So are all you Sony KV-30HS420 owners happy with your purchase? (1 Viewer)

[Matt_Smi]

Well I am just about ready to buy this TV, I might go for it this Saturday because it is tax free day in Mass, and that would save me some money (if the TV is not already sold out by the time I get there). I was first considering the 27” model of this TV but I felt that I needed to step it up to the 30”, I would probably go with the 32” but my current TV stand would not support the weight of it and it is not deep enough, and I do not want to buy a new one, so the 30” it is. The only other TV I was considering was the Panasonic CT30WX54, it has most of the same inputs and features (plus a PIP) as the Sony, but overall I feel that the Sony is a better set. So now that it’s been out for a bit, and quite a few people have it, for those that do are you happy with your set? Are there any major flaws with it? I would hate to buy it, get it home and then find the geometry be really off (like my old WEGA) or have some other picture defect of some sort, because then I will need to carry a 150 pound TV back to Circuit City to return it for another, but I guess any TV you buy has the chance of having a few imperfections. When I do buy this (or another) TV, I am going to look over the picture for any defects (Although at this time I have no way of testing for picture flaws when displaying 420p, 720p or 1080i) and if I deem them to be bad enough to the point where it will distract me from my normal viewing then the set is going back, no way I am dropping a grand on something only to have a flaw in it that will bother me every time I watch it, I am just hoping the first one I get will be right, so I wont have to go though the hassle. Anyway let me know how you like your TV, and if you have any “picture defects” one your, thanks.

 

[Matt_Smi]

I Guess not many people on this forum have this TV?

 

[Greg J]

I have this television and really enjoy it. It replaced a 27" 4:3 Samsung HDTV that I had for about two years and was never really satisfied with. As far as the Sony goes, I love it. Excellent PC out of the box. First thing to do is to get a calibration disc like Avia or Video Essentials and adjust the brightness and contrast. The factory settings are WAY too hot. The only thing you will have to get used to are the stretch modes. It took just a bit for us to get used to the wide screen stretch when watching non HD broadcast or cable. We use the Wide Zoom mode for all of the 4:3 content. There are many things I love about this set. One of the things is that you can turn off the Velocity Scan Modulation in the user menu. On my Sammy I had to get into the service menu for that. Checked the geometry as soon as I got it home and found it to be so close that I'm not going to mess with it. The menu is very nice to navigate and has many options for viewing which are easy to adjust. Hopefully you will have the same luck. You need to get a set top box so you can enjoy the HDTV which is leaps and bounds above the Sammy it replaced. The only flaw in the image that I have found is a one pixel wide horizontal line about 1/3 from the top of the screen when viewing certain 1080i channels. This is only visible if you know where to look and are less than 1 foot from the screen. Other than that I would have liked Sony to have made direct selection of each input available rather than selecting each input to get to the next, but a minor complaint in my book. Overall you should love the presentation of wide screen DVDs weather or not you have a PS dvd player. (if you don't have one got get one-TODAY!) We have had our Sony about one month and I definitely would recommend the purchase to you.

 

[Matt_Smi]

Greg,

Thanks for the input; and good to hear that the geometry on your set was good out of the box. I do not yet have a PS DVD player but plan on buying the Denon 1910 and hooking it into the Sony via its DVI output. I went to buy the set yesterday but of course it was sold out, so I am planning on making a trip to the Salem NH CC, which is only about a half hour from me and buying it there where there is not tax everyday! I did check out both the Panny and the Sony while I was at CC though, they both looked great when displaying a DVD and OK with standard definition TV (which I don’t really care about). I thought that the Sony looked slightly better than the Panny, the colors seemed better, and overall the picture seemed more detailed and smoother looking, while the Panny was a bit more “rough around the edges”, overall both looked great though. I looked for picture flaws and noticed that both the 30” and 34” Sony had two very faint black horizontal lines, one near the top of the screen and one near the middle, they where not noticeable unless you where at the right distance to the TV and looking hard while the screen had a light colored background. But after some research I have found out that these are the wires for the aperture grill, and they are normal to Sony TV’s rather than a flaw. The only other flaw I was able to spot was when images where moving on a light background I noticed that on the right hand side of the screen toward the upper corner there was a blackish smudge of sorts, I guess that this is the “dirty picture” issue that some people seem to be talking about. I am not sure if this is common to most Sony TV’s (including the 30HS420), or if it is a defect. I could easily live with it, but I guess I will just wait and see if my Sony has it, I have a feeling that it is a common thing and mine will have it though, and I will probably not bother returning the set over it. I did not look at the Panny hard enough to see if it had the “dirty screen” issue.

 

[Greg J]

I haven't noticed the dark smudge in my set. Perhaps it was due to being set on the torch mode settings that most display sets seem to be set to while on the showroom. One thing you mentioned though, this Sony does not have a DVI input. It has the newer HDMI connection. This connection carries the audio to the television as well as the digital video signal in one cable. But don't fret, a DVI to HDMI cable is available that will solve your problem. You will just have to run the digital audio to your receiver and the analog audio from the Denon to the input on the rear of the Sony under the HDMI input.
I had my eye on this set since the first came out. Went to BB and CC every few days waiting for the right time and sure enough they went on sale.....the day after they sold out at both stores. Not surprising to say the least. Run the inventory down and then put them on sale to get the customers in the store to try to sell them a different set that I'm sure they had a better margin on. But, fortunately for me CC had just pulled one out as a second display model the day before I got arrived to purchase. (it pays to memorize what they are using where, lol) They had sold the floor model Samsung HDTV they were using on the Dish Net display in the store. Had a long heart to hart with the manager. I told him that I was just at BB to purchase this same set and was treated very bad, which was VERY true. I showed him my BB Reward Zone card and told him that if he sold me the Sony, I would give him the BB card to personally throw away as I was never going to make another major purchase there again. He thought about it for about 30 seconds and the rest is history. The Sony had less than 20 hours on it and a MFG date sticker on the rear of the unit marked July 2004. Took it home for $824.00!! The guy that loaded it into my truck said that they had just thrown the box away that morning. Should have bought a lottery ticket on the way home from the store. Kudos to my local CC for going above and beyond the call of duty. In the past I had just bounced back and forth between BB and CC. Spent a couple grand at each in the past two years. But when it came down to it, the salesman at BB was a total turd, and the manager at CC made a decision that helped make the difference in customer loyalty. Tip of my hat to them.