 Incrediably sharp picture. Smelly! |
| Review Date: May 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: John E. Pombrio, Manchester, CT United States |
Heh, first time I have used smelly in a review, but this set DOES run warm like another poster said. For the first week, this made the set have a high temperature electronic type smell in my bedroom (with door closed). Gone in a week tho.
With a 1080P source (Blu-Ray), the picture cannot get any sharper. This high resolution for a 32" is probably overkill but DANG its good! There is just a ton of pixels. Upscaled 1080P DVD look just about as good as high def because of the set's smaller size. Standard TV signal looks fine (again in comparison to my larger SONY XBR 40").
Controls are good and simple to understand and operate. First time I have had extra HDMI slots. Sound is very good though the built in speakers but needs more bass (as does all my LCD TV speakers). Has a lot of extras that I have yet to fool with or notice. Motionflow? DMeX?
The set is very handsome with a surprising gap between the bottom of the TV and the top of the speaker bar. Very good base keeps the set solid on the table.
A winner!
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Great display for bedroom applications!
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| Review Date: June 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Michael Davis, Canoga Park, CA USA |
Normally I wait a few months before giving any sort of review on high ticket items such as this telvision simply to give time for issues, if any, to surface.(See my review of the KDL-52XBR4). But in this instance I already know I have a great piece of hardware and feel no reservations about writing so early on.
I have had this television for about three weeks now (purchased online via SonyStyle) and I love it. I bought the XBR model simply becuase it harbors most of the same things my larger KLD-52XBR4 model does. Namely, native 1980x1080p resolution, Bravia 2 engine, a myriad of controls for in depth picture calibration, numerous HDMI unputs, etc.
Initial setup is a snap, as the television asks simple questions with regards to language and region, what type of signals it can expect to receive, and what other components, if any, should it expect to be connected to. Once set up the tv works like any other. SD programming looks pretty good since it's a smaller panel, and HD programming shines given its native 1080p resolution. Since I purchased this for the bedroom I only have a Sony upscaling DVD player conected to it, but I am utilizing the Bravia Sync feature and I love it. All I have to do is hit a button on my remote, select the device I want to use, and everything I need for that device turns on. This translates into not having to get out of bed. The speakers are great for a set this size regardless of the output setting you choose.
As far as cons, I don't really have any to list. After reading some of the other reviews I can't verify the 'smelly' review, as this tv doesn't run hot for me at all. I have it mounted on my bedroom wall, so it's possible that the placement of the tv with regards to surrounding items/cabinets/armoirs might make a difference. Also, please note that contrary to what the features checklist (above) states, this television does in fact have Sony's XROSS Media Bar (3D on-screen feature navigation). I don't know why it states otherwise, but it leads me to think that maybe the checklist was released prior to Sony's new line of smaller tv's for 2008.
All in all, this television is great and works perfectly as a bedroom set. It saves tons of space when mounted to the wall and has plenty of connection options for any device you might want to plug in. The remote is nice, although I wish it had a backlight feature like the one for my XBR52 does, which makes for easy navigation in low-light situations.
I agree that while this television is priced higher than other telvisions in its size class, it is completely worth it for all the options it comes with. Some might argue that 720p for a panel this size is fine, but once you have 1080p it's hard to go back, and this is the only television currently offering a native 1080p resolution for its size. Recommended! |
Pricey for a 32 inch but great picture
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| Review Date: May 16, 2008 |
| Reviewer: M. Geary, Kelso, MO |
| We use this in our kitchen/dining area to replace a 20inch sdtv. It is hooked up to a Charter cable HD box which provides a 1080i signal. The HD picture is fabulous and the regular digital pictures are also quite good. Rather then buy a BluRay player we decided to go cheap ($72) and purchased a Sony DVP-NS700H/B 1080p Upscaling DVD Player to play DVD movies. According to the display the movies are being upscaled to 1080P. Other than adjusting the picture: vivid,standard,cinema,custom or trying the different "wide" settings, we have not yet tried any other adjustments. The TV is pricey for a 32inch model but you get a great picture and many other features not standard on older 32 inch models. This is my first online review of an electronics product and I must say that I have benefited greatly from reviews written by others prior to buying electronics products online. |
Perfect 5 stars
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| Review Date: December 31, 2008 |
| Reviewer: David, |
I bought this for $879 on 12-02-08. The price went up to $898.99 when I got my invoice and now more then 3 weeks later Amazon lists it at $949.97 (12-30-08) Kinda confusing. I thought prices would be going down!
The price I paid was STILL $400+ cheaper then at Best Buy & Frys Electronics!! ($1,200+tax) here in the San Fernando valley near Los Angeles
The Sony picture is perfect. No complaints at all about it. You can create a custom picture you like or go with the defaults. Under Options> Picture Adjustments there are many settings you can adjust. I bought the 32" model because it is the equalivilant of the 26" tube tv's in height. TV uses 160 watts. The speakers are very good. 0-100 and I set the volume at 20 or so. 100 is very loud. Plenty of connections to hookup more speakers.
The tv has a built-in tuner so you don't need a cable box if you don't want one. The Sony has Coax, RCA, S-video and 4 HDMI connections. I bought a 3ft $25 HDMI cable that hooks up to my cable box. Others will insist that you get those expensive ones at $100+ while others say you only need the $5 ones.
You can view 480-720-1080 resolutions. The high def channels at 1080 will make you think you are there in person when the show has been filmed well. See the Travel channel and National Geographic and Discovery etc. I swear I could reachout and hit Paulie and Mikey and old man Teutul on 'American Chopper' : )
The 480 resolution looks better then any tube tv. The 720 better and the 1080 is what I wish all tv channels were like.
Easily switch between inputs like your cable box or the vcr/dvd player. Push the Input button on the remote or top of tv and select the one you want. You can tell which has a connection because it has an arrow next to it.
The remote is lightweight. Just wish the Mute button was larger since I use it a lot. If you are using a cable box you will use their remote.
The tv channels switch quickly when you have the coax plugged directly into the tv. If you use a cable box and a HDMI cable however there will be a 1-2 second delay as you change channels due to that $#@!&%! DRM (digital rights management) that checks if you are looking at copyright material. It slows the changing of channels way too much.
It is the cable box that is slow and not the tv set.
A workaround is to use the RCA connection. The picture will be dumb down to 720 or 480 due to hollywood.
I will buy a Sony later on in the 42" or larger range when I move. The 32" is just right for my place. |
Great TV, but the TV Guide function is very poor
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| Review Date: November 6, 2008 |
| Reviewer: D. Curtis, Longmont, CO United States |
The TV itself, superb. Brilliant colors, plenty of contrast, tons of features. Viewing angles are good, not as good as a plasma or CRT TV but better than most. As you get to the side, you do start to lose contrast, but the picture is very viewable and when I say get to the side, I mean at least 45 degrees to one side or the other. You can get confused going through the menus on setup, but once you're through them, it's fine and you can go back and forth easily. I do like the menu layouts and the use of the options button on the remote to get to the most useful. I just use the build in speakers, and the sound is great. The simulated surround sound is quite pleasing. The hookup to my VCR/DVD/DVR (1080p upconverting) was simple....one HDMI cable and it's all ready to go.
The TV Guide interface is my one complaint. The interface itself isn't so bad...but the TV guide data is horrible. I get off the air TV in the Denver area, the TV guide, when properly setup, shows multiple different stations on EACH channel! So if you don't put the proper station at the top of the list at each channel....the information shown on screen as you change channels is wrong. In addition, if you hit the TV Guide button, you get an overload of listings. If you turn off any one of the multiple listings for each individual channel...it turns off the channel from being selected. This is mostly TV Guide's problem, not Sony's but the 'turn off any one listing and you turn off the whole channel' is Sony's problem.
Bottom line....I am VERY pleased with the TV, I would buy another one in a heartbeat and would strongly reccomend it to my friends. I tend to be a perfectionist about skin colors and color saturation (to me, most people set their TV's with the color control turned up way too high) so the picture looks natural. I was not disappointed in this TV in this area. For me, it takes a lot of back and forth between all the various options...but the end result is as close to perfect as I've ever seen in a LCD based TV (or computer screen for that matter).
I believe the additional cost over Sony's similar 32" 720p (KDL32L4000) set is worth the extra money. To me, the difference between the two was very visible when looked at side by side. Your mileage may vary.
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Brand new, already in love
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| Review Date: May 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: S. Pedley, Kansas City, MO USA |
| Bought this TV today locally for an incredibly low price. (For those doing the same - the box will fit in the back seat of a BMW 3 series. It must sit upright or the store won't load it.) TV is lightweight and easy to set up, although I misread the directions for attaching the stand the first time (it goes over the neck, not lined up to it - this will make sense if you buy one). Plugged the HDMI cable into the cable box and into the TV and presto! beautiful picture. Have now had it in place all of 30 minutes, and I can't think of a bad thing to say. 480 cable looks fine. 720 cable looks good and 1080 looks amazing. The sound and picture are really good right out of the box. |
One Awesome Toy--Best TV I've Ever Had
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| Review Date: May 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: S. Gower, USA |
Picked this bad boy up today (May 2 2008) and I was blown away by the picture, literally. I purchased a PS3 and a $100.00 HDMI cord (crazy price) and when you add the two together its like your in a real world in GTA. At the time of this review I didn't have any Blu-Ray movies but I popped a DVD in and the PS3 upcoverted it and the picture quality was 10x better than a traditional tube tv. I can't wait to try Blu-Ray on this thing. Also if you have Basic Cable the picture looks pretty good and the built in TV Guide is really useful.
Overall if you are looking for a LCD tv that has all the features including the ever important 1080p this TV and you don't need a 40-60 inch tv then this is for you.
ENJOY! |
Best 1080p 32" out
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| Review Date: June 4, 2008 |
| Reviewer: EKiN, CT |
Great picture quality and even more important is the usability of this set. If you have cable, just plug it in during the initial setup and the TV will automatically detect any channels in HD! that you can access without needing a cable box, this worked fine with Cablevision and my other TVs have had issues with this...one Samsung and one Panasonic.
Another cool feature if you are using this in the bedroom is to easily turn off the screen, and let the audio pipe through...great if you want to use the tv as a radio of sorts...set the timer and you'll have some dark room entertainment.
Highly recommended, I did tons of research as I'm a videophile and you can't beat this set...doubles very nicely as a large monitor for when you need to get some work done and don't want to stare at your tiny laptop screen. |
Beautiful picture and color saturation. Recommended
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| Review Date: May 15, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Angel Rosario, Las Vegas, NV |
This TV has beautiful HD quality. IT has enough HDMI options and a nice 3D Gui (Graphical User Interface). Lots of adjustments can be made to tune your picture and TV to your taste. The LCD just richly enhances your viewing experience.
I've had no trouble with this set it just came out and when I compared it to the lineup of other similar size LCD's the color richness of this set and picture quality was out of this world. |
Very happy with TV picture, price and delivery
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| Review Date: July 20, 2008 |
| Reviewer: C. Piechura, |
| I love the sharp HD picture and the sound and the on-screen interface of the set. The picture is so clear I noticed the newscaster on my local news needs to cut down on the pancake makeup. It looked like he applied it with a trowel. My only complaint -- and it's minor -- would probably be that the 32 inch screen seems a tad too small when you're viewing a non-HD broadcast reduced to the square picture format. (We got the 32 inch model because we needed it to fit into an existing entertainment cabinet.) Someone else complained online that the set smelled like hot plastic when they first used it. Mine didn't and I'm someone who notices things like that. As for the picture quality, the pre-set picture options are well-calibrated and personal adjustments are easy to fine tune. The remote is a bit large but not a big deal. The colors are true and vibrant. The blacks are pitch black, including the "pillars" that come up on the left and right side of the picture when you are watching a non-HD picture (I made that my preference because I don't like to stretch or crop a non-HD picture to fit the wider screen to avoid letterboxing). Both HD roof antenna picture and HD DirecTV look great on it. Free delivery of the TV took about a week and the shipment arrived in pristine condition. The price was about $100 cheaper than I could find in stores around Detroit. In all, I'd recommend the set and the buyer. |
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