Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Well I had a 7 year old Sharp Aquos 52" that died recently and instead of repair chose a new TV. I looked at several makes and models but all had to have at least 60" and 3D with excellent quality. Several were in the running and I narrowed it down to one of the Samsung 1080p or 4k models, or the Sony XBR 65" 4k model or this one. I just could not bring myself to pay nearly $1800 more for a TV than this one. So, that left the 1080p models in my price range. I chose Sony because it had nearly the same processing as their XBR 4K model which I thought was the best TV on the market at present. Also this one is 70" and that was also a big plus. I looked at this in this showroom of local dealer and thought the color accuracy was much better than any other TV except the Sony XBR. I am a self proclaimed Home Theater SNOB so I am VERY picky about audio and video and I am usually an early adopter of new technology except this time I chose to not pay more for 4k technology. When we first received this TV out of the box the settings absolutely suck!! So I popped in my ISF HDTV Calibration DVD and calibrated my TV as I always do with a new TV. (For those that do not know ISF is the Imaging Science Foundation and makes standards by which many Movie Theater screens are calibrated. Consider it the THX of the Video world.) Anyway, that made the set MUCH better BUT it still sucked....only less than before. Sony has absolutely NO info in the Owners Manual about calibrating the TV or using the settings available in the Options Menu. My wife initially complained that we spent nearly $3000 for TV, home delivery, install/setup, removal of old 52" TV, and 5 year warranty and got a fuzzy weak washed out video even after ISF Calibration. After an argument, frustration, and an element of buyer's remorse I decided Sony couldn't possibly send out a TV of this Caliber with NEARLY the same guts as their 4K XBR I drooled over and have such poor clarity and washed out image as I was seeing. So I fiddled with the settings and my wife and I both agree it is INFINITELY BETTER. It looks like a top quality cinematic picture with just about any HDTV source. It looks completely transformed compared to initial or even ISF calibration settings. I ended up with a custom setting on the TV that I think is as good as it gets short of Sony's 4K XBR. My settings are: Picture Mode - CUSTOM Backlight - MAX Picture - 92 Brightness - 53 Color - 56 Hue - 0 Color Temperature - NEUTRAL Sharpness - MAX. (I realize that usually Sharpness should be low but,...it just looks better with NO Ghosting) Noise Reduction - HIGH MPEG Noise Reduction - HIGH Dot Noise Reduction - AUTO Reality Creation - MANUAL Resolution- MAX Noise Filtering - MAX Smooth Gradation - OFF Motion flow - SMOOTH Cinemotion - AUTO Advance Settings - Black Corrector - HIGH - Adv. Contrast Enhancer - HIGH - Gamma - 0 - Auto Light Dimmer- OFF - Clear White - OFF - Live Color - MEDIUM - Detail Enhancer - HIGH - Edge Enhancer - HIGH - Skin Naturalizer - OFF With these settings the skin tones are natural, colors are believable, images and sharp and so real they are ALMOST 3D even without the 3D feature turned on. There is NO significant Jittering of the image even with fast moving objects. Motion is cinematic quality and very fluid. Blacks and whites are near perfect. The level of detail and crispness of the image even in low lit screen images is AWESOME. One of the most difficult images for any video screen to display is a checkered or tweed type pattern typical on a male tweed jacket. There is NO discernible ghosting or edge enhancement/glowing which is easily noticed on a males checkered/tweed jacket. Detail is so good you can see most pores on someone's face and even the fibers and texture of a T-shirt. Hair strands on someone's head or beard are crisp. It truly is an AMAZING VIDEO QUALITY!! As long as you fiddle with the settings you will be happy. I suggest starting with my settings above and adjust to your liking. Also in my opinion the remote is terrible. I have a universal remote so I rarely use the remotes that come with electronics except for first time setup. This remote is NOT intuitive and buttons are not laid out in a manner that makes sense except the Play/Rec type buttons and keypad as those are standard. The center buttons are what I mean by poor lay out. Once you get past that then calibrating the TV for AWESOME video took some time but is very doable. I hope this helps others that are in the market for a Top notch HDTV.