Sony Grand WEGA KDS-50A2000 50-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV Review

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(More customer reviews)My TV history: I've owned a Sony KF42WE610 set, which is an LCD Rear Proj. TV. I have helped purchase (and tweak) a Samsung HLP4663W DLP set for my parents, which replaced an older Mitsubishi CRT RPTV. I also own a 26" Syntax LT26HVE flat-panel LCD which I use as my PC monitor. I think it's fair to say I've seen my share of HDTVs.
Well, my parents bought me this set as a graduation gift, to replace my Sony LCD set which was lost in a housefire. And boy, am I ever pleased with it. Sony's SXRD (their proprietary version of LCOS, or Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology is easily superior to all of the above-mentioned techs (including Plasma, which I have not owned, but have viewed relatively extensively). It is offered at a "Sony mark-up" but not a tremendous one in terms of other 1080p-capable sets.
What really blows away competing technologies in the current marketplace is the black level. Sony's SXRD has, for the first time, equaled the deep, inky, rich blacks of a very good CRT or plasma set - and married it to the brightness of microdisplay technology, at a much more affordable price than flat-panel LCD or plasma sets.
The blacks are truly stunning. STUNNING. On my 2003-model Sony LCD RPTV, black was a very dark gray. On my parents' 2005-model Samsung DLP, blacks are better still, but you can still see a bit of light shining through. The blacks on Sony's SXRD sets are so dark, they are only barely discernable from a completely turned-off set. If you're new to microdisplay tvs, you may not be impressed. But when you've followed their evolution for 5 years like I have, it is just astounding the progress that has been made. These blacks are as good as the best plasma sets, WAY better than the best current LCD flat-panels, and finally as good as a very good consumer-grade CRT direct-view or projection set. The level of black may seem unimportant to a newbie, but it is possibly the most important quality of a convincing picture - a high black level leads to a flat, washed out picture. The ability to render deep shades of black without losing detail in shadows makes for a realistic, convincing cinematic experience.
The resolution is, of course, terrific. It is impossible to see individual pixels at further than a foot from the screen (I have 20/20 vision). 1080i HD signals show an obvious (though slight) boost in detail over 720p display devices. SXRD tvs, like all "microdisplay" sets (LCD, DLP and LCOS), offer a tremendously bright and "punchy" picture, as opposed to what you may be familiar with, the older, much dimmer CRT projection sets. This is due to its UHP (ultra high pressure) lamp light source, which is a bright, white light, unlike the three multicolored CRT "guns." It never requires convergence, and there is no danger whatsoever of "burn-in" or image retention. Better still, when the lamp begins to dim or fail after about 8,000 hours of use, it can be replaced by the user, effectively giving you a brand-new picture. This DIY feature is much appreciated by someone who wants to avoid annoying (and costly?) service visits. I have seen some negative reaction to user-replaceable lamps. People say: If you have to buy $200 to $300 lamps periodically, won't that add up to a huge expenditure? Well, first of all, we're talking about 8,000 hours of use, according to Sony's specs on this set's lamp. That equals out to various numbers of years depending on your viewing habits. Let's say you watch 5-6 hours a day - working out to about 4 years. To me, $250 every 4 years is not a big deal, especially when you get a "like new" picture each time you replace. Other techs like Plasma have what they call "Mean Time to Half Brightness," usually around 20,000 hours. So that's around 10 years until you likely would just be better off replacing the plasma set. Even given future price erosion, we're talking about likely a $1500-$2000 purchase to replace. Weigh 2 or 3 lamps in 10 years($500-$750) against a new $2000 set after 10 years, and the expenditure doesn't seem so bad.
DLP is almost on the same par in terms of picture quality, but for me (and *maybe* 5-10% of the rest of the population), my ability to see rainbow trails on high-contrast scenes takes it out of contention. Until manufacturers put out 3-chip DLP sets (1 chip per primary color, with no rainbow-inducing color wheel to separate the white light from one chip into the 3 primary colors), I can't live with a DLP set as my daily option. ((update: LED-based DLP sets apparently have a much-diminished rainbow effect, since the LED source lamps flash quickly between red, green and blue, much faster than any color wheel separating white light. This new tech deserves to be watched carefully - reviews indicate that the picture quality is not yet quite up to snuff)) Keep in mind, this is not to dissuade anyone from getting a DLP set - they look great, and if you don't see rainbows, they come in 1080p flavors for a great price. The best test to see if you are sensitive to rainbows is the THX optimizer menu available on many DVDs. Look at the circle test pattern, and move your eyes around the circle. If you see rainbows, this is the easiest test for them. If you don't you're golden. That said, color wheels are getting faster, so perhaps this issue will diminish with each new generation of DLP sets.
LCD projection sets (like my previous set), though they have three chips (and thus no rainbows), have a lower level of "pixel fill," (the portion of the screen filled by the pixels of the image, as opposed to the spaces between pixels) meaning you can more easily discern the spaces between pixels, creating what some call a "screen door effect." Figures I've read put the pixel fill of LCD RPTV's at 50%, DLP sets at 90%, and SXRD sets at 92% (I have not seen a published figure on plasmas, but to my eyes they look to have a lower pixel fill - I have always found it quite easy to see plasma pixels). I can say from having owned these sets and compared them side by side that it does make a big difference. Pixels which are 'invisible' a foot away from the screen lend themselves to an incredibly creamy, smooth picture which doesn't look "digital." LCD offers a great no-rainbow budget option, but currently is not available in 1080p resolution, has a higher black level by the nature of its pass-through technology, and has more easily discerned pixels.
Where Sony's SXRD models unexpectedly shine are in their feature sets and customizability. You can name each input and channel. There are so many tweaking options available in the regular user menu that you may never even find them all. The funny thing is , most of them are unnecessary. I calibrated the set with the Digital Video Essentials home theater disc, and the set required *no* changes to color settings and only the barest minimum change to brightness levels. Both SD and HD signals look great, and the integrated Over-the-Air tuner does a great job of pulling free broadcast HD signals. This is a set that you can plug in and not change one setting and get a truly great picture - all the knowledgeable tweaking in the world (I consider myself knowledgeable, having made service menu adjustments based on much research on my old Sony) will only improve things nominally - which was kind of a disappointment - since I so enjoyed tweaking the Sony LCD and Sammy DLP sets, each requiring far more in the way of adjustment.
I use the Oppo 971H "upscaling" player for my DVD source, the PS3 for my Blu-Ray source, and the Terk HDTV-S indoor/outdoor antenna to pull in my OTA HD broadcasts. I highly recommend all of these pieces of equipment (Oppo has a new model out, which can be purchased on Amazon.) As many have said - you MUST feed your set the best material to really enjoy it. DVDs through HDMI look very good (the TV does just as good a job as the Oppo scaling them up to 1920x1080), and native 1080p Blu-Ray discs such as "Planet Earth" can't be beat. Pairing a set like this with an HD disc player (whatever your pleasure, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) is highly recommended.
As far as standard definition goes, "garbage in, garbage out" is the applicable phrase - but to be fair, this Sony does a fine job of smoothing out analog cable signals to make them watchable. I consider myself a pretty discerning viewer, and frankly I just don't understand some of the criticism out there with regard to this set's SD performance. Folks, if you feed a high-performance set like this a blurry, noisy signal through coaxial cable, you're going to see each blur and shake in glorious, 50" high-resolution detail. It's the nature of the beast. Play with the "DRC Palette" to find a setting which smooths it out to your liking.
Just an aside - as with most microdisplays, this set has a screen with a matte finish - not the glassy reflective screens typical of Plasma or CRT sets. Thank goodness. I don't know why anyone ever thought putting a 50-inch mirror in your living room and then trying to get a good tv picture from it was a good idea. Now if they can just stop using these shiny screens on laptops... Another note on the screen - like all microdisplays, this set's screen is "high gain," meaning it is engineered with a lenticular finish on the interior to amp up the brightness levels and create a wider viewing angle. While this is mostly a good thing (especially in a bright room), some people feel it creates a "silk screen effect," in which you can see the "sparkling" of the screen material on a very bright field in the image, such as a white screen, or clouds. Subjectively, it doesn't bother me at all. But it is a difference to note between these types of sets and a front projector, LCD, or plasma.
The one and only drawback for me is the lack of picture-in-picture - I would have used it a lot for gaming while having the TV on as well. It...Read more›

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SXRD technology is the latest display technology developed by the legendary television engineers at Sony to meet and exceed the demands of a High Definition image at its full 1080 line resolution. Digitally transmitted High Definition signals can contain over 2 million individual detail points that need to be displayed accurately and rapidly. SXRD displays those 2 million detail points per SXRD panel accurately since the 3 SXRD chips actually contain enough pixels to fully display a 1080 line picture without interlacing it. SXRD has the speed to create a smooth, film like image. The SXRD chips have a blistering 2.5ms response time (total rise and fall time), which exceeds the demands of even the most rapidly moving High Definition images. And SXRD creates highly accurate, natural colors because the 3-chip design displays all the colors, all the time.

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