Picture / sound / ease of use

Reliability / customer service from Sony

I have had my Sony KDF 55WF655 LCD projection TV for 28 months and while I like the picture and sound quality of this set; I am disappointed with the reliability. I have recently experienced the same issue that the previous reviewer experienced with the exception that my set would not come back on. I took the TV in for service and I was informed that it has a defective thermal couple which caused the lamp to fail. Total repair cost is $600.00. I contacted Sony and they would not offer to assist with the repair, This is very disappointing for a TV which is less than 2.5 years old and had the price tag that this system came with.

Customer Service

Not satisfied with customer support

Great picture

Reliability. malfunctioned after two years. Try to obtain an extended warranty that lasts beyond two years. Expect to pony up about $400-600 if it's available.

This TV was great while it lasted. It started to malfunction after two years. When prompted to power up there's a power/standby light that flashes about forty or fifty times then the TV will eventually turn on. The problem is the malfunction many consumers are experiencing with this set is surfacing after 18 months. When I bought the set there was not enough history on reliability. Consumers are at the mercy of the manufacturer. The one year warranty expired now I have to pay $500-700 to fix the problem on a TV that cost $3000. Hey, consumers have nothing better to spend their money on. I can't recommend this TV or any other WEGA big screen. Sony would not consider assisting with the repair. Oh, by the way, when you call customer service expect to speak with someone across the ocean. I guess all big companies are moving in that direction.

Customer Service

Across the ocean. Their ability to assist is very limited. Attempting to speak with a supervisor or manager is futile.

HDTV signal Picture Quality Good speakers - you won't need to rush out and buy a home theatre system immediately

None to mention

Agree with both reviews below. The picture quality is superb on both HDTV and progressive scan DVD's. Pure analog/cable signals can appear grainy, but this is more the cable providers problem, rather than the set. Sound is reasonable without any audio setup, utilizing the TV's speakers. I was impressed by the bass level they can put out. The Picture-In-Picture feature is excellent, and Sony hit a home run by including a HDTV tuner in the television. Like the first review, I have a standard antenna plugged into the TV, along with a cable box with HDTV/DVR capabilities from Comcast. The HDTV picture is unbelievable!!! Blacks do appear a little washed out with LCD projection, but it's nothing really to get hung up with. One comment on the cable card...a good idea waiting for technology to catch up with it! Comcast, my local cable provider, can provide a card. However, you can't utilize any of their advanced features (OnDemand TV, HDTV, PPV etc.) with the card. So I'm still stuck with the cable box, but it's pulling triple duty (cable, HDTV and DVR). Overall a great tv - looked at Samsung, Mitsubishi and LG LCD and DLP technologies, this (in my opinion) had the best picture in the showroom, and is absolutley awesome now I've got it home and have used it for three months.

Picture Quality is superb. iN-Demand HD, and PBSHD are breathtaking. Style. User friendly menu. Price (if you buy it at the right place) Very easy to set up. Relatively light weight for its size.

I've read some complaints about fan noise. To me, this isn't a factor at all. It's not annoying and from 15' I can't really notice it especially when playing a movie or when my forced-air heating system is working. The other very minor weakness I found is there's no easy way to switch from video 7 (HDMI-DVD player) to video 5 (component video-comcast). You have to go through video 1, 2, 3, 4 first. Black level is only somewhat acceptable.

First of all, when the TV arrived at my house, I was overwhelmed by its size. But after 2 days I got used to it and the size turned out to be perfect for my 15’ viewing distance. Picture quality is superb and the menu is very easy to learn. The sound is very good too for a TV set, and the bass/treble control range is quite wide. Although I connected my TV with a receiver, from time to time I’d like to listen directly from the TV. Built-in tuner is certainly a big help. And I think this is the direction where all LCD tvs should follow. For the rest of the goods, I’d have to agree with the prior reviewer commented about this TV. Before I decided to buy this particular set, I did a study comparing between LCD vs DLP, and for LCD tvs, I still think Sony is the brand name to go with. I also spent a lot of time pondering between this TV and two other Sony models, KDF-42WE655, and KDF-50WE655 but I didn’t fall in love with the all silver styling. The last time I bought a TV was about 10 years ago when I was in college, as I didn’t like to spend too much on TVs (instead of audio system). But as far as an investment of more than 2 grand on a single item of electronic equipment goes, so far this is the best one that I've made.

Similar Products Used:

None. But I spent a lot of time studying about LCD vs DLP on the internet and comparing them side by side at various stores.

Built-in tuners; Favorites & TwinView features; easy set-up and usability; awesome picture.

Because it's projection from a single lamp source, perfect deep blacks are not really possible.

First things first, the title for this product is incorrect. The TV is not direct view, it's LCD rear projection. Also, it is not 36-in, it's a 55-in TV ... Sony's Grand Wega uses three 0.83-in LCDs (red, green, and blue) to reporoduce the image on the screen. The additional LCDs eliminate the need for a spinning color wheel that's found in single LCD RPTVs and in all DLP models. The spinning color wheel can sometimes create a rainbow effect when you look away quickly (although I've never noticed this at any retailer). I chose the Sony, because any moving part will malfunction sooner or later. Also, LCD RPTVs and DLPs do not suffer burn-in like their CRT projection counterparts do. Thus, you can view a standard definition signal in its native aspect ratio (4:3) instead of artificially stretching the image so that the black or gray pillars won't "burn" into the screen. The TV has several hookups, including HDMI, component, digital optical out, S-video, and the obigatory audio ins and outs. This model also has a CableCARD slot that can usually eliminate the need for a digital cable set-top box (check your local cable provider for more details). The Grand Wega also has built-in tuners for cable and over-the-air signals. In fact, there are two tuners that allows it to natively support the Favorites channel preview function and the nifty Twin View feature. TwinView lets you to view to channels side-by-side and allows you to scale either image larger or smaller. You can focus on either image to hear its audio feed. These are features that are useful and not just showroom gimmicks. And finally, the image quality issue. Plain analog cable signals reproduce very well. The built-in upconversion processor does an admirable job here. Using a progressive scan DVD player and component connections creates a very impressive picture. I had my hopes set high in this area, and I was not let down at all. I even used the "fly-over the Collesium" scene in Gladiator to test for digital artifacts, and I noticed none. As for high definition, I'm getting HD signals over-the-air using a plain old rabbit-ear antenna tucked behind the TV. The HD picture is flat-out pristine . I know someday I'll be used to it, but for now I just sit there slack-jawed at how great the image looks.