Sony TV Owners & Discussion Thread

[Nullack1503559755]

Its best to disconnect the plug from the power point rather than turn it off and leave it plugged in severe storms and the like.

[merovingian]

A friend of mine who used to be a HN salesman actually shook his head when I told him I'd bought a rear-pro. He pretty much ate humble pie though when I sat him down and showed him some true HD content. He was literally stunned.

Further to the subject of RP being unfashionable, I visited HN Peppermint Grove (Perth) today; no SXRDs on the floor. Admittedly it's a small HN, not to mention that it's stationed in the middle of moneyed Perth (where fashion rules). The sales guy told me that they just don't get any demand for RP at all. He's got a couple of Wega RP on the floor that he's been trying to offload for some time without success, apparently.

He said he could still order a 70" SXRD (no STB included) for me, and wanted to know what prices I had seen. I said 6.3k, as seen on shopbot.com.au. Well he almost took my hand off at that price. He managed to claim that it was cost price, but his enthusiasm to make a deal at that price was clear.

So now I'm wondering what a hot price for the 70" really is? Anyone have a clear idea? Seems to me that it must be sub 6k. I know those auction prices a few weeks ago were lower, but I didn't think they were achievable under normal circumstances.

Incidentally, I'm not planning to buy until March, so I am posing this question purely out of curiosity at this stage.

[andrewfa]

Thanks for your feedback guy's, still a few mixed replys. I realise it will not be an ideal situation for any display, it is more of an entertaining room then a theatre room. I am just trying to find a suitable large display with no expectations of mind blowing quality, but i do not want crap either. Just trying to make the best of a less then ideal environment.

You can get acceptable performance from these things in a bright room. The viewing angle becomes more of an issue though and it's a a far cry from the mindblowing picture you get in a dark room.

That is one thing i am concerned about is the viewing angle deteriorating because of the light. I am not sure how i will get an idea of how it will look, might have to wait a bit longer and hope more people start stocking them in my area.

Thanks,

Andrew

[pixelengine]

Having had my 70" since mid-December, I can certainly say to anybody currently sitting on the fence that these displays are nothing short of superb in practically every regard.

I walked around JB and the DSE Powerhouse a few days ago and found that the 50" plasma screens which had been at the top of my list several months ago, now look nothing short of substandard when compared to the image put out by the SXRDs. Things like screen door effect, the 'digital' nature of the images on most plasma and LCD displays, and even the comparatively small size of 50" all became apparent as severe drawbacks.

And, given the pricing of these units, even at the $6800 I paid for mine, they represent truly astonishing bang for buck, and will no doubt be quite competitive with other display technologies for some years yet.

Pay little attention to what your eyes tell you in the stores - take one of these home, set it up correctly, and enjoy!

My two cents...

[marrich]

The RRP of the Pioneer 50" Plasma 1080p model: PDP-5000EX dropped from around $15,000 before Christmas to $10,999 now. That is more than 26% drop in price. This information is from the Pioneer Australia web page.

I know that it can not be compared to the SXRD as it is a plasma and 10" or 20" smaller, but I thought this information may be interesting. Has any one seen this TV? I am wondering whether the picture quality is better or the SXRD.

I hope that this is an indication that the prices may drop significantly in the coming months from Sony and the like as the technologies are getting a bit older now and also because of the increase of the Australian Dollar value against the US Dollar as well as the Japanese Yen.

[The Evil Dr J]

Our 60" is used in a controlled-light environment (we have roller-shutters on the windows, so near total darkness is possible during the day) but I use the set regularly with a lot of ambient natural light without issue. In fact, I prefer to watch "SD" DVD content with a 'bias light' on in the room (in this case a wall-mounted diffuser) as it tends to make the blacks seem even blacker and disguises the digital noise seemingly inherent in (almost) every DVD!

Cheers!

[blacknbrindle]

Ok ive run into a bit of a dilema , as you can see from the bottom of my post i have the Yamaha RX-V2700 and just installed the Sony 60 in SXRD .

The 2700 can upscale all video and pass it through to the hdmi cable and onto the screen . I have my xbox 360 connected up via component and have the conversion to HDMI turned on but have it set to pass through the resolution to the hdmi port without upscaling . If i try and set any resolution on the 360 except for 1080p it sends the signal through without a problem and the corresponding signal quickly shows up on the top left of the screen Eg: 1080i etc . But if i try and set it to 1080p it just goes black and reverts to the screen saver of the Yamaha .

If i check the information setting in the Yammy's menu it says the signal is 1080p but only shows 576i at the hdmi port ?

[The Evil Dr J]

Jeez, I'm finding that in a room where I can hear a pin drop, I can't hear the sound of the SXRD fan. The only time I can hear it is if I poke my head around the back of the TV. Maybe for once in my life I got a good sample because I'm not having any of the issues that others are posting about.

I agree! Our HT room (I can't really call it a loungeroom, as it contains the system, its associated furniture, a rug, a coffee table, a beanbag and a lounge suite!) has a very low noise floor and the fan is only just noticeable, a dull hum. I only really notice the fan noise once the set is turned off (in cool-down) and there is no other noise in the room.

Cheers!

[Owen]

The RRP of the Pioneer 50" Plasma 1080p model: PDP-5000EX dropped from around $15,000 before Christmas to $10,999 now. That is more than 26% drop in price. This information is from the Pioneer Australia web page.

I know that it can not be compared to the SXRD as it is a plasma and 10" or 20" smaller, but I thought this information may be interesting. Has any one seen this TV? I am wondering whether the picture quality is better or the SXRD.

I hope that this is an indication that the prices may drop significantly in the coming months from Sony and the like as the technologies are getting a bit older now and also because of the increase of the Australian Dollar value against the US Dollar as well as the Japanese Yen.

You can’t take the price drop of the pioneer as indicative of the market.

The Pioneer was unrealistically priced at $15k, especially when you consider that the 65” 1080 Panasonic Plasma could be had for the same price or less, therefore the $15k price was just not sustainable.

As for quality, well the Pioneer is a very good unit, however it has poor black levels, even by Plasma standards, and its small size requires a viewing distance of about 2.1 meters or less to be able to get value out of its 1080 resolution.

I expect some fall of in prices over the coming months, but not the sort of drop indicated by the overpriced Pioneer.

[marrich]

You can’t take the price drop of the pioneer as indicative of the market.

The Pioneer was unrealistically priced at $15k, especially when you consider that the 65” 1080 Panasonic Plasma could be had for the same price or less, therefore the $15k price was just not sustainable.

As for quality, well the Pioneer is a very good unit, however it has poor black levels, even by Plasma standards, and its small size requires a viewing distance of about 2.1 meters or less to be able to get value out of its 1080 resolution.

I expect some fall of in prices over the coming months, but not the sort of drop indicated by the overpriced Pioneer.

I agree with you Owen in regards to the pricing, but I have to admit that I was not expecting a fast and a big drop in the Pioneer RRP that quickly. I thought that it will stay the same with more discount through the retailers.

By the way the RRP of the Panasonic 65" is still $18,699 on the Panasonic web page.

[Kabal]

If i try and set any resolution on the 360 except for 1080p it sends the signal through without a problem and the corresponding signal quickly shows up on the top left of the screen Eg: 1080i etc . But if i try and set it to 1080p it just goes black and reverts to the screen saver of the Yamaha .

If i check the information setting in the Yammy's menu it says the signal is 1080p but only shows 576i at the hdmi port ?

The SXRD will not do 1080p over component.

[blacknbrindle]

The SXRD will not do 1080p over component.

Yeah i know that the Sony wont accept 1080p over component , i wasnt trying to send via that . The yamaha amp will upconvert any input signal and convert it it to output via hdmi at the back of the reciever . It seems as though the highest possible resolution the yamaha will accept to pass through to hdmi is 1080i .

After a thorough read of the manual it seems i was right about the 1080i being the highest signal .

[AndrewWilliams]

How well does the Yamaha do when upcoverting low quality signals? My Yamaha does conversion of composite and s-video to component but it makes an absolute mess of the picture. I can't imagine anyone using it.

[pietro1503559499]

I received my Tosh HDE1 yesterday and watched the only HD I have for it so far..Apollo 13...some spectacular vision on the SXRD. Amazing detail in parts. Also the upscaled SD DVDs were very impressive, looking particularly film-like I thought. Proves once again that SD can look fantastic on the Sony.

It was interesting to go back to some FTA HD that I thought was excellent but it was shown to be wanting in comparison with the HD-DVD.

I have 7 HD-DVDs on order from Amazon, can't wait to see the SXRD show them in all their glory.

[drsmith]

I spent a few hours last night watching the cricket on the SXRD from two different sources, the Sony high definition STB and via a digital tuner on the PC (1080p@50hz from PC to the SXRD). Both were connected via HDMI.

With the same settings on both the HDMI inputs, I found the picture quality from both sources to be similar.

I'm curious as to the experience of others regarding the difference in picture quality on the SXRD between an from a PC tuner (with the PC doing the deinterlacing and upscaling) and from a STB.

Even though it was a standard definition source, I found watching the cricket on the SXRD a very pleasurable experience indeed.

[blacknbrindle]

I spent a few hours last night watching the cricket on the SXRD from two different sources, the Sony high definition STB and via a digital tuner on the PC (1080p@50hz from PC to the SXRD). Both were connected via HDMI.

With the same settings on both the HDMI inputs, I found the picture quality from both sources to be similar.

I'm curious as to the experience of others regarding the difference in picture quality on the SXRD between an from a PC tuner (with the PC doing the deinterlacing and upscaling) and from a STB.

Even though it was a standard definition source, I found watching the cricket on the SXRD a very pleasurable experience indeed.

Ive had a couple of days of viewing pleasure and all i can say is ........WOW

Never have i been more impressed with a tv than now .

Granted some SD transmissions do look a little shabby but after playing with the settings ive managed to get an acceptable quality that im happy with .

The HD-DVD has been working over time the last few nights

[pietro1503559499]

It's now time to do something about my SXRD convergence.

I'm not a big fan of tennis but watched a little bit on 7 over the last few days. The white lines are not clean.....on the right there is a red edge, on the left there is a green edge, and on top there is a blue edge. I wonder if other owners would check their sets to see if they have the same experience. I suspect it will be visible to many.

With my 3 previous CRT RPTVs I always noticed that the tennis court white lines always showed convergence problems, especially when the camera is panning and then they become even more obvious.

Does anyone happen to know anybody at Sony service who "specialises" in SXRDs? Otherwise I'll just ring and see what happens.

drsmith....with the cricket I find it very mixed quality. Close in the PQ is good, but at a distance especially with panning or zooming I notice an enormous number of artifacts.

[AndrewWilliams]

I've also found that the quality of FTA via my HTPC and via the in-built tuner are very similar.

Just thought I'd mention that mine did the reset thing today. I was sitting there watching a DVD and all of a sudden the screen went black and the green power light started flashing like it does when you first turn it on.

This is the first time that it's done it to me - about 200 hours of viewing so far. It's by far the hottest day that I've been watching the TV so maybe it's heat related??

[pietro1503559499]

The HD-DVD has been working over time the last few nights

What have you watched? I only had Apollo 13 but 7 more on the way. And another 10 on my Amazon wishlist.

[blacknbrindle]

How well does the Yamaha do when upcoverting low quality signals? My Yamaha does conversion of composite and s-video to component but it makes an absolute mess of the picture. I can't imagine anyone using it.

Well so far i havnt really upscaled anything through the Yammy using the Farouja scaler inside the receiver , ive mainly just passed through the higher signal ( 1080i ) from my dvd player and Xbox 360 and used the conversion to hdmi to output to the Sony . So far im impressed . Would have liked the ability to pass through 1080p from component through the converter in the Yammy out to HDMI but allas it only passes through 1080i . but all is good

What have you watched? I only had Apollo 13 but 7 more on the way. And another 10 on my Amazon wishlist.

Hmm lets see :

The Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift

2 Fast 2 Furious

Backdraft

Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible II

Mission Impossible III

The Last Samurai

Lara Croft Tomb Raider

Eagles Farewell Tour

The Corpse Bride

U2 Rattle & Hum

The Ant Bully

King Kong

Aeon Flux

V For Vendetta

The Bourne Supremacy

Miami Vice

World Trade Centre

Two more on the way via Fed-Ex : Apollo 13 ...... U571

[pietro1503559499]

Hmm lets see :

The Fast and the Furious

The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift

2 Fast 2 Furious

Backdraft

Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible II

Mission Impossible III

The Last Samurai

Lara Croft Tomb Raider

Eagles Farewell Tour

The Corpse Bride

U2 Rattle & Hum

The Ant Bully

King Kong

Aeon Flux

V For Vendetta

The Bourne Supremacy

Miami Vice

World Trade Centre

All that in a couple of days!!!

What looked best on the Sony? King Kong is getting fantastic reviews for PQ.

BTW I see the BBC is releasing Planet Earth on HD-DVD. A must, I would say.

[blacknbrindle]

The Fast & the Furious movies are pretty detailed , King Kong is impressive but after seeing some of the others it looks on par with quite afew of my collection lol

The animated ones ( Ant Bully , Corpse Bride ) have an almost 3d look to them that really jumped out at you .

And yes the BBC movies will definately be on my wishlist

[drsmith]

It's now time to do something about my SXRD convergence.

I'm not a big fan of tennis but watched a little bit on 7 over the last few days. The white lines are not clean.....on the right there is a red edge, on the left there is a green edge, and on top there is a blue edge. I wonder if other owners would check their sets to see if they have the same experience. I suspect it will be visible to many.

With my 3 previous CRT RPTVs I always noticed that the tennis court white lines always showed convergence problems, especially when the camera is panning and then they become even more obvious.

Does anyone happen to know anybody at Sony service who "specialises" in SXRDs? Otherwise I'll just ring and see what happens.

drsmith....with the cricket I find it very mixed quality. Close in the PQ is good, but at a distance especially with panning or zooming I notice an enormous number of artifacts.

I have not watched any tennis, but I will for comparison purposes given that I have had the convergence on mine corrected.

For correcting the convergence under the Sony warranty, I was referred to a third party warranty provider. The service tech had a general knowledge on rear pro's (he owned one himself), but had no specific knowledge on the SXRD. It took two visits for him to correct the convergence via the service menu because on his first visit he was unable to obtain the SXRD's service manual. On his second visit, he was basically learning about the service manual as he went. I have provided some information on this visit on page 92 of the big SXRD thread here.

I may have allready said this before in our earlier discussion on convergence, but if you can, hook the unit up to a PC (DVI/HDMI) at native resolution and try the test patterns I mentioned earlier in this thread. This will give you an indication of any convergence error at the per pixel level.

With the cricket, I have viewed it at both 4m and 3.5m, and I find 4m preferable. A assume this is due to the standard definition source.

I've also found that the quality of FTA via my HTPC and via the in-built tuner are very similar.

Just thought I'd mention that mine did the reset thing today. I was sitting there watching a DVD and all of a sudden the screen went black and the green power light started flashing like it does when you first turn it on.

This is the first time that it's done it to me - about 200 hours of viewing so far. It's by far the hottest day that I've been watching the TV so maybe it's heat related??

So far mine has not done the reset thing. Whilst I would not have clocked up 200 hours yet (I was away for a fortnight over Christman/new year), I have operated the set on some warm evenings.

I operate the lamp on low power mode as I find the unit bright enough in this mode and I operate the fan on the high speed setting to maximise lamp cooling. The split system airconditioner near the top of the wall behind the SXRD will be used more this summer as I find that with everything on, the loungeroom does heat up slightly.

[pietro1503559499]

For correcting the convergence under the Sony warranty, I was referred to a third party warranty provider. The service tech had a general knowledge on rear pro's (he owned one himself), but had no specific knowledge on the SXRD. It took two visits for him to correct the convergence via the service menu because on his first visit he was unable to obtain the SXRD's service manual. On his second visit, he was basically learning about the service manual as he went. I have provided some information on this visit on page 92 of the big SXRD thread http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtop...513&st=1820

As I mentioned earlier my worry is that, living in the country, it will be difficult to find a Sony serviceman with any knowledge of SXRD convergence, though yours seemed to have little knowledge but managed to correct it. I hope I will be as lucky.

I'm half expecting that when I ring Sony they'll say that SXRDs can't have convergence issues.

[MLXXX]

Have been prompted to write this by recent comments in another thread, which can be viewed and commented on here.

On my 60" SXRD, viewing 1080 line video source material, I'm finding very little effect on PQ as a result of rescaling, i.e not using 1:1 pixel mapping.

The SXRD can be set for a display area of "normal" overscan (a 1:1 pixel mode), or "-1", or "-2" for increased extents of overscan. The main effect of the increased overscan is to make the image appear bigger. The effect on detail (of losing the 1:1 mapping) is very subtle; so subtle it is unlikely a person walking into the room could tell whether the screen was operating in "normal" or "-1" mode without checking the setting [apart from the effect on extent of overscan].

For example, the "mosquito on leaves" 1440x1080i 83MB m2t format clip here, playable with VLC player, shows a background of green leaves, and setting higher overscan causes an extremely small reduction in clarity of some of the leaves.

The difference with computer text and graphics can be noticed readily, when feeding a desktop to an HDMI input of the 60” SXRD. At non-1:1 mapping, plain text develops an extra weight, approaching bold text. As a result of that, with very small text (8 point) in a Word document, it becomes difficult to distinguish bold text from plain text. There is a slight fuzziness to everything. For close viewing distances, the fuzziness can be annoying.

So in summary, the SXRD benefits noticeably from 1:1 pixel mapping for computer text and graphics, but I have found the effect for video very slight, in most situations negligible.