3 Responses to “Sony Grand WEGA KDS-50A2000 50-Inch SXRD 1080p Rear Projection HDTV”

1. Ruzgar
   November 9th, 2009 @ 10:05 pm

   My TV history: I’ve owned a Sony KF42WE610 set, which is an LCD Rear Proj. TV. I have helped purchase (and tweak) a Samsung HLP4663W DLP set for my parents, which replaced an older Mitsubishi CRT RPTV. I also own a 26″ Syntax LT26HVE flat-panel LCD which I use as my PC monitor. I think it’s fair to say I’ve seen my share of HDTVs.

   Well, my parents bought me this set as a graduation gift, to replace my Sony LCD set which was lost in a housefire. And boy, am I ever pleased with it. Sony’s SXRD (their proprietary version of LCOS, or Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technology is easily superior to all of the above-mentioned techs (including Plasma, which I have not owned, but have viewed relatively extensively). It is offered at a “Sony mark-up” but not a tremendous one in terms of other 1080p-capable sets.

   What really blows away competing technologies in the current marketplace is the black level. Sony’s SXRD has, for the first time, equaled the deep, inky, rich blacks of a very good CRT or plasma set – and married it to the brightness of microdisplay technology, at a much more affordable price than flat-panel LCD or plasma sets.

   The blacks are truly stunning. STUNNING. On my 2003-model Sony LCD RPTV, black was a very dark gray. On my parents’ 2005-model Samsung DLP, blacks are better still, but you can still see a bit of light shining through. The blacks on Sony’s SXRD sets are so dark, they are only barely discernable from a completely turned-off set. If you’re new to microdisplay tvs, you may not be impressed. But when you’ve followed their evolution for 5 years like I have, it is just astounding the progress that has been made. These blacks are as good as the best plasma sets, WAY better than the best current LCD flat-panels, and finally as good as a very good consumer-grade CRT direct-view or projection set. The level of black may seem unimportant to a newbie, but it is possibly the most important quality of a convincing picture – a high black level leads to a flat, washed out picture. The ability to render deep shades of black without losing detail in shadows makes for a realistic, convincing cinematic experience.

   The resolution is, of course, terrific. It is impossible to see individual pixels at further than a foot from the screen (I have 20/20 vision). 1080i HD signals show an obvious (though slight) boost in detail over 720p display devices. SXRD tvs, like all “microdisplay” sets (LCD, DLP and LCOS), offer a tremendously bright and “punchy” picture, as opposed to what you may be familiar with, the older, much dimmer CRT projection sets. This is due to its UHP (ultra high pressure) lamp light source, which is a bright, white light, unlike the three multicolored CRT “guns.” It never requires convergence, and there is no danger whatsoever of “burn-in” or image retention. Better still, when the lamp begins to dim or fail after about 8,000 hours of use, it can be replaced by the user, effectively giving you a brand-new picture. This DIY feature is much appreciated by someone who wants to avoid annoying (and costly?) service visits. I have seen some negative reaction to user-replaceable lamps. People say: If you have to buy $200 to $300 lamps periodically, won’t that add up to a huge expenditure? Well, first of all, we’re talking about 8,000 hours of use, according to Sony’s specs on this set’s lamp. That equals out to various numbers of years depending on your viewing habits. Let’s say you watch 5-6 hours a day – working out to about 4 years. To me, $250 every 4 years is not a big deal, especially when you get a “like new” picture each time you replace. Other techs like Plasma have what they call “Mean Time to Half Brightness,” usually around 20,000 hours. So that’s around 10 years until you likely would just be better off replacing the plasma set. Even given future price erosion, we’re talking about likely a $1500-$2000 purchase to replace. Weigh 2 or 3 lamps in 10 years($500-$750) against a new $2000 set after 10 years, and the expenditure doesn’t seem so bad.

   DLP is almost on the same par in terms of picture quality, but for me (and *maybe* 5-10% of the rest of the population), my ability to see rainbow trails on high-contrast scenes takes it out of contention. Until manufacturers put out 3-chip DLP sets (1 chip per primary color, with no rainbow-inducing color wheel to separate the white light from one chip into the 3 primary colors), I can’t live with a DLP set as my daily option. ((update: LED-based DLP sets apparently have a much-diminished rainbow effect, since the LED source lamps flash quickly between red, green and blue, much faster than any color wheel separating white light. This new tech deserves to be watched carefully – reviews indicate that the picture quality is not yet quite up to snuff)) Keep in mind, this is not to dissuade anyone from getting a DLP set – they look great, and if you don’t see rainbows, they come in 1080p flavors for a great price. The best test to see if you are sensitive to rainbows is the THX optimizer menu available on many DVDs. Look at the circle test pattern, and move your eyes around the circle. If you see rainbows, this is the easiest test for them. If you don’t you’re golden. That said, color wheels are getting faster, so perhaps this issue will diminish with each new generation of DLP sets.

   LCD projection sets (like my previous set), though they have three chips (and thus no rainbows), have a lower level of “pixel fill,” (the portion of the screen filled by the pixels of the image, as opposed to the spaces between pixels) meaning you can more easily discern the spaces between pixels, creating what some call a “screen door effect.” Figures I’ve read put the pixel fill of LCD RPTV’s at 50%, DLP sets at 90%, and SXRD sets at 92% (I have not seen a published figure on plasmas, but to my eyes they look to have a lower pixel fill – I have always found it quite easy to see plasma pixels). I can say from having owned these sets and compared them side by side that it does make a big difference. Pixels which are ‘invisible’ a foot away from the screen lend themselves to an incredibly creamy, smooth picture which doesn’t look “digital.” LCD offers a great no-rainbow budget option, but currently is not available in 1080p resolution, has a higher black level by the nature of its pass-through technology, and has more easily discerned pixels.

   Where Sony’s SXRD models unexpectedly shine are in their feature sets and customizability. You can name each input and channel. There are so many tweaking options available in the regular user menu that you may never even find them all. The funny thing is , most of them are unnecessary. I calibrated the set with the Digital Video Essentials home theater disc, and the set required *no* changes to color settings and only the barest minimum change to brightness levels. Both SD and HD signals look great, and the integrated Over-the-Air tuner does a great job of pulling free broadcast HD signals. This is a set that you can plug in and not change one setting and get a truly great picture – all the knowledgeable tweaking in the world (I consider myself knowledgeable, having made service menu adjustments based on much research on my old Sony) will only improve things nominally – which was kind of a disappointment – since I so enjoyed tweaking the Sony LCD and Sammy DLP sets, each requiring far more in the way of adjustment.

   I use the Oppo 971H “upscaling” player for my DVD source, the PS3 for my Blu-Ray source, and the Terk HDTV-S indoor/outdoor antenna to pull in my OTA HD broadcasts. I highly recommend all of these pieces of equipment (Oppo has a new model out, which can be purchased on Amazon.) As many have said – you MUST feed your set the best material to really enjoy it. DVDs through HDMI look very good (the TV does just as good a job as the Oppo scaling them up to 1920×1080), and native 1080p Blu-Ray discs such as “Planet Earth” can’t be beat. Pairing a set like this with an HD disc player (whatever your pleasure, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray) is highly recommended.

   As far as standard definition goes, “garbage in, garbage out” is the applicable phrase – but to be fair, this Sony does a fine job of smoothing out analog cable signals to make them watchable. I consider myself a pretty discerning viewer, and frankly I just don’t understand some of the criticism out there with regard to this set’s SD performance. Folks, if you feed a high-performance set like this a blurry, noisy signal through coaxial cable, you’re going to see each blur and shake in glorious, 50″ high-resolution detail. It’s the nature of the beast. Play with the “DRC Palette” to find a setting which smooths it out to your liking.

   Just an aside – as with most microdisplays, this set has a screen with a matte finish – not the glassy reflective screens typical of Plasma or CRT sets. Thank goodness. I don’t know why anyone ever thought putting a 50-inch mirror in your living room and then trying to get a good tv picture from it was a good idea. Now if they can just stop using these shiny screens on laptops… Another note on the screen – like all microdisplays, this set’s screen is “high gain,” meaning it is engineered with a lenticular finish on the interior to amp up the brightness levels and create a wider viewing angle. While this is mostly a good thing (especially in a bright room), some people feel it creates a “silk screen effect,” in which you can see the “sparkling” of the screen material on a very bright field in the image, such as a white screen, or clouds. Subjectively, it doesn’t bother me at all. But it is a difference to note between these types of sets and a front projector, LCD, or plasma.

   The one and only drawback for me is the lack of picture-in-picture – I would have used it a lot for gaming while having the TV on as well. It is a disappointment, but not a dealbreaker. The quality of the picture makes up for it. Others may miss “cable card,” though it is not something I care about. PIP and Cable Card are available on the step up “XBR” model Sony, for quite a premium. Since the two models share identical display chips and nearly identical processing abilities, I personally don’t think the premium is justified.

   With resolution, color fidelity and black levels like these; and weighing in at 85 pounds and about 14 inches deep; all at a price rapidly plunging below $2k; I cannot reasonably see purchasing any other type of set, unless space is so limited that you absolutely cannot live without (and you have the extra $1000 for) a flat panel.

   There’s a reason these sets top the ratings of sites like CNET, Sound & Vision, and Home Theater Mag. They are truly the best of breed and can’t be topped in the current marketplace for quality and price/performance. These sets (and DLP sets also, minus the rainbows) are better than flat-panel technologies for sometimes half the price. I can’t possibly recommend a set like this enough if you are in the market for a big screen which you want to use for serious movie watching, HD sports, or even just regular viewing.

2. Fritzi
   November 9th, 2009 @ 11:14 pm

   Before you buy, think about the source of the material that you watch. If it is mostly NTSC video (analog TV), I wouldn’t bother. If it is mostly digital cable (480i), I still wouldn’t bother. If you mostly watch standard-def DVD’s, will soon be watching HD DVD’s/Blu-ray, or HDTV feeds, then I would say GO FOR IT.

   IMHO, standard definition TV (NTSC) looks fair, standard definition DVD’s (through an excellent upconverting DVD player like the Toshiba HD-A1) look very good and HD-DVD’s look AWESOME.

   Even when I messed with the settings, I just couldn’t get NTSC video to look any better than what I would consider tolerable. Standard definition DVD’s, however, look very good. The resolution is not near as good as HD DVD, but it is pretty good and the color reproduction is phenomenal. I watched Star Wars Episode One on the new TV (through the HD-A1) and saw colors and detail I had never seen before. I am excited about watching all the standard def DVD’s in my collection on the new TV to see the difference.

   HD-DVD’s are just plain awesome and the sound is phenomenal. Do yourself a favor and get the HD-A1 from Toshiba for under $400 and not the 2nd generation, as G2 does not have analog audio outputs, which you’ll need for Dolby TrueHD and DDPlus (unless you have a very new receiver). Yeah, the HD-A1 is a little slow, but it works pretty well after you do the firmware upgrade. This thing is more like a PC than a video player, so just be patient. Turn on the TV and the DVD player and then go make your popcorn.

   Also beware that most retail rental stores (at least by me) don’t have Blu-Ray or HD-DVD’s for rent yet, so you may want to sign up with Blockbuster (good selection) or Netflix (OK selection). I’m not buying any just yet.

   One more thing…the stand for this puppy is expensive but it is designed specifically for this model. The front bezel clamps down on the front of the TV and the rear of the stand has a belt that snaps into the TV. It’s not going anywhere. If you are going to drop $2K on this sucker, you better make sure the stand holds it in place!

   Oh getting back to the TV, my center channel speaker barely balances on the top of the TV. I will need a shelf or something else creative to secure the speaker better.

   ***Updated 10/2/2006***

   OK, instead of feeding my cable to the TV through my DVR (VHF in, VHF out), I fed it directly to the TV and used a splitter. There was a SIGNIFICANT improvement in picture quality. Also note that I have seen huge variations in picture quality from channel to channel and show to show. I was watching a movie on TBS (digital 480i) yesterday that was near HD quality. It’s all about the source!

3. Fanchon
   November 10th, 2009 @ 3:28 am

   This is somewhat lengthy but if you’re going to spend $2,000 on a TV it’s worth spending a minute reading up on it.

   I purchased this TV a month or so ago. I actually purchased three TV’s, put them all in my house to see which one I liked best and kept the Sony. I also had the Samsung HLS-5086W, and Toshiba 50HM66. One 1080p and two 720p sets. I purchased the 1080p Sony instead of the 720p model because I got it for a great price, it was the smallest premium for the 1080p model instead of the 720p model from the three manufactures. I think it’s gone up some since I purchased it though – prices for micro-display rear projection TV’s fluctuated wildly in December and January.

   The picture quality is outstanding. It was the best of all the TV’s I took home. I’m pretty picky and while this TV isn’t perfect for me it has the best picture and ultimately that’s what matters most.

   The TV has more settings to adjust the picture then you’ll likely need. This TV has the most impressive set of picture controls – at least compared to the other two I had, download the manual from Sony and you can look through all the settings you can control.

   I really cannot comment on the sound, I’m running sound through an A/V receiver. But, it does have more sound settings then the Samsung or Toshiba. One thing about the audio out that I don’t like is that it’s only enabled for the coax inputs. If you plan to use composite or HDMI inputs then the audio out is not enabled. Probably not a big deal for most.

   The feature set of this TV has more or less the same as the Samsung and Toshiba. One thing I’d have liked to have is auto input detection. The TV has 9 inputs which is great but can be time consuming to switch between inputs. I use the Air antenna and the two HDMI inputs (6 & 7), if I switch from one HDMI input to the other I have to scroll through all 8 other inputs to get back to the first HDMI input – even though there are no other signals on the inputs. The Samsung will only show inputs that have a signal to them. It’s a minor inconvenience.

   This TV costs more than either the Samsung or the Toshiba but it’s worth it. Part of that is this TV is a 1080p and the others are 720p, part of it is because it’s a Sony. The picture quality is worth the extra money, 1080p isn’t though. Do NOT buy this TV just because it’s 1080p. I had this one side by side with the Samsung and with the same HD source (Over the Air) you cannot tell a difference due to the resolution – the Sony is brighter, the colors are better and more accurate, it excels with dark scenes, etc. and that’s why I kept it but I could not tell a difference due to the resolution – which makes sense since I don’t have any 1080p sources to input to it…

   One thing I want to point out too, in some of the reviews a few people have rated the TV low because standard definition sources display poorly. They do compared to HD sources, but they do on any large screen, fixed pixel display (DLP, LCD, Plasma). Do some research and understand what’s going on and how SD sources are displayed. This TV happens to have a number of features to help display SD signals and if you take advantage of them you’ll be able to get an SD picture that’s pretty good. Spend a few minutes tweaking the SD source and it will be more then acceptable. A great and useful feature of this TV is the settings apply to each input. So, if you have an over the air antenna you can set up the TV to display that perfectly and if you have an SD cable/satellite input you can have different settings for that input.

   I really didn’t want to spend the extra money for the Sony (or a 1080p model), but I was surprised to see how much better the Sony looked compared directly to the Samsung or Toshiba. It especially excels with dark scenes. Both the other TV’s could not show details in dark scenes, for example the pocket or collar of a black shirt against a dark background. With the Sony you can see the pocket, shadows in the pocket, etc. With the other two all you can make it is a dark shirt. That’s likely due to the different display technologies the TV’s use. Sony uses LCOS (they call it SXRD) and the others use DLP. DLP sets have trouble with dark scenes.

   At some point I will get an HD-DVD player so maybe the investment in the 1080p will pay off – I know that is debatable but regardless the TV is exceptional.

   I also have had experience with Sony support. I used the IM feature they have on their website twice and was very surprised by how helpful and accurate it was. Very well done service by Sony. You can even get a transcript of the chat session to save.

   Finally, Sony offers a 5 year extended warranty with this TV. You purchase it directly from Sony. It covers parts and labor, costs $249. I think that’s a great deal for an extended warranty. You don’t have to purchase it with the TV, you have 60 days to purchase the extended warranty and you can purchase 2,3,4, and 5 year terms – all with different prices.

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