scan lines compared to the XBR

I think it's a great TV!!!

I like the size, even in widescreen.
I like the menus. They are simple
I like the remote. Big buttons
I guess the sound is ok, if you can't afford a sound system.

But overall a good buy! I don't regret it even though I wish I could afford an XBR!

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Sony xBr, Jvc and other crap..

Great picture when used with my DVD in 16x9 mode. Setup was
easy and the remote is easy to use.

Heavy for one person.

Have had this tv for about five months and I am quite impressed with it. Was able to get it at Sears during a sale for a hundred less than normal.

Using it with a DVD player in 16x9 enhanced mode is really great. Not bad whith my satellite and VHS.

A great buy for under a $1000.

Very sharp picture quality, good separation in surround sound.

It's a heavy ball breaker! Needs a little more base.

I have this product for a month and so far I am impressed. Some channels get a better signal than others but on the average the picture is far superior from my 12-year-old 27" Trinitron. At first I was disappointed with the sound quality until I purchased the correct TV stand designed specifically for the 200-LB beast. Not only does it look good, but also the sound has greater separation due to the proper height.

I am currently using a Toshiba SD1600 DVD player with the Composite Video Output with crystal clear results.

I highly recommend this television if purchased under $1000.00 and I highly recommend a good DVD player with Composite Video Output.

Similar Products Used:

32UX01S 2000 Model

Excellent picture quality when calibrated. 16:9 enhanced mode brings out the full potential of DVD picture.

Out of the box, the Wega's geometry and picture is off. The 16:9 enhanced mode compresses a little too much, but can be fixed.

For anyone who wants to know how to access the Secret Menu, read on. The Secret Menu can fix many problems the regular Menu cannot fix. Use this with caution though. Don't blame me if you messed up your TV accidentally.

Here it is:

Turn off the TV
Press these keys on your remote one at a time:
[Display] [5] [Vol Up] , then turn on the TV

Press [Display] again once or twice

There should be green letters and numbers on top of the screen, this is the secret menu.

To change selections press 1 for up, 4 for down.
To increase amount of selection, press 3
To decrease amount of selection, press 6
To save changes, press [Mute], then press [Enter]

Turn off TV an turn it on again to get rid of the Secret Menu. More info can be found at

http://www.members.accessus.net/~090/awh/sonyadj.html

The problems my Wega had before calibration was:
Tilt was off
Picture has been zoomed a little too much
Picture was not centered
Factory settings of picture were all wrong.

I used the THX OPT Mode in my Titan A.E. DVD, other DVDs with THX have this feature also.

The only thing I don't like about this TV is that the 16:9 compression compresses a little too much. The perfect circle test proved that this is true. I measured the circle horzontally and vertically. Horizontally, it was 10.5", vertically it was 10". This problem is fixable but I always have to change the vertical size everytime I switch from TV and DVD. I can leave it calibrated for DVD 16:9, but it won't look good on TV (actors will look slightly skinny!)

But this is still the best 32" TV under $1000

Similar Products Used:

Higher end Wegas

great picture/lots of inputs/flat screen

big and heavy

First off I would like to mention that the price I paid back in March included free shipping with in house setup delivery(something to consider since this a big and heavy unit). No one ever seems to mention that point. I guess we all like to think we got a good deal. After reading some of the reviews here I guess I got lucky. The only thing I found wrong was when using the composite video hook up with my new Pioneer DV-434 DVD there was a green tint to the picture. Switch to SVHS cable hook up and problem goes away. Contacting both companies each said there was no history of such a problem. After checking out Sony's web site there was a mention of a green tint problem only it was for another model. I decided to live with it because the picture quality using SHVS cable looks pretty good to me and when these service tech types start switching components on your unit it seems to open a whole new can of worms. Also, I bought the Sony TV stand that goes with this model which gives it that finish look. Overall I'm happy.

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a bunch

Excellent picture; easy to add components

Tilt is off by 2-4 degrees; volume is very inconsistent; the TV is too heavy

We've had four of these TVs delivered to us, and each time they have been sent back because the tilt has been off between 2-4 degrees. The last one that was delivered, again the tilt was off and this one had very inconsistent volume as well as made "popping sounds". Otherwise, we were very impressed with this model. We have since decided to go with a Pro Scan.

Similar Products Used:

Sony; Toshiba

Price, Picture (when it worked)

heavy, silver cabinet...

Wow! What a horror story from day three or four. First of all, never buy from Howard’s. They do not have return policy like the big stores. They will only replace it if the manufacture tell them to.

My problem(s) with my Sony TV was,

I was getting a blue line across the top and shadowing on the top and bottom third of the screen. The comb filter did not work worth a dang (lots of dot crawl).

The shadowing was the biggest problem. Sony's Trinitron screens are split in to thirds, the top and bottom thirds had a two to three shades darker than the center. It was most noticeable in the light color screens.
Howard’s service could not see the shadow problem I was complaining about (the service guy could see very well due to age. He told me that himself). Anyway, they referred me to a Sony rep. The Sony Rep referred me to a Sony technician (factory service of Arcadia). Factory service had a hard time with the Sony rep. They could never get in touch with him (so they say). Once the rep was contacted (1.5 months later). The rep had said, "Sony has not been aware of any shadowing problems". So I figured I would call Sony myself and see what's going on. The last I heard from Sony was, "this is a critical complaint and I will have a rep call you and setup an appointment to se the TV himself. Two months down the road, I still have not heard from Sony. I leave tons of voice mail messages. Still nothing. I sold the TV and now I will never by a Sony product again. I might have just had a lemon. That is not my beef. It's the crappy customer service I had got.

Similar Products Used:

phillips/magnavox 32"

How can anyone complain about this set? The picture is better than going to the movies.(With DVD) I was raised on RCA 19 inch TVs and never dreamed a TV like this would be available for home. The picture makes projection TVs look like fuzzy garbage. Until they improve those projection TVs how can anyone stand the crummy picture that's only decent when you are viewing straight ahead. The VVega is just phenominal. By the way HDTV ready is a farce. Do some research and you will find that what I am saying is true. HDTV technology will just make these tvs look even better. We've become pretty spoiled. What more could we ask for than this fabulous picture and DTS, Digital sound? This TV is flat- out amazing, especially for the price. Remember paying 500 bucks for a 19 inch in the late 60s early seventies?

The only complaint could be that the tv is not easily portable, but doesn't that make sence with as big as it is?

I read the other reviews and were wondering if they bought the same TV I did. This set makes even bad movies look amazing. I think that with a coke holder and some buttery popcorn that there is no reason to pay 20 bucks to go to the movies any longer. I am really enjoying this set. The flat screen by Sony has set the standard. Also, 799 isn't that much money to pay for what you get. I'm going to enjoy watching my old movies again.

Similar Products Used:

25 inch Magnavox

Picture, flat screen. Price. I got the TV or $800 and a set of Monster Vid 2 cables for 1/2 price. Somebody on ebay yesterday had one of these TV's jacked up to about $1200 bucks and still owed $180 for shipping.

So many settings, so little instruction.

Similar to another reviewer, this review is actually for the KV-32FS13 NOT the S12. But have no fear, the 13 is simply the 2001 version of the 12.

Had the TV delivered last night. Hooked up the Sony DVD via component cables (dealer threw Monster Vid 2 cables in for 1/2 price...don't watch DVD without them...they're marginally BETTER THAN S-VIDEO). Watched "Legally Blond" (wife' choice)and Shrek. Picture is awesome. None of the weird color banding or any of that other stuff that has been previously mentioned. Only strange thing that I could pick out was a strange magenta glow when switching from one Video input to another. The inputs that don't have a signal coming in show up as a simple black screen with that hazy magenta glow on about the top 2 inches of the screen near the center. As soon as you find an active video input however, there is no residual problems. Fooled around a little bit with the 16:9 feature. Don't know if it was working right or not as the picture got "wider" but taller as well slightly distorting the movie. This was more than likely a result of my own misunderstanding of wide-aspect video. I mean really, Shrek came with two disks (Anamorphic wide screen and a full frame version), my DVD player has a setting on what kind of TV do I have a 16:9 or normal format and my TV says it will handle 16:9 automatically, but I don't know of everything is jiving or not. Obviously more homework needed on my part. If anybody that reads this has some hints about 16:9 stuff, email me. I wish the instruction manual could give me some hints about this stuff. It's pretty meager considering all the settings that come on this TV.

Similar Products Used:

25" Magnavox

Highly customizable, very clean picture, incredible rendering of colors, 4 color configurations, surround button, universal remote

Weight, lack of 16x9 button

I bought this set after countless visits to many audio/video shops to see what was on the market...and to see if my hard-earned money that I took so long to save would really buy me a great television set. It didn't take long to narrow down the choice to the VVegas. However, which one? Was I going to get Picture-In-Picture which is now standard with some of the cheaper models, was I going to go for the 32" or the 36", or should I just go for it all and buy an XBR fully loaded?

Well, given my only having 1000 dollars to spend the XBRs were out of the question (not only for the price but really folks, I've seen the picture and it is phenomenal if you have digital cable...however for us poor bloaks with regular analog cable the XBRs made the picture look...well...really awful). Anyway, I'm gabbing now...so the XBRs were out. So I looked at the regular VVegas.

Having had the opportunity to see the 32" and 36" sets side by side was a real treat. I was amazed as to how much perspective could be gained with such a visual comparison. The 36" was really nice but I looked at the size, weight, depth and it was not an easy task to fit it in our family room. It weighed over 230+ pounds, it was deep enough such that it came out too much and made the room look small. I really didn't want something this big to take up all the space in our family room. After all, we did have to sit down and watch the thing. Oh, and it was a little more expensive than what I was prepared to pay for a set. So the 32" inch looked a bit more attractive now.

The next decision was the Picture-In-Picture feature. Should I or shouldn't I? I really wanted the PnP but again, money came into play and made it less desirible to do so. Believe me...I don't think I ever lost sleep over something like that decision. What finally made me decide in not taking the PnP was that little button called "Jump". I tell ya, if it hadn't been for that putton I think I would have gone with the PnP. The Jump button really was an alternative to PnP. If you just wanted PnP to see if the commercial is over while your surfing then the Jump button can do that very thing. Oh, and it was a cheap decision!

Ok, so now that you have that story, the next part of the story is watching it at home where it was intended to be watched. I don't think I was so excited about getting something delivered to our home as much as I was waiting for my VVega being delivered.

So how does it look?

As soon as I got it the very first thing I did was let it run for about a week continously without a break. I figured this would truly break the set in gradually before I put it through all my customizations. Let me say first of all that the VVega out-of-the-box is not configured very well. There are geometry problems such that there was a little red stripe up on top of the screen which was really annoying to see. The standard modes for the set such as Standard, Sports, Movie and Vivid are not really the best of configurations either. However, all is good since the VVega is highly customizable and easily fixable with the standard menu and the hidden service menu (if you should be so bold as to venture this far into the unknown).

Anyway, after the week had past I finally started to fiddle with the settings. First I got rid of the little red stripe by entering the service menu and fixing it myself (not recommended for the faint of heart and it can void the warranty as well). Then I whipped out my trusty Terminator 2 DVD and brought up the THX patterns to customize the TV based on that standard. There were other patterns I could have used from other DVDs but I like the THX settings from T2. What I did was reset all the standard modes to the THX configuration for both daylight and night viewing. I set Standard for night viewing with VM on Low, Sports with VM off to night viewing and DVD playback, Movie for night viewing with VM off and in an unlit room and finally Vivid for day viewing with VM on.

OK! So finally...you had to know all the above to really understand my review of this product because when I say that the VVega is not very good when it comes out of the box you now know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I love this set...it is the best set I have seen for the money I spent for it--otherwise I wouldn't have given it a 5 star rating.

How are the colors? Phenomenal! The colors are vivid with deep blacks and clean whites but none of the colors bleed into one another. They are just wonderful. The set has configuration settings which can adjust color, brightness, contrast, VM (for detailed pictures for cable but not recommended for DVD) and surround sound. There is parental lock for shows that support a rating scheme and even the ability to set the remote to either advanced menu or basic (very handy)!

Like I said earlier, there is a surround sound which really is incredible to hear with just 2 speakers. I plan on getting the 5.1 setup eventually but for now I have 2 speakers and an amp hooked up to the set with surround on and it really gives music and sounds very deep and rich texture. Incredible is all I can say for the sound.

I had a look at the back and it has a wealth of plugs which could be used for DVDs, VCRs, games and the like. I have a Sony DVD hooked up with component video, a VCR and N64 all plugged into the back...and the audio hookup too! So, all my slots are filled to the max.

Finally, would I recommend this to anyone? I most certainly would! I love this set. It even makes trashy EP movies look good on a mediocre VCR! And the price was just right. I've had this over a year now and I do not regret the purchase for one minute!

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None