Sony Grand WEGA KDF-42WE655 42-Inch LCD Projection Television with Integrated HDTV Tuner
Great HD quality, disappointing SD quality
The good news is the TV is user friendly and worked perfectly for everything we tried right away. It found over the air digital channels (some in HD) and all the inputs worked as advertised. <br /> <br />The bad news is the standard definition image quality is a big disappointment compared to the trinitron tube I was used to! Maybe this won't be a surprise to others but it was to me. Even watching digital channels and using s-video or component inputs, the image is evidently not scaling up very well. This maybe has to do with the native resolution of the display (1386 x 788) and the way the image is scaled up. I'm guessing that SD images don't align with the native pixels no matter what the TV circuitry does. The pixels bleed noticeably and text edges are doubled when they should be crisp. <br /> <br />Something else to get used to (really I can't decide if its worse or just different) is the 'glare' of this backlit set. The TV uses a bright lamp to back-light the LCD, and for images with light colors the glare can be hard on the eyes. This may be a matter of taste, but it is something to get used to. <br /> <br />The one bright spot of hope is the digital HD image quality. Once tuned to a real HD digital signal, the TV begins to really shine. Even without an HD signal you can see the potential in the on-screen menus. Suddenly there are no scaling artifacts, the pixels are crisp and clear, and even the brightness and colors are more even and less eye-tiring. I dread going back to a non HD signal. <br /> <br />So if you are upgrading step by step, be prepared for a new-found motivation to upgrade all available equipment to make sure you are in HD land as much as possible. Digital HD cable, DirectTV HD, and over the air digital HD are your friends. ReplayTV, DVDs, and standard channels will get more tiresome with this TV.