Sony KDS-60A2000

Today we will go right ahead and get a look at the highly superb statistics for the Sony KDS-60A2000. We reckon you'll go crazy over it. Truthfully you'll absolutely cherish it. Like always, I'll do my best to turn up and show the greatest finds procurable everywhere online after the stats.

This Review By: Ann Cobbs

Sony has enjoyed a lofty place on our top HDTV products lists for a long time, first with the KD-34XBR960 CRT television, then with the KDL-V40XBR1 LCD, and most recently with the KDS-R60XBR1 rear-projection, our highest-rated HDTV for 2005. So it stands to reason that we'd expect big things from the less-expensive successor to the 60XBR1, Sony's KDS-60A2000 ($3,699).

On paper, this HDTV offers just about everything its predecessor delivered: an SXRD light engine, full 1,920x1,080 (a.k.a. 1080p) native resolution, and scads of inputs and picture controls. It also brings a couple of improvements, including the ability to accept 1080p sources via HDMI and a more compact cabinet. In person, its image quality is just as impressive, delivering all the sharpness of the highest-resolution HDTV formats, excellent black level performance, and good color.

Of course, it also costs a few hundred more than some of its competition, but if you're looking for the state of the high-def art, it's worth it. Editors' note: When we first received our KDS-60A2000 review sample we noticed that it could not resolve any of the finest details in a 1080i test pattern. When we showed Sony's engineers the failed pattern, they promised to look into it. After issuing a vague preliminary statement that was originally printed here, the company followed up by admitting that some models in the field may indeed be incapable of resolving all of 1080i.

Sony also provided instructions that allowed us to modify the service menu to address the issue ourselves (we encourage owners who want to get the fix for their TVs to contact Sony directly). After the fix, our KDS-60A2000 passed the test pattern normally. Overall, we don't consider this issue a deal-breaker either way, since we found it impossible to discern prefix images from postfix with normal program material.

The Sony KDS-60A2000 has tighter dimensions than earlier Sony SXRD rear-projection televisions, thanks to Sony's wise decision to move the speakers from the sides to the bottom. Its big 60-inch screen is surrounded by a thin, black frame that's set forward from the mostly silver cabinet. A subtle strip of translucent blue-green runs the width of the cabinet's front, sitting above the perforated silver speaker panels and a flip-down door that hides a few principal controls as well as a set of inputs. Overall, we found the look attractive enough, striking a nice middle ground between the understated Panasonic PT-61DLX and the ultraslick Samsung HLS-6187W.

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