Wonderful DVD and HD TV picture. Pretty impressive sound for a TV set.

Size and weight. Poor picture from cable. Doesn't accept 720p signals.

I've wanted to see this TV since I read about it coming out a couple of years ago. I was very impressed when I first saw a picture on it. After getting married, my wife and I wanted a new TV for the living room, and this one fit the bill. I also got a good deal on the TV, stand, warranty, and delivery. The 40" XBR was a far upgrade from my 5 year old 27" Trinitron. However, it's not all great, all the time. Broadcast TV doesn't show up quite as nice as I'd like. I think this is because of the line doubling feature. Basically, it makes a bad signal look bad. But, a good signal looks extranordinary. Living in an apartment for now, digital cable is all I've got. The analog cables seem very grainy and text has a fuzzy boundary around it. Digital cable channels look pretty nice, with the test artifact being the only problem. The problems with the cable picture is completely forgotten when a DVD is played. The set handles anamorphic discs, and does a superb job of making detail look wonderful. The set is currently mated to a Sony 7700 DVD player with Monster Video 3 component cables connecting the two. Shrek is fabulous. Just about any anamorphic DVD is a joy to watch. You can tell the quality of the DVD transfer with this TV. I don't mind that. It's nice to see the good discs in all of their glory. I do recommend calbrating the picture with a test disc before judging the picture. I can't decide if I like the Neutral or Warm color temp setting. I seem to go back and forth depending on the source. Some DVDs look too pale in Neutral, while cable looks too red in Warm. Not a big deal. The set also makes a great HDTV monitor. I was a little concerned that the 700 model does not handle 720p signals. The newer version of the set (model 800 I believe), does handle 720p. ABC is the only current network using 720p over 1080i. My convertor box changes the 720p to 1080i, so I don't have any issues with that. The picture for HDTV is absolutely fabulous. Football games and even prime time comedy shows are that much better to watch. Truly a great picture. I'm getting a Sony DVP-S9000ES for Christmas, so I'm curious to see how the picture looks compared to my 7700. I watched a Star Wars Episode 2 at a friend's house who has the 32" version of this set with a progressive scan player hooked up to it. It was a noticably worse picture than my setup. I'll see what this set can do with progressive scan after Christmas. I looked at the Zenith plasma TVs and honestly felt the 40" tube has a better picture. Yes, the set is more bulky, but the better picture makes up for it easily. I've also been disappointed with the HD projection TVs from Sony, Hitachi, Zenith, and Mitsubishi. The picture just isn't as clear as the XBR tube.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 27" Trinitron