Picture Sharpness, DVD Quality, Good Menus

Weight, Pink Bars, Sony Quality

This review is for the KV-27 FS13

I bought this TV for myself as a Christmas gift for doing so well in college. :-) Ok first I noticed this is one HEAVY TV. My year old RCA, I could lift myself with no problem. This TV I can barely budge.

Ok so i set it up. I put in the Shrek DVD, WOW!!! What a great picture!!! Then i put in A PS2 game, WOW!!! What clarity!!! And this is only with S-video

So I figured I'd sit back and watch my Dr. Strangelove DVD, (its a black and white movie). Bout 3-4 minutes in, i noticed about a 1.5 inch pink bar that streamed down the screen about 2 inches from the left on the screen. It was faint, but noticable upon a very white screen. Then I looked to the other side. The right side of the screen had the same pink bar, but a lighter shade.

I thought it may have been my ps2, or just that input. So i watched cable for a few minutes. Hmm on bright commercials i noticed the same pink bars. I did some major online researched on this model and i found several web sites dedicated to literally HUNDREDS of complaints of the same Wega TV with the same pink distortion problem.

The pinkness isnt really THAT noticable, but with the kind of money you would spend on this TV, you shouldnt experience any problems.

I paid lots of hard earned money, so i packed it back up, lift it out, and brought it back the store where i paid the difference and bought an KV27 FV17 model wega.

Read that review for more info. I still had problems.

So I guess its really hit or miss with this model. I really think sony has severe quality control problems. There are about equal number amounts of people who love sony products, and those who've experienced technical problems. Sony produces great stuff, but they seem to send out a lot of lemons.

This is a great TV, if you can get one that works. A suggestion is to ask the store to open up the model and look for the pink bars on your set before you leave the store.

Hope this helps!

Similar Products Used:

RCA 27 inch, Wega KV27FV17

Decent picture but should be better for amount of $$$ spent!

BEWARE 16:9 MODE FREAKS!! THERE IS A LOOPHOLE WITH ALL SONY WEGAS. If you want to watch a movie filmed in 1.77:1 ratio like shrek, the 16:9 mode has a default and will not accept it. just a thought

skip it. wait fot them to fix this half ass default

Similar Products Used:

rca 27"

clarity, flat screen, 16:9 mode, picture options

GEOMETRICAL DISTORTION, lack of video out

This review is for the 27FS13. There are really only two things I DON'T like about this TV. The most glaring problem is geometrical distortion. I see it mentioned in a few reviews, with mild gripes, but it really bugs me. I'm a CNN nerd, and the graphics are noticably warped. I also use this TV in an office / studio (bought it to allow for computer video editing), and the geometry problem really shows up when I send the computer image to it. Basically, there is no such thing as a straight line on this TV, especially closer to the edges. It's not even a natural concave-ish bowing of the image. It's non-symmetrical. And this is the 2nd TV of this model I got from Circuit City. I thought it might be the proximity of unsheilded speakers, but my good ol' RCA (R.I.P.) was never affected by that, and moving the speakers far away made no difference. On the bright side, for more human-natural images, you don't see it unless you are looking for it and hate it.

The second problem is minor, in that I wish this model had a selected video out, so that whatever I view on it could be sent to the computer for recording. I'll buy a 4-in / 2-out switchbox eventually.

SO, all that having been said, everything else about the TV is great. Well, maybe not the 100 lb. weight, but the picture is very, very detailed. You'll see ANY deficiency in analog sources, especially cable TV. The plus side is that a very good analog, or any digital signal will knock your socks off. TURN OFF the velocity scan modulation. If you have glaucoma you might like it. Why would Sony include a menu option to ruin your picture, set ON by default? Same reason they'd allow it to geometrically distort, I guess. Out of the box, the "movie" video settings are darn close to just right, except for the "warm" color setting. But I'm a tweaker and altered the "standard" mode like I like it.

The menu is nice, although deep. This becomes a problem when you want to use the 16:9 feature. Gotta dig deep to turn that on. But WOW, when you do turn it on! I've video taped lots of 16:9 footage on a Hi-8 camcorder from Sony over the past 3 1/2 years, assuming one day I would definitely have a 16:9 TV, and now I am glad I did. Unlike traditional letterboxing of a widescreen movie on a 4:3 TV, this TV accepts an anamorphic signal, and squishes down the vertical space on the tube that it scans. It doesn't scan black at the top and bottom, it just doesn't scan that area at all. Therefore, all the scan lines are concentrated vertically, and they virtually disappear, showing all the detail on your 16:9 source. Love that a bunch. Hate the menu thing.

Another surprising thing is the degaussing upon powering up (the big loud "BWOMP" sound). Man, that's a strong tube. It's about 5 feet behind my 19" computer monitor, and even my computer monitor image vibrates when the TV comes on!! Can I sue Sony for my inevitable brain tumor?

The graininess some reviewers talk about might just be the effect of seeing for the first time how lousy conventional analog TV is. Via the S-video or component inputs, I haven't seen ANY graininess.

To make a long story even longer: If you want a 27" TV for DVD and camcorder viewing in a small room, and you want a flat screen, this is a decent choice. If you are very picky about geometry, or think $550 is too much for a 27" TV, look elsewhere. I'm actually still thinking of returning this second attempt at the 27FS13.

A slightly cheaper price, and no geometric distortion, would likely change my ratings to a 5 /5.

Similar Products Used:

RCA 27" from 1989 (died this year, I still miss it!), and an RCA 32"

Picture quality, sound, ease of use

Geometry!!

I loved the KV-27FS13 in all respects except one which drove me nuts: the horizontal geometry was, as some others report, out of whack. This was most noticable, and agonizing, when watching CNN (the "ribbon" along the bottom was heavily rounded rather than straight), sports (the boxes with scores were rounded), and the DirecTV grid (the whole thing was rounded!. In other words, from top to bottom, the set would not show a straight horizontal line. The bottom right corner also noticably sagged.

Goodguys took it back and refunded my money, saying they had gotten several of these back. Warning on goodguys: the delivery company employs toothless, strongly reeking, self-identifying criminals! Not a comforting person to have in the house.

I went to ABT and bought a Panasonic Ct27sx11. This set is great in the horizontal, but the VERTICAL geometry is off! ABT is sending another, and if that is no good I may go with the SONY KV-27s42. Seems like these flat tvs aren't worth the money.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Panasonic

Great picture, cool looking (I like the silver), fairly easy menus.

Bad customer support from Sony, very heavy, best buy is awful.

I was so excited to find a 27" flat screen w/ no interest financing. Buy the extended warranty? No way, this is a Sony and I'm sure it'll last me until I can get that widescreen projection I want...

This TV gave me five months of bliss. I had my Panansonic DVD player hooked up via component inputs, and was staggered by the opening battle scene in Gladiator (Upon my signal, unleash Hell!)

Then, while watching a football game a few days after Christmas, my set started doing some REALLY strange things. THe color changed to red, green, then gray w/ horizontal lines. I tried it on all the different inputs, but to no avail. I called my friendly local Best Buy, and they said to bring it on up to have it worked on. UPon arrivial, I recieved no help from them in unloading the set. The guys there said they couldn't touch, and wouldn't even tell me where I could take it.

Few days later, I called Sony (after numerous attempts) and finally got through to a rep. She told me I had to take it to a local service center (and wasn't able to send it back). Set is still under Parts warranty, so I'm still waiting to hear about it.

Again, it had a great quality picture for the time that it worked, and I'm just hoping that it gets taken care of okay.

Similar Products Used:

first TV purchase

see review below

see review below

Well, I got the second KV27FS13. Similar horizontal geometry problems. Text ticker at the bottom dips down and then up -- gives the odd effect of coming towards and away from you like a wave in and out. Annoying as all heck. Vertical lines not bad.

Also got the pink band (faint) at the right (not the left for some reason).

I had an ABT tech guy come out to fix it. He didn't -- said he needed to replace the yoke. I'm going to let him do it because I have a couple of weeks still to return it.

Does anyone know if this can solve the geometry problems?

He swears the pink bars are not a purity issue, though others suggest adjusting the purity will fix it. He says no. But turning down subbrightness (also said by some to solve the problem) did nothing to reduce the pink bar.

Anyone have answers to these?

Tech guy has one chance then I say bye-bye to all flat screens until they figure out how to make them with some quality control.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic TAU

Despite what you all have heard, 16:9 mode works with all anamorphic titles. Read my remedy on how to fix the Wega oversqueeze problem:

http://www.geocities.com/chuckster042000/oversqueeze.html

Review for KV-27FS13. Flat screen, great cosmetics, solid S-Video Input 1 connection, Input 4 Component Video Input and Audio Input for a DVD player, 4 picture mode settings (Vivid,Movie,Standard,Sports), 3 color temperature setting (Cool,Warm,Neutral), various menu options to adjust picture and color, and excellent picture quality and reliability. Integrates well with high grade Monster Cable cables and equipment. Picture contrast, brightness, black levels, natural color, dvd picture quality, and DSS picture quality rivals and sometimes exceeds higher priced HDTV monitors for thousands more. For $500, I would be hard pressed to find a higher quality television. Friends and others who have HDTV monitors are really impressed with DSS viewing and DVD movie watching. So far, no quibbles. I am very satisfied with this purchase! S-Video performance and Component Video performance are outstanding. 16:9 Enhancement mode to compress full screen 1:33 programs to 1:78 aspect ration to increase and compress the lines of resolution to maximize picture quality. 3 Line Digital Comb Filter strengthens color formation.

Front S-Video Input. One color type (Silver). Must be accompanied with a receiver to enhance sound quality.

A buyer looking for a very high quality television with a flat screen to reduce glare and improve side viewing, should look no further. Best 27 inch model available. With the use of a high grade S-Video Cable and component video hookup for you dvd player, the customer will be very pleased and possibly astounded by the picture quality and cleanliness. I have made comparisons with higher priced HDTV monitors and felt I received for more my money. HDTV is excellent but costly. HDTV rear projectors have flaws that don't justify the expense. Until HDTV monitors include the necessary receiver to decode high defenition signals and the price must be more realistic to everyday consumers. Not enough high defenition programming exists to make that investment. As long as 4:3 programming dominates the market still, this is your best buy under 32 inches.

Similar Products Used:

1995 Sony Trinitron. Great product for it's time.

Awesome Looks, Component Video, Picture, wonderful menu

Speakers are crap, horrible weight and weight distribution

I bought this tv after saving up for a few months (I'm a poor college student put an a/v fan). I needed an upgrade in quality and size from a 19" Phlips I had. Dvd's just dont look the same on a small tv. I am happy with the performance although I see the same curve in the bottom left corner. I never see the pink lines that others have discussed. I recommend this Sony product, although I am not a huge fan of the company in general they do make great tv's. I would recommend this over the Panasonic TAU. The Tau's picture is a bit grainier and has less detail. The sony is much more refined. The only other thing bad is the price. Yes, it is a flat screen but should that warrant a $200 price jump?

Similar Products Used:

Philips 19" TV (Piece of Junk) .

amazing picture quality, flat tube, lit remote

The Wega is the best tube you can buy today. There are so many strengths that I'm not going to get into, everyone else has here. I want simply correct other people complaining of "geometry problems" and such. There are not problems, rather the signal that is being sent is curved a little to compensate people with curved tubes. Flat tubes are relativly new and so no much thought has been given to change the signal. The VM mode, while everyone bashes it is actually very useful if you are watching CNN a lot, because it makes text much clearer. The downside is you lose picture quality, so while watching a movie I'd turn this off. I'd highly suggest playing with the picture settings to get the picture that suits you--don't just settle with the standard settings. And lastly I bought this from sonystyle.com and they gave me free in-house shipping so I highly reccommend them!

The differences from this set to the FV model are the speaker placement and price. I choose this because I don't use the speakers-- i have a stereo system hooked up so this made the most sense. From what I could tell, the tubes are exactly the same so be smart!