groundlevelbert

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2200.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
my 5 year old 36" Wega XBR has recently started exhibiting the same characteristics with the picture-in- picture feature as Dave in Seattle... Stay away from Sony...search online and you will easily find hundreds of posts from angry consumers with broken units at several different forum pages...

Strengths:
great set when it works...

Weaknesses:
picture-in-picture problems

Dave in Seattle

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.50 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2300.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
After slightly less than 4 years my Sony KV-36XBR400 has developed an intermittent problem. I will be watching one channel (i.e. 45) and the set will suddenly start showing the video for a different channel (i.e. 4). The audio is correct for the channel I'm tuned to (45) but the video is for the wrong channel (4). If you change channels or switch to one of the VIDEO inputs the audio changes accordingly but the video continues to be for the wrong channel (4). Eventually the video image begins to get "jumpy", intermittently freezing, and sometimes permanently freezing on an image/frame or perhaps just going blank. Because the problem happens on the video inputs (i.e VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2, etc.) as well as the tuner, I don't believe it's a problem with the tuner. I have contacted a Sony Authorized Repair service about this. They have about a 10-day backlog so there is quite a long time before they can come to inspect the set. Here's the painful part... I have had two repair appointments scheduled and as the repair day approaches the set stops exhibiting the problem. If the repairman can't observe the problem, he can't repair the set. So I have to cancel the appointment and wait for the TV to act up again.... at which point I have another 10-day lag before the repairman can come look at it. Because the set weighs 240 pounds it's not easy to take it into a repair shop so in-home repair is most desirable. But, I need the TV to be in its broken state when the in-home repairman comes out. Sigh. Currently the TV is unusable about 20% of the time, totally unpredictable, and, in a sense, unrepairable. I asked the Sony Authorized Repair service if they had a guess as to the problem based on the symptoms. They are 90% certain it is some circuit board, but it will cost me over $750 ($275 for in-home service call/labor and $440 for the circuit board plus sales tax) for that repair and they can't guarantee that will fix my problem. I loved this set while it worked reliably but I am hugely disappointed that it is failing after less than 4 years and the repair is so difficult, so expensive, and so uncertain. At this point, while I'd like to repair this set, I am frustrated to the point of buying new and buying ANYTHING BUT A SONY.

Strengths:
Great picture.

Weaknesses:
Unreliable. Poor repair options. HEAVY.

Price Paid:  $2200.00 from Sony

Summary:
I've owned the Sony KV-36XBR400 for 2 yrs & 9 months. One day we turned on the TV and there was sound but no picture. For a TV that costs $2K+ with the XBR name you'd think it should last more than 2 yrs. The service guy we called said he just came from another customer with a similar problem (sound & no picture). Sony's building these unreliable ticking time-bombs ready to go off. I've NEVER seen any TV go bad in such a short period of time. Sony TVs always have great picture and they can add bells and whistles to their latest product, but if it costs $2K and breaks in 2 years habitually. Would you ever want to buy another Sony TV again?

Strengths:
Great Picture while it lasted

Weaknesses:
Poor component quality control Too heavy to lift by one person

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, RCA

Price Paid:  $2300.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Experiencing power up problems as experienced by others. Sony techs had this tv for 7 weeks and couldn't find problem. It didn't work when it left my house but the bumpy ride had caused it to work again. 5 weeks after I got it back it quit again. Have repeatedly gone to Sony for help. I am not pleased with this tv at all. Sony has been no help whatsoever. I am at the point of just replacing it with a non sony product. If anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate the advice. NO MORE Sony for me!!!!!

Strengths:
Had a beautiful picture while it worked

Weaknesses:
Unreliable,overpriced junk!!!!

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from circuit city

Summary:
There have been enough reviews and everyone gets his/her own view across. I just hope my experience helps someone out there. I recently got a DTV/HDTV receiver, Panasonic TU-DST52. With a simple indoor UHF antenna I got all but one (UPN) local channels in the area. Frankly, broadcast HDTV did bring out the best of the TV which I owned for more than a year, until... I output all programs in 1080i format, the receiver upconverts SDTV nicely, and the tube after all is capable of 1080i. With a 4:3 screen you would think I get the whole picture. Wrong! The tube smells the 1080i input and decides that it has got to be in 16:9 aspect ratio (I would like to ask someone out there, is there any reason to tie 1080i with 16:9? Is it a must? I don't think so.) So, it puts my perfectly 4:3 picture in letterboxed format stretching everything sideway while adding a top and bottom black bars. I called Sony support to see if I could disable that "16:9 Enhanced" thingy, and the very capable tech pointed his finger (didn't know which one) directly to the Panasonic receiver as soon as he heard the word. Lame! He choked when I asked if I bought a Sony receiver it would leave my 4:3 image alone! You can tell that I am quite upset first with the stupid "Enhanced" then with the typical tech (sorry if I offend some of you.) To sum it up, if your output is 1080i in 4:3 aspect ratio, your 36 inch TV is a mere 29 in black matte. Your TV can never display 1080i source in full height! Most people probably do not consider digital/HDTV broadcast but think about this, why pay for a worse signal (cable, satellite) when you can get a much superior one for free (if you live in the right place). Good luck! To be fair, I have not had the time to check if other TVs could do what I think they should do.

Strengths:
16:9 Enhanced Mode

Weaknesses:
Why enhance?

Similar Products Used:
36xbr450