Sony Grand WEGA KDS-60A2000 60-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV
Exceeded My Expectations ...
I just bought this television for our new \\"media\\" room, and I have been blown away.  I spent months visiting Best Buy and Circuit City trying to figure our which HDTV to buy.  I knew, based on the size of the room we were furnishing, that I needed something bigger than 55 inches.  Further research indicated that I couldn't really afford a quality plasma screen of that size.  Checking out websites like [...] Comparing them side by side I was first drawn to the more vibrant colors of the Samsung.  The Samsung also seemed to me to do a better job producing a blacker black in dark scenes.  I was worried that the Sony might not be bright enough in a well-lit room.  But after looking at both these TVs for a while I drew a couple of conclusions:<br /><br />1.  The Samsung does seem to favor more vibrant, intense colors by design,  but the Sony seems to me to do a better job reproducing a truer, more lifelike image.  If you like more color, you can easily switch the Sony into \\"vivid\\" mode or crank up the color, but I like more natural hues.<br /><br />2.  While Samsung does appear to have higher contrast ratios and handle the deep blacks better, I think the Sony did a better job in reducing or eliminating noise from the image.  With the Samsung I was seeing tiny flickers of white in the deep black backgrounds of some scenes, as well as in other places.  I didn't notice any such flickering in the Sony.  Also, while both TVs looked great showing HD programming, it seemed to me that the Sony did a better job handling lower quality signals (such as the analog signal you get when watching \\"regular\\" TV channels).<br /><br />So, based upon the more natural colors and the better noise reduction I bit the bullet and bought the Sony.  It certainly didn't hurt that I have had Sony TVs in the past and have always been happy with them.<br /><br />Since the TV has been delivered and set up, I have been just amazed.  I bought the TV to watch sports and it has been phenomenal.  Notre Dame football and the World Series have been awesome.  It is amazing what you see in high-definition on such a big screen, and the clarity of the SXRD picture is beyond words.  When they show a close-up of the pitcher, you can count his individual whiskers and differentiate the gray whiskers from the black ones.  When they pan the dugout, you can read the papers that are thumbtacked to the wall.  This TV is not as good as being at the game - it is probably much better than being at the game!<br /><br />Before the TV arrived I was worried about at least three things:<br /><br />1.  Would the picture be bright enough in a normally-lit room?  The TV is in the same room with our desk and computer, so the lights are usually on.  I was worried that the room lighting would wash out the picture.  This is absolutely not a problem.  I've actually toned the picture brightness down a little bit because it was so bright when first set up.<br /><br />2.  Would my cable box degrade the HD signal and make it less than razor sharp?  It does not.  I have Cox HD cable service and am using an HDMI connection from the cable box to the TV.  The picture is crystal clear on the HD channels, and still very good on the non-HD channels.<br /><br />3.  Would the cable box interfere with the auto-size function of the TV?  With my older, 32-inch conventional 4:3 TV, the cable box and TV combination was less than optimal in figuring out how to display the different types of signals.  I usually had to change the settings by hand when I switched from 4:3 to 16:9.  This TV gives you about 5 options on how you want it to handle the different sized images, and then carries out your preferences flawlessly.<br /><br />All in all, as you can probably tell, I am thrilled with my new HDTV.  The only drawback is that my old TV, a very nice 32\\" Sony WEGA flat screen is now about as useful as a paperweight.  After watching the SXRD for a while, the old TV seems so small, and the 4:3 screen is just annoying.  I guess the kids can watch it.