<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic HDTV
Review: All that I can say is WOW! I have had this TV for about a year now and I have no complaints. The picture is crisp and the speaker sound is true digital quality. I was watching my TV when we had the great black-out of 2003. (Remember that one??) My power went out, then came back on, then went out again. For three days I thought that my poor "brand new" TV was dead. When the power finally came back on I was plesantly suprised to find out that my TV worked as good as it did before. Well the next day I went out and bought a decent surge protector, and threw away that crumby $20 one. If you are looking for a quality HDTV I think that this is the best one for its price.
Rating:
Summary: The best video gaming TV there is. Period.
Review: HDTVs come in many forms these days, and they can get quite confusing. LCD, CRT, Plasma, Projection... you have many options to go with if you're planning on making the HD jump. But if you're like me, and are an avid video game player (past systems to the new crop), you owe it to yourself to scoop up this TV. I have many friends that have different brands of HDTVs and I also work at an electronics refurbishing place that sees its share of TVs through its doors, I can fully attest to Sony's quality. No other brand comes close to the sheer perfection of the colors and picture on this set. First of all, please have at least 2 friends handy whenever you pick this TV up from whatever store you're buying it from because its the heaviest TV ever made. No joke. It almost gave me an instant hernia. This baby has 7 inputs of all varieties, 2 components and 1 DVI input. Being that this is a 4:3 TV, and not a 16:9 widescreen model, let it be known that your black bars will not being dissapearing from your favorite DVDs. If you're strictly a DVD buff, this TV is probably not for you. Likewise, if your into watching TV, more specifically an HDTV signal being transmitted in 720p or 1080i, this TV is ALSO not for you. Your picture will be letterboxed, not only on the tops and bottoms, but also on the sides in some cases. This is because 720p and 1080i signals are meant for 16:9 TVs and take advantage of that aspect ratio. Don't get me wrong, DVDs actually do look GREAT on this set, its just this TV is so high quality it brings out ALL the imperfections when viewing movies in progressive mode. Plasmas and the like do a better job of hiding these imperfections and smoothing out artifacts. Movies in 2.35:1 aspect ratio look especially nice on this TV, the TV itself has a great built in 16:9 enhanced mode. I tend to find movies that have lots of action and people on the screen at once, look reall good. The Lord of the Rings series and LEGEND look awesome on this TV, some of the best ones I've seen in my library of over 150 DVDs. NOW.... what this TV does do the best is the displaying of VIDEO GAMES! If you're like me and don't give a flying fudge about watching an HDTV signal, or any TV period, this is THE TV for you. Ninja Gaiden in 480p mode is quite possibly the best looking, most fluid video game that will ever grace your eyeballs. The textures used in that game in 480p JUMP off the screen and it's almost as if you can touch them. This TV feels like it has the most insane refresh rate ever, I run my computer games in 1600 x 1200 w/ a refresh rate of near 90 Hz, and this TV seems to be at least that if not higher. Everything just moves so freakin' SMOOTH. Gamecube games run w/ the component cable also look incredible (Check out Metroid Prime). Thanks to the DRC chip inside this baby, now all your older video games can also look greater than ever. The DRC claims to upconvert all 480i signals to 480p -- now I don't know if my Sega CD and Playstation are running in progressive mode, but regardless they look better than they have ever looked on a traditional CRT TV. Couple this TV with a top notch surround system, and you got yourself a killer home theater for under 2000, that would make even your friend with a 60 inch plasma drool his pants. Don't be fooled in thinking just because a 60 inch plasma is 6000 dollars that it's a superior set, because they simply are NOT, they have their uses and advantages, but most of that price tag is for the convenient thin size. Regardless of the HDTV you decide to buy, go with Sony, there is simply no substitute.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of features and Amazing picture quality!
Review: I've had this set for 6 months and absolutely love it ,The picture quality is crisp & vibrant, even my standard analog cable signal looks very good,I seriously think those who complain about its upconversion on non-hd content have signal strength issues,it is well known a weak analog signal can look horrible on any HDTV, Standard tv sets are much more forgiving about this, to be honest some channels look near DVD quality for me, I also noticed having the DRC mode set on Interlaced looks best w/ analog channels. As for gaming you simply wont find a better 32" in fact its the main reason I purchased it ,Gamecube & Xbox games look amazing even in the lowest progressive mode (480P),so many details that were lost on my previous analog tv are revealed with the 32HS510, thanks to its lack of visible scanlines and higher resolution tube. If you don't have a home audio setup you wont be disappointed by the built in sound on this TV, I have a 5.1 audio setup so I wasn't really considering the sound quality when buying this TV But I was impressed by it ,the sound is clean and can be turned up loud, it's also got a built in subwoofer mounted in the rear wich delivers a decent amount of bass. I also like the 'Steady Sound' auto volume option wich attemps to keep the volume at an equal level between channel changes, commercials etc. DVD's look superb on this set just remember its a 4:3 model so you'll still see the black bars, I'm used to this so it doesnt bother me. The best way to view dvd's is to set the dvd player on 16:9 aspect,Then on the tv options set the 16:9 Enhanced option to Auto,this way it will automaticly enable 16:9 'squeeze' when viewing widescreen content, this actualy increases the overall resolution and it looks great. Bottom line: Highly recommended OR if its to pricey you might take a look at the recently released 32HS420 model,It's a lower priced version of the HS510 with less features (lack of 2-tuner PIP,No subwoofer etc.) but supposedly it uses the same picture tube wich is a good thing =)
Rating:
Summary: We love it, except for the analog cable channels
Review: My wife and I had to buy a new TV to fit our living room cabinet after the big power blackout: Our 13 year old 27" Panasonic set finally failed (The picture was beginning to buzz out prior to the black out). We guess the set was over-taxed during the brown-out we had here in CT. I was glad the rest of my hardware was well-isolated behind surge protectors. My wife and I were content to buy a simpler 27" or 32" inch set, but when we saw this set in the showroom, we both agreed we ought to buy it. We both enjoy DVDs, and we believed we would come to enjoy the set's extra quality. The set seemed to outperform all the other 32" flatscreens (CRT-based) we looked at. The price was good for the features supplied too. Well. The set just fits our cabinet (the TV has wing-like speaker panel projections), and the image quality with our CD player and VCR is stunning. We have digital cable, and for the high-number channels (those >100), we get terrific picture quality. The sound from the extra-wide cabinet's wings is also quite respectable. This is convenient as my wife gets frustrated turning on all my assorted audio gear to produce TV sound. However, for the lower-number CATV channels, the incresed screen size makes cable signal imperfections more obvious. I bought an exotic power conditioner for all my components to offset noise, but the CATV signal is still lousy. Apparently, with some digital CATV services, the lower-number channels are delivered in analog format and are subject to a lot of distortion. All this makes a good case for satellite service(or a better capital improvement program by the local CATV supplier to make the system digital end-to-end...{Hope some product manager from Cox reads this some day}). The TV set also accepts memory sticks. I have a new Sony DSCV1 digital camera, and it's fun to plug in the memory sticks and watch slide shows. The set has lots of programmable features, an easy to read manual, and a high-tech remote. Regrettably, my CATV remote does not talk to this TV. We've had this set for a month now, and we're delighted.
Rating:
Summary: Pircey, but wow!
Review: This is by far the most I have ever spent on a TV. But I was ready to upgrade my old set, and wanted to buy something that would allow me to eventually go HD. This set has everything and the picture is simply amazing - HD or no HD. I orginally bought an "HD-ready" TV from another brand. But I returned it because I was not sold on the quality of manufacturing (I had what apparantley is a common defect in that set). I paid several hundred dollars more for this Sony set because I am 100% sold on the quality of Sony electronics. So - while I wasnt happy to pay more than I needed to, all I want is to plug in the set and forget about it. Given what these sets cost, I am fine to pay more for that peace of mind. In searching around the web, I found one review that mentioned that this set does not show non-HD tv signals well, and specifically that satellite tv signals (which is what I have) look awful. When I first set up the tv, I had the picture mode set to "vivid" and did find the picture to appear quite pixelated. I fixed this problem by connecting the satellite signal through the Monster Home Theater "power conditioner" and set the picture display to "standard" instead of "vivid." The picture is now simply amazing. It's so good, in fact, I feel no need to hurry to upgrade to HD. Bottom-line: a bit pricey, but worth it. You can probably get a good HD-ready set for less, but if you're going to spend in the ballpark of this set, I suggest you consider manufacturing quality along with picture quality and features. I've never gone wrong with Sony electronics and am happy even though I paid a bit more for it.
Rating: 
Summary: really poor upconversion
Review: Yes DVD's and the 10% of cable programming that is hdtv look great, but this model's upscaling (for viewing normal non hdtv cable channels (and even your digital cable consists, and for years to come, of mostly of non hdtv channels) the sony is the worst of all its competition...and at a much higher price...as many technical hdtv reviewing sites have noted. There is a lot of BS around and delibertate confusion between "hdtv," "digital" and "widescreen." Digital is mandated and is coming. HDTV is not mandated. Compare samsung and toshiba's competing hdtv models. they are $500 bucks less and their non-hdtv (again 90% of broadcasts) look way better. The comaprative differences in hdtv and dvd playback is negligable. Is sony the best in the class for hdtv broadcasts? Yes. but it is worst for non hdtv and the sony's price premium means that you would have to keep the sony for eight years but replace eitherr a toshiba or samsung in five at the same per month cost!
<< 1 >>
| 
