Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV
Possibly the best TV you can get today, a great bargain and a dieing breed, get one while they last
Let me start by saying this... all those newfangled tv technologies you see in your local electronics store... LCD, DLP, Plasma... are nice, sure. They can be super slim, super light, hang on a wall, or they can have very large screens, sure. In many ways they may seem superior to the good ol' tube television we have all grown up with.  <br /> <br />But there is one way that they still have not caught up and in many cases, don't even come CLOSE.... PICTURE QUALITY! <br /> <br />ANYONE who would be considered a \\"TV Buff\\" agrees that, nice as these new types of TV's are, a good quality regular 'old' CRT (tube) television still provides the best overall picture quality, with the best and most realistic colors and blacks, best contrast, and best refresh rates. Especially the high def tubes. And most agree that Sony makes THE BEST QUALITY PICTURE TUBES, PERIOD! <br /> <br />And yet, Tube TV's in general (and high def, widescreen tubes in particular) are a dieing breed. Big manufacturers are shifting from Tube to the new technologies, and slowly, the best high end tube TV's are being replaced by smaller, less expensive versions that are shorter and shorter on features. <br /> <br />Sony is following this trend in a BIG way. They have already discontinued the Super Fine Pitch line of tubes, which was far and away considered THE BEST PICTURE that could be had from ANY kind of television, and was literally used as the reference point by which all other TV's, Tube, LCD or otherwise, were judged. Also, the Wega line and XBR line in general continue to lose features thru each generation now. <br /> <br />So... what we have here, is probably one of the last great tube HDTV's that you will ever be able to buy, and the best CRT TV that is currently readily available. <br /> <br />I bought this TV after taking home three other TV's from Circuit City. An LCD flat panel, LCD projection, and regular SD 4:3 Wega (DLP picture sucked and plasma looked good but didn't come in the size andprice range I was shopping, 34\\" or less and $1500 or less). I had had a 27\\" SD Wega (CRT) for about 5 years and LOVED that TV. Unfortunately I had it shipped when I moved cross country and it was destroyed in the process. I initially wanted only to replace it, but decided I would try to step up to something better. I tried the LCD TV's and was not happy at all with the picture quality, compared to my old Wega. Then I bought a new SD Wega and found that, while the picture was still great, the TV had lost so many features compared to the model I had had before, no PIP, no audio outputs for surround sound, much weaker internal speakers, a few less inputs, on and on. So I decided to take one more shot at HD. <br /> <br />Luckily, a Circuit City salesman pointed me to this XBR970. While not as good as the XBR960 it has replaced (which had the aforementioned Super Fine Pitch picture tube), this is still an amazing TV with an amazing picture. The picture quality stomps all over what I had seen with the Sony and Samsung LCD TV's I had tried, only plasma comes even close. The colors are rich and more realistic, blacks are true deep black, and there's none of the annoying motion lag during fast moving scenes that the LCD's were prone to (Video Games ESPECIALLY suffered from this when played on those LCD's! Moving scenes would go out of focus VERY badly!). It trounced the LCD's in almost every respect, including price, being several hundred dollars cheaper than the two LCD's I had tried, which were smaller at 32\\" vs. this 34\\".  <br /> <br />This TV has tons of inputs and outputs, more than any TV I've ever owned, covering the full range. Others wish for a second HDMI input and I agree that's all this TV really needs as far as inputs go. It also has a very comprehensive menu with all kinds of usefull features and settings to play with.  <br /> <br />So... more screen area, better picture, lower price,tons of features, what's not to like? <br /> <br />Well.. of course, one bigdownside (and I mean BIG quite literally!!) is that the TV is huge and HEAVY, nearly 200 lbs. No big deal, my old Wega was a beast as well, it's not like I move it around, and I live on the first floor. Just know you will need 2-3 people to move it whenever you need to do so. <br /> <br />The ONLY other downside to this TV is that issue which plagues ALL tube televisions, and the bigger they get the worse they have it.... geometry issues. For most people, not a big deal, many never even notice it (if you haven't noticed it on whatever tube TV's you've had up til now, you won't on this one), but some people will, and for those, it can be annoying. Luckily, on my set it was an easy fix. Almost all TV's these days have hidden 'service menus' that allow you to tweak all kinds of parameters of the TV. If you aren't afraid to tinker a little, you can easily go in and correct 80-100% of whatever geometry issues any given tube set will have. Some issues may not be completely fixable, but they are so minor 99% of the time that you'll never notice them unless you are looking at a test pattern anyways. This and the size issue are the only reason this TV doesn't get the full 5 stars from me. <br /> <br />Which reminds me, if you are buying such a nice HD set as this, do you and your TV a favor and pick up one of the widely available TV calibration DVD's, Digital Video Essentials or Avia, either can help you easily, greatly improve the TV's picture thru simple menu adjustments, and if you are willing to go into the 'hidden' service menu, you can make adjustments based on these DVD's test patterns that can truly make your TV picture 'perfect' as per the NTSC standard.  <br /> <br />Bottom line: LCD's etc. are nice, but tube TV's still provide the best picture. And of tube TV's, this is currently THE top of the line TV you can buy, and a raging bargain to boot. The picture is simply beautiful, and looks great for movies, gaming, and even looks good with regular old low def TV (which looks HORRIBLE on LCD!!). And there's a good chance, if things keep going the way they are going, it won't be available for long. Get yours while you can. <br /> <br />