Sony KP-53HS20 CRT TV
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Size Does Matter -- Sony 57" Widescreen
Pros
Size, picture quality, price, comes on wheels
Cons
Size, remote control is missing features, and there is no storage
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
This television is a joy to watch!
The day before Christmas Eve, my living-room television died. This might not be a big deal to some people, but the living-room television is important in my household. It was such a big deal that by the end of the day, my mom had fully researched and purchased a replacement television.
My mother had a lot of criteria when it came to this television. First of all, it had to be big. Really big. Our old television was 36", which was the largest on the market at the time we bought it. However, everyone in my family found themselves squinting whenever text came on the screen. A larger television meant that we could see what was happening on the t.v.
The second criterion was that it had to be relatively inexpensive. My mom had just finished all of her Christmas shopping, so there wasn't a lot of cash lying around. Plus, she felt that she had to replace the television immediately. This meant she did not have time to save her money to make a large purchase.
Her third criterion was an excellent picture. My mother has always detested projection televisions because of their grainy image quality and washed out colors. I have gone with her when she bought several televisions in the past, and image quality is something she takes very seriously.
The last criterion was that the television would have to be delivered on Christmas Eve (that was the next day). She didn't mind spending a little more, so long as it meant our all-important living-room-television would be there for us over the holiday.
My mother set out to buy her television online. She got an idea of what was out there, what constituted a decent price, and the various features that were important to her. Next she went to several brick and mortar stores. She fell in love with this particular television. Next, she narrowed it down to a store that promised to deliver it the next day. None of the big guys, like Circuit City would make that agreement. One local company, however, would.
On Christmas Eve our twelve-year-old 36" Mitsubishi was hauled off and the new 57" Sony was brought in. I was not there when my mother purchased this t.v., so I did not know what I was in for. Let me say that this television was a great surprise.
The first big difference was the size, weight, and maneuverability of the new television. Last month we had new rugs installed in my home. Since then, our television was out of place. No one in my family, even when we worked together, was able to make that bad-boy move. Even the men who delivered our t.v. commented on how much heavier the old one was than the much larger new one. Also, the new t.v. was on wheels, so it would be easy for us to move it around the living-room. This meant my mother would finally be able to vacuum under the television!
The delivery men were kind enough to get our television working before they left. Within minutes, it was in place and hooked up to our Digital Cable System. We were wowed by the quality of the image. I was so wowed that I didn't realize it was projection until days later. The picture was not grainy, and my Lord, it was big! Best of all, the delivery men set up our remote control so that it controlled the DVD player, VCR, and the Cable box.
My mother's major comment was that it looked a lot bigger in the house than it did in the store. It is making my living-room look a lot smaller. It doesn't stick out from the wall any further than the old television, but it is a lot bigger. It's almost as big as the wall it is against!
Our old television came with a t.v. stand that housed our VCR and "things" underneath the t.v. The new t.v. does not have such a stand. It sits ontop of gigantic speakers. It has no place to store anything. For right now, all of our "attachments" are resting on the floor next to the t.v. until we can buy an entertainment center. An entertainment center is a must for this television, which is a shame. You would think they would have designed some place where the attached equipment could go, whether ontop of, or under the television.
The television is widescreen. Here is my non-technical explanation of what widescreen really means. Most televsions are what I would consider a square (more or less). This t.v. is a long rectangle. Because our cable system does not support HDTV yet, we are still getting the same transmission to our t.v. as we would if we had a "square" t.v.
This television has many viewing modes to choose from. You can have digital bars on the sides of the television which make the program look like it would if it is shown on a "square" television. The man who sold my mom the television, however, told my mom this mode is not good for the television. I am not sure what makes this display a poor choice, but we have been obeying the salesman's warning.
We watch our television in the "full zoom" mode. It is one of the many widescreen display options. This display mode tends to stretch the picture a bit. Sometimes, things look a little distorted. They say the camera adds ten pounds, but when you watch this t.v., it adds twenty pounds. Things are stretched from a square image to a rectangle, and its effect is somewhat like a fun-house mirror. Truthfully, it?s not that bad. It does not interfere with what you are watching in any way, other than making the people look a little pudgier than they really are.
The remote for the television reminds me of something out of the future. The remote looks normal. It's a long silver rectangle, with a bunch of buttons on it. This remote has a secret, however. It also has a flip up part, which allows you to access more buttons. These buttons are mostly for controlling the DVD player, so it doesn't get in your way.
As I mentioned earlier, the remote can be programmed like a universal remote, to control all the equipment you have hooked up to the television. It is nice to have one remote control everything, however, it really doesn't control everything after all. There are a few buttons I use regularly on my Digital Cable remote (such as the Info button, which displays a synopsis of the program you are watching as you click through the channels) which are not on this remote. We keep the Cable remote close by for when we want to use the advanced Cable features.
The picture is great on this television. Projection t.v.s, as I understand it, have some source of light that shines up from the back onto the screen. They are red, blue and green lights, I believe, and they make up everything you see. Color printers work similarly, where there are only three colors, which are combined to make all of the colors of the rainbow. If your printer has ever been misaligned, you know how annoying it is when the colors are lining up. This can happen with a projection television. This one has a feature, which will automatically align the colors. I think this helps to give such a crystal clear picture, while other projections give such grainy ones.
The sound on the television is good, but not phenomenal. Its not surround sound quality, but it certainly does the trick of your every-day television viewing. Eventually, we will invest in the extra speakers to make this puppy really shine, but for now, the sound is more than adequate.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this television. It is also HDTV ready, so when the high definition cable is available, I think it will be even more incredible. I cannot wait!
My mother had a lot of criteria when it came to this television. First of all, it had to be big. Really big. Our old television was 36", which was the largest on the market at the time we bought it. However, everyone in my family found themselves squinting whenever text came on the screen. A larger television meant that we could see what was happening on the t.v.
The second criterion was that it had to be relatively inexpensive. My mom had just finished all of her Christmas shopping, so there wasn't a lot of cash lying around. Plus, she felt that she had to replace the television immediately. This meant she did not have time to save her money to make a large purchase.
Her third criterion was an excellent picture. My mother has always detested projection televisions because of their grainy image quality and washed out colors. I have gone with her when she bought several televisions in the past, and image quality is something she takes very seriously.
The last criterion was that the television would have to be delivered on Christmas Eve (that was the next day). She didn't mind spending a little more, so long as it meant our all-important living-room-television would be there for us over the holiday.
My mother set out to buy her television online. She got an idea of what was out there, what constituted a decent price, and the various features that were important to her. Next she went to several brick and mortar stores. She fell in love with this particular television. Next, she narrowed it down to a store that promised to deliver it the next day. None of the big guys, like Circuit City would make that agreement. One local company, however, would.
On Christmas Eve our twelve-year-old 36" Mitsubishi was hauled off and the new 57" Sony was brought in. I was not there when my mother purchased this t.v., so I did not know what I was in for. Let me say that this television was a great surprise.
The first big difference was the size, weight, and maneuverability of the new television. Last month we had new rugs installed in my home. Since then, our television was out of place. No one in my family, even when we worked together, was able to make that bad-boy move. Even the men who delivered our t.v. commented on how much heavier the old one was than the much larger new one. Also, the new t.v. was on wheels, so it would be easy for us to move it around the living-room. This meant my mother would finally be able to vacuum under the television!
The delivery men were kind enough to get our television working before they left. Within minutes, it was in place and hooked up to our Digital Cable System. We were wowed by the quality of the image. I was so wowed that I didn't realize it was projection until days later. The picture was not grainy, and my Lord, it was big! Best of all, the delivery men set up our remote control so that it controlled the DVD player, VCR, and the Cable box.
My mother's major comment was that it looked a lot bigger in the house than it did in the store. It is making my living-room look a lot smaller. It doesn't stick out from the wall any further than the old television, but it is a lot bigger. It's almost as big as the wall it is against!
Our old television came with a t.v. stand that housed our VCR and "things" underneath the t.v. The new t.v. does not have such a stand. It sits ontop of gigantic speakers. It has no place to store anything. For right now, all of our "attachments" are resting on the floor next to the t.v. until we can buy an entertainment center. An entertainment center is a must for this television, which is a shame. You would think they would have designed some place where the attached equipment could go, whether ontop of, or under the television.
The television is widescreen. Here is my non-technical explanation of what widescreen really means. Most televsions are what I would consider a square (more or less). This t.v. is a long rectangle. Because our cable system does not support HDTV yet, we are still getting the same transmission to our t.v. as we would if we had a "square" t.v.
This television has many viewing modes to choose from. You can have digital bars on the sides of the television which make the program look like it would if it is shown on a "square" television. The man who sold my mom the television, however, told my mom this mode is not good for the television. I am not sure what makes this display a poor choice, but we have been obeying the salesman's warning.
We watch our television in the "full zoom" mode. It is one of the many widescreen display options. This display mode tends to stretch the picture a bit. Sometimes, things look a little distorted. They say the camera adds ten pounds, but when you watch this t.v., it adds twenty pounds. Things are stretched from a square image to a rectangle, and its effect is somewhat like a fun-house mirror. Truthfully, it?s not that bad. It does not interfere with what you are watching in any way, other than making the people look a little pudgier than they really are.
The remote for the television reminds me of something out of the future. The remote looks normal. It's a long silver rectangle, with a bunch of buttons on it. This remote has a secret, however. It also has a flip up part, which allows you to access more buttons. These buttons are mostly for controlling the DVD player, so it doesn't get in your way.
As I mentioned earlier, the remote can be programmed like a universal remote, to control all the equipment you have hooked up to the television. It is nice to have one remote control everything, however, it really doesn't control everything after all. There are a few buttons I use regularly on my Digital Cable remote (such as the Info button, which displays a synopsis of the program you are watching as you click through the channels) which are not on this remote. We keep the Cable remote close by for when we want to use the advanced Cable features.
The picture is great on this television. Projection t.v.s, as I understand it, have some source of light that shines up from the back onto the screen. They are red, blue and green lights, I believe, and they make up everything you see. Color printers work similarly, where there are only three colors, which are combined to make all of the colors of the rainbow. If your printer has ever been misaligned, you know how annoying it is when the colors are lining up. This can happen with a projection television. This one has a feature, which will automatically align the colors. I think this helps to give such a crystal clear picture, while other projections give such grainy ones.
The sound on the television is good, but not phenomenal. Its not surround sound quality, but it certainly does the trick of your every-day television viewing. Eventually, we will invest in the extra speakers to make this puppy really shine, but for now, the sound is more than adequate.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this television. It is also HDTV ready, so when the high definition cable is available, I think it will be even more incredible. I cannot wait!
