Not 16x9 or HDTV

I bought this TV new in late 1996 and have enjoyed it thoroughly. I use it with a Pioneer Elite Laserdisc/DVD player and have watched hundreds of widescreen movies. It has a far better picture than the current generation of Sony TVs I see in the stores (with the exception of the new HDTV sets). I have never experienced any problems with this set. Friends, and myself, have always been impressed by the picture produced. I also prefer the styling of this set compared to newer Sony sets.

I have owned many Sony products over the years. I think in the past few yearsSony's quality has slipped a bit. I still prefer the Sony televisions though.
I got my KV-32XBR100 ten months ago and I'm happy with it. It lacks componant
input for my dvd, individual settings for video inputs, and it is not 16:9
aspect. For a regular NSTC TV, I feel it's one of the best sets out there,
for now. Sonys cost more usually, but for now they are probably the best.
Toshiba and Panasonic, and many others are gaining fast. The market sould
prove to be very good for TVs in the next 2 or 3 years. DVDs look good on
this set and the remote is laid-out well.

Excellent Picture/tube! 5 Y/C (S-Video) or A/V inputs! Better Remote than newer sets. Better Menu system-appears more solid on screen, newer FDs and old XBRs looks flickery

No Y/Y-R/Y-B (component) or analog RGB inputs.

I bought this TV right about three years ago, and have never been sorry for shelling out the cash for it! I do not care for the new FD XBRs since their "flat" technology is actually concave! Even though the surface glass is flat, the image surface is a concave cylinder. Besides, the models only have the features of regular direct view XBRs, such as only ONE S-video/A/V input on the back... how lame!

The ONE and ONLY thing that tops this tv is component video inputs. The only thing that would make this Set better would be an analog RGB input... although the only consumer items that would use it is that Samsung DVD player, and video game systems with the proper cable to supply the full bandwidth RGB signal. Oh well. This is one incredible TV. I'll have to see if the XBR400 tops it in terms of picture quality.... Probably will not have more than one rear Y/C input though. But if it has a VGA/RGB input... I think that it will definitely top the XBR2!

It has a much more pleasing picture when compared to the newer, lower featured FD XBRs. Extremely defined picture without the glaze over edges. Not a "soft" picture, its just that the FDs simply don't look as good!

Bottom line.. This is Sony's best direct view TV (I am excluding "HD"TV to be precise!).

Similar Products Used:

Sony PVM-2030, & Mitsubishi

Very nice color decoder, the best I've ever seen on tube TVs.

Geometry can be bad

I disagree with the fellow here that gives 2 stars for a TV like this (but then again, this is a forum after all, so disagreements are bound to happen). My friend happen to encounter this nice set from Circuit City, happens to be a 2 year old display model. Top left has a bad geometry and has a reddish tint to it (I would presume this was caused by the awful brightness setting while it is on display). I am fairly proficient with the service mode, and after fiddling with it for about 2 hours (with Aria/VE DVDs), manage to come with a great picture.

The setup menus are very complex, even more so than my (newer) 32XBR48, has tilt control as well. The color rendering is better than the 32XBR48, and better than the Toshiba (and yes, I've calibrated the Toshiba as well). The geometry on this particular set (after my calibration) is wrong only on the left middle side (where a straight line on the left side will bent a bit to the left on the middle). This is unnoticeable for regular materials, and only if you are actually looking for it. If I have the know-how to move magnets on the tube, I believe this set can be the best set there is.

The red tint still exist, but to a lesser extent compared to ANY other Sony TVs, the blue is gorgeous as well. One advantage I like of this set is the console box that has 5 inputs (composite AND S-Video), so you don't have to fiddle with the back of the TV (which weight close to 200 pounds if I'm not mistaken). My friend managed to get this one for $780-ish, and if you call around the Sony Outlet places, they might be able to sell you one still in box for $1100 or so. Unfortunate for me that I'm far away from ANY Sony outlets.

The speaker set is good (not great, just good), with 8 speaker subsystem, brings out James Taylor very nicely, but if you can afford this set you should be able to shell out $500 for a pair of speakers to make it better. Be sure to read the manual before you fiddle with Audio/Video settings, because you might end up with no A/V at all, if you don't return it to the proper place again - I know that by experience :).

Given that this set has flaws, but given strengths on its other features, I would like to give this set a 4 star. However, to offset the 2 star, I'll give it 5 star. This is a great set overall, and the best tube TV I've ever seen (after proper setup of course). Given it's price nowadays, it's a good buy.

Similar Products Used:

Sony KV-32XBR48, Toshiba CN32H95

resolution, color, gray scale, inputs.

no component input. (minor)

BEST TV I've ever seen. People talk about geometry problems, but most of that is only visible using Avia or VE test disks. On normal program material its awesome and better looking than quite a few HDTV's I've seen. Red push is about 3-5% high, but learning how to get into the service menu and adjust the color decoder for green using G-YB and G-YR and red using R-YB and R-YR will give palpable colors. Adjusting red push with R-YB and R-YR with the blue and green tubes off will get rid of 99% of the push. Defeating SVM, Dynamic Picture and setting DC restoration to 0 will give it stable blacks. All of this I've done from the service menu and I'll put it up against ANY NTSC TV on the market, new or old, and even some HDTV's. Also, the new XBR's can be made to look this good, but you have to enter the service mode or get an experienced technician to do it. All in all, i have had NO reservations about spending 2000.00 dollars for it. Just wish it had a larger screen now.... Ha Ha! P.S. if you have minor geometry problems, get the tube degaussed. it took MOST of MY problems away. had a power transformer behind the wall next to the TV. after two years the tube sucked up too many stray valence electrons. haha.

Similar Products Used:

na