Sony KP-53V80 53 in. TV

We got this TV in early 2000.  At the time it overpowered our living room but we soon got used to it and have sinced moved to a bigger house so now the size doesn't seem so overwhelming.  I know it's old technology now and nobody is impressed with a "big screen" like they were a decade ago.  But, as people typically do with TVs, we will use this one until it dies and then we will get a modern edition.

I doubt anyone is going to buy this new but if you are considering a used one you should know...after 8 1/2 years the TV is beginning to look suspicious.  We are big TV watchers.  As long as we've had this TV it's been pretty standard that if we're home, it's on.  And for the last year it almost never gets turned off - maybe twice a week - because now that both my husband and I work at home, somebody is always here.  Even if we're not in the room we have a bad habit of leaving it on.  And, at night, we leave it on the music channel because our little boy likes to come out and sleep on the sofa.

So, on the occasions that it is turned off, like when we all go to church on Sunday morning, it does seem that when it gets turned back on it takes a while to "warm up".  I'm not talking about the older sets that used to have a picture that started as a thin line across the middle of the screen and eventually grew to be full screen.  I'm saying it just looks suspicious.  When it is first turned on there are a lot of extra black lines running horizontally across the screen and the colors don't look quite right.  After a while though, probably less than an hour, the lines lessen and the colors normalize.  Underneath the 53" screen is a speaker that is at least half as tall as the screen itself and just as wide.  That is also starting to sound suspicious.  Many times when we're watching TV, no matter how short or long it's been on, we hear a sort of whiny white noise like a high-pitched squeal and it's coming from the TV.  When mute is pressed the noise stops.

These minor issues aside, we have gotten and are still getting much enjoyment from this TV.  Of course, placement must be considered carefully.  You wouldn't want it directly across from a window because glare would be an issue - but that's common on many TVs.  Currently our kitchen flourescent lights cause a slight glare on the TV, even from 15 - 20 feet away.  But, we've learned to live with it and even use it to our advantage because you can see in the TV the reflection of what's going on in the kitchen - especially when the screen is showing a dark scene.

When we first got the TV we did enjoy the picture in picture features quite a bit.  But, once we switched to satellite TV it's not compatible with the PIP so it hasn't been used in years. 

One of the most magical features of this TV is the remote.  We had it for several weeks before we realized that it had a flip up compartment about 1/2 of the way down the remote that reveals additional buttons like Closed Captioning.  I like the built in CC to help understand song lyrics or sometimes when audio quality is bad in a particular spot of a movie or show.

I also like that the TV has four or five different AUX options so you can have satellite, DVD player, video game, and even a VCR or some other thing hooked up all at the same time.  Actually, one of our set of inbound plugs gave out so we just switched it to a different one.  One set is in the front and the remaining are on the back. 

Since a remote is key to satisfaction with any electronic entertainment, let me describe it in detail, starting at the top left corner and working across and down.  Black, circular Muting, green horizontal oval DVD/VTR, green horizontal oval SAT/Cable, and green round Power. To tell you the truth I've never used the green ovals and don't know what they are for.

Picture mode, DVD/VTR, Sat/Cable, TV - again don't use these.
Music Note, DIsplay, ANT, TV/Video.  The only one I use is TV/Video which switches the picture between the auxiliary ports.

A typical 1 - 0 keypad like a phone with Jump at the asterisk position and Enter at the pound position.  These are all white circles with the numbers being slightly larger.  These buttons have a slight glow-in-the-dark quality.  Don't use Jump but use Enter when I'm in a hurry to change the channel and don't want to wait for the 2 or 3 second default after typing in a number. 

This is where the remote breaks and flips open.  In the middle layer we've got: System Off, DVD/VTR, SAT/Cable, TV.  If you want to use this remote to control other units you first push one of these buttons.  This remote does control our Sony DVD player but does not work on our DirecTV satellite.  Next row TV/VTR, Rewind, Play, Fast Forward.  Rec, Stop, Pause.  Secondary Record, Audio, DVD Menu.  Close Caption goes through two or three types of captioning.  Sleep sets the sleep timer.  Title, MTS/SAP, SWAP, Position.  SAP is secondary audio programming and, in the few instances when it is available, will play a TV show in a secondary language if it was recorded that way for broadcast.

Back on the topside of the remote are the PIP buttons.  One shows a large picture in the middle surrounded by small screens, one shows two stations equally on left and right halves of the screen, and one shows a small window in the corner of the screen.  Repeatedly pushing the small window button bounces it around to different corners.  Active with arrows toggles between which of the PIPs you're going to listen to because even though you can see them all you only hear one at a time.  Audio/Index and Freeze/Guide buttons I have neve used.

Then there is a raised area on the remote which has the Volume buttons on the left and Channel buttons on the right - also with a slight glow feature.  In the middle are a Menu button and a Reset button along with a mini-joy stick (never used). 

At the very bottom is a teeny tiny Code Set button that is recessed so it can't be pushed on accident.  This is supposed to help when you are programming the remote to control other items (like a satellite which we never could accomplish).  There is also a slider switch which goes between the options of VTR, 1, 2, 3 and DVD/MDP.