Customer Reviews

Sony KDL-V32XBR1 32" BRAVIA XBR LCD Flat Panel HDTV

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Yes, this Sony is price fixed most retail outlets by Sony at the $$$$ price tax. I have seen it on the web at some outlets for less, and they have a different supplier or somehow manage to skirt the required retail pricing.

I bought the set locally from a retail store, the set was for my mother in a nursing facility and they gave me a break on the price somehow (warranty reduction, etc.) It was not as good as web pricing but fair. The price seems high until you realize that Sony does make the best. Here's a quick primer on big flat panel and other HDTVs.

1. DCR built-in, is the digital tuner for High Definition, it is not always included since HDTV broadcasts are still not very widespread. Lots of people just want a good quality digital set that has the capacity for HDTV and many cable boxes themselves have the tuner needed, so a built-in tuner is a luxury item.

2. All TVs have general orders of weaknesses. CRTs (cathode ray tube) are heavy, and do not exceed 42" for the most part, even those have problems because of the weight and structure of the tube. Plasma TVs have active elements that glow, and after so much use they wear and the picture gets less bright. They can also get burn-in so need some sort of screen saver device to be safe. This is not always found on the discount model. Plasma's do not typically have the highest resolutions found in the LCDs Liquid Crystal Display. LCD TV's typically have a weak contrast, and grayish black levels. They have lower frame rates, and will sometimes blur when high speed action is displayed, like a movie chase scene. LCD's do not give off light in the elements like plasma's so they require a back light, this is hard to replace, so it's not advisable to get a cheap model that doesn't have a quality back light. DLP's (digital light projection) use a series of moving mirrors that take away pixelization found in LCD projection models, but there are always issues with moving parts. Other people have found issue with delays on some DLP's that does not allow them to play video games which require a real-time interaction. This is often fixed using the component video connection, but still may be a problem on some sets. Game players beware!

Finding a set that is strong in overcoming these weaknesses without breaking the bank is generally the goal. The Sony while expensive does this. It has an unusually high refresh rates for an LCD, so the high speed chases look great. The blackness level of the XBR models is better than some CRT tv's I've seen which is very unusual on an LCD set.

Everyone hits this TV for two things, lack of PIP, and a backlit remote. The remote you can probably fix with an aftermarket programmable model. As for PIP, I guess this is personal choice. I had a VCR that had nine pictures, and I have PIP on my computer screen which I use as a TV in my bedroom. I never use PIP other than to test to see if it's there. If you want it, don't buy the Sony, wait till they add it in a later model. If you're like me, who cares, PIP is only a rarely used feature for most of us anyway.

The sound system, Sony varies in sound systems for some of their sets, but they made the right choices here, and the below screen speakers do just fine, unless you want home theater sound. This sounds much better than the typical flat panel. On other sets, the sound system is just a place holder for you to add 7.1 surround sound connections.

While they don't support the new 1080P standard on this set, they do support 720P which many HD sets do not and 1080i which all current standard HD sets must support. HD picture is spectacular, especially for football and movie broadcasts made in HD. Commercials, soaps, and other things sometimes broadcast in HD were not filmed that way and so don't look quite as good. It will be years before everything finally gets there. Animation by the way, does not need any better than 480P and will not improve much if at all in higher HD broadcasts. Such is the nature of the art generally only filmed live action benefits greatly from the subtle color, and resolution improvement.

One more thing, current DVDs generally only support 480P, and then normally in progressive scan connections. Sony "Blue Ray" and the other HD DVD standards are working together to come up with a combined standard to make new DVDs that will hold enough data to display a 1080P HD broadcast. You will likely need a new DVD player that supports this as well, so get you're wallet ready again if you want the best. I wouldn't bother replacing all your DVD collection, many won't be remastered into the HD format, and animation makes little sense as I mentioned. New movies and old salable classics will probably show up in the next 2-3 years.

People hate change, and the government are finally forcing the issue so Digital TV will be required in a little over a year. If you have an analog TV, you'll need a converter box which will by rule be cheap to take the digital and convert it to the old standard. This also means HD digital will become popular very fast, so get ready for more HD broadcasts in the near future. This Sony is ready for most of that today. They'll hold the price till the higher standards hit the market, but this is the newest they have right now, so if you want it today, buy it.

Remember to check your LCD for dead pixels when you buy it, this should be returned immediately if you find more than one or two. It's advisable to get a surge protector as well as these are expensive TVs, and you don't want a bad breaker or a lightning strike to hit your home owners insurance that hard. Service contracts can be expensive for these, if the back light is replaceable, I wouldn't bother. TV's without moving parts typically last a long time.

I am a perfectionist when it comes to technology. I have looked for a perfect LCD TV for a long time to fit my needs and this set is definetly it. I owned a 32" from another company previously and this set blows it out of the water completely. The definition and colors on this model are better than all of the competition. You can make the comparision yourself by checking out the TV in a retail store and looking at the images produced by this set to any of the other sets in the store (store settings aren't the best to compare sets, but it's your best bet). This is the top of Sony's line and believe me its worth the premium over its own BRAVIA line of brothers.

I've connected various devices to the TV and the results have all been superb:

- HD DirecTV TIVO: looks amazing, SD channels look pretty good too considering the fact they're SD.

- Panasonic S77 Upconverting DVD Player: Great looking DVD reproduction, very satisfied.

- XBOX 360: Wow. This is definetly a gamer's TV. These two were made for each other.

- PS2/XBOX: Great image quality from even the PS2.

This should give you an idea of what to expect from this set... Sony really delivered with this one and if you want the best, it is definetly worth the extra cash. I don't see anything being better than this set until the next generation of 1080p TV's start becoming more mainstream (Sony already has a new 1080p version of this TV line in the works.

In response to a couple of the above reviewers:

Picture-in-picture: this is a dead feature. First of all you need a television with to tuners in order to be able to watch HD on one feed, and something else on another. A TV of this size would never have PIP because: a) too small to watch b) would need two tuners, and it's expensive enough with just one

CABLECard: It's called a CABLE card for a reason. It's only meant to make it so that you don't need a cable box if you have cable television. Please note that if in your area you enjoy watching pay-per-view, or "on demand" you will lose both these features if you choose to use the CABLE card.

Other than that, this TV reproduces about 20-30% more color than any other LCD in it's range, and so it has an overall amazing image.

The only thing I personally don't like is that the TV has a great look, but I hate that the speakers are covered with fabric instead of some sort of neater looking plastic or something.

I shopped around for a long time and decided that the Sony KLV-S32A10 was going to be my next TV but then I happened upon this one and was blown away. It was hard to pay the extra $$$ for it but I've learned that you get what you pay for and this is no exception. If excellence is what your looking for and you're willing to pay the extra $$$ for it this is the set for you. It doesn't have the DLP technology but I think the picture is better than the sets I viewed that have it. I connected it to a Direct TV DVR and the picture is outstanding. I added an antenna (rabbit ears) just to see if HD was all that I had heard it was and discovered that it was better but not that much better. This is truly the best investment I've made in home entertainment in a very long time. If you're interested in quality and features that'll be around for a long time buy one of these. You won't be disappointed.

I love the picture the most and the sound is solid. My complaint is with the Company rather than the product. I spent $2700 on a television, a steep price, and they do not even include information in the owners manual on how to take off the base stand. Apparently they think it is appropriate to only include that info with their proprietary wall mount. How arrogant! I spent the money on the set, how about a little consideration for your customers. The set costs $700 to $1,000 more than similar models. The piucture is breath taking, but how about a little respect. The store I purchased it in did not even carry their proprietary bracket.I would have rated the set lower, but it is a remarkable television.I have only viewed the picture with a DVD player upgrading the signal to 1080 and it was so incredible it almost made my wife understand why I spent so much for the set. They have built no customer loyalty with me and when I purchase a 50" tv in the future I will again evaluate every brand available and if it is even close, I will go with another manufacturer. The product is so good I can not in good conscience down grade it because of poor documentation, as intentional as it is. I wish I could recommend another set, but I can not.

I did research on all models of lcd tv's for my bookcase which was only 33 inches wide. The sony kdlv32xbr1 is by far the best resolution for my den. A booster was installed by cable company to get hd signals in best quality. Worked great and I am happy that I purchased this sony model.

I thought the Sharp Aquas was the best LCD untill i found a bad pixel,luckily a store manager felt sorry for me and let me exchange even after the in store exchange policy had expired.I've had this TV for about 6 months now with no problems.Its colors are amazing using upconverting dvd player and an xbox 360,sure your gonna pay a little more but save yourself from alot of grief and get this one.

Two issues:

1. The remote control that comes with the Sony KDL-V32XBR1 does not have a SLEEP button on it. Instead, you have to fish thru the several layers of commands on the TV: first find and hit the Wega-button, then use the direction-button to "Timers", then use the direction-button to get to "Sleep", then key in timer delay (e.g. "15" minutes ... requires more button-pushing), then hit Enter-button. You get to do this every night. Yuk. Other Sony TV's have a SLEEP button on the Remote Controller ... fast, easy, and you can do it in the dark (when most people need the SLEEP button)!

2. The slot in the back of the TV for your cable-card does not support "satellite" system cards, like the ones from DirecTV. It only supports "cable" cards. So, if you use DirecTV (or similar), you need to also have ANOTHER box (from DirecTV) for your satellite-card, next to your TV. Bummer.

The TV itself is fine.

Love this TV. It is our first HD and we were limited by space on the size television we could buy. This one had everything we needed and as a Sony devotee, this TV didn't disappoint. The HD channels look great, especially sports. Our digital cable needed a booster to get the HD signal, but haven't had any other problems. Highly recommend this one.

As I say it the best Hdtv out there. If you want a 32-inch lcd hd tv for your bedroom or small game and movie room. The 1080i/720p support are excellent! All 32-inch HDTV or less, don't support 1080p, but don't worry about want to watch high-def tv. Because 1080i is almost the same as 1080p, but only 1080p 've a higher FPS(frames per second)and resolution are a little bit higher, but you can't tell what the different between 1080i and 1080p with a naked eye. so what are you waiting for go and buy this TV, because it limited supplies. This TV are better than any 32-inch HDTV out there. $500 price off, no tax, and $70 or more for shipping overall you get what you pay for.