Sharpness, contrast

Lack of inputs

I was shopping for a 27" tv and narrowed it down to this and the JVC (see above). The picture quality on the Sony I thought was better as well as my friends (who work at Circuit City). The Wega was too much money so I didn't look into it. I got it open box for 330 bucks, pretty good. The TV is very similar to the 6 year old XBR my family has. Definetly a sibling, in terms of colors, sharpness, screen ratio's (not exactly 4:3). If I could have got the KV-27V66 that would have been better (2 s-videos). But eventually I will run it through my receiver anyway. Highly Recomended.

Similar Products Used:

JVC AV27D201, sony KV-32XBR95S

perfect picture, great sound (for a tv), its a Sony

slight tilt to the left, a little pricey

I originally bought the Panasonic but the pic sucked so I took it back and got what I originally wanted...this! The picture is perfect. Skin tones are right on and no color bleeds through at all (after turning down the factory settings). I hooked up cable via RF and see no distortion or artifacts of any kind. My VCR tapes look great and some of the better ones look as good as cable with no distortion or graininess at all. The sound is also great for a TV, especially in "simulated" mode. The menu is very easy to use and the displays dont time out too quick. The remote is also just right.

My only complaint is about the geometry. There is a slight counter-clockwise tilt to the picture. You can olny notice this when there is a solid line across the lower portion of the screen. It is virtually impossible to notice while watching standard 4:3 programs. I broke out the ol' measuring tape on it as well as my dads identical model (except for PIP) and the difference is a little less than 1/4" between left & right. I have read elsewhere that you can fix a small tilt in the service menu so I recommend you get the extended 3 yr warranty ($80) and have it fixed by a pro, in home, then start enjoying this great TV! However, this may not even be a problem. My dad watched his for over a year and didnt notice it until I pointed it out and I may not have seen it if I hadnt read about it here and been looking for it.

Overall , this is a great TV and I recommend it to anyone. One note of caution is that the geometry problem seems to be inherent in all Sonys so you may get a lemon with a huge crank to the left but you could also get one without it at all. My opinion? Buy one, get the warranty and if it is really bad then exchange it and try another. When you get one with a minimal tilt and if you just cant stand it then have a technician come out and fix it fer ya. I think this TV is worth the extra effort it may or may not need.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic 27D10

TV takes about 5 secs to "boot-up"
Semi-loud degaussing noise at start-up
OSD skewed when changing cable chans after enabling/disabling XDS feature
Built-in preconfigured pictures settings inadequate for the
discriminating viewer.
Lacks extra RF jack to cable (but not really a BIG -)

Excellent product for the price!
The cylindrical vertically flat picture tube looks
virtually flat if there are no reflective or light
sources around the room. (windows/mirrors).
S-Video results in superb DVD images.
Overall a great value

Similar Products Used:

20" -25" Sony TVs

Flatness of screen

Uneven letter box and menu
Yellow color bleeding on left side of screen

I bought this TV after returning the 27 inch Wega. I didn't like the Wega for the same reasons I don't like this TV very much. However, at least this one is half the price. I just can't see paying over $800 for a 27 inch TV that isn't perfect.
Regarding the yellow color bleeding, every time an image is close to the left side of the screen, any white between that image and the edge of the screen turns bright yellow. If anyone has had a similar problem and knows how to fix this please email me (manhattanite@hotmail.com). I've had the Circuit City people look at it and talked to Sony but no one can give me any help. They said it just does that. With the Wega, it did the same only it was red. This is very noticeable if you watch a black and white movie (Celebrity) on the Wega. I was told that a lot of Wegas are returned because of this color bleeding.
Regarding the letter box, the Wega had things on the control to help fix this. When I first turned on the TV, the actual TV menu was crooked. I had to offset the screen if I wanted the menu even. The regular trinitron doesn't have anything to correct this. Luckily on the cheaper model, everything is only a little crooked. When looking at Sonys at different stores, I've noticed this problem on the display sets as well. Is this just not a big deal to other people?
The Wega's picture though is much much brighter, sharper, and all in all more impressive. This model is a bit dull in comparison, but has a nice picture. The flatness of the screen is nice too.
All in all, if flatness of screen matters to you, it seems as if the Sonys and Panasonics are the only affordable choices. If I had it over to do again I'd probably get the Panasonic.

good looking set, top mounted buttons, side mounted speakers, easy access to service menu, picture quality

sony specific problems (convergence/ color filter/ color pushes towards green/ geometry/ menu does not have numeric indicators) , sony has no quality control,

i got this tv while i wait for widescreen (direct-view 1.78:1) tv prices to drop [drastically]. actually, i'm waiting for more than two of them to even exist (they're all over europe, by the way). so i was very happy to get this sony at a greatly discounted price. well, at first, anyway...

first, it doesn't look as good as it can, set from the factory. but there are two service menu items that will get rid of or improve the following problems...
-'stair step' jagged edges
-ghosting problem (with good sources, like dvd)
-dot crawl
-resolution with dvd & broadcast tv can be improved

there are other service menu items that can improve picture geometry, albeit slightly. so this may not be worth the effort, for most people.
put a solid blue screen up. if you have dark or discolored areas (usually in the corners) this can be fixed by a sony certified service center at no charge (provided it's within the 90day warranty). this is done by moving & placing magnets on the back of the picture tube's neck.
if you put up a bright solid color on the screen (like the aforementioned blue screen, or full field white) you should notice two thin horizontal dark stripes. this is perfectly normal. they are metal wires used to hold the aperture grill in place.

convergence...
the red, green, and blue picture elements are not lined up properly. the sony's seem to be especially bad in this respect. this cannot be fixed. it is a procedure that is done by removing the back of the set and moving convergence plates, and gluing in wedge plates. this is set at the factory, and honestly doesn't get any better with servicing.
this is really a design fault. and all the sony's i've seen in the store (as well as a few tv's from other manufacturers) have this glaring fault. every one of them, even the $6,500 kw-34hd1 exhibit this problem. which is a shame, as these have the potential of being great tv's

my tv had all of the above problems and some other ones too.
-1-after the servicer came out i had to have the picture tube replaced. the aperture grill wasn't fastened in the lower left corner. this was causing the picture to vibrate from the sound.
-2-whenever i turned the tv on, it made an obnoxiously loud sound. the degausser was replaced with the tube and this problem went away.
-3-the brightness would fluctuate. ranging from slight to easily annoying, irraticly.

-5-the reason for my returning it-
after having it in the service shop for a month, i got it back and still had a problem with the brightness fluctuating, and the convergence was way worse on the new tube (as adjusted by the service center).

you know what, this has the potential to be a great tv, but it's just not manufactured to any standard (as is obvious from the greatly differing reviews). if anyone has questions or comments don't hesitate to e-mail me at superbreakout@hotmail.com

Similar Products Used:

panasonic g series & superflat, toshiba cinema, jvc d series, sony fd wega, zenith inteq, etc...

Flat Screen, Controls on cabinet top, good price

weak speakers, uncomfy remote

the picture is not to overly bright and vivid which i like as not to strain the eyes when watching a movie.
it is connected to a philips dvd using s-video cable and the picture is much better compared to the other brands in the same class.

the speakers can't handle low freq's and the cabinet vibrates but then again it should be connected to a receiver.

the remote design leaves much to be desired.
overall, id say that it is a good entry level 27" tv.

Similar Products Used:

JVC

Flat Screen, Picture, Ease of use/setup

Weight, very slight screen geometry problem while watching letterbox/widescreen DVD's

When shopping for a good 27" TV I knew I wanted a flat screen and I knew I wanted to spend under $500. The Sony was the best performer out of all the TV's I looked at: Proscan, Panasonic, RCA, and JVC. I did like the Proscan's picture a lot but it didn't have the flat screen and cost about a hundred bucks more.

I love this TV, especially when playing DVD's (using a Sony DVP S330). I've set everything just the way I like it and the picture is great. The preset picture schemes kinda suck. Vivid is just ugly and Movie mode is too dark.

I've seen some reviewers complain about the loud noise it makes when you turn it on. If you own a computer and a good monitor you know what that noise is. It's degaussing automatically when you turn it on. Yes it's supposed to do that. And those thin faint black lines?? Those are the wires that hold the aperture grille in place. They're supposed to be there too. I rarely notice them unless the screen is pure white. Any TV or monitor that has a truly flat screen (aperture grille) will have these wires. Sony's Trinitron computer monitors have the same wires and so do monitors made by Mitsubishi.

This TV needs some tweaking out of the box and a strong pair of arms and legs to get it home. I think if you can find this set for under $400 it's a great deal.

Similar Products Used:

1980 GE Color TV (LOL)

Good Value, Vertically Flat screen, XDS

No component input
Loud start-up sound

On start-up it greets you with a loud sound!
The start-up isn't instant, it literally has a boot-up time of 4 sec.

While switching channel, the screen blanks up half second, that produces an uneasy flicker.

The speakers are weak, but they sound good.

The XDS helps to know the channel program info.

This TV is cheaper than Panasonic Superflat.
And I found the Sony Wega : Not good looking.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic panablack

Flat screen, sounds and picture

lack of 2nd a/v inputs

I bought this tv for my mom at cc for 399, I like it
so much I just returned my panasonic and got one for
myself....The picutre is awesome with a dig sat!!!

Similar Products Used:

panasonic

The name Sony and the price.

Lack of quality control now that Sony is assembling sets in Mexico.

Have tried 2 of these sets. Both had same problems. Very poor convergence, tuner input pushes green and terrible geometric distortion.

Memories are now used for various types of programming versus for various inputs.

Velocity scanning cannot be turned off. Picture can look good, but careful scrutiny will show that it's over-processed.

Sony authorized repair people claimed that the 2 sets were each within Sony specifications.

After complaining to Sony for a month, was able to "trade-up" to a 27FV-15, a bit better, still a convergence problem, but overall a better set-though hardly worth the money.

The standards have fallen-off terribly. Have a 20" XBR that has to be at least 15 years old - it puts all the newer sets to shame.

Just try to push-in the back of the cabinet on the old Sony - it won't give. The new sets give to the slightest pressure.

Manufacturers want us to spend more and more money for digital, HDTV, wide-screen, etc. - yet they treat us poorly
and have lowered their standards - they can't have it both ways. Continue to complain and not accept their incompetence.