wega or tau???
 

Ok, I have read all of the other posts about these two tv's and I am at a split decision.

I want a 32" TV that is HDTV ready...could someone please tell me where to get one of these .. (there are sooo many model numbers and different retailers) ...plus I have been searching for hours trying to find the best price.

My Local Sears has the wega...but it isn't HDTV ready....they also have the Tau which is but it is costly.

I am almost positive in this forum that someone has done a better job researching and has made a decision they are happy with.

I ultimately would like to set up a progressive scan...digital cable isnt available in my area "yet" but I am sure it will be so i am investing the extra effort to make the best purchase possible.



***Also - If anyone is looking to sell a Tau or Wega (32") please let me know....

Thanks! ... Rob

Hi:
I just purchased a Tau 32" in December and have been very satisfied with it. I also love Sony, but the deal I got on the Tau would have made the Wega over $500 more vs. the Tau, so that came into the decision making process. As you will read in many reviews here & on other boards, the Tau is prone to geometric (albeit slight) problems. However, that is not the case with my set...so far, every source fed into it (incl. calibration DVD's) are perfect. The Wega has fewer geometric problems reported, and Sony does offer a way (from what I have read) to calibrate this from the user menu (the Tau does not, which is the main gripe). Feeding Playstation 2 into the component input is like looking at a high-def computer monitor...the same for my non-progressive DVD player feeding the component in. The great thing about the Tau is that it has built-in progressive scanning. At first (for me), it was weird viewing a picture with no television lines at all. Friends come over & think they are watching a painted picture on this set. Also, the footprint is a little smaller than the same size Wega, so you should consider that if space is tight. Menu functions, the remote, audio & picture setting controls are very good. You should also plan on getting a test disc to properly calibrate the picture. My main TV viewing is from satellite, which looks awsome (though because of current conditions of high compression on Dish Network & Direct TV because of having to carry local channels and not having enough bandwidth, many times the picture looks digital- not due to the Tau- other sources are excellent). I had cable, which was always a poor picture, but was almost unwatchable on this set. Garbage in, garbage out, and the higher quality set you get, the more noticable the garbage. I found the CT32HX40 on sale at the Panasonic Outlet in NJ (a perk of living only a few miles away from Panasonic's corporate HQ) as a left-over (the replacement is the CT32HX41...and besides the remote & probably some minor system tweeks is identical) and got it for $1100. A friend works at Panasonic, so then I got the 10% employee discount, which is why it was so much cheaper than the Wega for me. Price aside, I believe they are both very good sets & I do not think you could go wrong with either one.

the Tau is fine so is the WEGA but if you got the cash get the WEGA XBR the XBR is top of the line and is sweeeeet

I would go tau I think Wega is over hyped. IMHO

If you are going to primarily watch cable tv(digital especially) beware of the XBR. it will pick up every imperfection in the signal. In other words, if you have poor signal, you'll notice it a lot more on the XBR. i just traded in my 2 week old XBR for this reason. Many others, are stepping down to the KV-36FV27. This is the next step down from the XBR. it's an analog set, with many of the XBR features, and about $1000 less. I love mine. DVD is approx. equal to the XBR.

Some of the Tau models don't offer 16:9 squeeze for anamorphic dvds. The Sonys do. i was told that satellite and HDTV feeds on the XBR are the way to go, but IMHO, why should I have to spend for extra equipment to get good reception, when I just shelled out $2500 for a top of the line set. Another point, is that HDTV only broadcasts on 2 channels presently. I'm not at all trying to sway you away from the XBR, but this is just my experience with them. Check this site out for some more Sony help. http://www.agoraquest.com you'll learn a lot. Good luck.

I was interested in the 36" analog Tau, until I found out it won't do the 16:9 squeeze. The picture is good on that one too. Take care.