Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Grand WEGA KF-42WE610 42-Inch HDTV-Ready LCD Rear Projection TV

When I first laid my eyes on this set in the showroom, I couldn't believe it. I had just been ogling over a $10k plasma set an aisle away, thinking I would never be able to get a set with such crystal clear clarity and vivid colors. Then, I saw the 42WE610. Sony truly came through with an affordable combination of existing technologies (LCD and rear projection) to produce a value-conscious high-end set.

Now that I am through gushing, I have had this set for about 3 months and will attempt a more objective review. I have watched many hours of DVD movies as well as analog, digital and high-definition cable. The only video type I haven't watched is VHS. The Con section below may seem bigger but it is only because I am trying to be more descriptive.

Pros: Bright, vivid colors. Incredible clarity (over 3 million dots of resolution.) DVI input. Slim, sleek design. Light-weight, proportionate to its size (approximately 45lbs.)

Cons: Reasonable angled viewing but still has some problems when being viewed from wide, side angles or from above horizontal (i.e. 90 degrees, or above the set, such as when standing or if seated from a perched position.) Speakers are mediocre but I would think almost anyone buying a set like this has at least some sort of home theater system through which they will power it. Analog cable is a disappointment, not because the set is directly to fault but the resolution of analog cable is so low. The picture looks grainy and just plain unremarkable. If you plan to watch a lot of regular (analog) TV then you may want to reconsider. Digital TV is noticably better and HD TV is great. One last con is that I still struggle with 16:9 aspect ratio sets. It's in between true wide screen and a regular TV so either the scene is stretched and cutoff in places or there is that annoying strip missing across the top and the bottom. That is really a personal quibble though and any set with this ratio is like that.

Summary: Without being too repetitive, this is a great set at a great price, given the quality. Hook it up to a decent sound system and enjoy great digital broadcasting and DVD movies. I suggest getting at least a 2-3 year extended warranty since this is still new technology and its lifetime is unknown ...better safe than sorry. Watching traditional CRT TV's will never be the same after you watch this for a while. It is life-like and mesmerizing when displaying high quality DVD movies. It actually puts the theaters to shame since the colors and clarity are far superior to anything they can put on a big screen. I hope to see more technology and prices like this coming out over the next couple years.

After spending months looking at traditional big screens, plasmas and the Samsung DLP, we decided on this technology. I just wasn't impressed with what I saw from the DLP televisions. Few plasmas are true HD, and the DLP image seemed soft to me. The picture on the Sony Grand Wegas is crisp and clean, never soft (unless you want it that way - Sony provides several settings). One of the greatest things about this type of TV is that there's no burn-in issues, so I don't have to "zoom" all the traditional NTSC. I much prefer to have black bars on the left and right than have, everyone look fat. The 480p off a DVD is stunning - and I can't wait to get an HDTV tuner hooked up. The black levels are quite good, it works well in our sun-lit living room, and the viewing angle is very wide. Strangely, the viewing angle gets better after the TV has warmed up a bit. We happen to have a Sony digital camera, and with the memory stick feature, my wife can watch photo slideshows on the big screen - a bonus feature she really likes.

If you want to hang your TV on the wall I understand the attraction of Plasma. If not (I believe the majority of people out there do not hang their TV on the wall yet)this is a real alternative with significant advantages. If it breaks buy a bulb, not a whole TV as you would with Plasma. Burn in is very unlikely with this technology, whereas Plasma is very prone to it. Picture quality is better in my opinion in normal conditions, additionally you do not have to suffer the irritation of pixel distortion that currently is a fact of life with Plasma.

There is no comparison with CRT, just the 60lbs of weight and the fact it measures around 14" in depth make it worth the change for me. The picture is truly excellent and unlike non LCD projection TV's the light conditions in the room have a minimal effect. The viewing mode can be adjusted (vivid, standard etc)to taste and used to enhance the mood of a movie or offset light conditions.

Freeze frame and PIP are cool allthough I don't see me using them very much, my brain can only watch one thing at a time unlike other people.

One bonus I did not know about when I bought it but love, is that I can insert the memory sticks from my digital camera and watch a slide show of my pictures in seconds after getting back from a trip.

If you are a non geek you will love how easy and quick it was to set up, with no knowledge I hooked it up in minutes.

If you want to move it any time you do not need to hire a fork lift and three big guys to help you, at a push I can carry it myself limited by size more than weight.

At the end of the day it's just a TV and compared to CRT a very expensive TV at that. But if you want Flat Screen, HDTV, that is big but light and has outstanding picture quality but you don't want to take on the Plasma risk this is one great package.

I bought this kind LCD projection TV back oct. 2003. Less than 2 hours per day watching by average. It's lamp burned out last week and cost $200 to replace it by yourself. It is hard to open panel to reach the lamp box. Too expensive to maintain.

I did hours and hours of research before buying a new television. I was thinking of a Plasma screen but found too many negatives about those. I really hesitated to buy this TV at first. I heard that the bulbs go bad within a month of purchase. Luckily mine has been running for 4 months without a problem.

With low quality TV broadcasts you do have a little bit of the screen door effect. It's not that bad at all and you can barely notice it. I just probably sit too close to the television. It's magically disappears when you watch movies, or least I myself just can't see it.

The picture quality is amazing with DVDs, especially Pixar films. I don't use the built in speakers much but they sound just fine. I suggest getting a good calibration DVD for this unit, such as AVIA or Video Essentials. It's a pretty good investment.

I have a Playstation 2 connected to the TV with component inputs and widescreen mode in games make everything look so much better. I was worried about ghosting, but I have no noticed any of that and I do play fast paced games such as Gran Turismo 3 etc.

I'm trying hard to come up with some negatives about this TV. There isn't many at all. When turning on the TV it takes 30 seconds to get a good image, but that's normal. If you accidently turn off the power and turn it back on it takes even longer. Not more than a few more seconds.

The remote is well made. The TV has 6 input channels and I wish there was a way to instantly switch to the one you want instead of having to press 'input' up to 5 or so times.

I also should note that at first I was worried that DVD players with upconversion and DVI connectors wouldn't work on this unit. They do work just fine, but stayed with my old DVD player when I realized it wasn't worth the $199 upgrade.

UPDATE: June 10th 2006

Had my first EVER problem with this television. The picture would come up and then disappear after 5 seconds. When I turned off the TV the red light would flash 5 times. All I did was a little research and I found out I needed to replace the "Lamp Driver". It cost me a couple hundred and I did it myself. Problem fixed! Dead TV one day and fixed the next!