Sony KP57WV700 Anyone use? (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Ok, I just took the HDTV plunge! Local store had this unit on a blowout for about ~$2k, which seemed like a great deal (God, I'm hoping it was).. I liked the picture as it was shown and pretty impressed with the hookups.

I've been debating for a while, don't know what hit me to say "today is the day" (I know the wife will wonder "hey, why drop so much $ today?)..

Does anyone else use this set, consider it? Thoughts? Good buy? (it hasn't left the store yet, they deliver tomorrow night, so if there is a major caveat, let me know now!)

I had also looked at the Samsung DVD player with DVI out as a player to go with it.. but unsure.. I liked the DVI out option, and chips used, but hadn't seen anything about it..

 

[Jason Charlton]

Hi Chris,

I've had my KP57WV700 for about 6 months and love it. I, too, was impressed with the picture quality - especially with standard definition material. Out of the box, the image was a bit on the grainy side, but that is easily fixed by switching the picture mode to "movie" to nearly disable all the SVM and image enhancement modes, or "pro" to completely disable all of that garbage! Calibrate the image using Avia or DVE, get that contrast(picture) level down to about 30% and you'll end up with a great looking image.

I also think the Sony has the best stretch mode out there - "Wide Zoom". I watch 95% of 4:3 programming in Wide Zoom. It's a combination of zooming, cropping, and stretching the picture (more on the sides, less in the middle). It will take a day or two to get used to it, but it's a fantastic solution to watching 4:3 stuff.

Getting the set for ~2k is a great deal.

One down side you should be aware of: that series of Sony models (the 500, 600, and 700) did suffer from a "flicker" problem that *sometimes* cropped up after a month or two of use. You can probably do a search of the forum and find several threads dealing with this issue. Suddenly, and without warning, the color and/or brightness of the image would start to flicker randomly. The problem lies with some of the CRTs that were used. I haven't had this problem with my set, and it was supposedly corrected in later maufacturing dates. Regardless, Sony has agreed to fix any TV (by replacing all three CRTs at no cost to you) that shows this problem regardless of the current warrantee status. I wouldn't worry about this, really. It's not likely to happen, and if it does, it's an easy and free fix.

Enjoy the set - it was a huge step up for me, and one that I'm really glad I made.

-Jason

 

[Chris]

Well, it arrived today, and so far, I am tickled pink. Makes me feel like I should upgrade other components, though *laugh*

I picked up the TimeWarner HD box.. while the HDTV cable selection offerings are slim (Discovery, CBS, ABC, NBC, HBO, Showtime) I'll root for additions and try to pick up a decent progressive scan player.