Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV
This HDTV Set is Awesome beats any plasma or LCD thin set cold.
Best reason to buy this Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34\\" FD Trinitron Digital HDTV is because in the United States the Federal Communications Commission will be ending Analog (Current Conventional TV Services in 2009.) 2009 will be here in a heart beat and this TV will be HDTV ready.  All TV's in the United States that are not HDTV ready by 2009 will go dark IF THEY ARE LIMITED TO ONLY GETTING OVER THE AIR BROADCAST SIGNALS!  If your old TV is linked to Cable or Satalite things will go on as usual.  So buying an anlog TV now is like wasting your money buying an 8 track tape player as your primary means of entertainment.  Yes there will be Digital to Analog converters that will be kind of cheap.  If you are in the market for a TV today or in the near future please do not waste your money buying yesterdays technology that is scheduled to be rendered dead as a door nail by FCC mandate in mid to late 2009.  Spend the few extra dollars on a good digital TV and rest easy in 2009.<br /><br />I scrambled like hell to get this last of the great Sony tube TV's before they went the way of The BetaMax Tape Player and Laserdisc.  This set does not have any of the bells and whistles like picture in picture display, multiple HDMI ports or anything like that but it has all the essentials for great TV viewing and gaming alike.  There is one HDMI port.  The screen is huge, the colors are crisp, the blacks are dark, the whites are bright.  Skin tones look realistic here and the HDTV looks darn good when fully engaged.<br /><br />I watched some of my many DVD's on this TV and it was as if I was seeing them all for the first time.  Little things I never noticed before on the DVD I picked up on this TV.  No the speakers that come with this TV are not the very best but for the price they are good.  Compared to the shrill metalic sounding speakers that were the rule in even high end TV's when I grew up the speakers in this TV are high fedelity incarnate.<br /><br />I brought this sony for 1,139 at Circuit City and the shipping was only $76.00.  This included the guys unpacking it, delivering it to my home, bringing it into my TV room, placing it on the stand and powering it up to be sure it worked.  The TV worked fine right out of the box.  Hook up was so easy the pigeons could do it.  I had this Sony connected to my Direct TV and DVD players  \ recorders and other systems within 15 minutes of the install dudes leaving.  Its just connecting a few RCA cables and a few co-axial cables and you are done.  No need for tools or anything.<br /><br />The TV is easy as pie to program, and or configure.  Sony has really simplied the menu making it far more user friendly than the earlier versions and I have 2 more Sony's in my house other than the new one.  the Sony KD-34XBR970 34\\" Wega XBR® high-definition TV is easily the best tube TV out there currently.  You can not do better than this TV on overall picture and functional quality.  Tube TV is a dying breed.  The high per unit cost of production, The low profit margins and the hefty weight that increases delivery costs have all conspired to kill off tube TV.  Plasma LCD and other incarnations of flat TV is light weight and in time will likely be dirt cheap to produce.<br /><br />Currently flat panel TV's have a number of negatives like picture quality shortcomings, not being able to produce a realistic black image. flashing, bowing and other issues like burn in, short useful life span \ durability but in time they will be resolved.  I brought the Sony KD-34XBR970 34\\" Wega XBR® high-definition TV because, I am banking that the industry will have worked out all the kinks in the current flat panel LCD or plasma TV's in the oh next 10 years time before my new Sony KD-34XBR970 34\\" Wega XBR® high-definition TV wears out.  This Sony is an excellent technology hedge play.  I can always buy a plasma or LCD later if I want one but buying a really good Sony KD-34XBR970 34\\" Wega XBR® high-definition Tube TV is an opportunity that will not likely last much longer so act now before the Tube TV goes the way of BeeHive Hair Do's and Buggy Whips.<br /><br />As always with Best Wishes fellow consumers from the Wolf Dude!er so act now before the Tube TV goes the way of BeeHive Hair Do's and Buggy Whips.    As always with Best Wishes fellow consumers from the Wolf Dude!