Sony 70" XBR? Grand WEGA(TM) Rear Projection LCD HDTV (KDF-70XBR950)

Rating:
Summary: Top of the Line - Best of the Best
Review: I have an 8-year old 50 inch bigscreen that still puts on an exceptional picture. I had found a deal on a satellite receiver that could tune the local channels in HD and connect to the bigscreen with S-Video. I had decided that I would not upgrade until I found a 60 inch or larger with a better picture. I saw this Sony on display showing Discovery HD, and had to have it. Since I got it home, I have been glued to it watching anything available in HD.

The Set: It is an LCD-projection system using a very bright lamp to project thru the LCD and onto the screen. It never needs converging. It is not affected by speakers or magnets. It has seven inputs for sources such as a DVD player, satellite receiver, etc.. Four inputs (one on the front) accept S-Video or composit video plus two channels of encoded audio. There are two inputs for RGB component sources, and one DVI input for the highest grade connection. The internal tuner will tune any broadcast tv channel, analog or digital, and offers picture with picture(side-by-side) and can adjust the size of the two pictures to maximize one and minimize the other.

The picture: It's like standing at a window and looking at the world. Simply breathtaking. There are several modes to take less-than-HD sources and fill the screen. With movies on DVD, it's better than the picture in a movie theater. and DVD players are only 480I/P sources. A 1080I source provides the best picture.

The Sound: The internal sound system provides excellent sound with several modes. The Trusurround(tm) mode will provide a very good impersonation of Dolby 5.1 surround, minus the sub-woofer. I frequently hear sounds behind me and turn to realize the home theater system is OFF, and I am listening to the TV's sound. For most people, the onboard sound will be enough. For those that want all of the theater experience, you will probably want a home theater system. I have a Sony DAV-FC9 home theater system for full enjoyment of movies.

Other: This set weighs 225lbs in it's carton. Sony recommends no less than 4 people to move it and has provided some hand-holds for that purpose. It needs a sturdy base to sit on. Sony's base is overpriced, in my opinion. I found a nice base from a home theater collection at a furniture store. It has room for DVD recorders, satellite receivers, or the home theater receiver. The screen protector is a solid sheet of tempered glass about 3 inches larger than the screen. It makes the set a bit front heavy. Read the manual for more info (www.docs.sony.com/release/KDF70XBR950.pdf). The glass has a front-surface anti-glare coating to cut down on reflections. It should not be touched, except for gentle cleaning. If you are watching a dark program(outside scene at night) you may still get some reflections from light room objects, but not overwhelming.

To Sum it Up: I am very happy with this HDTV receiver. I still have not found a better picture on anything bigger than 60 inches. I apparently am not the only fan. I had to order it from a local store by placing a 20% deposit and wait for the next shipment. My one complaint, if that, is that with this sharp of a picture, you can see the flaws in lesser programming.