16x9 Enhanced Mode, Ability to Disable VSM, Flat screen, Simple Users Manual, XDS Broadcasting Decoder, Excellent Picture, 4 video inputs, S-video and Component support, buttons on TOP of the set

Very heavy, Remote lacks button to turn on and off 16x9 mode, slight screen geometry problems

!!!THIS IS FOR THE 32FS13 MODEL, WHICH IS THE 2001 REPLACEMENT FOR THE 32FS12!!!

First of all, let me state that the only reason I bought this TV was for the 16x9 mode. I have personally had bad problems with Sonys support, and although I know they make decent products, I hate giving money to a company that doesnt care about its customers. However, I couldnt afford a digital TV, and there are no other analog TVs that have this feature built in.

The picture quality is just short of amazing when watching a DVD like Gladiator in 16x9 mode. I had to access the sets service menu to make some geometry adjustments, and I calibrated the TV using my Video Essentials DVD and have been able to get a very satisfactory picture quality, however, there still are slight horizontal banding problems relating to the screen geometry that these TVs cant fix. Its my understanding that all flatscreen TVs have this horizontal banding problem, so it makes me wonder why theres no setting (even in the service mode) to compensate for this. Other than that, I give the picture quality a 10/10. Using the Component connection cables with my Sony DVD player, I have been able to recreate amazing skintones. I also love the ability to turn off Velocity Scan Modulation (a form of edge enhancement that almost ALL TVs have, but dont give you an option to turn off). When watching DVDs, the picture is improved drastically after turning this off.

The menu is simple to use, and so is the remote, however, there is no button to turn the 16x9 enhancement mode on and off, you have to keep navigating the menu to do this. Luckily, I have a One For All Home Producer 8 Programmable remote that I was able to make a macro for, so its no big deal. Another very annoying quirk is, if you turn on Closed Captioning or the XDS broadcast modes, you cannot turn them off without going into the menu again and disabling it. There is a DISPLAY button on the remote which makes this go away, but then it brings up the time and the channel number, and then that wont go away. Sony says to just deal with it.

As for the audio, what can I say, they are TV speakers. I have this hooked up to my stereo anyways, so I rarely use the built in speakers.

Other bonuses include the Power, Volume and Channel buttons on TOP of the set. This sounds like an odd place for the buttons until you really think about it, when you walk up to a TV where are your arms? Unless you are 2 feet tall, you will have to stoop down to reach the buttons below the tube where most companies put them. Another really nice feature is there is a little door on the front of the TV that has a menu button and arrow keys to manipulate the TVs menu in the event you lose or cant find your TVs remote, whcih is a very nice bonus. There are 3 inputs on the back of the TV, 1 in the front, and a monitor output on the back of the TV for hooking up an auxillary TV or a VCR dub. Although this may be a drawback to some, I never liked the silver color that the older model WEGAs had. Starting with the 2001 models, all Sony WEGAs are a dark gray color instead of Silver, and in a darkened home theater environment this is much nicer. It also doesnt stick out like a sore thumb like the bright silver ones used to.

For the drawbacks, I listed this thing as being heavy, which really isnt a fault of the TV, because thats a characteristic of any flat screen tube. This sucker weighs 165 lbs, the 36 inch weighs around 250 lbs, so pray you dont have to carry this thing up stairs. Make sure you have someone there to help you get it setup. I also mentioned screen geometry problems. The average viewer may never notice them, but when you get really anal (like me) or stare at test patterns, you will notice them. The TVs service mode can help correct some of these, but unless you feel comfortable messing with the inner workings of you TVs brain, I wouldnt recommend going into the service menu and poking around. Thats really about it for the drawbacks. A 32 inch flatscreen TV with an amazing picture quality that can do a 16x9 squeeze for under $900 is a great deal IMO. This particular model doesnt do PIP, which is something I would never use anyways, so I was glad to save the extra $100.

As a whole, this is a GREAT TV, and for under $900 is the best compromise for a true digital TV in its price range. If you dont watch DVDs or dont care about anamorphic enhancement, then you might consider flatscreen tubes by other manufacturers, but since none of them (right now) offer a 16x9 mode in an analog TV, the Sony WEGA is the ONLY way to go. Although I have my little nitpicks about the remote, its not enough to take away my overall enjoyment of this TV. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for an awesome picture under $1000, you wont be disappointed.

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Toshiba 20inch Flatscreen TV, and Zenith 27 inch normal TV

Picture

none so far

After reading several horrible storys here about the reliability of this set and Sony's poor support, I thought I'd relay my own experience with the KV-32FS12. I have owned one now for about a year and 3 months and have had no problems at all. Our set gets pretty constant use as I have 2 kids who are always messing with it, as well as my wife and I. Plus, I think it's very simply the best TV I've ever seen. It makes me smile every time I turn it on. ( except when I'm watching national tragedies like the last few weeks).

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Toshiba, JVC

Color. Clear and tight pictures. Can disable SVM. 16:9 squeeze.

Only one S-Video Input. Flawed Picture Tube.

I was really glad to have purchased this TV from Sears. They have a very good return policy.

The first TV we received exhibited the problem where the top-third and bottom third of the screen was a shade darker than the middle third of the screen. This is very noticeable when watching a footage where the background is mostly white, and the scene is panning vertically.

Other than that problem, everything else is great. The color seem realistic.( I set the color temperature to Neutral). Picture is really clear, both on DVD and Sattelite.

However, being a perfectionist, I returned the TV because of the shadowing problem.

Sears was able to ship me a second one in 4 days.

On the second set, the shadowing problem was less pronounced, but still there. Additionally, now the top-left part of the TV sometimes show reddish lines. This only occured when watching programs from the Sattelite signal. So, I can surmised that the TV is showing the topmost scan line of the Sattellite signal where you're not suppose to view. I think this could be fixed by setting the Vertical Position setting via the Service Menu, but I was not too thrilled about messing around with that. So I returned the second TV.

I was surprised that SEARS gave a me a full refund on both the TV and delivery.

Great DVD picture, Looks bigger than 32", Nice features at a good price

Velocity Modulation Scanning, 16x9 Mode, and Weight

Great TV for the money, won't find a better deal than this. Looks huge in my apartment. I have spent the last 3 months comparing TV's at multiple stores and could not find anything to beat the picture quality and features, and it's a SONY.
I really don't know what SONY's intentions were with Velocity Modulation Scanning, but it is horrible. Yes it sharpens everything but adds a shadow to some text, even on low. If anyone uses high, they must be legally blind. Also I kept hearing about 16x9 mode, was excited to use this feature, it is too horrible!! First it distorts the picture, does not scale proportionally. Also who wants to watch a DVD where the picture is only 6 inches high???? Yes the picture looks nice but come on...it's a joke. If danny devito wasn't stubby enough, 16x9 makes it look like his head is on his feet.
**Overall nice TV, everything I own is SONY, so just one more thing to my collection. Just dont use the VM or 16x9, both are useless features. COuld have brought the price down to $799 without these...

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36" Wega, 27" Trinitron

Great picture lots of features and very easy to use

none

I just got this tv and its great. The picture quality is awesome. It has the best picture of any tube tv that ive seen.
I bought this tv for $796 at sears (they match internet prices) :-)

Great Picture, User friendly remote.

Really shows up a bad cable signal, Very Heavy

I've had this TV for about a month and am very impressed with it so far. I flip-flopped back and forth between the PS and the FV and finally made my decision based on the following:

(1) I personally could not see a difference in the picture quality.

(2) I have no need for PIP

(3) I plan to eventually connect the TV to a surround sound system so the fact that the speakers are not as nice as those on the FV version didn't matter to me.

I have a Sony DVD connected using Comp. Video cables and it looks great.

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None

Tilt correction feature.

Shaded areas on the top and bottom thirds of the screen.

What makes me give this TV such a poor review is the obviously darker shading on the top and bottom of the screen seen against light backgrounds on DVD, Video and TV. I have had the TV for 6 months now and I cannot watch anything fullscreen without getting very frustrated.
I would take the TV back to A&B Sound for an exchange, but I now notice the flaw on all of their floor models. I have contacted Sony Canada several times and all they can tell me is to contact my local techs. Of course the two techs in Edmonton have not heard of the problem before and come during daylight hours when the shading is less noticeable and claim they cannot see it. The catch: for Sony's two year warranty to be enacted a local tech must first confirm an unfixable problem.
In reading other reviews on this site it is clear that this is a serious problem with this model. I find it very disappointing (but not surprising) that Sony has not taken responsibility for their product's flaw and communicated the problem to their authorized techs and salespeople. I will be selling this TV shortly (for a big loss) and replace it with anything but a Sony.

A pretty good picture when watching anamorphic dvd's with the 16:9 enhancement mode turned on. Has a nice flat screen, too.

It suffers(at least mine does) from the "Funhouse Mirror Effect" syndrome and is really heavy and bulky so it requires a special stand.

When I firt bought this t.v. it had a defective screen(black electronical dots flickering around at the upper right corner) so I exchanged it for another. The second one seemed fine, so I kept it. One day, while watching movies that panned across images, I noticed that something looked funny. Images would ripple as it moved across my t.v. screen. At first I thought I was just imagining this or that it was probably the movie to blame. Then after repeatedly experiencing this, I searched through the newsgroups and discovered that this was called the "Funhouse Effect". By now it was driving me crazy (hypnotic effects causing me headaches) whenever I watched movies and it was already passed the 30 day return polocy. Othewise I would've returned it. Doesn't anybody here notice the "Funhouse Effect" but me?

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20 in. Sony Trinitron

crystal clear picture, user friendly menu, looks...

F@#%IN HEAVY!!! i think i pulled a few muscles when i moved this thing into the entertainment center

i got a great deal on an open box at best buy... plus i got an additional 10% for applying for a best buy card... so i saved almost 25% right off the top...

i haven't had any problems with cable connections like others have had... although with the playstaion 2 through s-video in, i do have a slight bow on the left and the right about a quarter of an inch... barely noticeable...

other than that it has been a wonderful box...

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first big screen

1. Great Picture(low glare, and options for different programs...movie..sports...vivid...and standard). Looks beatiful with my Aiwa DVD player (not sure of the model, but it features ZOOM, ANGLE SELECTION, and ability to PLAY MP3 and CDR formats.
2. Easy to hook up other components in the rear and a set in the front.

1. One heavy son of a B*$ch
2. Too bulky(spent more than a $1,000 on a new wall unit and the tv comes out an additional 6"...not good)
3. Sound is not up to par(changes frequently)

I purchased this model nearly 3 months ago and have unfortunately had some problems with it.
1. Sound. After being on a bit, the TV ommits a high pitch sound that will go away and come back (think of the sound of a pitch fork). It will go away if you turn off the TV for a minute, but then you risk damaging the picture tub
2. Poor customer service. To inquire about the sound problem, I called Sony Customer Service, and got very little if any help from the CSR after waiting 30 minutes to have my call answered. They gave me the address to the nearest Service Center, which was located in Manhattan (most commonly known as New York City). I live in Brooklyn (one of the five boroughs of NYC) and I must tell you, they must be stupid to think I will lug this brick out of my second floor apartment.
3. SIZE AND WEIGHT....need i say more.
4. Consumer reports has rated it one of the most problematic names....rating it one of the TV names that require frequent service. The top rated?....SHARP...AND PANASONIC.

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RCA 27 in.