Incomparable!!!. Review on Sony Wega 21'

About 4 years ago, one of my friend bought this TV (the 21'' - M83 model to be specific which has a woofer attached). I was bowled over when I saw the picture. I never knew that a television can look so good. At that time, I attributed the clarity to the flat screen and not specifically to the Sony TV!

Six months down the line, it was my turn to buy a TV. I was very sure, I wanted a flat TV. So I started my research. That time the other options which I was looking at were Panasonic Tau and BPL (I dont remember the model name). BPL was immediately out of the competition. Panasonic had many frills while the Sony had absolutely no frills. Sound quality was comparable in both the models. However, there were no matches as far as picture quality goes. So, I had bought this TV, the M83, way back in March 2000.

How has it fared? Brilliantly. In fact, 5 of my immediate friends and relatives have bought the same model after seeing out TV. It has given me no problems over this years. In fact, I have come to realise why Sony is rated so high. Thought had been given to each and every small detail. The buttons on the remote were logically placed. The sound could be very finely controlled (unlike the 500+ PMPO TVs in which the whole volume range in which you would like to hear your TV were covered in the first two steps). There were many such niceties in the TV which you come to realise anly after a sufficiently long usage.

So is it faultless? No. The thing is that I have a home-theatre (it also happens to be a Sony) which gives a S-Video output. And Wega does not have a S-Video input! You have to make up with the normal composite video input. Though even with this the video quality is very good. It just makes you wonder how this TV would have fared with a S-Video! In terms of such frills, the Panasonic Tau stands out better. It does not just have a S-video input, it also has a component input!!! The component input is the best of the three types of inputs for DVD watching.

Inspite of this one drawback, I would suggest you to go for a wega 21'' with the woofer (M83 model not the HA21 model). In fact, I would even suggest that instead of going for bigger (25'' or 29'') non-flat TV's, go for the flat 21'' wega.

As far as rating is concerned, I take away one of its stars for lack of the S-Video from an otherwise perfect package!