Upholds the Sony Reputation

When our CRT TV finally gave out in March, 2008, I looked closely at the 32"-40" LCD units at Electronics Expo, and selected this one for $1169.10 . I had read in Consumer Reports that 720p is plenty of resolution for a 40" set, and I agree with their comment that this Sony has excellent off-axis visibility (a particular issue with LCD sets.) My original hope was to get a set for under $1000, which I didn't. But this set is likely to move down in price as 720p becomes "old news"!

I hadn't decided in advance to get a 40", but when I saw how small the non-HD images were on the 32" units, it pushed me over the line. We use an over-the-air antenna, and were immediately able to see all the same NY City broadcasters in HD. During bad weather, channels 2 and 4 can occasionally have their reception fail, but since I refuse to pay for cable, I can live with this. (Until the switchover, when this happens, I can simply punch up "2.0" instead of the scanned-and-cataloged channel 2.1, and see the analog version of Channel 2.)

Because we watch the TV from about 10' away, I don't hate the appearance of shows or segments that happen be analog resolution. Yes, they're clearly inferior, but I judge them to be similar to the appearance of our old analog CRT set. We haven't upgraded our DVD or DVR yet, but using the component output of our ReplayTV (DVR), and the composite (L Audio-R Audio-Video) output of our cheap DVD player produce beautiful pictures, far superior to a CRT set. I think we can easily wait years for HD players and disks to penetrate the market and come down in price. The sound quality of the in-set stereo speakers is good, so we haven't made the (provided) audio link to our home stereo system.

This set weighs 56 pounds with the table stand, so I had no trouble installing it by myself. It has more inputs than we need (Video 1/2/3, Component 1/2, HDMI 1/2, and PC SVGA.) We don't yet own an HDMI source. The set-up menus on the Sony set are long, but easy to understand. The only complaint I have is that once you choose and label an input, the un-chosen inputs disappear from the screen menu, so you have to add them back if you want them temporarily. What do I mean? When our time-shift recording of "Lost" failed, we suddenly had to watch a internet-cast from ABC dot com. Luckily, I had suitable cords in a box in the basement, and I had a laptop connected to the Sony in less than ten minutes. But I don't keep a computer attached to the Sony all the time.

You can adjust whether the aspect ratio changes automatically (or stays the same) when the signal from the station changes. Some people find it irritating to have that change while their watching, but I don't. I suppose that eventually all the remote news cams, commercials, and old dramas will be in HD, but that won't be for several years. If you select a fixed ratio, you may not see some HD broadcasts in the largest possible image.

The multi-machine remote control we've been using for years had most of the Sony's commands available right away, but I needed to "learn" some of the trickier ones like "Menu" and "Back". It's never fun to program in new codes, but I'm glad I didn't have to buy a new multi-remote.

I felt that this was a top-of-the-line product at a reasonable price. Perhaps it's too small for a purpose-built home theater room, but it's plenty big enough for our 1955 suburban living room.