Available From
Why are these offers here?
Smart Buy!
Lowest price from a Trusted Store
Second Lowest Price
Featured Offer
- Overview
-
Reviews
- Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
WOW! One of the finest sets out there now...
Pros
Simply a great set.
Cons
The normal "cons" for this type of TV. Warm-up time, bulb life, SD quality.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you can afford this set, and don't plan on hanging your TV on the wall, this box is the way to go.
If you are in the market for a new TV, there are several options on the market right now:
Old-fashioned CRT: These are a cheap, proven technology that has been in use for half a century now. However, the maximum size of a CRT set is limited to 34" or so due to extreme weight beyond that amount. Even that 34" set tips the scales at 250lb or so.
Plasma Flat Panel: This is another technology that has been around for quite a while. It provides a bright, vivid, picture, and the prices are halfway-reasonable up to about 40-45". Beyond that, and prices really skyrocket. They can generally be wall mounted (if you have a way of hiding the wires. Drawbacks include high power consumption, and susceptibility to burn-in with computer games, news tickers, etc. Eventually the set will fade, but this takes some time.
LCD Flat Panel: These are available in a wide variety of sizes, from 7" all the way to the mid 40's, all at relatively decent prices. Like plasmas, they can be wall-mounted. Advantages include low power consumption, light weight, and invulnerability to burn-in. Disadvantages include "grey" blacks, the "Screen door effect" (the space between the pixels"), and motion blur.
CRT Rear-Projection: This is another quite old technology in use for several decades. Sets can be acquired very cheaply for the size screen you get. At the time of this review, a 50" set can be purchased for only $700-$800 or so. Used sets cost even less. With proper calibration and care, some videophiles believe that this is the best rear-projection technology, in addition to being the cheapest. Advantages include great black levels, good sharpness, a lack of digital "blockiness", excellent SD performance, and accurate color. Disadvantages include extreme bulk and weight, the necessity of professional calibration for the best picture (even with a brand-new set... plan on $200-$300 for this from a reputable TV-repair shop), periodic cleaning and re-calibration, and the fact that within a couple of years, these sets will no longer exist new. Even now they are only generally available as bargain-basement sets from the stores that still carry them.
DLP rear-projection: This is a technology developed by Texas Instruments, and is in use by many manufacturers. It uses a chip containing thousands of tiny mirrors that regulate light fed by a bulb. There is only one chip in current sets, so the three different colors used in light projection are filtered in using a rapidly spinning wheel. Advantages of this technology include relatively light weight, good black levels, and a sharp picture. Disadvantages include more moving parts (that spinning color wheel), some digital "noise" in the picture, and the "rainbow effect". The rainbow effect is something that only a portion of the population will even notice, and it consists of being able to see "rainbows" following a brightly lit source across the screen with a dark background. This is caused by the color wheel. Also, most sets use a bulb, which will eventually have to be replaced after several thousand hours of use. ($200-ish, and it can usually be done without a service call.)
NOTE: Some sets use a white LED source instead of a bulb.
LCD Rear-projection: This technology uses three separate chips (one each for Red, Green, and Blue) to filter light supplied by a bulb. These sets are generally the least expensive "new" rear projection units. Advantages include no "rainbow", value price, and decent sharpness. Disadvantages include "Screen Door" effect, motion blur, and "grey-ish" blacks (though this is improving.)
LCOS: This goes by the name "HD-ILA" from JVC and SXRD from Sony. That is the technology this set uses. It is similar to LCD, but uses different materials to obtain a similar effect. Advantages include better black levels than LCD, no rainbows, excellent sharpness and color. Disadvantage is mainly that it is a little more expensive compared to the other two.
Okay... all that background is out of the way, onto this set.
This is the from the fall 2007 series of Sony's mid-line SXRD televisions. The 50, 55, and 60 inch are more-or-less identical, except for the size. Same bulb, same chips, same almost everything.
The differences over the 2000 and 2020 models are a slimmer depth, different bezel, additional signal processing features, more HDMI jacks, and 1080p/24 support. (This enables the set to display BluRay and HD-DVD movies in their original theatrical framerate. It also includes some useless HDMI 1.3 features having to do with a color data format currently not in wide use. They have also moved the jack pack to the left side for easier hookup.
The picture on this set with high-resolution content is nothing less than spectacular. There are a great number of picture adjustments available, the picture is clear and sharp, and there is no visible evidence of signal noise in the picture. The dynamic iris makes for nice and deep blacks in dark scenes. I have had no problems with strange colors, blur, or stuttering. My DVD collection looks great. Analog SD is, as with most digital HD sets, pretty bad. However, that should become more and more rare as time goes on.
There are some complaints out there on the viewing angle. While there is fairly wide latitude horizontally with this set, the range of acceptable vertical viewing heights is not huge. If put on a stand of a proper height, (20" or so), this will not be an issue for seated viewers. If you routinely watch TV standing up, the picture will look a bit washed out if you are close to the set.
The bulb is rated to last for 8000 hours of viewing, and currently replacements for this user-servicable part run $200-ish. A one-year warranty on the bulb is included.
Setup of the set was fairly easy, and for its size, it is quite light. (90 lbs or so) The first time you turn it on, it will prompt you for the set language, and ask if you want to run a scan for channels.
Time to a faint shadow of a picture from poweron is about 8 seconds, with full brightness in about 45. This is pretty typical for most bulb-lit sets. If warmup time bothers you, you will have to get a flat panel or one of those new Samsung LED/DLP units.
Old-fashioned CRT: These are a cheap, proven technology that has been in use for half a century now. However, the maximum size of a CRT set is limited to 34" or so due to extreme weight beyond that amount. Even that 34" set tips the scales at 250lb or so.
Plasma Flat Panel: This is another technology that has been around for quite a while. It provides a bright, vivid, picture, and the prices are halfway-reasonable up to about 40-45". Beyond that, and prices really skyrocket. They can generally be wall mounted (if you have a way of hiding the wires. Drawbacks include high power consumption, and susceptibility to burn-in with computer games, news tickers, etc. Eventually the set will fade, but this takes some time.
LCD Flat Panel: These are available in a wide variety of sizes, from 7" all the way to the mid 40's, all at relatively decent prices. Like plasmas, they can be wall-mounted. Advantages include low power consumption, light weight, and invulnerability to burn-in. Disadvantages include "grey" blacks, the "Screen door effect" (the space between the pixels"), and motion blur.
CRT Rear-Projection: This is another quite old technology in use for several decades. Sets can be acquired very cheaply for the size screen you get. At the time of this review, a 50" set can be purchased for only $700-$800 or so. Used sets cost even less. With proper calibration and care, some videophiles believe that this is the best rear-projection technology, in addition to being the cheapest. Advantages include great black levels, good sharpness, a lack of digital "blockiness", excellent SD performance, and accurate color. Disadvantages include extreme bulk and weight, the necessity of professional calibration for the best picture (even with a brand-new set... plan on $200-$300 for this from a reputable TV-repair shop), periodic cleaning and re-calibration, and the fact that within a couple of years, these sets will no longer exist new. Even now they are only generally available as bargain-basement sets from the stores that still carry them.
DLP rear-projection: This is a technology developed by Texas Instruments, and is in use by many manufacturers. It uses a chip containing thousands of tiny mirrors that regulate light fed by a bulb. There is only one chip in current sets, so the three different colors used in light projection are filtered in using a rapidly spinning wheel. Advantages of this technology include relatively light weight, good black levels, and a sharp picture. Disadvantages include more moving parts (that spinning color wheel), some digital "noise" in the picture, and the "rainbow effect". The rainbow effect is something that only a portion of the population will even notice, and it consists of being able to see "rainbows" following a brightly lit source across the screen with a dark background. This is caused by the color wheel. Also, most sets use a bulb, which will eventually have to be replaced after several thousand hours of use. ($200-ish, and it can usually be done without a service call.)
NOTE: Some sets use a white LED source instead of a bulb.
LCD Rear-projection: This technology uses three separate chips (one each for Red, Green, and Blue) to filter light supplied by a bulb. These sets are generally the least expensive "new" rear projection units. Advantages include no "rainbow", value price, and decent sharpness. Disadvantages include "Screen Door" effect, motion blur, and "grey-ish" blacks (though this is improving.)
LCOS: This goes by the name "HD-ILA" from JVC and SXRD from Sony. That is the technology this set uses. It is similar to LCD, but uses different materials to obtain a similar effect. Advantages include better black levels than LCD, no rainbows, excellent sharpness and color. Disadvantage is mainly that it is a little more expensive compared to the other two.
Okay... all that background is out of the way, onto this set.
This is the from the fall 2007 series of Sony's mid-line SXRD televisions. The 50, 55, and 60 inch are more-or-less identical, except for the size. Same bulb, same chips, same almost everything.
The differences over the 2000 and 2020 models are a slimmer depth, different bezel, additional signal processing features, more HDMI jacks, and 1080p/24 support. (This enables the set to display BluRay and HD-DVD movies in their original theatrical framerate. It also includes some useless HDMI 1.3 features having to do with a color data format currently not in wide use. They have also moved the jack pack to the left side for easier hookup.
The picture on this set with high-resolution content is nothing less than spectacular. There are a great number of picture adjustments available, the picture is clear and sharp, and there is no visible evidence of signal noise in the picture. The dynamic iris makes for nice and deep blacks in dark scenes. I have had no problems with strange colors, blur, or stuttering. My DVD collection looks great. Analog SD is, as with most digital HD sets, pretty bad. However, that should become more and more rare as time goes on.
There are some complaints out there on the viewing angle. While there is fairly wide latitude horizontally with this set, the range of acceptable vertical viewing heights is not huge. If put on a stand of a proper height, (20" or so), this will not be an issue for seated viewers. If you routinely watch TV standing up, the picture will look a bit washed out if you are close to the set.
The bulb is rated to last for 8000 hours of viewing, and currently replacements for this user-servicable part run $200-ish. A one-year warranty on the bulb is included.
Setup of the set was fairly easy, and for its size, it is quite light. (90 lbs or so) The first time you turn it on, it will prompt you for the set language, and ask if you want to run a scan for channels.
Time to a faint shadow of a picture from poweron is about 8 seconds, with full brightness in about 45. This is pretty typical for most bulb-lit sets. If warmup time bothers you, you will have to get a flat panel or one of those new Samsung LED/DLP units.
