Amazon.com Product Review
Huge screen. Brilliant, lifelike image. Explosive sound. Yes, it's Sony's 60-inch KDF-60XS955 rear-projection LCD television, which is equipped to deliver standard and full-fledged HDTV reception right out of the box with its integrated NTSC and ATSC (HDTV) tuners. It also offers digital cable readiness with a CableCARD slot and the latest digital-video interface, HDMI. Weighing a mere 113 pounds and standing under 21 inches deep, the set also offers maximum image with minimal space investment.
The set's 1,366 x 788 liquid-crystal display frees you from having to make convergence adjustments or having to worry about image burn-in. Instead you get incredible detail (more than 3 million pixels), high contrast, and even, corner-to-corner brightness from the set's user-replaceable 132-watt UHP (ultra high pressure) lamp.
The screen features a wide, 16:9 aspect ratio to match the dimension of most movies and HDTV broadcasts, and the KDF-60XS955 offers compatibility with standard-definition 480i, enhanced-definition 480p, and high-definition 720p and 1080i signals.
Sony's CineMotion 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal is a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. Digital video mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.
The set's WEGA Engine system maximizes picture performance from any video source by minimizing the number of digital-to-analog conversion processes. This full digital processing engine includes Sony's MID-X (Multi Image Driver), which maintains the integrity of a converted signal by minimizing image loss in the scaling process; and a proprietary optical engine, which employs a trio of Sony's wide-XGA, high-resolution LCD panels, 1 for each of the RGB signals (resulting in a total of 3.28 million dots of resolution).
The optical engine also features a special 11-element lens system responsible for the lightweight, ultra-slim cabinet. The lens system bends the light path, creating an ultra-short focal point while maintaining high brightness. This proprietary system delivers vivid images from the center of the screen all the way to the edges.
This XS Series Grand WEGA television offers advanced menu functions that are typically found only in service menus: gamma correction (bright and dark balancing), black correction (enhances contrast), white balance (fine-tunes white intensity), detail enhancement (sharpens the picture), and clear white (emphasizes whites).
The set includes numerous other features.
- TwinView PIP (picture-in-picture) lets you view any 2 sources simultaneously, even at different image resolutions, while the built-in Memory Stick media slot offers ready display of both JPEG images and MPEG-1 video.
- A Memory Stick media slot (compatible with Memory Stick Pro and Memory Stick Duo media) grants convenient viewing of JPEG and MPEG-1 files. It can also display customized slide shows using MP3 files for background music.
- Authorized CableCARD ability means the set will receive digital cable television systems services directly from the cable operator without requiring a bulky, external cable box.
- Live Color is an innovative circuit that emphasizes blues and greens without affecting reds for a more natural, vivid picture. Choose from 3 enhancement levels (high, medium, low) or "off."
- Sony's exclusive S-Master 1-bit digital amplifier produces 5 watts per channel (x 2), pumping an additional 20 watts into a built-in subwoofer for rich, full-bodied sound from movies and music.
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link the set with any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver).
What's in the Box TV, remote control, remote batteries, a user's manual, and warranty/registration information.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(16 customer reviews) 84 of 86 people found the following review helpful
How I Found my HDTV,
December 29, 2004 Richard Krzemien (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony KDF-60XS955 60-Inch HD-Ready LCD Projection Television (Electronics)
I started searching for an HDTV about seven-years ago while doing some work at CES in Las Vegas. I still remember the moment I spotted my first HD set there. It was a 60" Zenith showing a Dallas Cowboys football game. I stared at the box for about an hour with a small drop of drool hanging from my chin-despite really disliking the Cowboys. After talking with the sales rep., I was sure I'd have a set within a year. Then the HD standards wars began, things got ugly and everything was put on hold.
Years passed. My son, who was 9-years old at the time of the CES show, got older and I got grumpier.
With each passing season I would check out every new HDTV set. I looked at successive generations of plasmas, front projectors, DLPS, LCDs, rear-projection RGB sets and D-ILAs. Each time I thought, this year, this technology will be the one where cost, styling and picture quality converge to produce the winner. But plasma was way too expensive, and every other...Read more
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
First Impression: A great new model Sony HDTV,
October 28, 2004 G. Davis (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony KDF-60XS955 60-Inch HD-Ready LCD Projection Television (Electronics)
First impresssion: I love it. The HD picture is absolutely gorgeous and, happily, the SD picture seems to be very much improved over what the Sony HDTV's produced with their 2003 models. The TV has two tuners, including a built-in digital HDTV tuner, and it will accept a "cable card" so you don't need a box.
The manual leaves something to be desired. Many subjects that should be discussed in detail are barely mentioned. I wonder if the manual-writers actually watched or adjusted this TV before writing about it.
Example: The "Live Color" setting merits only a sentence or two in the manual but, as the default setting from the factory, it made all the white areas of the picture swim crazily, like a 1960's "psychedelic" poster until, through trial and error, I found it buried in "Advanced" video settings and turned it off.
There are two coax cable inputs, "VHF/UHF" and "Cable". I think the former is mostly for attaching an external antenna and your...Read more
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
THE most awesome TV around,
February 17, 2005 Mike Soursby "mrsour" (So. California, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sony KDF-60XS955 60-Inch HD-Ready LCD Projection Television (Electronics)
I spent a year, with a friend, looking for a large-screen TV.
I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Technology seems to always get better, faster. But, I finally wanted something.
I have a 36" Mitsuibishi tube TV, that I bought when they first came out, and LOVE it. Well, it's NOTHING compared to this awesome TV.
I ALMOST bought the Samsung 56" DLP P5685W...Boy, am I glad I finally saw this Sony next to it in Circuit City. I thought the Samsung was good..The Sony is even better.
The Samsung (and I hear may DLP's) has an issue with regular TV broadcasts, where it "flickers", especially on writing that's on the screen.
The Sony has none of that, and it's the most CRISP, clear picture I've seen. Just remember, this thing is going to look about 50% bigger in your home, than it does in the store. I wanted a BIG tv, but I was amazed at just how BIG it really is, once it's in your house :-)
What I like:...Read more
