Sony KV-34HS510 34" HD-Ready CRT TV

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Choice!
Review: A bit pricey but worth it. This TV is excellent. Has incredible picture quality and the sound is outstanding. Beats out the competition without question. Very easy to use including the remote. Love the Pic in Pic option along with all the viewing options: full view, zoom, widescreen zoon and regular screen. Wonderful choice for a television.

Rating:
Summary: You will not be dissapointed..
Review: Having spent several months with this television it has been problem free, save for lip sync problems noted below. The picture is outstanding. After experimenting with setup the blocked highlights problem found in the original setup has disappeared. Generally the standard profiles have much too much contrast and too cold colour rendition robbing the picture of subtlety and much detail. However getting close to the "Pro" profile improves the picture dramatically. I am still fine tuning this setup.

On over the air standard broadcasts the reception is good and the picture is far superior to most others I have seen, giving a fine illusion of greater resolution without false artifacts.

On DVD sources the picture is outstanding in every way. The connection choices are useful and impressive.

The manual is fine for initial conncetion but does not even try to give an understanding of the different adjustments and settings. Who knows what this television is really capable of and how to achieve it? What settings should you use for given sources and what are the advantages and disadvantages of such setting options?

The other serious issue is lip sync. Strangely the sound is significantly AHEAD of the picture. This is particularly disconcerting with dialogue. The effect is to disconnect the sound from the person and break any illusion of reality which you normally get in good programming.

When I contacted Sony I was told this was due to my DVD player. I repeated myself: the problem is independent of the source and exists on broadcast where only the television is being used. They sent a service man who was polite but said he could not see anything wrong with the picture, though he volunteered that this was not unusual and they could send a replacment for either the television or him. He had no means of testing for synchronization other than to watch with me for a couple of minutes.

The sound is mediocre as one would expect but this is not an issue for most people given that it is likely to be used with an external sound system. It is fine for backup purposes.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent picture, mediocre manual, lip sync issues
Review: Having spent several months with this television it has been problem free, save for lip sync problems noted below. The picture is outstanding. After experimenting with setup the blocked highlights problem found in the original setup has disappeared. Generally the standard profiles have much too much contrast and too cold colour rendition robbing the picture of subtlety and much detail. However getting close to the "Pro" profile improves the picture dramatically. I am still fine tuning this setup.

On over the air standard broadcasts the reception is good and the picture is far superior to most others I have seen, giving a fine illusion of greater resolution without false artifacts.

On DVD sources the picture is outstanding in every way. The connection choices are useful and impressive.

The manual is fine for initial conncetion but does not even try to give an understanding of the different adjustments and settings. Who knows what this television is really capable of and how to achieve it? What settings should you use for given sources and what are the advantages and disadvantages of such setting options?

The other serious issue is lip sync. Strangely the sound is significantly AHEAD of the picture. This is particularly disconcerting with dialogue. The effect is to disconnect the sound from the person and break any illusion of reality which you normally get in good programming.

When I contacted Sony I was told this was due to my DVD player. I repeated myself: the problem is independent of the source and exists on broadcast where only the television is being used. They sent a service man who was polite but said he could not see anything wrong with the picture, though he volunteered that this was not unusual and they could send a replacment for either the television or him. He had no means of testing for synchronization other than to watch with me for a couple of minutes.

The sound is mediocre as one would expect but this is not an issue for most people given that it is likely to be used with an external sound system. It is fine for backup purposes.

Rating:
Summary: You will not be dissapointed..
Review: Purchased this TV about 2 months ago and have been hooked ever since. I can't stand watching golf on TV but I sat in front of the TV watching the Masters all weekend because you literally felt like you were there. If this TV can make watching golf fun what else is there to say?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent image quality and easy to use.
Review: This Sony 34-inch widescreen combines a lot of great features. First and foremost, the picture quality beats most HDTVs on the market. Blacks are really black and the lines are sharp. DVDs look great on this set. Since I started using this TV, I've begun to notice the range of quality in various DVD titles. Not all DVDs are created equal!

The Twin View feature is nice for channel surfing - it takes advantage of the wide tube and puts 2 4:3 pictures side-by-side. You can even adjust the relative size of the 2 pictures in this mode. The on-screen TV menus and remote control are very easy to use and understand, and connecting this set to your home theatre system should be no problem. Another nice touch is the Memory Stick slot in the front panel. I have Sony digital camera, so when I come home with new photos I can simply plug the Memory Stick into the TV and show people an instant slideshow.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with this TV.

Rating:
Summary: Great Picture Quality
Review: This widescren HDTV puts out 1080i/720p/480p/480i not all HDTV do this and this is important since alot of material right now is 480i-standard cable, 480p-most dvd's and many games, 720p/1080i-Hight Defintion shows or movies, some games and more games later will support this true HD option also. Plamsas are great but after doing reserch the hours they last is less than half of what a CRT will last. The minus of CRT they are pretty heavy and not thin. This TV is heavy but includes 2 handles at the side so it isn't that bad moving it. This TV and the 910 sony are 2 of the best CRT direct view sets out, I went with this one since it was like $400 cheaper and from about 8 feet away this tv had better brights, while the 910 when you got closer you could see the higher resolution but I don't sit that close to my a 34 inch tv, 8 ft is fine for me.