Sony KV27V42 Standard Televisions
Sony KV27V42 Standard Televisions
[Sep 10, 2000]
Aaron Johnson
Casual Listener
Strength:
Wonderful Picture, lots of inputs, decent sound
Weakness:
Heavy, needs anamorphic capability I really love this TV. Blows my old 19" Zenith away. Similar Products Used: Many |
[Sep 23, 2000]
Jason
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Price/Performance ratio is good. Previous experience with Sony TVs have been good.
Weakness:
Loud noise when turned on. Remote is not very good. Purchased this for the following reasons: Similar Products Used: Compared to Some JVC 27" TV and Sony 20" Wega |
[Jun 05, 2001]
Jon Pool
Strength:
Sony ?
Weakness:
Convergence. Unless you like viewing images that are more than 1 CM off in color convergence, Stay away. I unfortunatley did not do my homework before buying this television. I have owned the set for 22 months. I has one CRT replaced due to a convergence problem. It took three weeks to fix from an authorized Sony service center. When I got the unit back it seemed fine. But like all good things....The tube went bad again to "incapable of covergence calibration." |
[Nov 25, 2000]
Eric L
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Great Picture/Colors (after patient video adjustments ***note: I also have Digital Cable) Flattened Screen, S-Video input
Weakness:
none really for the price, except the remote is box-shaped (not so comfortable to hold, but who cares?) This TV is great for under $400. Out of the box, the colors on the 3 PRE-SET modes of picture were all un-satisfactory (VIVID mode was too bright and annoying, MOVIE mode not too impressive either). However, after adjusting the VIDID's settings (picture, brightness, color settings), I got a great picture with incredible color. I really didn't want to spend more than $400 if I could get a quality 27" tube; I feel the money I spend monthly for Digital Cable makes up considerably on the picture quality for a tube $500-800. The features that I may be missing are not important, I'd rather go for a great picture, and sacrifce PIP (which I'd rarely use), I have a S-video splitter for more inputs. When I make my first million I'll put this in my bathroom and go for a plasma/HD TV, but until then, I have NOTHING to complain about. If you can get this for $400 or less, BUY IT instead of Panasonic, JVC, Zenith, etc which might be a little cheaper...it's worth it! |
[Mar 12, 2001]
Jason
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
It's a Sony! Trinitron tube.
Weakness:
Objectionable geometry distortion, less than perfect picture quality out of the box. I should have read all these reviews before I bought one of these. I understand that all TVs need to be calibrated since they arrive from the factory out of adjustment, but I'm an average user. I'm not really willing to pay someone $100+ to come over and adjust my set. I think TVs should look reasonable out of the box (after I tweak the contrast, brightness, color, etc.). If you're a videophile, that's different. Similar Products Used: Toshiba 27A40 |
[Jun 08, 2000]
Darren
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Flat screen, good picture, good on-screen menu.
Weakness:
Color bleeding, sound is sometimes low. I bought this model because of the price, and because every other piece of equip. I own is Sony. I am enjoying the set so far, except the sound can be annoying when playing video tapes, and the picture seems dark. Similar Products Used: Old NEC 20" |
[Apr 03, 2000]
Darrell
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Decent Picture
Weakness:
Build Quality, Price Just bought the TV at a local Electronics Place. When I got it home hooked up my Pioneer DVD 302D and no picture!! I started Sixth Sense I had Audio but everytime the picture went black the Tv would lose the signal from the DVD! Called Sony after an hour on hold Low and Behold the Svideo jack on the TV is Bad. What crap this is! Never again!! Similar Products Used: RCA, Panasonic |
[Oct 25, 2000]
David
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
very natural looking colors, easy to callibrate
Weakness:
could use an extra svideo or component input After doing a lot of research on the internet and visiting all the local electronics stores, I ended up buying a factory-refurbished KV-27V42 from a Sony factory outlet store. I am very happy with the set's performance. Screen geometry with the vertically flat picture is very good (though not perfect). Colors are extremely well-calibrated out of the box. Picture is not quite as vivid as some other brands (nor are blacks quite as dark), but colors are very consistent and detail is excellent. There is a "vivid" display mode that can be selected, but I've found that after some time viewing the set I actually prefer a more subdued picture. Similar Products Used: JVC AV-27150, Sony KV-27S42, Panasonic CT-27D10, Toshiba 27A40 |
[Feb 07, 2000]
marc
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
good picture quality, relatively flat screen, good black level
Weakness:
price i wanted the 20" wega but for 30 dollars more (430 as opposed to 400) i decided to go with the kv27v42. i wanted an s-video input badly because i got the sony dvp-s330 dvd player for christmas. the picture quality is good though not a vibrant as a panasonic i looked at. this one seemed a bit dull in comparison but i like the flatness of the tube and the name. for these reasons i bought the set which i didn't need, really. i can't say that i can see a huge difference between this and my kv20s30 which is a 1998 sony 20" stereo tv i still have. if anyone is interested in purchasing it, then e-mail me. overall, a good set. Similar Products Used: other sony tv's |
[Apr 25, 2000]
Vern
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Overall picture quality, flatter screen, color quality.
Weakness:
Inputs, remote, price? I think if I had read these reviews I might have been afraid to purchase the Sony, but it would have been my loss. I have only had mine for a couple months now but I'm thrilled to death with it. I looked at a very wide range of tv's in the 27"-32" range and I couldn't find a single one that beat this on a quality-performance/price ratio. That's not saying it's perfect but I'm very happy with it and have had none of the problems mentioned. Maybe I just got lucky :-) I use a high end Sony VCR, a Toshiba 1200 DVD player, satellite, and cable as sources and all of them display beautifully with the Sony. I did have a lot of trouble adjusting some of the settings for use with different settings and I still find that I like different settings for different sources, but I can always get a great picture with any quality source. The display quality from my DVD is amazing, especially the brilliant color which is where I think the Sony really excels. Sound is ok, but I wouldn't even know how to assess t.v. sound when I'm used to listening to sound through my audio system costing 1000's of dollars. To me, if you are buying a t.v. like this it's to go in a home theater system, and the quality of the television's sound is pretty irrelevant. The only things I am somewhat disappointed with...I would like to see 2 S video inputs, something common on larger models, and I would like to see component inputs. All the inputs that are provided work well, but I would recommend high quality cable. Even the relatively low quality composite input that I use for my VCR showed a significant improvement when I went from ordinary patch cable to a Monster Interlink 400. The remote is ok, but I still find it somewhat confusing to use compared to others that I have and I pretty much just scrapped using it in favor of my universal remote. But these really are very minor points in my opinion. My recommendation is to at least not buy another t.v. without looking at this one. Just make sure the dealer has a good source and that you are given the chance to adjust the t.v. settings. When I shopped I found that the t.v.'s in stores were generally just taken out of a box and put on the shelf with no adjustments, and the source is usually pretty bad. Anyway, I'm not particularly biased towards any manufacturer as I think quality control is very poor as many here have mentioned, but I'm extremely happy with this t.v. and have no regrets using it in a very high end home theater setup. Similar Products Used: RCA, JVC, Toshiba, Panasonic |