fair number of digital channels, but is still mired mostly in the analog world. This makes an LCD TV a bad bet for a Cox customer.

When compared to a high-end Sony CRT costing about the same as the SLV21SG2 -- there really is no comparison. Digital channels are viewable on the LCD TV, but the images are far from crisp. Sports events where there is fast motion create multiple images and blurring effects. Pictures with lines close together (such as empty basketball bleachers or a plaid suit) create noticeable rainbow or vibration effects. Even worse, the Sony LCD TV does not handle dark backgrounds at all well. For example, the series "24," even though it is on a digital channel, is just a big blur during the nighttime scenes, which as fans are aware are at least half the show. Sci-Fi buffs will be sorry to learn that space operas like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate SG-1 have similar problems.

I don't think these quality issues are unique to Sony LCD TVs. They are a general problem area common to all of today's crop of LCD TVs, which, especially when paired with a low-quality digital or HD box, do not deliver an acceptable picture on non-HD channels. I have heard that people have had better luck using LCD TVs with DirecTV, but in my view LCDs are still not ready for prime time.

I have a fifteen year-old Sony Trinitron 32" that is still delivering a picture that is superior to all plasmas and all LCDs, except when viewing HDTV. I'm taking my $1400 Sony LCD back to Circuit City and trading it in for a $300 20" Sony Trinitron CRT. Thank God for Circuit City's 30-day return policy!