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First Timer Looking To Purchase Sony Bravia Lcd Tv ....


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Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to purchase an LCD TV shortly but I've never dabled into the LCD/HDTV thing before .... so venturing into unknown territory here and would be keen to get some opinions on a set I have my eye on.

I've been looking at Sony's 32" Bravia KDL32V2000 which fits perfectly into the limited space that I have in my existing TV cabinet.

I have measured up a few other 32" LCD's from LG, Sharp and I think Samsung but they are all physically too big to fit into the cabinet so for now the Sony is my preffered choice.

I've looked at the Sony at a couple of diferent stores and the picture quality seems to vary from average to good but I'm assuming the picture quality is good and the variation is due to setup at the store. I did ask the question to one of the HN salesmen who said that they just unpack the TV's & connect them up without any fine tuning. A bit slack but I guess that's what you get from a bulk store.

Looking at the Sony website however doesn't really tell me all I want to know .... so I have a few questions that I hope some of you guy's can shed some light on.

The audio specifications on the website lists the following features:

Audio Output: Yes

Sound Mode: Dynamic / Standard / Custom

Surround Mode: SRS TruSurround XT / Simulated Stereo / Off

BBE Digital: Yes

Does this mean the output to the TV's speakers is only synthesised stereo?

Does it have stereo output from the built in HDTV tuner for connection to a separate amp?

What is BBE Digital? is it some sort of Sony proprietary thing or is it an industry standard thing?

The set also has HDMI input, what would that be used for? Something Hi Definition I'm guessing.

What are the good features about this set and conversly are there any bad things about it?

Are there any owners of the Bravia KDL32V2000 or other Bravia "V" series LCD's out there .... and are you happy with your purchase?

Cheers for any feedback :rolleyes:

Alan.

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As far as LCD's go the sony's are the best in my opinion. Dad has an older 40" V and it has been fantastic for them as they view in a well lit room (never with the lights off). When viewing in a light controlled room, LCD's of today don't go very black at all. Just something to be aware of.

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Thanks for the reply Drizt.

Good to know the Sony's have a good reputation.

No problems regarding the LCD not producing black like a normal CRT .... I would have expected the TV to be no different to my laptop screen or my LCD PC monitor .... neither of which produce a pure black.

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hi thought i bring this up

though in my opinion, sony is the safest beat on a virtual hd or true hd tv purchase in lcd, has ANYONE here looked @ the philips range lcd's?

i think they are brillant! if i wasnt buying a sony, and HAD to choose something else, i would choose the philips without problems. why? well there are a few strong points:

1. ambilight. i love it, and im a real softy or nice appearances and wow effects. if i were to watch it with lights off and i had a nice room, what im watching would consistent make the room 'in the mood' of the movie, as the colours would change according to the picture.

2. the pixel plus 2 technology, dnr and digital natural motion - exclusive to philips only. this technology, i too love it, but too much can cause the image to look absolutely artificial and fake. when all 3 are turned on and set to the right settings, movies will look tremendously better than movies viewed on any lcd in the market today (in my opinion that is). a good test is to go to any box mover today, and change the 'digital natural motion' to the 'minimal' setting, and what you will see is less pixelation of the image in fast moving scenes.

these to factors, along with a half nice surrounding and perhaps a glass stand - instead of plastic - makes it worth while to add the philips brand name to the BORING alternatives of samsung, l.g, toshiba and panasonic.

thought id share my thoughts, cuz ive always eyed on the philips range.

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The phillips/LG (same panel) looks good from directly front on, but its blacks turn to purple when your off axis. I was actually viewing one of the philips panels yestersday and it had the most natural movement of all of the panels displaying the same blu-ray movie. It was the only one that panned correctly and absolutely smooth. Even the $17k panasonic plasma had severe judder.

The old sharp ones (havent seen the new ones) look good from front on but their blacks turn a brownish tinge when viewed off axis.

The Sony/Samsung (same panel) look good from all angles.

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so do Sony actually make panels LCD panels?

Didnt think they did.

And with the issues they are having with some of their LCD's... i would walk a country mile to not buy sony.

SMH's report from a couple of days ago....

US site. Sony claimed it had received only a "handful of queries" from Australian customers and they were being individually handled.

The statement also said Bravia X Series TVs used a bright backlight that "under certain dark viewing conditions may cause the screens on some of the televisions to exhibit slightly uneven uniformity [sic] ... this condition is not usually visible under typical viewing conditions ... and generally should not affect a viewer's experience".

In the US, Sony has also released a firmware update but users there have reported the "fix" removes the cloudy patches by darkening the screen excessively at the expense of much of the other detail.[/b]

Enough for me

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G'day,

And with the issues they are having with some of their LCD's... i would walk a country mile to not buy sony.[/b]

The clouding issue with the Bravia Xs is annoying. Some got it, some don't.

But I recently picked up a Sony 50" Bravia 3LCD TV. This is a 1280x720 rear-projection unit and you can pick 'em up for around $1800. Not too bad, apparently has the same engine as the Bravia Xs, and blacks are better than the Samsung 40" LCD I was thinking of getting, and I'm not getting any of the noise or reflexions that plague plasmas IMHO.

However it is a rear-pro so viewing angles are not as wide as a normal LCD. And at my viewing distance of 2.5m I think 50" may be too much and I am thinking of downsizing to the 42" (which is dirt cheap at $1400 these days), especially since I am really just waiting for the price of 1080p panels to come down.

--Geoff

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The phillips/LG (same panel) looks good from directly front on, but its blacks turn to purple when your off axis. I was actually viewing one of the philips panels yestersday and it had the most natural movement of all of the panels displaying the same blu-ray movie. It was the only one that panned correctly and absolutely smooth. Even the $17k panasonic plasma had severe judder.

The old sharp ones (havent seen the new ones) look good from front on but their blacks turn a brownish tinge when viewed off axis.

The Sony/Samsung (same panel) look good from all angles.

[/b]

oh yea, it was u who said the 65' pana juddered on BRD's on some other thread. but anyway, i totally agree with that. at our store, the philips 32' is setup nicely along every other panel in the market, and to no surprise, purchases after purchases are occuring BECAUSE and soley because of the digital natural movement feature. we leave the tv's running on ch7's "HD" presentation, and u can realli tell that the other panels just struggle to pan correctly to a smooth state as the philips can.

drizt, if u r reali going got a true hd lcd purchase within the next 6 to 12mths, philips are releasing their 1920x1080 lcd (the new one - current model was discontinued as they ran in2 deep troubles getiting the pixel plus functioning correctly with most 1080p pictures) which in my opinion, will be the better one than the sony's or toshiba's.

there are another 2 downsides to the philips brand - aside the ones i mentioned previously,

3. THEY include scart in and out. thats the most annoying. they should have an european design and a global design. too often have customers complained about the input design, as they only have x1 component, and x1 svid/composite through a supplied scart adapter - they have x2 hdmi and small audio bypass.

4. if digital natural motion is set on "maximum", the picture seems to move ahead of time, and distorts/pixelates itself - defeating the purpose of 'natural' motion.

i'm eagerly waiting for their new 1080 lcd, perhaps the blacks might change.

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Thanks for the info wilco. Looking forward to seeing the new models.

Im waiting for LED back lighting on LCD's before even contemplating one. LCD's are great in well lit rooms (the blacks even look fantastic), but in a completely dark room the lack of good black levels is really obvious.

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We went ahead and purchased the 32" Sony Bravia KDL32V2000 on fiday.

Initial impressions are good .... the picture is very good when viewing live broadcasts (morning chat shows / news etc)

Colors are vibrant, skin tones are natural .... a very nice looking display.

Off axis display is excellent too with no color changes or distorsions if you move from side to side.

The thing we have noticed the most from the old CRT is that there is now quite a bit of difference between a good quality live broadcast and normal pre-recorded programming material.

Not that the pre-recorded stuff is bad .... it's just that the live stuff is that much better now that it does create a noticable difference.

The old CRT was pretty well much of a muchness with everything you watched even though it was a good display.

Another observation is that again with the live broadcasts there does not seem to be any real differences between normal TV and Digital TV .... 9am with David & Kim both look good in either format.

We are still getting familiar with all the various controls/menu's that it does have and the myriad of settings that can be adjusted and possibly tweaked.

Still need to buy some interconnects for component video out from the dvd unit though. :)

Cheers,

Alan.

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so do Sony actually make panels LCD panels?

Didnt think they did.

And with the issues they are having with some of their LCD's... i would walk a country mile to not buy sony.

SMH's report from a couple of days ago....

Enough for me

[/b]

I read that as well,there have been reports of it on the AVS forum.

I think it might have something to do with the way these units are packed.

If you put pressure on an LCD screen for any length of time,even finger pressure will do,the problem that has been reported will show itself.

I don't know if it could ever be fixed.

Either that or there could be some sort of uneven surface tension along the face of the screen .

Strange that some get it and others don't.

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