Customer Reviews

SONY KV-40XBR800 FD Trinitron(R) XBR(R) Wega(TM) Color TV

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this TV a year ago and I love it and would get it today if I could. Picture is as good as plasma if not better. It is a 4:3 ratio, but you should just ask yourself what you watch more of TV or Movies. Right now the HD media that is coming out is getting to be everywhere. 5 NFL games on Sunday. 4-5 Xbox games in HD. HBO in HD, ESPN in HD, Discovery in HD, Prime time TV for the most part in HD. The picture has so much color and detail it is like night and day. Like putting black and white up against color and this TV is a great product to showcase that. Only knock on it is it ways 300 lbs so the stand (which has bevel edges) is recommended on carpet. With the stand anyone could move it anyplace in the room with ease. Great Buy!

I have owned this television for 3 years now and I am just as satisfied today when I power it up as I was the day I took it out of the box. The color is superb and the 40" screen is the ONLY one of its kind in a tube television. Sony has definitely proven itself worthy with this television. It's HD ready and the color/picture quality is unmatched by other tubes. You will even be hard pressed to find a LCD/Plasma in this size to compare w/ the quality. Definitely worth the time/money IF you can find one!!!! The ONLY drawback is this beauty's size/weight, find a good/strong friend to help you load/unload this beast!! Otherwise, you will get to experience EVERY single feature of this tv as you nurse your hernia!!!!!

i bought this tv as my first dip into the HD TV world, and i am shockingly impressed. the sound is amazing, the picture is flawless and the fact that it does NOT have a $300 bulb that needs to be replaced every few years makes it even better. yes, this TV is a monster, it is big and heavy but once you get it where you want it, it is 100% worth it. the features on the TV are great, and the fact that it has 7 inputs (3 of which are HD) means that i can plug in everything without having to worry about switching cables when it comes time to play a game or watch a DVD.

Overall this tv gets a 9/10. it would be a 10 if it were not so heavy, that is the ONLY downside.

Great picture and color
I have had this TV over 6 years and never had any problems with it at all.

Has a much better picture in a 4:3: format as well as brightness and contrast control than the Panasonic VIERA TC-P50GT25 50-inch 3D Plasma I just bought. The Pani has a much darker picture so faces in night scene's are much harder to see than my Sony XBR.

The only down side is that it was $3000 new and is 300 Lbs heavy.

I bought this TV back in 2003. Just yesterday I got rid of it. Had a descent picture and was one of the best pictures out there in it's time. The 4:3 mode looked best. 16:9 was too small and the border lines were distracting. Hooking up a game console showed it's limitations as scan lines and other anomalies were
always present.
About a year ago I started having intermittent problems turning the set on.. No picture just a pop.. but sometimes it would work fine.
It got to the point recently where it wouldn't turn on at all.. Found out that sony had a problem with 2 chip sets on the main power board. A common problem.
I was deciding whether to fix it or now.. After shopping around.. I purchased an
LG LCD 46" TV which BLOWS away the sony in every aspect.. It was 1/4 the price and 1/10 the weight.
Tube technology is history.. thank goodness. The weight of this TV is ridiculous. In retrospect.. I would not have bought this TV.

I've had this TV for a little over a year. I've moved it twice and I have to say it SUCKS. 325 pounds on stairs isn't fun, it's big, bulkly and not worth it unless you're in a house you're going to be staying in for a long time.

I purchased my unit (KV-40XBR800) Sony Trinitron XBR 40" new in 2003. Within a year it failed to turn on (makes clicks, flashes the standby light, but does not turn on). Being under warranty, Sony sent a team of guys (yes, it's that heavy) to load it onto the repair truck. The unit was repaired, but failed again (this time the warranty was expired) with the same symptoms. Turns out the reps replaced the defective components with new components, which are plagued with this problem. A quick search on any major search engine for "Sony Trinitron Flash Error Codes" will reveal a vast consumer base plagued with this problem. There is no permanent fix as the parts needed to fix it are themselves the problem; any parts replaced will eventually result in the same failures due to the problem being in the defective part design and/or manufacturing process. Sony is aware of this, and is probably thankful the warranties on these units has run out.

Do not buy this unless you have a team of guys to move it to a place where you intend to throw it away after it fails. Definitely fails the longevity aspect of TV ownership.

Since the day i bought it I had not have one complain about this TV! Great all around.

I bought this TV when big screens weren't nearly as common. LCD, plasma, and LED flat-screens just weren't easily available or too costly. That was 2003.

I expected this TV, like most CRT technology TVs, to last for at least 15-20 years. It didn't. That's a complete and utter failure by Sony as CRT should easily last decades.

As to the performance - it was great sound and picture when it worked. I have no complaints about the actual performance. There just wasn't enough of it.

That brings me to the real issues. 1) It's impossible to reliably repair. 2) Repairs are expensive even though the parts themselves are under $100 - Sony service is too costly and doesn't come with any useful warranty. 3) This TV is a monster to move or get rid of. It's 325lbs just for the TV. The stand adds another 100-ish lbs. Getting rid of this takes a team of people. AND - it barely fits through standard room doorways.

Be prepared to spend a chunk of $ just to have this thing removed when it does fail.