Customer Reviews

Sony KDE-42XS955 42-Inch Widescreen WEGA Plasma Flat-Panel TV with Integrated HDTV Tuner

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased a new Sony KDE-37XS955 37" Widescreen HDTV from Amazon, at full price, on 3/21/05. Amazon delivered the TV on 3/30/05 as promised in good packing condition. After unpacking and setting up the TV we turned the TV on. The sound was good but the picture was unrecognizable. Per Amazon policy I called Sony.

Day 1: Called Sony to report problem with TV.

Day 2: Sony repairman shows up to diagnose and make repairs. Repairman tells me
that Sony has instructed him get and replace 2 parts.

Day 3: Repairman calls to inform me that the parts are backordered and it could be
a week.

Day 7: Called repairman to check on part. Repairman says Sony tells him it could
be another week.

Day 14: Called repairman to check on part. Repairman says he still waiting on part
and just does not know when it will be in.

Day 15: Still no word on part. Call Sony and get representative that says he will
look into my problem and have someone call me in 24 hours.

Day 16: I do not receive a call so I call Sony. Representative says that they should
have informed me that a response could be 24 to 48 hours. They also
informed they did work weekends and would call me the next day.

Day 17: I do not receive a call so I again call Sony. Representative informs me that
my file has moved to "the next level" and that "those people" do not work
weekends and they would call me on Monday.

Day 19: Monday 5:00pm ET still no call. I call Sony again and demand to speak
with someone who can help me. Sony puts a supervisor on the phone who
takes my information and tells me they will call me back.

Day 20: Sony calls me back for the first time. They tell me the part is in and will
be out tomorrow to do the repair.

Day 21: Repairman comes out to do repair. Part does NOT fix problem. I call
Sony. They inform me they will call me back.

Day 22: Repairman calls to arrange pickup for TV. They want to take it in to the shop for testing and repairs. This is the 3rd time I have had to take off work to meet someone.

Day 23: Repairman picks up TV. I email Amazon for the forth time for help. They email back to say that they are unable to do anything. I exercise my right and dispute the charge on my credit card with Bank of America. I file a complaint with State of Florida Dept. of Consumer Services.

Day 29: No response from Sony or Amazon. If this were a new car, the State of Florida would have declared it a "Lemon" and made the seller refund the purchase price.

What I have is a real expensive paperweight, that I paid for a month ago, that neither Sony nor Amazon will fix or replace.

Ok, i've owned this absolutely sexy and modern plasma screen tv for 2 weeks and my early impressions are WOW! Every single time i walk into the living room and look at this tv (on and even off) i get that extra deep feeling inside. You guys know what i'm talking about, that strange, almost primal instinct to stare lovingly in it's direction.

First off, I've just upgraded my cable signal to HDTV and the results are incredible. I've seen the future and the future is GOOD! I can only receive 10 HDTV stations at the moment and i've been considering purchasing VOOM satellite since they offer thirty-some-odd HDTV channels, but this monitor makes me wish that all signals were broadcast in HDTV...I can't wait.

Picture quality is superb. Absolutely the best on the market. This third generation plasma by Sony upgrades all signals to produce the best quality picture available. Standard tv, dvd, even vcr signals are all upgraded to "fill in" the resolution to optimize the performance. DVDs transmitted via component cables are incredibly crisp and life like. The signal via cable HDTV box (check your local cablel or satellite retailer) is so beautiful it makes me verge on tears. I am not kidding, Discovery channel is so realistic some people twitch at the sight of reptiles and insects so lovingly reproduced.

My only complaint is the lack of HDTV channels available and as such I worry about burn and leave the tv in zoom mode to prevent the sidebar burn-in common with plasma screens. The zoom mode seems to decrease the picture quality, not by much, but noticable, i've decided to live with it since the picture quality in HDTV full screen mode is so absolutely incredible.

Sound quality is reproduced realistically. The speakers are sufficient for most applications with 25 watt fronts and 50 watt rear mounted sub-woofer speakers. Guests have commented on the power of the speakers. The rear sub-woofer is detachable to allow wall mounting and form a true 2.1 speaker system. Kind of cool.

This machine is a work of art. I'm still not sure exactly how this technology works, but this tv is both beautiful and modern with it's floating glass design. The power light "floats" without any means of support, so impressive. The most impressive fact about this monitor is that it is made in Japan. Don't get me wrong, i'm as patriot as most Americans, but the quality of products coming out of Japan (Sony products are outsourced and mostly produced in Mexico, China, and Indonesia) are first rate.

I have to deduct 1/4 a star since it is a pain to worry about burn-in. So decide right now if plasmas are worth it. DLPs offer almost the same quality without the extreme cost but lack the viewing angle and resolution of montiors such as these. This sony is almost 1500 more than than most plasma so i have to deduct another 1/4 star. I purchased this tv for 900 less retail out the door after bargaining, so be wary of e-retailers offering the tv for less than 3500. Overall, a superb HDTV monitor and well worth the cost.

Most people on this review board do not know what they are talking about. Sony has not retired their plasma line of tvs. Go to your nearest Best Buy or other big chain retailers and compare the pictures. Unfortunately, all the retailers jack up the picture brightness and contrast to help move televisions, so always go to those big box retailers with a chip on your shoulder...compare the tvs and decide, this is the Porsche of plasma TVs.

I recently purchased this TV and a Sharp 45" LCD unit. On the plus side, the colors on the Sony are vibrant and exciting.

Watching 1080i HD content, the Sharp is far superior (less so with 720P content). The Sony display is grainy at both resolutions whereas the Sharp LCD is really like a picture window at 1080i (the Sharp does have the full 1080 lines). The Sony user interface and remote control are comparatively bad, and the on-screen channel guide is painfully slow ... it also shows the channel list you visited rather than the list you are try to scroll to as you channel surf. There is noticeable fan noise which is quite audible in a bedroom setting. Also, the Sony lacks the very nice "smart stretch" mode that the Sharp has (where the edges of the picture are stretched and the middle is not very distorted) which is the only acceptable way to watch 4x3 TV on the full screen for me.

On the Sony I have two pixels out (black "spot") and another constantly white. I can notice them up to about 8 feet away. There is one "constant on" pixel on my Sharp but I have to be within 2 feet to notice.

Having been in the market for a plasma or LCD in the past five months, the pile of "research" papers started to take over my home office. My final decision was made last week.

I'd like to take you through some of the points I found helpful in ultimately going with Sony's KDE-42XS955.

1) Pros and Cons of Plasma and LCD
First, the plasma. Its pros are that is has an incredibly sharp and coloful picture, displays "black", and shades thereof, very well, and has smooth motion. I did not find any large variations between the different brands of plasmas in these variables, except for the ability of displaying *close* to true black. In going to the stores with plasmas on display, the Sony KDE-42XS955 had the very best ability of displaying black (comparing side to side).
The cons of the plasma is that it consumes as much energy as a regular CRT (tube) television. Another aspect that may be considered as a con by some, is that plasmas generate pictures in "gas", instead of liquid crystals, as the case is with LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays). This "gas" has a tendency to become less dense as the years go by. According to the manufacturers, this gas will have a "half-time" of 60,000 hours. That is, 50% of the gas will be left in the plasma after viewing the set 40 hours a week for 29 years. To some, this might be a problem, to others, not so much.
Now for the LCD. The LCD is mostly opposite of what I've said above. That is, black "color" is not displayed as well on an LCD as it is on Plasma. LCDs consume less energy, and do not have the limitation of dissapating gas. The LCD is not capable of displaying "smooth" motion as well as a Plasma set.

I must comment on a review of this set that I read earlier today. The reviewer gave it a rating of 1 star based on the fast that Sony no longer produce plasma TVs. I believe that "review" should be taken with a grain of salt. It has nothing to do with the performance of the Sony KDE-42XS955, so I find that "review" rather pointless. It is true that Sony has discontinued making plasma TVs, however, according to Consumer Reports, Sony and Panasonic plasmas are the only two companies with enough data to say that their repair ratios are relatively low.

It should also be noted, that for both Plasmas and LCDs, it is too early to say "this is good" or "this is bad". There simply aren't enough data to draw those conclusions yet.

So, back to my initial impressions of the Sony KDE-42XS955. After having owned it for about a week it is doing superb and I could not have been happier with its performance. The built in sound is awesome. Unless you desire the 5.1 or 6.1 sound, the built-in speakers does a marvelous job.

Its design is true to "Sony Style". With glass surrounding the plasma screen, an etched "Sony" logo is lit up as the TV is on. I know, pretty insignificant talking about performance, but oh so neat to look at.

Hope this helps.

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A PLASMA FOR A VERY LONG TIME, AND RECENTLY CAME INTO THE AMAZON MARKET PLACE AND OHH MY GOD PLASMA'S FOR $300.00. WELL GEE I KNEW THAT WAS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE BUT $1000.00, HEY THAT SEEMS MORE LIKE IT CONSIDERING THE GUY WAS TRYING TO LIQUIDATE HIS BUSSINESS, AND THE OTHER GUY HAD TO MOVE FROM HIS BUILDING BECAUSE OF RENT SO HE HAD TO GET RID OF ALL HIS PRODUCT, IT SOUNDED REALLY LEGIT BUT GUESS WHAT IT WAS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE THEY FED ME THE SQUARE TRADE ACCOUNT, AND THE AMAZON SHIPPING BUT PAY THRU WETERN UNION BECAUSE HE WAS OUT OF THE COUNTRY, I CONTACTED AMAZON AFTER THE PHONEY INVOICE THAT HE SENT FROM AMAZON AND BELEIVE ME YOU WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO TELL IT WAS PHONEY IT WAS ME CHECKING ON THE INVOICE THAT MADE ME AWARE THAT IT WAS ALL A SCAM, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THEY WANT YOU TO CONTACT THEM FRIST BEFORE ORDERING WELL IF YOU LOOK REAL GOOD THEY ARE USING SOMEONE ELSA'S EMAIL ADDRESS AND ACCOUNT, I ALSO CONTACTED THE AMAZON EMAIL AND THE PERSON WAS NOT AWARE THAT SHE WAS SELLING ANYTHING THESE PEOPLE ARE GOOD AND WILL TRY ANYTHING I GUESS I AM JUST GONNA HAVE TO SAVE UP BECUASE A PLASMA TV IS STILL NOT GONNA BE $300.00

This is the actual email I received ( in references Sony KDE-42XS955 42" Widescreen WEGA Plasma Flat-Panel TV with Integrated HDTV Tuner) to from the seller on Feb 07, 2005. It's not altered in any way.

Seller's email : John hinkley [mr_seller2005@yahoo.com]

---------Email reply from John Starts Here -------
If you wonder why the price is so cheap i want to tell you that our company center are located in est of europe and this is the real price in our country;the medium salary is 100$ so think about.
For payment i can accept western union and all i need i your full name and address so i can contact amazon and start the deal.
After i will call them you will receive an invoice with all the details of the payment and once you make the payment and send the details the product will be delivered immediatly at your address via UPS service.
If you agree thos terms i wait your answer back with all your full name and a ddress so i can start the transaction
Thanks
---------Email reply from John Ends Here -------

You decide if you still want to buy from this guy... Current price he's asking is $2400. What a bargain..

Having never bought a major electronic appliance on the internet I was somewhat hesitant about doing it and actually considered buying direct from Sony. I ended up buying it on line from Vanns through Amazon, thank goodness.

Vanns is a great company to work with and delivered more than an internet shopping experience that worked perfectly. They actually are available to talk with you by phone and e-mail.

I recommend them highly.

Sony has discontinued its Plasma line as it sees no future in this technology . Plasma has many well known deficiencies such as burn in, unstable at altitude, high power consumption and inability to repair and does not offer *TRUE* high def resolutions but when there were no competing technologies it was acceptable for the thin form factor and sex appeal but with the advent of LCD, DLP and newer technologies Plasma has one foot in the graveyard.

This Plasma T.V is marvelous. Its design with silver and black trim is amazing. 2 stereo speakers make theater in home. Remote control, 2AA batteries, an AC power cord, adapters, a warranty card, and service station list means all things come together in the box. If you want to make everyday a special day then just go and have it. I promise it will exceed your expectations.