Sony KF-42WE610 Rear Projection
Sony KF-42WE610 Rear Projection
USER REVIEWS
[Jan 24, 2009]
chris
Casual Listener
DO NOT BUY THIS TV!!!
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[Apr 03, 2008]
Marc Rodriguez
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
None
Weakness:
Plenty Every negative post about this SONY TV is o true. I've had the same horrible experiences that most of the other posts describe - failed bulbs, replacing the optical engine, horrible customer service.
Customer Service They give you the run around constantly, even for items that they say are recognized defects. It took me 3 months to finally resolve the optical engine issue eventhough they recognized it as a defect on their own Website.
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[Jun 14, 2006]
Jimmy
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
It's heavy.
Weakness:
Everything! My Sony KF 42WE610 has been nothing but trouble.
Customer Service Slow and long waiting period for available technician. |
[Apr 14, 2006]
pkspohn
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
None that can make up for the design flaws and crappy customer service.
Weakness:
Quality, Quality Quality. Customer service. Being forced to buy the $300-$400 service agreement and then having to live without the tv time after time as they lug this piece of crap to be repaired. Owning this TV is the worst electonics experience since I started buying audio and video equipment 40 yrs ago. I owned a 27 inch Sony a few years ago and replaced the tuner and audio board the second year I owned it. I should have know better than to but another SONY. I'm on my third lamp ($175 ave price) and for the past three months I've been looking at a green blotching area the size of a softball in the middle right side of the screen. Sony doesn't answer questions sent via email but there are 100s of posts on message boards describing lamp failures and different color blotches. The fix seems to be a $600-$900 optical unit. I will never purchase another Sony as long as I live! Customer Service Never have I dealt with such lousy customer/tecnical service. Don't assume that you'll get lucky and get a decent TV. Similar Products Used: JVC-excellent luck with CRT 32 inch.
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[Sep 14, 2005]
basscapes
AudioPhile
Strength:
Extremely competitive brightness in daylight/lights on in room. A very capable RPTV for highly lit rooms! Detail and sharpness are incredibly good. Action doesn't "blur out" like some other LCD sets (regardless of direct or RP type!). DVI input will be a bonus once I get a true HD satellite receiver
Weakness:
Black level isn't the best for low level ambient/no light situations. You MUST have some light on to not notice this. Component inputs will not accept true RGB or computer monitor outputs. Sony's manual make NO mention of this whatsoever!!! This set came to me as a result of my five year old Toshiba 32" set starting to lose its colour (lots of red bloom starting) and my wife and I deciding to take the 16 x 9 plunge for watching anamorphic DVDs. I ordered the kf42 and a stand (not the matching Sony one- too expensive) and received both peices in less than a week. To state things plainly- Sony had a quality control issue with a lamp supplier and didn't know about the issue until after a LOT of sets got into the market. My set is just under a month old and I have had NO problem whatsoever with the lamp. Also of note, once the lamp was changed out on a floor model at the store I purchased the unit from took place, they've run it 12 hour a day for the last year without incident!!! This set is a daytime set- that is, if you watch it in a darkened room, you will see a slight lack of black level resolution (a symptom of ALL LCDs!!!), but the brightness of this set can compete with OPEN blinds on windows!!! You may not want to watch the set in total darkness if the black issue bugs you. I can ignore it even with space stuff (read: STAR WARS or FIFTH ELEMENT) although I still see it. I wish for only one thing- that this set had Sony's new iris control that the new A series sets are rumoured to have. That would make things even better! Similar Products Used: I've tried this set against the latest LG DLPs, Hitachi CRT RPTVs, and even some better DTVs. It just looks the most natural out of all of them. Or rather, this set has the least warts of all, IMHO... |
[Sep 08, 2004]
Bernard
AudioPhile
Strength:
In this size nothing comes close. Plasma? Check out the dot crawl and video noise. Oh, and the price. Not worth it yet.
Weakness:
Come on Sony.... what happened to quality control??? Samsung wants to crash your party and you're letting them. First of all let me warn you about some quality control problems. The Bulb burnt out after a few weeks and I had to get my brand new TV fixed as they wouldn't exchange it. Also many units have a green blotchiness or green "haze" covering parts of the screen. Kind of like green cloudiness. This is noticable when you darken the room and watch movies with dark scenes. You can also see it when you select a video input and look at the dark screen with no source. If you find a good one however this TV is with out a doubt the best picture that money can buy. The colours are beautiful there is no dot crawl or video noise with good sources. (unlike plasma which is very noisy aka dot crawl.). When you wwatch movies on this TV you see things that you never noticed before. You suddenly find yourself critiquing the source quality or the way the film was transferred to DVD. Movies also seem more three dimensional as they are so clear and sharp. As plasma to me doesn't compare quality wise I chose this TV over the Samsung DLP LCD rear projector. The Samsung seemed a little sharper but the colour quality was so much nicer on the Sony. The colours seemed a litle washed out on the Samsung. Ironically one of the sales men who sold both models recommended the Sony over the Samsung for reliability. How wrong!! However quality control issues aside, The Sony truly delivers outstanding image quality. I have had this TV since Nov. 2003 and am still amazed at the image quality. Today I was watching Kill Bill volume One and was in awe of the colour and picture. BUY THIS TV !!! Just make sure the retailer has a written and reliable return policy in case yours has one of the two well known issues mentioned above. Similar Products Used: Sony 27 inch, Sony 53 inch rear projector. |
[Mar 19, 2004]
BeEvil
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
picture, price, all over look of TV, did I say picture yet? LOL
Weakness:
None Have had the KF42WE610 for just over a month now. This TV is awesome!! I compared this unit to the RCA HDLP50W151, and the 43" Samsung DLP. I did not have room for anything bigger that these units but I did compare the picture to the Panasonic and Hitachi LCD/RP televisions as well. I went with the Sony because the picture was very nice the unit it's self was beautiful, Sony is renowned for quality and the price was right. I picked up this unit at a Future Shop for 4100 CAD even. This price includes a 3 year extended waranty and 15% tax and shipping. The picture is crisp and clear, especially through my direct digital progressive scan JVC RX-DV3SL unit. Even through my Bell express VU the picture is very impressive. Can't wait till all the chanels are in HD. The picture will be breath taking. So far I have no complaints. Similar Products Used: none |
[Jan 20, 2004]
Sam C
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Beautiful picture even from standard cable, PIP, memory stick slide show, price, average lifespan, weight (at least 1/2 of plasma) and uses the same engine as the 2003 XBR.
Weakness:
Projection bulb uses mercury, if that bothers you. We had not intended to buy a 2nd. large screen TV, as we have a Sony XBR53 in our family room, and were looking for a replacement 27" set for the living room. At Circuit City a Sony rep was demonstrating and answering customer questions regarding HDTV, Plasma, LCD, etc. We asked several questions, watched a Sony plasma and this set side-by-side and could not see any difference. Given the average life of an LCD (3 times that of plasma), ease and cost of regeneration by the replacement of a bulb (currently $250)and the cost (at least 1/2 of plasma) there was no contest. An added benefit is the ability to play, as a slide show or individually, memory stick photos. Similar Products Used: None. |
[Jan 03, 2004]
Peter Ghitman
AudioPhile
Strength:
Great picture, wonderful, rich color, very little drop off in image quality with increased viewing angle.
Weakness:
Defective lamp system Beware, until Sony addresses the widespread problems it is experiencing with the lamp system in this TV, do not buy. See http://www.agoraquest.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11217&forum=34 for more information. Mine failed after only a few days of use. It's a shame, because otherwise this unit is a GREAT set, especially for the money when compared to Plasma sets. Similar Products Used: none |
[Dec 28, 2003]
Kurt Jagielski
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Picture Resolution, Light Weight, Slim Profile
Weakness:
Auto Sound Leveling Feature that prevents sound fluctuations between programs and channels does not work. Also--the DVI interface between the TV and my cable box, which is supposed to be a step up from the Component connections, failed to provide a picture sometimes, but worked properly at other times, until I finally went back to using the component connections Good compromise between Plasma and Traditional Projection, Picture proximates plasma, and much lighter and thinner than traditional projection TV's Similar Products Used: Traditional Projection TV's |