INFLATED PRICE

Author's Rating:

Pros: The adjustable picture for the "twinview" is nice, but not reason enough to purchase.

Cons: Just read above.

The Bottom Line: 
Severely overpriced unit: still retails for $8,000, and the Samsung 40" model has FAR superior contrast ratio, picture quality, refresh rate, and durability and only retails for $4,000.

Author's Review
OK,

This is coming from someone who has been a die-hard supporter of Sony televisions since 1994 when he (I) purchased a $1500 32" XBR picture tube (with wireless headphones). In fact, the past five televisions I've had have ALL been Sony. Since Sony has hands-down been the top performer when it comes to CRT, I naively thought that they would also deliver a quality flat panel LCD; I was DEAD WRONG. To be blunt, this thing is an overpriced piece of trash. For the initial $10,000 price tag (which is a down payment for a house here in Green Bay, WI) this thing should have had breakfast ready when I woke up in the morning. Add to that the fact that one must fork over an additional $500 plus tax just to purchase a stand and what you have is a TRULY expensive TV. Now, I don't always mind paying the price -- as long as QUALITY is involved. For an "XBR", which is "supposed" to be Sony's "top-of-the-line", I can genuinely say that I'm SEVERELY disappointed -- and that's putting it mildly. I purchased this specifically so I could play my PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube in HD without the fear of "burn-in" (vs plasma). I had nothing but problems with the unit, from burned-out pixels after only 2 1/2 weeks to inconsistencies in the contrast of the unit. Sony actually had to replace this panel TWICE, and now they are just buying it back from me. All technical problems aside, the picture quality is only mediocre at best, since Sony doesn't disclose the contrast ratio (which I'm quite certain is nothing to brag about anyway) and the picture has a TERRIBLE refresh rate (compare the "ghosting" after images -- or "blurry" images in this picture to ANY Samsung flat panel LCD, and Samsung has only a 12 millisecond refresh rate -- this thing has about 20 or 25). This was a SEVERE letdown from Sony. If you want CRT, then Sony is definitely the way to go... but if you want flat panels... go with Samsung. Ask any retailer and compare for yourself in the store. This thing is horrible. AVOID.