Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV

Review by Kevin Murphy for Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV
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This is my second HD set, and it’s much much better than what I had. Not only does this have an excellent HD 1080p, but the picture from standard def sources is the best I’ve seen. The internal scaler (which converts SD to 1080p) is among the best made.

One thing that happens, though, is that people hook up devices that have their own (inferior) scalers and then complain about the Standard def. This happens often with “hi-def” cable boxes, where the installer sets the cable box to do all the converting before it gets to the TV. Not much the TV can do when the cable box has already mucked things up. The proper thing to do is to set up the cable box to “pass-through” mode (i.e. leave the signal alone!) so the $3000 TV’s scaler is used instead of the junk in the $80 cable box.

When set up properly, regular TV looks like DVD used to, DVD looks hi-def, and true HD is eye-popping.

Review by John Salter for Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV
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AMAZON is the only way to purchase large screen HD-TV’s like this.

They don’t publicize it as much as they should, but they ship all large screen TV’s with WHITE GLOVE service, at no extra charge. When you compare what all the other online retailers charge for this service, AMAZON is the LEAST EXPENSIVE. And to cap it all, they also have a no quibble/no cost return policy.

AMAZON delivered my TV with free (White glove) shipping in 4 days.

Unfortunately, after a few days trying to set it up for my DVD player I noticed a HORRIBLE HALO around dark objects when set against bright background.

My immediate reaction was to RETURN the TV to AMAZON. But SONY included a notice with the TV asking that if there is any problem with the set, if I called their customer service number, they would look after me.

So I called SONY and reported the problem. But rather than look after me as they promised they merely gave me numbers of two local TV repair firms to call – not what I call excellent service.

I called them, and both said they could come in 10-14 days – so much for responsiveness.

A tech came, and immediately recognized the fault. He said he needed to discuss it with SONY. He returned 10 days later with a very large circuit board. Replacing the board was no mean feat. He removed around 40 screws to remove three covers, which he pushed and pulled for two hours before getting the new board installed.

But when he switched the TV on, NOTHING would work. The TV was now totally broken. He spent another hour putting the old board back but it was still totally broken. He then admitted it was now unrepairable.

We both called SONY and explained the situation, and asked SONY to send a new TV.

SONY refused – even after I escalated the issue to Customer Relations. They said it was their policy to NEVER replace TV’s, and if I wanted a new unit I would have to sue the repair tech.

So then I called AMAZON to explain the situation. They immediately took sympathy, and even though the TV was delivered over 30 days ago, they gave me two options:

a) To collect the TV and refund all money paid by me, including shipping, or

b) To bring a replacement TV, and take the old one away at no additional cost to me.

I chose the latter and the new TV arrived four days later.

So the moral is – DO NOT TRUST SONY. If you have a problem – send it back and don’t let SONY try to fix it. They don’t have clue.

Thank you AMAZON, your service is wonderful!

SONY, you should be totally ashamed. Your customer service is a disgrace!

Review by E. Baker for Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV
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I just bought this television for our new “media” room, and I have been blown away. I spent months visiting Best Buy and Circuit City trying to figure our which HDTV to buy. I knew, based on the size of the room we were furnishing, that I needed something bigger than 55 inches. Further research indicated that I couldn’t really afford a quality plasma screen of that size. Checking out websites like […] Comparing them side by side I was first drawn to the more vibrant colors of the Samsung. The Samsung also seemed to me to do a better job producing a blacker black in dark scenes. I was worried that the Sony might not be bright enough in a well-lit room. But after looking at both these TVs for a while I drew a couple of conclusions:

1. The Samsung does seem to favor more vibrant, intense colors by design, but the Sony seems to me to do a better job reproducing a truer, more lifelike image. If you like more color, you can easily switch the Sony into “vivid” mode or crank up the color, but I like more natural hues.

2. While Samsung does appear to have higher contrast ratios and handle the deep blacks better, I think the Sony did a better job in reducing or eliminating noise from the image. With the Samsung I was seeing tiny flickers of white in the deep black backgrounds of some scenes, as well as in other places. I didn’t notice any such flickering in the Sony. Also, while both TVs looked great showing HD programming, it seemed to me that the Sony did a better job handling lower quality signals (such as the analog signal you get when watching “regular” TV channels).

So, based upon the more natural colors and the better noise reduction I bit the bullet and bought the Sony. It certainly didn’t hurt that I have had Sony TVs in the past and have always been happy with them.

Since the TV has been delivered and set up, I have been just amazed. I bought the TV to watch sports and it has been phenomenal. Notre Dame football and the World Series have been awesome. It is amazing what you see in high-definition on such a big screen, and the clarity of the SXRD picture is beyond words. When they show a close-up of the pitcher, you can count his individual whiskers and differentiate the gray whiskers from the black ones. When they pan the dugout, you can read the papers that are thumbtacked to the wall. This TV is not as good as being at the game – it is probably much better than being at the game!

Before the TV arrived I was worried about at least three things:

1. Would the picture be bright enough in a normally-lit room? The TV is in the same room with our desk and computer, so the lights are usually on. I was worried that the room lighting would wash out the picture. This is absolutely not a problem. I’ve actually toned the picture brightness down a little bit because it was so bright when first set up.

2. Would my cable box degrade the HD signal and make it less than razor sharp? It does not. I have Cox HD cable service and am using an HDMI connection from the cable box to the TV. The picture is crystal clear on the HD channels, and still very good on the non-HD channels.

3. Would the cable box interfere with the auto-size function of the TV? With my older, 32-inch conventional 4:3 TV, the cable box and TV combination was less than optimal in figuring out how to display the different types of signals. I usually had to change the settings by hand when I switched from 4:3 to 16:9. This TV gives you about 5 options on how you want it to handle the different sized images, and then carries out your preferences flawlessly.

All in all, as you can probably tell, I am thrilled with my new HDTV. The only drawback is that my old TV, a very nice 32″ Sony WEGA flat screen is now about as useful as a paperweight. After watching the SXRD for a while, the old TV seems so small, and the 4:3 screen is just annoying. I guess the kids can watch it.

Review by E. Gatti for Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV
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I own this spendid TV and I have had it for a little over two weeks. I love it to pieces. I put it in a two story high very spacious family room with two stories of windows letting in bright light. As long as I am sitting down at an appropriate viewing angle it is always clearly visible with negligable screen glare even in the most bright sunlight. Anything less than full summer sunlight and the viewing angle becomes almost anywhere you can actually get line of sight on the TV.

You need to be about 10 feet away to watch standard definition TV on this screen and have it look acceptable. DVD’s look great from that distance and look pretty good from five or six feet away. HDTV and HD DVD looks incredible from two and a half feet away. My advice, this TV is made to show HD and I wouln’t bother with it if you are going to watch SD all the time. Upconversion helps a little, but it is no subsitute for really having a DVD or HD quality signal.

All that praise aside, there are DLPs that are probably just as good in terms of picture quality, actually have a few more features than this TV and are somewhat cheaper. This leaves me with the feeling that maybe I paid a little too much and got a TV that maybe is a little too good for me to really apreaciate it fully. But then again, what is an extra 10% or so to ensure that your purchase is of the absolutely highest quality.