Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV

by Sony

Product Details

• Item Weight: 190 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 209 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B000F4RC02
• Item model number: KD34XBR970
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,179 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Amazon.com

Sony’s KD-34XBR970 FD Trinitron® WEGA® Flat Screen Technology is the basis of Sony's award-winning line of visually flat televisions. The FD Trinitron sets deliver incredible image accuracy, wide viewing angles, outstanding contrast, and corner-to-corner detail. The visually flat FD Trintron® tube minimizes annoying glare from light sources, which enhances contrast. Detail, corner-to-corner, is rendered more accurately because images aren't distorted by a curved screen. Squares are square, straight lines appear straight, and circles are circular.

Feature List

• FD Trinitron® WEGA® Flat Screen
  Delivers a picture with uncompromising accuracy and outstanding image detail via a technologically advanced tube.
• Analog and Digital Receivers
  Built-in tuners allow you to receive both analog and digital (NTSC) programming. Digital programming is available via terrestrial signals (over-the-air).
• CineMotion®
  Inverse 3:2 Pulldown: using the reverse 3-2 pull down technology, the Cinemotion feature provides smoother picture movement when playing back movies or other video sources on film.
• DRC-MF® (Digital Reality Creation Multi Function Circuitry)
  Replaces an analog signal's NTSC waveform with the near-HD equivalent. The result is an image with four times the picture density.
• HDMI™1 (High Definition Multifunction Interface)
  Provides an uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface between the TV and any HDMI-equipped audio/video component, such as a set-top box, DVD player, and A/V receiver. HDMI supports enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio.
• 3-D Digital Comb Filter
  Separates luminance from chrominance in composite video signals using digital memory to improve the image.
• Program Palette™ Presets (Vivid/Standard/Movie/Pro)
• Favorite Channel
  Allows you to preview up to sixteen favorite channels without leaving the current channel.
• Parental Control (V-Chip)
  Helps parents monitor what their children watch on TV by establishing rating limits.
• Component Video Input (Y/PB/PR)
  2 (Rear)1080i/720p/480p/480i capable, and achieves greater color accuracy than composite and S-Video when connecting to compatible devices (DVD players, VCRs, etc.).

Product Description

The KD-34XBR970 FD Trinitron WEGA Flat Screen Technology is the basis of Sony's award-winning line of visually flat televisions. FD Trinitron sets deliver incredible image accuracy, wide viewing angles, outstanding contrast, and corner-to-corner detail. The visually flat FD Trintron tube minimizes glare from light sources, which enhances contrast. Detail, corner-to-corner, is rendered more accurately because images aren't distorted by a curved screen. Squares are square, straight lines appear straight, and circles are circular.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best TV you can get today, a great bargain and a dieing breed, get one while they last, August 16, 2006

By 

B. Lama (Chesapeake, VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV (Electronics)

Let me start by saying this... all those newfangled tv technologies you see in your local electronics store... LCD, DLP, Plasma... are nice, sure. They can be super slim, super light, hang on a wall, or they can have very large screens, sure. In many ways they may seem superior to the good ol' tube television we have all grown up with.

But there is one way that they still have not caught up and in many cases, don't even come CLOSE.... PICTURE QUALITY!

ANYONE who would be considered a "TV Buff" agrees that, nice as these new types of TV's are, a good quality regular 'old' CRT (tube) television still provides the best overall picture quality, with the best and most realistic colors and blacks, best contrast, and best refresh rates. Especially the high def tubes. And most agree that Sony makes THE BEST QUALITY PICTURE TUBES, PERIOD!

And yet, Tube TV's in general (and high def, widescreen tubes in particular) are a dieing breed. Big manufacturers are shifting from Tube to the new technologies, and slowly, the best high end tube TV's are being replaced by smaller, less expensive versions that are shorter and shorter on features.

Sony is following this trend in a BIG way. They have already discontinued the Super Fine Pitch line of tubes, which was far and away considered THE BEST PICTURE that could be had from ANY kind of television, and was literally used as the reference point by which all other TV's, Tube, LCD or otherwise, were judged. Also, the Wega line and XBR line in general continue to lose features thru each generation now.

So... what we have here, is probably one of the last great tube HDTV's that you will ever be able to buy, and the best CRT TV that is currently readily available.

I bought this TV after taking home three other TV's from Circuit City. An LCD flat panel, LCD projection, and regular SD 4:3 Wega (DLP picture sucked and plasma looked good but didn't come in the size and price range I was shopping, 34" or less and $1500 or less). I had had a 27" SD Wega (CRT) for about 5 years and LOVED that TV. Unfortunately I had it shipped when I moved cross country and it was destroyed in the process. I initially wanted only to replace it, but decided I would try to step up to something better. I tried the LCD TV's and was not happy at all with the picture quality, compared to my old Wega. Then I bought a new SD Wega and found that, while the picture was still great, the TV had lost so many features compared to the model I had had before, no PIP, no audio outputs for surround sound, much weaker internal speakers, a few less inputs, on and on. So I decided to take one more shot at HD.

Luckily, a Circuit City salesman pointed me to this XBR970. While not as good as the XBR960 it has replaced (which had the aforementioned Super Fine Pitch picture tube), this is still an amazing TV with an amazing picture. The picture quality stomps all over what I had seen with the Sony and Samsung LCD TV's I had tried, only plasma comes even close. The colors are rich and more realistic, blacks are true deep black, and there's none of the annoying motion lag during fast moving scenes that the LCD's were prone to (Video Games ESPECIALLY suffered from this when played on those LCD's! Moving scenes would go out of focus VERY badly!). It trounced the LCD's in almost every respect, including price, being several hundred dollars cheaper than the two LCD's I had tried, which were smaller at 32" vs. this 34".

This TV has tons of inputs and outputs, more than any TV I've ever owned, covering the full range. Others wish for a second HDMI input and I agree that's all this TV really needs as far as inputs go. It also has a very comprehensive menu with all kinds of usefull features and settings to play with.

So... more screen area, better picture, lower price,tons of features, what's not to like?

Well.. of course, one big downside (and I mean BIG quite literally!!) is that the TV is huge and HEAVY, nearly 200 lbs. No big deal, my old Wega was a beast as well, it's not like I move it around, and I live on the first floor. Just know you will need 2-3 people to move it whenever you need to do so.

The ONLY other downside to this TV is that issue which plagues ALL tube televisions, and the bigger they get the worse they have it.... geometry issues. For most people, not a big deal, many never even notice it (if you haven't noticed it on whatever tube TV's you've had up til now, you won't on this one), but some people will, and for those, it can be annoying. Luckily, on my set it was an easy fix. Almost all TV's these days have hidden 'service menus' that allow you to tweak all kinds of parameters of the TV. If you aren't afraid to tinker a little, you can easily go in and correct 80-100% of whatever geometry issues any given tube set will have. Some issues may not be completely fixable, but they are so minor 99% of the time that you'll never notice them unless you are looking at a test pattern anyways. This and the size issue are the only reason this TV doesn't get the full 5 stars from me.

Which reminds me, if you are buying such a nice HD set as this, do you and your TV a favor and pick up one of the widely available TV calibration DVD's, Digital Video Essentials or Avia, either can help you easily, greatly improve the TV's picture thru simple menu adjustments, and if you are willing to go into the 'hidden' service menu, you can make adjustments based on these DVD's test patterns that can truly make your TV picture 'perfect' as per the NTSC standard.

Bottom line: LCD's etc. are nice, but tube TV's still provide the best picture. And of tube TV's, this is currently THE top of the line TV you can buy, and a raging bargain to boot. The picture is simply beautiful, and looks great for movies, gaming, and even looks good with regular old low def TV (which looks HORRIBLE on LCD!!). And there's a good chance, if things keep going the way they are going, it won't be available for long. Get yours while you can.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent HDTV CRT for the money!!, April 1, 2006

By 

Eric Carlisle (Bloomington, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV (Electronics)

I was looking for my first quality HDTV with a budget of under $1300. Like many, I first looked at all of the many cool-factor lightweight LCD's. While they do look cool and are very lightweight compared to CRTs; I went with the Sony KD34-XBR970 because of the better picture quality available from a CRT as opposed to what an LCD can produce right now. CRTs can produce true dark blacks and I think that is a very important part of the movie experience.

Although this tv weighs in close to 200lbs, you can have somebody like Crutcfield or SonyStyle, deliver it in your home completely free of charge! So please don't be intimidated by the size. They can do the work for you!

The only things I could of asked for from this tube is maybe Super Fine Pitch which was included in the previous incarnation (XBR960), Picture In Picture, and maybe an extra HDMI connection, but those features would have greatly increased the price of the TV for many.

So in conclusion, I highly recommend the Sony KD-34XBR970 Tube television to anyone out there looking for an incredible widescreen 34" picture that surpasses anything LCD can offer in picture quality in this price range. Get a CRT while you still can, because they are being phased out for the lower quality LCD. Don't be fooled by all of the marketing and hype for LCD!!

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Set Especially Considering the Price, April 17, 2006

By 

T. Moffitt (Portland OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony WEGA KD-34XBR970 34-Inch FD Trinitron Digital HDTV (Electronics)

I've been looking at the previous two high end CRT sets that Sony made (the KD-34XBR960 and the KD-34XS955) for many months but had a hard time justifying the price ($1899 & $1699 respectively).

Our local Sears still has a 960 set up so we were able to compare the pic quality to the new 970 which, quite frankly, I expected to pale in comparison.

Boy, was I wrong!

The image quality of the new 970 is so close to that of the previous top-of-the-line CRT that it's almost impossible to see any difference. By contrast, the KD-34XBR970 is a whopping $500-$700 less than either of the previous models!

Now there are a few small differences in terms of features but frankly those extra features, such as PIP and cablecard, were of little interest to me and would certainly not be worth paying HALF AGAIN the price of the new set and as for the fact that the KD-34XBR970 has a lesser sound system...well, I plan on hooking the set up through my sound system when watching DVDs so it's a non issue ALTHOUGH the built-in speakers and sound is still pretty darn good.

So for a huge difference in price with nearly identical picture quality and all of the same key features that I was interested in this set is my first choice.