If you're trapped between the poor quality and washed out colors offered by large-sized projection screens and the high cost and low reliability of plasma and flat panel displays, then the Sony Wega series is right for you.

Pros:

- The flattest, cleanest, sharpest tube out there. It's so flat that it seems almost concave.
- Sharp and bright, especially the XBR version with the better comb filter. Picture quality doesn't get any better than this.
- Great viewing angle due to the flat, sharp screen. This is one of the few TVs that can provide a decent picture for outdoor, off-angle viewing.
- Plenty of inputs and outputs for composite video, stereo, RGB, etc.
- Great feature-set, including split screen, picture in picture, 12 picture framing, dual tuners, customizable channel lists, etc.
- Beautiful silver exterior contrasts well to most plasticky-black TV cabinets.
- Nice faux-surround speakers if you don't have the real thing.
- Nifty remote, especially on the XBR version. It has a joystick control as well as a "remote within a remote" feature to drive a VCR or DVD player.

Cons:

- Yikes, it's expensive. Looks great, but you won't have money left to do much but stay at home and watch TV.
- The memory buffers to name channels are pretty annoying. I wanted to name every channel but Sony limits it to 12.
- Big and heavy. The television is easily over 200 pounds, and will cost you an extra visit to the chiropractor if you try and haul it around.

If you want sharp colors and a bright screen for a great home-theater experience, I wholeheartedly recommend the Wega. If you can afford to go completely flat panel (at roughly five times the cost), go for it. If your needs are more modest and you don't have a DVD system, you're better off with a cheaper convex TV or a projection screen.




Recommended: Yes