Flat Screen, looks great, sounds great, excellent set

Too heavy (if this is a problem)

Bought this set a few years back and it still rocks. The weight is a factor only because I've moved a couple of times. But the set itself is excellent, I don't seem to have noticed any of the color issues that are mentioned in other posts. The remote is also well suited for my use.

I use a Sony 560 DVD player with it and DVDs sound and look very good.

This is a follow-up to my previous posting.
After living with a properly calibrated unit for a few weeks, I'm feeling better than ever about purchasing the KV-32FV15. This is the first TV I've ever owned that displays the Chicago Bears football jerseys in their true color: deep navy blue. They look black on just about every TV I've ever seen. Although the Video Essentials has test patterns that can visibly trip up the 3-line digital comb filter, you have to be looking hard for problems to catch anything during normal TV viewing and I mean really hard. During normal viewing, you won't see anything that will bother you. The detail level in this set is so much greater with this TV that I found a sub-par splitter in my cable distribution system that noised-up my picture. I happy lived with the marginal splitter for years with my previous set. Finally, the flat screen really does help with reflections. My TV room is quite bright at times during the day and the amount of reflection is down considerable from my old Mitsubishi.

This is a great unit that makes plain old cable TV look great and DVDs look outstanding. I'll balance things off with my previous review with 5 stars this time for an average of 4.5 which seems like the right score for this TV.

I really DON'T have any idea what to rate this television. Is it superior to nearly everything out there? Well, frankly, yes. But it does have it's problems, and those problems forced me to return two sets, and settle on a Sony 27" cheapo.First, of all the sets I have seen, from the store demos to the two sets I personally had, letter box framing is FAR from straight. Most any TV does it better. Distortion on both sides. Am I being anal? Yeah, but spending $1500 on a 32" will do that to you.

There is also "noticable" color distortion. Pop in a copy of Raging Bull, or any other BW film, and watch the upper left hand corner. Yellows - lots of yellows. Every set I have seen in the Vega series, from the 20" to the 36" does this. Not all the time, but for some reason, with the right movements, it will do it. That annoys me.

And both my sets had bright spots on the lower right hand side. Not so noticable when using the componant in, but with cable, very noticable.

My reason for getting my money back? It's the best tube set out there, hands down. But it's new - they're improving. I'll pick one up in a year for $300 that works perfect.

Four Stars for "almost sony...almost"

True flat screen visible at all angles
Stunning colors, picture clarity, especialy w/ DVD
Very rich sound for 2x15w
Just plain nice to look at, even w/o the power on

Nada

Back in 1998 I saw the Wega flatscreen television in a store and just went "Ooh". There's no way to deny it... it's just a stunning tv in appearance as well as performance. I bought the KV32FV-15 over the FS model not because of really wanting or needing PIP, but because the case was silver. This tv is something you can display in your house as more than just a tv.

Sure the price is high. But believe me, Sony didn't just pump up the price for no good reason. This tv is worth what it costs. You easily get twice the performance of a tv which costs half of this one. Moving it is a pain in the ass and requires at least two people, better three if stairs are involved. But the harder it is to move, the harder it is to steal, IMO!

This tv has gobs of features, but there are some things I'd like added to it, if Sony is listening:

The "monitor" controls for things like H-dist, V-dist, H-pos, V-pos, Pincushion and Trapezoid should be added to the standard menus. This is my biggest gripe with the tv, because I know the controls are there, and Tilt just isn't enough to fix a picture. There is a special control code you enter and the tv allows you to set them, if you know the keys. I had a Sony Tech come out to my apartment and sneakily memorized what he was pressing, so I now have the power to do so.. but Sony really should add it to their standard menus, because these really are nice features to have. The reason the Techs don't hand out the control code information is because there are several settings in it that can seriously jack up your tv if you screw with them. I'm careful to only mess with the ones I know (like the ones I listed) but clearly not everyone would be so careful.

I'd also like to see them add a center channel input for the speakers, so you can rig up the tv to your stereo system. I thought I read up that the top model XBR has this feature, but it's something all of them should have (it's really not that major a feature to add). The "surround" sound this tv puts out is really quite impressive, and the speakers put out good clear volume too. It would be nice to take advantage of it within a home theater surround system.

Lastly, if they could add an espresso maker into this bohemoth to really impress guests...

The factory settings suck, IMO. I read somewhere that the sharpness and picture settings are *way* too high from the factory, and can even end up damaging the picture tube. I don't know if this is fully true, but I can say that the high sharpness and picture settings give nothing but a very grainy, over-exposed picture. I turned them much much lower and am left with a breathtakingly soft yet incredibly detailed picture. The color settings are also too high from the factory, but thats pretty much standard for any tv you buy (guess people like watching red faces). Having four picture modes is great though, since you can set them by viewing preference and not have to keep messing around with them.

My tv is making a little whining noise when I start it up after several hours of being off (around 8-10 hrs). The sound lasts about 20 seconds or so then goes away. I'm presuming its a warm up buzz (only started doing it when winter showed up), and I'm going to have it disected to fix it under warranty. It's not a terribly annoying thing, since it goes away, and I've been told it's not typical with these TV's.

Seriously though, this tv is great. It has a lot of nice features and is clearly the best tube tv on the market. As mentioned in other reviews, the size is deceiving in the store. I opted for the 32" model and am glad I did because a 36" would just be too big in my living room. Electronics shops are funny that way... you only notice some things when you can compare them side by side. Similar situation with the XBR.. noticeable picture difference in the store, but at home the FV15 is just breathtaking.

Lastly, this tv will show you things you didn't notice before. Cable signals will seem grainy (depends on network channel) at times, especially in the background where solid colors will almost "shimmer". This is the lousy signal though, possibly in conjunction with the comb filter's interpretation of it. Use of a high quality cable (Monster Cable) will minimize this problem and give you much richer colors and edges. DVD's are phenomenal on this set, and again, a high quality set of component video cables (MC again) will just blow you away with a good DVD player. I have to stress that the high cost of these cables is well worth it, especially when you consider that $100 extra isn't that much for a $2000+ tv-dvd combo.

All in all, I highly recommend this tv.

Similar Products Used:

Nothing compares to the Wega

Picture Quality, S-link.

Weight

When I decided to purchase a new television set, I knew right from the start that I wanted to buy the 32" Wega. I was impressed with it's picture quality. I didn't want to spend $1500 on it though. I shopped online for the cheapest price and found it on Emcdepot.com (They no longer carry Sony products). You can still find this TV for cheap ($100 more than what I paid) at Inetshopping.com.

I haven't had any problems with it. I am very impressed with it's performance. It also impresses my friends when they come over to watch sporting events. It's the first thing they see when they walk into my living room. So, I recommend this set, but look for a cheap price. Don't pay $1500 for it.

-Amazing picture quality with DVD's
-bright
-great built in soundsystem
- bragging rights = )

-Slight discoloration on sides
- heavy
- pricey

I was pretty much sold on this tv the moment I walked in the first store. The salesguy made me watch a DVD on it and my mouth dropped at the picture quality. enough to justify the price tag? definitely.

The first thing I noticed was how much bigger it was at home (not being surrounded by big-screens). This was a great relief as I was 'settling' for the 32" instead of the 36.

So do I have anything bad to say about it? well yes, 2 things:

the first is that the thing is too bloody heavy! so what does that matter? well it meant I had to go buy the sony wega stand for a rip-off price because it was the only stand that could support 170lbs. I went to 3 massive furniture stores only to find that most stands support up to 120-150lbs. this thing is a monster. plus the sony stand is pretty damn ugly. Am I being anal? well maybe, but I just spent $1500+.

the second is that the colors are wrong on a very bright white background. while watching the hockey game I noticed green, yellow and even red 'blotches' near the edges of the tv. It was hardly noticeable but now that I know about it it drives me nuts. I hear a lot of the wega's have this problem. if it continues to annoy me then I will go harass them for a replacement but for now I will try and put up with it. it took me a 1/2 hour just to get the damn thing up the stairs ...

final verdict? 4 stars. it would have been five if it wasn't for the discoloration. I can live with the stand since that's just a preference but the green and yellow discoloration really pisses me off. (I watch a lot of hockey).

After shopping for a new TV for quite awhile, I took the plunge going with Sony's WEGA series KV-32FV15. I've read a lot of grumbling about the WEGA series TVs on this site and if you are looking for the perfect TV, this isn't it, but then again, I doubt you'll ever find a perfect performing TV. I skipped the 1998 model year (waited 6 months to buy this TV) because I did see some visible problems with several of the KV-32FV1s I saw in stores. There clearly are some picture tube improvements in the WEGA line for 1999.
Although this isn't the perfect TV, it is a nice step up from your average TV. First of all, the picture detail is very good. Using the Video Essentials, this TV puts out somewhere in the range of 490 lines of resolution which means you'll get everything your DVD player can put on the screen. On broadcast TV, you'll notice the difference. Since the Tonight Show started broadcasting in Hi-Def, they really improved the quality of the set. Compared to my 1995 model 31" Mitsubishi this TV replaced, you can definitely see more detail in the show's set and anything else you watch.

As for color rendition, Sony's NTSC setting has to be close to the real thing. With an accurate gray scale and a very good color decoder, the color picture is vibrant, but not overdriven. After running through the Video Essentials DVD, I was impressed with the quality of the color. This set is leaps and bounds above my old set in producing yellows and oranges that are accurate. The set pushes red a little bit, but adjusting the tint and color corrects the problem. Colors are very pure and rich on this TV.

The 3-line digital comb filter is good, but you can see it get tripped up ocassionally on fine edges and diagonal lines. I can't complain though, because on most sets I doubt you'd even get to see that level of detail anyway. I assume the 3-D comb filter in the XBR is better. Once again, a nice step up from your average TV. Rugrats and other animation shows caused problems for my old TV and they just look great on this one.

Initially, the sound seemed rather hollow. It took a few days of moving the TV around in my cabinet (pulling it out into the room more did the trick) as well as adjusting the treble and bass levels, but I now have the sound under control. Since sound is hard to judge in most TV show rooms, I was hoping I didn't make a mistake with this TV when I first ran into this problem. The home theater system handles movies and such, but I don't want the nightly news live from the bottom of a well!

The picture geometry is also very good. One corner does bend lines a bit when you get just the right material on the screen, but the important things in life don't show any problems: the news, football games, ESPN/CNN tickers, program guides, etc. One corner is a bit blue and another is a bit red, but only when you have a mostly white screen is it noticeable. I'll just have to get the set professionally calibrated before the hockey season!

I compared this TV to many competitors. The Toshibas were OK, but the WEGA flat screen looks so much better. I looked very seriously at the Panasonic Superflats including the new 32XF55. The 32XF55s I saw in showrooms all had major picture geometry problems when programming guides or any material with grid patterns was displayed. I also have to say that the line doubled picture doesn't show well the way these TVs are set up for display. I futzed with the picture controls, but I could tell I wasn't going to be able to overcome all the problems with the 3 models I saw. I don't think I want to spend $1000+ dollars on an HDTV tuner in the future for the right to watch 480p. When it's time for HDTV, I wont settle for the 32XF55s limitations.

I'll give the WEGA 4-stars, since there is always room for improvement. Now I have to go select tonight's DVD and sit back and enjoy the show.

Gorgeous Picture. Superb colour. Clarity on DVD that has to be seen to be beleived. Great sound. Wonderful styling and finish.

Owner's manual needs more hints and tips.

This review is for the latest model KV32FV26. I owned the KV32FS12 model (see my review) and decided to upgrade. I am happy to report that my TV does not suffer from the problems of other owners. The first thing I noticed with this model is the colour and clarity are slightly better. Also the video noise on cable sources are lower indcating a quieter ciciut in the tuner. I really love this TV. The clarity is superb on DVD and even regular cable and VHS have never looked better. I have a small amount of misconvergence in the upper left part of the screen but one cannot see it from a normal distance for viewing. I have noticed this on other V-series Wega sets as well. The sound is excellent also, with a surprising bass quality. The remote control is the best I have used with a split top that opens. Package it all in a superbly finished case in silver and one has a TV that keeps the neighbours talking! Bravo again Sony! A best buy.

Picked up a Sony KV-32FV15 this weekend after a few weeks of shopping (trading up from a 13 year old 25" Sony XBR) and browsing this forum.
Initial impressions: simply a spectacular picture, and it looks much better in my home (using newly upgraded digital cable feed) than with the weak antenna feeds at the local retailers. Incredibly sharp picture, and great color accuracy and balance. Flat screen does not eliminate glare, but does seem to minimize it a bit.

Considered the Panasonic flat screens, looked briefly at the Toshibas and ProScans, and had a brief detour looking at some rear projection tv sets (Sony and Mitsubishi, plus Toshiba), but ultimately concluded that the sharpness of a tube picture could not be matched by any of the larger rear projection sets. And looking at the tube sets, the WEGA stood out in every showroom I entered. Yeah, I know, it is very heavy (170 lbs). Yeah, I know, it is more expensive than any other 32" set out there and not much of a value in a pure size comparison sense. However, three is great value here. You get what you pay for, and the picture quality is fabulous and nothing else (except maybe the Panasonic flat screens) even comes close.

Setup was easy, remote very intuitive, manual pretty clear. So far, none of the alignment problems mentioned in other areas of this forum re the WEGA TVs. Lines are straight, even at the bottom of the set with channel guide grids.

Biggest surprise is how incredibly large this set looks in my family room. They all look smaller in the large showrooms, and the 32" Sony was at the absolute bottom of my size scale. However, now that it is installed it looks huge. It is certainly large enough for easy viewing from 12-15' range and sufficienty size to give a decent home "theatre" experience,

Have to give it a 5 at this point. Thanks to all who have posted reviews in the past on this and the other WEGA sets - all were very helpful and saved me a lot of time.

All of the things previously mentioned

Weight

Purchased from Sears on sale for 1240.00 (including Tax).
Compared to my Proscan it was very easy to set up and use. I have experienced none of the problems mentioned. Better speakers would have been nice but they are fully acceptable considering the set is a "tabletop" TV.

Similar Products Used:

Proscan 36 inch