Sony KV-28DS60U Review

Overall Rating

Picture the best I have ever seen, especially when viewing with anamorphic widescreen signals

Price

I have a Sony KV-28DS60U IDTV(Should stand for, Improved Definition TV?).

As I receive a bad analogue signal in the Swindon area, I was told it would be unlikely to receive any digital signals, but was pleasantly surprised the auto digital tuner picked up BBC1&2, ITV1&2 and CH4 flawlessly and in the correct channel order. CH5 had to be manually tuned and only works on a good day. Need an aerial upgrade? (Note)-It helps to put the aerial into the TV first.

The picture is absolutely stunning, especially when viewing anamorphic widescreen signals. Colours look smooth and rich, the contrast range is out of this world. I have never seen so many pockmarks on so many actors before. My recommended settings are: Picture Mode - 'Personal'(As 'Live' is too bright), Sharpness - 'Full On'(Better for analogue), AI(Auto contrast optimization) - 'ON'(A must), 100Hz - 'ON'(It does make a slight difference).

For enhanced viewing of a DVD RGB source, with an aspect ratio of 1:2.35, you must connect to AV1, so that the RGB size can be set to 'X+10, Y+15' and then set screen mode to 'Smart'. This gives the best possible display, unless you know better? 'Zoom' is the recommended mode and fills the whole screen, but doesn't look good.

The sound is best left on 'Flat' mode for most things. For Music programs I prefer 'Rock' mode, which beefs up the low frequency bands. I have configured 'Personal' mode to boost all the frequency bands. This is great for low volumes and gives a similar affect to 'loudness', as used on most HiFis.

The pro-logic sound is very good and enhances the experience of home cinema. The rear surround sound speakers are a bit on the feeble side, but you can configure the surround channel, to be a higher level than the others, to suit your personal ambiance.

Digital teletext viewing requires a board upgrade from Sony.

OnDigital is not available in Swindon officially yet as the Mendip transmitter has not been upgraded fully, but I am entitled to free subscription for a year on the basic package and can get my aerial upgraded for £40 when OnDigital finally get their act together.

In conclusion:

Picture - 10/10 (Never seen anything like it!)
Sound - 8/10
Features - 9/10 (Great for the gadget man?)

Overall - 9/10

Members' Comments onGF.'s Review

• john. on 11th May 2001

  Where in the world is this fella? I have never heard of Sony having a 28 inch screen, all Sony mdl start the same way kv= tv 28=screen size the the last characters are mdl definition. The write up does not say where the set was operating at but it cannot be the US, any clues on what country this report came from ?

• Caroline. on 11th May 2001

  I do not personally know many Americans, but those I have had the pleasure (?) of meeting always appear to be rather opioniated and very rarely aware of anything, anywhere or anyone outside of the USA. You, my dear fellow, appear to be included in the "typical American" - surely every self respecting educated adult should be aware that Swindon is in England? As for your other comments, I'm afraid I don't know enough about televisions to comment - yet.
  Regards
  Caroline

• PT. on 21st May 2001

  Leave it to the "British" to think they know it all!

• AB. on 2nd Jul 2001

  And leave it to the Americans to prove they know nothing!

• CiscoKid. on 5th Jul 2001

  Is this about UK and USA or about the TV.
  
  Can this TV work in the amrecan system NTSC ?
  Why I can't find this model at US Stores ??
  
  Manuel

• rex the runt. on 28th Jul 2001

  Why are you slagging off the yanks? They can't help not knowing where the hell Swindon is, I do and wish I didn't. For your information it is a large industrial town situated in Albania, and is reputed to be twinned with Auchswitz. It resembles Kansas somewhat, being mostly flat, dull and featureless, as are most of the inhabitants. Fortunately it is well signposted on the M4 motorway, so by carefully driving at 90 plus you can whistle past this blight on God's jolly green orb in no time. The rest of the county of Wiltshire is dedicated to testing military weapons, and there is no finer place to do biological research in my opinion. Mind you it still ranks better than Birmingham.

• jon. on 10th Feb 2002

  This is a very good review, but how it got to be among the reviews for Sony 32s beats me!
  
  For John from USA
  If you contact a UK website, don't be surprised if you find most(but not all) reviews are from the UK.
  Also, Sony being Japanese, don't just sell their stuff in the USA do they?. They use different model numbereing systems in different regions.In Europe,screen sizes are metric on the latest models.
  
  For PT, the British do know a bit about TV - We invented it!(not too long after we invented radio!) Ever heard of John Logie Baird? Public TV broadcasting was started by the BBC from London in 1929.
  
  For Cisco Kid.
  Sorry this is not an NTSC model. It works on PAL, the British system, which most countries use. The colours and sound are superior to NTSC.High Definition TV was set to improve NTSC but it has not caught on has it?It is too expensive.In Europe the market is very much price driven,meaning people will only pay more for USEFUL features or marked improvement,not gimmicky.Sony is not a brand leader here.
  

• Art. on 25th Jun 2002

  Jon, i'd like to know which part of the UK you live in as you plainly don't get out much.
  Sony is THE brand leader for TV`s(widescreen and 4.3) and DVD players in this country and have been since the start of the home cinema 'boom'. I work in the industry selling home cinema equipment and see more Sony TVs leave our shop than any other brand, closely followed by Panasonic and Phillips. I think perhaps you got lost here looking for Goodmans, Bush or JMB maybe? Quality always costs more........

• TreeFrog. on 19th Jan 2003

  Looking at the reviews for Sony Wega widescreen TV's on this site I was wondering if anybody has purchased a 32 inch model that does not buzz. I put up with a Sony 29 inch 3:4 set that buzzed for 5 years and although I managed to come to terms with it there was still a part of my brain that was listening out for it during the quiet bits. Besides this the set was stunning and I was amazed by the picture quality up until the day that it went to TV heaven. I would gladly sacrifice all of the fancy gadgetry like PIP, Dolby Surround and DRC for a TV that has a good picture and only makes the sounds that it is supposed too. Has anybody found one?

• ElbowN on 28th Feb 2004

  Good to see two great country bickering like school kids over who’s dad has the biggest car.
  Entertaining as this may be it does not help inform citizens from either country as to the merits and pitfalls of the Sony TV

• jramjee on 15th Mar 2004

  I wish Sony hadn\'t bothered with that so-called \"smart\" mode...there is NOTHING smart about this mode. What it actually does is it zooms into the picture, and alters it to fit the length of the screen with the added bonus of distorting the picture...smart ??? I dont\' think so !!!
  
  Leave it on normal for TV, and use the WIDE mode with DVDs (as long as your DVD player is set up to 16:9 - NOT 4:3). So what if the screen shrinks to only half the screen with normal 4:3 TV -- THAT\'S THE WAY IT\'S SUPPOSED TO BE !!!!