Sony KD-36XS955 36-Inch FD Trinitron WEGA Hi-Scan TV with Integrated HDTV Tuner
Last of a dying breed? Better get one for these reasons...
Everywhere you look now flat, widescreens are the televisions being hyped as the ones to get. The fact of the matter is that eventually, those kinds of monitors will be the standard bearer of video technology. However flats are not without their flaws. Chief among them is the problem of \\"burn-in\\"; if you leave your set on a station that has its logo resting in the corner of the screen (most do now), and you happen to slip away to answer the phone or just forget and leave the set on, chances are that your set will sustain PERMANENT damage, that's just how it is. Plasmas produce superb images, but over time their brightness WILL decrease. For me, the higher the contrast the BETTER - most of the time. Unfortunately, that's just the opposite of what you're supposed to do to extend your plasma's lifespan. And there's no question that the widescreen image is great to take in. That said, I am here to sing the praises of the dying CRT / 4:3 aspect television set. A lot of programs I own are in 4:3, and they look BETTER on said type of screen. I rebuke the notion that \\"stretching\\" that same image across a widescreen is okay - IT IS NOT. If I wanted to view a 4:3 image, in it's ORIGINAL, UNALTERED aspect ratio on a 16:9, I would have to have black or (worse yet) gray bars on the sides, which WOULD negatively impact your plasma via burn-in or unbalanced contrast and brightness on the sides of the frame. I happen to find the horizontal black bars produced on a 4:3 more acceptable when viewing widescreen productions than on a 16:9. The CRT is far CHEAPER than plasma. A GOOD 50\\" plasma is going to set you back AT LEAST $6,000 (the good news is that prices continue to fall). This set is a fraction of that. The CRT's main disadvantages are screen size and weight. They are heavy, but they look and sound great when positioned properly in your desired viewing area. With CRT, there are no burn-in problems. One night I fell asleep with the limited edition dvd of \\"Memento\\" playing. Now unfortunately when the film ends, it goes back to a frozen, stationary menu image of black objects on a white background - if I did that on a plasma, I'd be fu___d! The best thing about CRT's is the level of black it produces. They always have produced a deeper, richer level of black than any plasma I've seen. This one is perfectly capable of displaying high-definition images, though you'll have to put up with the black, horizontal bars - but you're used to that, right? I'd give this set 5 stars but it just doesn't quite reach perfection with its video performance. I own a 32\\" Sony Trinitron XBR that is 10 YEARS OLD, and it produces sharper, clearer images than this set. I have no idea what Sony did to change the image reproduction, but it is noticeably and somewhat disappointingly different. The best way I can describe it? It's akin to having 35mm film prints developed: while my old 32\\" screen has a \\"glossy\\" look, this television here has a \\"lustre\\" look. It's still a great image, but something is missing; image detail is not as sharp, shiny or clean. This set IS capable of receiving HDTV images and they look very nice here. Also, dvds look pretty good; one of this set's best features is its ability to automatically switch between anamorphic and non-anamorphic playback from whichever dvd you're viewing.