Sony Bravia KDL-32S2000 32-Inch Flat Panel LCD HDTV
Aspect feature undocumented limitation
Excellent set overall, but one misleading entry is in the manual which the factory confirmed to me is partly mistaken.  The \\"wide zoom\\" feature for aspect control, magnifying etc., is shown with a separate panel entirely devoted to features applicable to high definition, wide screen sources.  The manual fails to mention these functions work only on broadcast or cable tuner reception, and are not available on any external input, HDMI or component video -- such as a Sony high definition recorder for the broadcasts.  The issue affects the extremely wide panavision movies which have to be rendered with horizontal black bars even on a 16:9 display to see the entire width -- which is how some are transmitted on HDNET for example (premium channels seem to adopt a full screen, pre-zoomed approach).  Cable boxes have zoom features built-in which can expand these pictures, but the tv won't do it by itself, the way it handles low definition signals, and the very limited releases of early HD-dvd, blu ray players etc so far don't have it.  The need for it is less with a wide screen to begin with, compared to old 4:3 screen format, but the pictures are shown almost 1/3 less than the vertical height of the screen. <br />The only two brands which do have this feature complete have so many other faults they cannot compare with the sony for this viewer.  No other leading brand has the feature, either, and the sony at least can process the broadcast signals more than some of them. <br />The limitation of sony S series also applies to the more expensive XBR series sets, at least for 2006.