Ya gotta love that Sony Trinitron tube!

guilt for having gotten the thing free? ;)

First off, I had no intention of buying a TV anytime soon. I actually won a gift certificate to buy.com in an online sweepstakes so this review is a little biased in that the TV has been basically free for me (I did buy a Sony TV stand.)

That said, if I had been truly ready to buy a large tube TV this one would still likely have been my choice (or a similar Sony model.)

Design: I absolutely love these nearly flat trinitron tubes. When the set is on, the screen actually appears to be completely flat unless you view it from an extreme angle. Glare is minimal and the look of the whole TV is very slick (especially sitting on the Sony stand made for the TV.) It's heavy (182 lbs.), but considering the size I don't think it's any heavier than any other similarly sized set.

Size: Size Does Matter :) This is obviously not brand specific (though Sony and their choice of 35" instead of 36" is a little odd), but I wanted to make mention of just how huge this 35" TV is compared to my previous 25" TV.

Picture: Very impressive. I've seen many REALLY expensive "big screen" TVs and I'm not sure if I'll ever even want one of those. In my opinion, a good tube TV always looks much better than a good projection TV. A common problem with any good TV is that it really exposes flaws in the source and it's hard to watch cable now. I do have digital cable and when viewing the actual digital channels, the picture looks very nice. VHS tapes look great (best I've seen from my VCR) hooked up through component video (no s-video on my VCR.) I have ordered a Toshiba 2200 DVD player that should be here next week and then I'll really go nuts.

Color: It is good, but not great - I haven't really adjusted the settings much yet. As it is, the settings are definitely acceptable, but I can tell it will get better once I tweak things more.

Sound: It's a great TV - it brings you the home theater visuals, not the home theater sound so I'm always surprised when I read a review of someone really complaining too much about the sound from a good TV. As far as TV's go, I think the sound from this one is very good. It has MTS stereo and a simulated surround that does help some. For quick viewing of basic network television, the sound is just fine. When I want to watch Independence Day or something, I turn on the receiver and then I'm only disappointed that I don't have a good set of home theater speakers yet, only fronts.

Remote: Everyone always complains about remotes. I have no real gripes with this remote. Yes, the buttons are small. No, it isn't back-lit. Not a problem really. If the buttons were all large, the remote would be way to large itself. The layout is fine and I just have to get used to it like any other remote.

Price: I know I got this TV free and I'm scum and all that, but the price was really good even had I paid for it. On buy.com it was $799 and for a 35" Sony Trinitron with all the features this has I think that's a great price. I've seen it go for $999 in most other places.

Overall: I love it. I'm still in "new toy" mode so of course I love it, but even so this truly is a great TV. Once I receive that DVD player (I'll review the player then) and I can get video essentials and really get the picture as good as possible then this TV should give me many years of very happy viewing.

Rating: I give it 5 stars for value (I think $799 is a great price for this TV) and 5 overall for the quality.

Josh Catlin

Equipment to be added:
- Toshiba 2200 DVD player (dual disk model)
- Yamaha HTR-5150 receiver (amazing for the price!)
- Polk Audio speakers (like that sound!)
- Cable: probably monster cable for now

Similar Products Used:

looked at several other brands in store (I lean towards Toshiba and Sony) and previously had 25" Sanyo

great picture (espeacially with DVD),great blacks, lots inputs (including one set in front)

None

Sony TV's are amongst the best available. Espeacially the tubes. I have recommended them to everyone I know who is in the market for a TV. The picture quality, # of inputs, and overall value is outstanding. One of the best electronics purchases I have ever made.

Good picture, awesome sound quality (able to control surround sound).

For this price, I wish it has picture in picture.

From cable, the picture looks good. From Dvd, Playstation 2, the picture looks awesome. I compared this to a lots of other 35 inch tv's and Sony showed a better quality (filtered out better through s-video input).

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 35 inch

Big sceen, great audio,

Heavy, though to move around

you wont go wrong with Sony. they build quality products that last. So if your gonna invest in a T.V. buy one of these.

Similar Products Used:

lxi