Large! Very large. Looks great, works great, easy to use. Doesn't seem overly heavy for a tv of that size. Automatically adjusts for different scan rates.

None as far as I'm concerned. Some might argue that everything is moving to widescreen and once it does, you'll have "wasted real-estate" not being used. But I don't agree - when showing in widescreen mode, this television looks fantastic. I couldn't be happier, the image is very large and unbelieivably clear. And besides, it doesn't appear to me that the majority of content being delivered to my house via cable is lacking with 4:3 material - it is still predomenatly that. Finally, if burn-in of the black bars in widescreen mode does become an issue (as some skeptics claim), I contend that those same skeptics claim everything will be widescreen anyway. So, if in a few years, my "archiac 4:3" tv doesn't display properly at the top and bottom of the screen - it shouldn't matter since there will be no material to be displayed there anyway (according to their theory). So, again, no weakness as far as I'm concerned.

I've owned my KP61HS30 for over a year now, but I am just now chiming in because I finally saw and HD image on it this week. Prior to seeing HD on my big-screen, I was already in love with the set. It is perfect for my needs and has worked wonderfully from the moment I first turned it on. I took the time to go through the Video Essentials setup to tone-back the unnecessarily high factory settings for contrast and brightness. Once that was done, the tv looked as good as any I'd ever seen (limited of course by the quality of the source signal as any tv is). It simply has been the best tv I've ever owned. It has an extensive feature set, is easy to use, and lots of inputs. DVD images look film-like and I have never seen DVD images look better than on this television. I've seen some pretty spiffy images in showrooms and have been impressed, but I can honestly say that none of them were better than what shows in my living room (at least to my eyes). Just stunning. Similary sentiments for Playstion 2. Using the component video inputs provides such a great image. It makes me want to watch my son play it - it's that good of a picture. But like I mentioned, I had not yet seen an HD image on my screen and I thought now having done so, I'd venture a review here. I got comcast to upgrade my set top box to the Motorola DCT 5100 and now I'm in business! I'm recieving HD programming over the cable line. The cable box is set to display at 1080i for a 4:3 letterbox shaped tv. I get HBO, Showtime, local Fox, local NBC, local ABC, and ESPND all broadcasting a fair amount of content in true HD format. After seeing my tv display HD for the first time, all I can say is... DOUBLE WOW! I'm blown away. HD is definitely something to behold and this set delivers it to my 100% satisfaction. I couldn't be happier about it (well, maybe if there was a little more HD content, but it should increase over time). ESPN Sunday Night football was truly an all new experience. Of course, my set doesn't deserve all of the credit - that is just a characteristic of the quality of HD itself. But, I'm here to report that the KP-61HS30 does nothing to get in the way. It does its job so good...it's actually exciting. Everyone that has seen it is similarly impressed. So, Sony made a real winner with this set. I'm pretty sure it's not made anymore, but if you can find one, I'm guessing you could get if for very cheap and if your luck is anything like mine, you will love the set too.

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Various

Picture quality, picture quality, and did I mention picture quality? (What's more importent on something you watch?)

Ummmmmm..........no data

Well.....been watching this bad boy for a little over 1 year now and feel I can now say without reservation......this was one GREAT buy. I searched long and hard before I jumped into the big screen game and absolutely have no regrets with my choice. I agree with previous reviewers in most points raised such as awesome picture quality compared with the competition. I too started out initially dead set on another model(panasonic) but this Sony seduced me like the girl next door. Blew all others away. Cool, user friendly menus and remote(great PIP). 61"-4x3 AND 57"-16x9 formats. That's a 2fer in my book!!!! No stretching or squeezing required, no matter what you watch. Solid performance so far. Minimal adjustments right out of the box(just a little too bright). The protective screen has spared my 2 yr old sons' life on more than one occasion and I have yet to find it intolerable(Here's a tip....ClOSE THE BLINDS!!!). Speakers I can't comment on as all is run thru surround system. I have only one little problem.......I can program the remote to run the TV, VCR, DVD, CABLE box, and probably the blender, but I can't get it to control the volume on my receiver. And it's a SONY!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Aside from that, this thing is absolutely awesome and I will highly recommend it to anybody. Go ahead, buy it. I've already looked at the alternatives for you. I even tried to be one of you Sony haters too, but you just can't do any better than this for the dough. This is the ideal TV to plop infront of and wait out the new format growing pains over the next several years.

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yes

16:9 enhanced "squeeze mode" Being able to upgrade any 480i signal to 480p

Plastic, but seems strong

Two months ago I set out to upgrade my analog 60 inch JVC to an HD ready T.V. My analog JVC was a great T.V. with a bright a colorful picture, that gave me 2.5 years of faithful service. At the time I purchased that T.V. the analog JVC's had a far better picture then the 61in analog Sony's. Without doing any research, (yeah yeah I know,..my fault) I purchased a 65 inch wide screen HD ready JCV, (AV65WP74 wrote review for that thing too). What a piece of junk. I did'nt even have it for 24 hours and already I was researching for a replacement. I crammed 2 months wroth of research into about 2 days. Being overseas Im limited to what the BX has to offer. After seeing the new 61inch HD T.V. from Sony I was quite impressed. They were a HUGE leap forward compared to there older 61 inch models! After spending 7 horriable days with "brand X" TV, my Sony arrived. WOW! Was I impressed. Right out of the box this thing had a great picture, and I had'nt even ran the Avia setup disk yet! Being able to change any SD format to 480p was amazing! That alone made a huge differance in my satellite T.V. (about 80% of my viewing). I left both my dvd player, and X-Box set to 16:9 output and you could see the Sony automaticlly enter into its "squeeze" mode (16:9 V-compression). Again...WOW! What an awsome picture! Just like the other reviews state. Its like having a 55ish wide sceen T.V. This is a great T.V. period. You can not go wrong for that amount of money. Sony's 480p upconversion, line doubler, de-enterlacer, what ever you want to call it, is spot on. I cant wait to see what this T.V. will do after I access the service menu's and tweak it, (service menu's are only available through entering a special code into the remote).

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60 inch analog JVC, 65 inch HD JVC yuck

This tv is fantastic for regular TV watching. In WS mode (16:9 aspect ratio), I get an image that is equivalent to a 57" diag. I used the AVIA disk to adjust the color saturation, brightness, etc. The image is awesome so far. The remote is quite difficult to use at first but progressively becomes easier. I use a 7.1 audio system for the audio, and dvd for most of the movies using component inputs. TV is from a plain cable box but is awesome. I cannot tell you anything abt the speakers since I use my audio system for sound.

Nearly every thing

Reflective screen(buy 61HS20), if you think the sceen will not be damaged

Picked over the Hitachi61 and numerous 57 WS. You nearly get the same viewing area as a 57WS, plus 61" of phenominal regular TV. Used over 9 months. Zero real complaints. Excellent value. Incredible picture in all modes, pixes visible on satilite on all my tvs. Wish I could have bought the 61HS20(no protective screen), but I have a 5 yr old with friends. Glare during the day is distracting. Fairly light unit, wife moves around as she re-aranges family room. Factory settings are too bright, easily fixed. Hope this unit holds me until 16x9 and HD become mandated. Wish it had a 16x9 transform/cut to 4x3. function.

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JVC 32, Sharp 27

Sony style. Made in the USA (even though it is a Sony) !!!

Plastic build quality

Could not see going to a 16x9 set since this TV will be used for 95% regular TV viewing and 5% DVD movie watching. The color/brightness/contrast settings all needed to be set (Sony always has them come from the factory set to bright)

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Many other Sony TV's over the past 20 years.

Great Pic. Doesnt way a ton because it has a plastic cabinet instead of pressed wood. Big enough 4:3 so that 16:9 image is still almost as big as a 57 in widescreen. Looks super with DVD's when in 16:9 squeeze mode.

Just the reflective screen.

Nice set. I went to Circuit City to look at the Panasonic 61 inch HDTV and the Sony 61 was sitting next to it. The Sony blew it away in picture quality. The only down side is the super reflective protective screen.

Picture quality is a big plus over many of the other makes of big screens that I looked at.

None at this time

When we wanted to upgrade to a big screen TV, I looked at several makes and models such as Toshiba, Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic and so on. My pre-requisites was that the TV be 50+ inches and be HDTV compatible. Up until these new models of Sony HD compatible big screens were released, I never did much like the picture quality of Sony big screens, and always leaned more towards Toshiba or Hitachi. But I saw this Sony playing a DVD movie at an electronics shop and was really impressed. (I was in television broadcasting for over 13 years behind the scenes, so I knew what picture qualities and attributes to look for in a television set). So in all fairness, even though I was really impressed with the picture on this Sony, I also looked at equivalent Toshiba, Hitachi and Panasonic big screens, but came back to the Sony, and made the purchase. Sony has obviously done a great deal of improvement work on their picture quality, guns and optics for these new models... in relation to past years where the picture quality was not that good at all. When we got it home, we hooked up a HD satellite receiver. I was totally impressed with the HD picture. I saw this same HD satellite receiver hooked up to the Hitachi big screen equivalent of this Sony, and the HD picture on the Sony totally blew the HD picture quality of the Hitachi away. The only drawback is because the screen size is so big, it obviously magnifies digital satellite picture quality issues such as pixelization and artifacts... but that is not a fault of the Sony big screen. Digital satellite picture quality problems are widely documented all over the internet where the bigger the television screen, the worse the picture quality can get on certain channels. Overall I am very happy and impressed with this big screen, and would recommend this television to anyone looking for a big screen.

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Most makes of big screens.

It''s big

I could have got the 57" wide screen for the same price.

I just bought this TV at Sears 3 day 10% sales. I used the price matching and then the additional 10% off. My friend just bought the 57" hw40 model for the same price at sears. I hope I like this one. It will be delivered to my next friday.

Dual screen PIP mode. Six different video modes to choose from, and outstanding picture.

None that I have seen yet.

I first bought a Toshiba 61 inch projection TV that was HD capable, and when it was delivered to my house, it would not turn on. After some dealing with Sears, I got them to upgrade me to this Sony. It was quite a hassle, but now that it is done, I thank god that the Toshiba did not work, as this Sony is incredible. Very easy to use, and aside from the incredible picture, and the flexiblilty of having many different inputs and outputs, I was able to hook up my laptop through an S video connection and can use the TV as a 61 inch monitor. This TV rocks!