Sony KDS-55A3000 - HDTV

The good: Excellent overall color fidelity with superb color decoding and grayscale linearity, as well as best-in-class primary color accuracy; deep black levels with solid shadow detail; de-judder processing smooths out pans and camera movement; numerous picture controls; ample connectivity.

The bad: De-judder processing can seem unnatural; improper de-interlacing of 1080i film-based material; labyrinthine menu design.

The bottom line: The SXRD-based Sony KDS-55A3000 exhibited excellent color accuracy and stellar performance in general, making it the year's best performer in the rear-projection HDTV category.


Sony has a real winner with the new KDS-A3000 series, represented here by the 55-inch KDS-55A3000, the middle of three sizes. We liked Sony's LCoS-based SXRD technology when it was first introduced a couple of years ago, and the company has followed up by significantly improving performance. While not perfect, the KDS-55A3000 is the most color-accurate RPTV money can buy today. Its weakest point is in its video processing, which has been the case with Sony for years, but in this TV's instance, that's hardly a deal breaker. As far as overall picture quality is concerned, the 1080p resolution A3000 series tops our list among rear-projection HDTVs, and its excellent value proposition seals the deal.

Design
The external appearance of the KDS-A3000 series is rather basic, and not nearly as striking as the company's flat-panel LCD models, such as the KDL-XBR4 series. This big rear-projector is finished in silver, with black speaker grilles below the screen where the stereo speakers are housed and a strip of see-through paneling below that. It boasts a table-top design with commendably narrow side and top bezels for a look that's mostly screen; its cabinet is relatively narrow in depth. Overall, the 55-inch model measures 49.6 inches wide by 36.3 inches tall by 15.6 inches deep and weighs 81 pounds.

Features
Features abound on the KD-S55A3000, starting with a massive selection of picture settings. Of course, there are the usual selectable picture modes (Vivid, Standard, Custom, and Cinema), and color-temperature presets (Cool, Neutral, Warm 1, and Warm 2). We found the best combination of these to be Standard mode and Warm 2, which produced the best picture at factory presets. The Noise Reduction feature in the Advanced menu cleans up video noise extremely well without significant side effects. However, the MPEG Noise Reduction feature wipes out about 20 percent of the horizontal resolution; perhaps it should be renamed "Resolution Reduction."

Performance
Overall performance on the Sony KD-S55A3000 was excellent, and its standout characteristic compared with other HDTVs is color accuracy. When the Sony is set to Standard color space, the primary colors of red, green, and blue are nearly dead-on accurate to the ATSC specifications. The color decoding is accurate for both SD and HD sources, and the grayscale from the Warm 2 factory preset came mighty close to the broadcast standard. A quick tweak in the advanced menu under white balance made the grayscale nearly perfect.

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