Anybody own this Sony TV?

[Scott4USC]

I decided to finally go with HDTV. I been shopping around this week and I think I found a great deal. I just purchased this 36" Sony TV for $900 + $100 S/H. Cheapest anywhere online is $1400+ including s/h. Retail is suppose to be $1600+.

So its on its way but I was curious if anyone here owns this model and what they think of it? The thing I like most about it is I will get a great picture on non HDTV channels. Aspect ratio: 4:3.I Read online reviews and most say good things about it with the only negative thing it being over 200lbs. (big deal) My only complaint is it doesn't have pip. I use pip all the time for sports. SUCKS! :cursin: I am not an electronics guru so hopefully I made a great buy.

Sony KV-36HS420 36" FD Trinitron WEGA Hi-Scan 1080i HD-Ready TV

Features:

36-inch Hi-Scan FD Trinitron WEGA television with standard 4:3 aspect ratio; 39.1 x 30.6 x 25 inches (W x H x D)

Offers analog and digital (HDMI) high-definition inputs and a wealth of picture-enhancing technologies

High-voltage regulator maintains consistent image size, despite variations in brightness during scene changes and channel changes

CineMotion Reverse 3:2 pulldown technology lets you watch progressive-scan movies in their native 24-frame format

Stereo speakers with 10 watts per channel; SRS TruSurround simulated surround sound and BBE sound enhancement

 

[tussking]

I BOUGHT IT FOR MY FATHER 2 MONTHS AGO GREAT TV EXCELLENT PICTURE W/O HD LIKE U SAID

 

[Bombs]

You are making a huge mistake buying a 4:3 TV.

 

[vinnie]

super price great tv have 2 paid $1450 each


had them for 6 months now no problems :clap:

 

[Penguinfan]

Hope it works out, but I agree with Bombs here, widescreen is definatly the way to go when watching HD programming.

Let us know.

 

[Palmetto Pimp]

You are making a huge mistake buying a 4:3 TV.

ditto.

ALL HD content is 16:9
Buying a 4:3 now is like buying a black and white TV 10 yrs ago.

 

[Scott4USC]

super price great tv have 2 paid $1450 each


had them for 6 months now no problems :clap:

Thats good to hear. So how is the HDTV? Why others saying its mistake?



To the others (thanks for chiming in). Why is it a mistake?

I figure this TV works great/better on regular programming (not HDTV) and would still look great on HDTV. Now I think my HDTV screen would be an inch smaller vs widescreen HDTV's. True? If so, that really isn't a big deal. Is it a big deal? What I don't want is regular TV suffering when its not HDTV.

 

[zig]

The screen will be alot smaller when using HDTV. There will be black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

 

[Kdogg21]

4:3 isn't to bad, but 16:9 is a better picture overall. You got a good price for it no doubt, but you will see those TV's drop in price over the next few months or so because of more 16:9's coming out and the new Digital Ready TV's. what website did you order it from?

 

[vinnie]

You got the right tv one of the best tv's with a picture tube.

When you watch hdtv channel the picture will have a black bar on the top and bottom shrinking the picture to the size of 34" 16:9 that's all best of both worlds for me.

Regular tv is great with this tv most of my veiwing right now.

 

[Penguinfan]

Scott,

If you were buying it for regular broadcast why get an HD tv set? If you were buying it to watch HD broadcast then you will watch tv the way you do most DVD's, with the black bars on top and bottom. Not a good trade off IMO.

Keep us posted

 

[Scott4USC]

The reason I got this TV was so I can have a great picture on non HDTV channels/programs. So if its 36" (which is plenty big for me and the biggest I can go for my cabinet) then from what your saying, my HDTV will be the same size as a 34" TV. That is fine with me. Not a big deal if there is black on top/bottom of picture. 34" is still big.

Regular TV = 36"
HDTV = 34"

Is that a huge difference? I have no idea. I have only watched HDTV at sports bars.

Doesn't normal widescreen HDTV's have a bad picture on regular non HDTV channels? Doesn't the picture become smaller than the width of the TV? Then you get black screen on right/left sides.

I think thats a big advantage with my TV. As more and more regular TV channels go to HDTV, the value of my TV goes down. I understand that. But right now I want a good quality and big picture for non HDTV programs/channels.

2 reasons I am getting a new TV is my 35" Toshiba speakers are sorta going out and I want to enjoy HDTV. So its about time I get HDTV.

Kdogg21

I got the TV from Amazon. Hopefully have it by Fri. Right now the everyday price is $1360 with s/h right now, but they have this option to buy it from other sellers through Amazon guarantee. I saw seller selling it "NEW" for $999. Thats what I did.

2 weeks ago a local store had huge sale on HDTV TV's. 42 inch HDTV rear projection TV for $999. Won't fit in my cabinet. :cursin: If I didn't have the cabinet, I prob. get a 42" size TV.

 

[GM]

That's a great TV for SD...I used to have one (lost it in my breakup with my ex). But for HD I think you're going to be squinting at the tiny picture...unless you are used to watching a 27" or smaller. A 16:9 picture on a 4:3 tube is pretty small. While the picture quality should be excellent from that set, I don't think you're really going to feel the true HD experience watching it.

I would get at a BARE MINIMUM a 42" 16:9 TV for watching HD. I have a 50" 16:9 Samsung (amazing TV), but even at that I find now that it ~could~ be larger. I'm very happy I did not go any smaller than this.

As for SD on a 16:9 HD set...yes, at times it is not great. Over the next 2-3 years there is going to be a boom in channels switching over though, so I'm not overly worried about this at the moment. I find I spend 2/3 of my time at least watching HD now anyways.

With any TV, it depends what you feed into it, and how it gets there. Satellite is generally better than digital cable, which is FAR superior to regular cable. But even on satellite there's a big difference...certain channels on Directv just aren't of the same quality as others (ESPN2 comes to mind...it's much worse than regular SD ESPN on my set).

Cables are very important too...don't go cheap on these. There's no point having a great set and then skimping on cables and not seeing it's true potential. Use the best quality inputs on your TV (HDMI or DVI if your set has it are the best, followed by component video, then S-Video, and finally RCA jacks, in that order). If you have good cables and a good source (satellite or digital cable) I think you'll be pretty happy with your choice.

Having said that, don't waste your money on Monster Cable. They're great cables but SERIOUSLY overpriced. Good quality cable from just about any other manufacturer is essentially of the same quality, but half the price of Monster.

 

[Palmetto Pimp]

The reason I got this TV was so I can have a great picture on non HDTV channels/programs..

There is no such thing. An HD TV shows off SD for what it really is...SD will be barely watchable to you after watching some HD. Youll see what were talking about. 1-2 years youll be shopping for a widesreen TV, dont say we didnt tell ya.

 

[GM]

(edit)

Pics removed, links keep dying.

 

[toastonastick]

boy those red x's look saweet!!!

 

[GM]

Works here....everyone seeing red x's on those?

(edit) I reloaded the page and they came up as red x's once. But a right click on the red x and a click on "Show Picture" brought it back up.

 

[Scott4USC]

GM thanks for the post. Is a 34" HDTV really small? I hae 35" TV now and its big enough for me. So how small can a 34" HDTV be? Then on regular TV (non HDTV) my picture will be 36" which is bigger than what I have now. According to everyone here,

I have 36" screen on non HDTV
I have 34" screen on HDTV programs.

Right? So that means my 34" HDTV screen is equal to size of a regular 34" TV? Am I right?

I have the DSS Satelite and I order CFB, NFL and MLB packages. I also have cable box.

BTW, I think its really cool you can split your screens and have 2 programs at once. I think I will buy another TV in 2 years when more channels if not all are HDTV. Then maybe get the 50" like you. You def. have a nice setup.

 

[vinnie]

GM Why is the picture so narrow :shrug:

You got the black lines on top and bottom with a 16:9 :scared

 

[GM]

Vinnie - The picture is narrow because it's showing two 4:3 images side by side. So that's like 8:3, or 16:6. The TV is 16:9...so... black bars when you watch two shows. It definitely fills the whole screen on most HD programs.

Scott - I don't know about the 34" thing...I never worked it out that way. But you are comparing something which is almost square (traditional TV) to something which is much more rectangular. Think of it this way if it helps...

Your TV will be 4:3, or 16:12. You're showing a 16:9 image on it. So you'll only be using 75% of your screen area ( 9/12th's) when in HD. A full 25% of your screen is unused. That's quite a bit! So I don't know if the diagonal measurement comparison between the two TV's is really a fair comparison.

Depends on the size of your room too. If you're more than 10 feet away from it I'd say the TV is going to be too small to comfortably watch HD. The optimal viewing distance for my 50" is just 12 feet from the screen.

Anyways...I don't want to discourage you. For the use you've described it sounds like you've got the right TV. And I was very very happy with it while I had it. My ex doesn't even usually care about these things but even she got pretty attached to it, and she gave me the full purchase price for it when we split up and it was almost a year old at that point to boot. (They'd gone down about $750 by then, but if she's too lazy to go to a store or pick up a newspaper and find that out for herself and she's going to just give me cash...well...what am I gonna do? ).

Point is it's a very good TV.