Overall Product Rating:

Pros: ease of use, shelf life, picture quality in analog mode
Cons: remote and slightly fade from and 90+ angle view

Recommended: Yes
Has Owned Product: 1 Month(s)

Comments:
This 42 Television is the best investment to own. Even without HDTV reception it exceptional in the following categories:

4:3 aspect ratio which turns the wide screen into normal 42 screen w/o cutting the top or bottom of the picture off.

PIP Mode allows you to adjust the height of each picture.

I can use my sony memory stick to view my pictures in wide screen or 4:3 mode. This unit displays a crisp, bright, vibrant picture taken from your Sony Camera on a 42 screen! I know of no other T.V. that allows you to do this.

It is very quite, and you cannot hear the fan in the rear. You only hear wind noise when the unit is turned off and only last about 2 minutes.

The screen is cool to the touch after several hours of use. The screen is hard and not spongy like other display units leaving a finger print after you touch it. Some displays are spongy to the touch and will leave a print of your finger imbedded inside the TV itself lasting for a second. To me thats a flimsy, cheaply made monitor, this is not something that you can wipe off the screen!

Playing a DVD movie is just as good as being in the Movie Theater.

The pictures viewing angle in analog mode (non HDTV) from above/below and both sides was a little dark/faded so I adjusted the brightest 3 notches brighter and its virtually undetectable from any angle now. However, in HDTV mode there is no dark/faded picture from any view angle. I tried this with the Panasonic 50 PT-50LC13 (as the store didnt have a 42) and it only bleached the picture making blacks gray when viewed from an angle.

I have read that the shelf life of this unit (Rear Projection LCD Monitors) is 75,000 to 80,000 hours. There is not a plasma monitor on this planet that can come close to this.


SONY GRAND WEGA 42 KF42WE610 VS. PANASONIC 50 PT-50LC13

I compared the Grand Wega with Panasonic's 50 Widescreen HD-Ready Rear-Projection LCD TV w/DVI Input & 2-Tuner PIP. The store did not sell a 42 Pansonic so I compared with the next best thing, the 50. Both of these units are identical in shape and design. Although this Panasonic is the same price as Sony's 50 Grand Wega (3299 at best buy) it's picture is darker when viewed straight, center. Panasonics PT-50LC13 gets darker when viewed from the top/bottom and sides until you can only see a black screen. I attempted to make adjustments to compensate (no TV is perfect right?) although I was able to brighten the picture considerably, the top/bottom and side views were shadows. Although you can see dark colored items like shirts, sweaters, etc. it's not as crisp as the Grand Wega. Sonys KF42WE610 has a much better view angle in analog mode (non HDTV) and lets face it, most of us who will buy a HDTV ready TV will experience at least 50 of your view in analog mode. This is why I didnt go into HDTV that much as there is very few cable channels available to date and HDTV receivers are over 300. However, after experimenting with the 2 units I chose the Sony KF42WE610 over the Panasonic PT-50LC13 for its picture and sound quality, its ease of use, its ability to view pictures and for its reliability. The only difference between the 2 is that Panasonics version does come with 4 component outputs to Sony's 2 component outputs.

Here is a tip to improve picture quality for analog cable/antenna viewers:
Use a A/C powered, 2 port, coaxial, Electroline Drop Amp to improve analog cable reception. The 18 gauged Satellite coax cable runs from the cable co. to the Electroline Drop Amp in my house. The 1 Meter Monster Video 3 coax cable (gray colored wire) will run from the Electroline Drop Amp to the TV thus improving picture quality.