Amazing picture even on cable
Written: Feb 18 '02 (Updated Feb 23 '02)
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Pros: Stunning DVD movie picture quality, great picture with 'normal' cable, easy-to-use remote and menu
Cons: none yet except I want to rent many more DVDs!!
The Bottom Line: Stunning picture, user friendly remote, exceptional sound, expensive but well worth it if you can afford it. That extra for the HD part is well worth it!! Go for it!!!!!
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| 01400ex's Full Review: Sony KV-36XBR450 36 inch TV |
I was looking to buy a 36" direct view and had narrowed my search to the Panasonic and Toshiba. I did not think the Sony Hi-Scan had as good a picture as either of these. A friend just bought an XBR450 for about $2400 and I was impressed with the picture even though his DVD player was not progressive scan. I did not think that the XBR could be worth the extra $400-500 over the others but when I found it for $1999 with a $299 stand included at Soundtrack I could not pass it up. I do not know enough about interlaced, progressive scan, reverse 3:2 pulldown etc etc but I am extremely impressed with the XBR. We rented Dinosaur for the kids, well me too(!), and the picture is absolutely stunning in color and clarity, much clearer than the in-store demos even.
I had thought of a rear projection unit but we watch a lot of normal cable and I hear that this is often not good on these TVs. Also viewing angle is restricted. Our cable company had meaured our signal and apparently it's quite high at +10Db (whatever that means!) so this explains why our normal cable picture is so good. However, the picture quality varies a great deal between stations.
The remote seems very easy to use and has programmable functions so it can be used for four other components. It doesn't seem to 'talk' to my Technics CD player which is frustrating. On the other hand I only really need to use that for music so it's a very minor detail. The on-screen menu is very user friendly (unlike the Panasonic) and it only takes a short time to figure it out. As well as the basic functions of color control eg brightness, color, tint etc you can set it to vivid, normal, movie and pro settings which change the overall 'look' of the picture. It's a bit gimmicky but I do find it useful to enhance some programs.
The sound is amazingly good and I sometimes think that I have left the Home Theater on by accident but it's just the TV's built-in speakers-very impressive. I've now had this TV for 2 weeks and I have not found any drawbacks. The weight, once it's installed, is not an issue. The remote is incredibly easy to use. The 'set-up' menu is self-explanatory and much better than the Panasonic. I ended up buying this for the same price as the Panasonic 36" Tau with a really nice $300 stand included--no comparison really. An excellent deal...
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1999
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Epinions.com ID:
01400ex
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Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
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