Originally posted by FaxMan
Sometimes height can be a problem also.

How about making the frame/bezel as small as possible on sides/top/bottom with speakers that could attach where they fit best (or remain detached).

In the proper enclosure, they could look like plasma units!

True, height is another consideration. In my case, I had an inch to spare vertically... I mean, the screen would have filled the available opening completely, and then disappear when the doors to the EC are closed. But the depth of the display part of the casing was just square enough that it would not angle into place.

But you're right, somebody needs to come up with one that has entirely optional speaker placement. Hell, the speakers on these things are practically a useless appendage anyway, since they're all connected to home theater surround sound units.

How dumb that Sony made such a nice unit so much bigger than it had to be....

Anybody know who else has a nice 42" LCD in their pipeline?

--PS

Originally posted by greenwing
This time around several levels of tech support people called me back for info and additional details on the problem...It APPEARED they were concerned...

Several levels of tech support were involved and the result was "live with it". There is a major disconnect here somewhere. :(

Originally posted by htwaits
Several levels of tech support were involved and the result was "live with it". There is a major disconnect here somewhere. :(

I agree...Like I mentioned previously I do not know why they just didn't say that to start with...But hey...They paid for the techs to call me and even paid for the one that came out today and didn't so much as open his tool kit...:-)...He was here for maybe 10 minutes tops...Made one phone call back to his shop...Then hit the road...

My what an active thread this afternoon!

driver49: I agree with what you are saying. I really like the thin bezel on the 46" and 56" Sammy DLPs. It kind of gave an illusion of the picture just floating out there in space. What I don't understand is why pretty much ALL of the RP-LCD sets have these "wing speakers"?! An even better improvement, IMHO, would be to start producing sets with *no* speakers. I never use them myself and thus could say on electronics and space.

greenwing: That sucks. I can't imagine that a slanting to that extent is considered "normal". Tosh LCoS owners with only this degree of a problem are being offered refunds or new sets from Toshiba, so what is up with Sony? The good news is that this is something that should be apparent from Day 1, thus your experience is telling all of us that this is an "instant exchange" opportunity.

I don't think, however (and noted that some posts seem to infer this) that this is a universal problem with these sets. It happens on a case by case basis and can be a slight tilting of the optics or alignment of the mirrors. It *should* be correctable. In the case of this bending on one Tosh LCoS it involved moving the mounts on the bottom of mirror to reduce its bending.

Originally posted by greenwing
In fact one of the SONY techs that called me at first did specifically say that this is a common problem with their LCD sets...
I fear for his job.

When the GWIII came out I put it at the top, with the Samsung HLN567, in my own list. When I compare product and customer support between Samsung and Sony I start having doubts about Sony.

I am forced to wait a while longer. Maybe there will be a turn around in what I'm reading.

Originally posted by BTDT
greenwing: That sucks. I can't imagine that a slanting to that extent is considered "normal". Tosh LCoS owners with only this degree of a problem are being offered refunds or new sets from Toshiba, so what is up with Sony? The good news is that this is something that should be apparent from Day 1, thus your experience is telling all of us that this is an "instant exchange" opportunity.

Yes, indeed it is an "instant exchange" opportunity...In fact I called CC to see if they would just deliver a replacement and pick this one up...Repacking this one would be a $%^#*...Especially since I had to cut the plastic straps that hold all the packaging together...They just called back and said they would deliver a new replacement free of charge Thursday...Sweet!...

I also agree that it is most likely a problem unique to this set or a small number of LCD sets...I can not believe all of the LCDs are having this type of problem...There would be a lot more people complaining about it here if it were a problem with all of the sets...

I agree about the speaker-less tv's. although I have a crt rptv so there's room for the speakers on the bottom cabinet. It seems superfluous on most tvs to have tv speakers.

When panasonic sells cordless phones, they sell every model in two different modes: digital answering machine or no digital answering machine, precisely for people with the message center, or other voicemail system.

I wonder if the decreased cost of having a no-speaker option would balance out the increased costs of producing 2 cabinets, 2 software sets and so forth.

Another option would be to market the tv speaker as an "add-on" and timbre match it with the sony dream system models, that way you could buy the "add-on" as a standalone TV speaker or as a center channel to a dream system or not at all...

Jason

Originally posted by BTDT
My what an active thread this afternoon!

driver49: I agree with what you are saying. I really like the thin bezel on the 46" and 56" Sammy DLPs. It kind of gave an illusion of the picture just floating out there in space. What I don't understand is why pretty much ALL of the RP-LCD sets have these "wing speakers"?! An even better improvement, IMHO, would be to start producing sets with *no* speakers. I never use them myself and thus could say on electronics and space.


We're obviously in complete agreement here.

I know that in the grand scale of things, this is just one of life's little disappointments, but my wife and I have been circling around this HDTV thing for almost a year - since we visited CCity during Xmas last year. When SHE saw HD for the first time, SHE said, "wow, let's get it!" She was ready to drop the dough on the spot. I had to tell HER to cool her jets while I researched the myriad details. I think the intervening year has served us, the quality continues to improve, the prices continue to come down, and there is more programming now than there was a year ago.

So imagine my dismay when, after all these months, to have one of these beautiful displays 98% in place.... and have to send it back because the other 2% wouldn't fit. I mean, it was literally 1/2" difference, but there was just no way to squeeze it in. And there's no way I'm taking a saw to $2,500 piece of furniture.

Hello, Sony, are you listening? Not every body wants their gymo TV just sitting out in the living room.... and we don't need no stinkin' speakers!

My kingdom for a half inch.....(I know, "that's what she said...")

Just for grins, I've attached a photo that shows our entertainment center. As you can see, the 42" woulda fit beautifully... if it had fit at all...

--PS

driver49:

One thought that comes to mind in looking at your cabinet is that the GWIII may have burst into flames at some point being kept in such an enclosed space. I think the directions on the set state that it should be no less than 4 includes from the back wall. That is where the fan is and it is especially important to LCD and LCoS technology that you get adequate cooling.

Just a thought.

Assuming I'd gotten the set into the enclosure, there's plenty of clearance inside the cabinet. The point could be well taken though, I might want to provide for some additional ventilation when whatever ultimate solution reveals itself.

Thanks,

--PS

The owner's manual says to give the GWIII a 4" clearance from the back wall. Is everyone doing this, or do some GWIII owners keep their units flush (or nearly so)?

Again, given that LCD and LCoS technologies are prone to damage under poor heat management conditions you would do well to give you set some breathing room. It would be interesting to see if people are doing this....

I read about the Philips Cineos sets in "Fortune" last night - I visited the philips.com website and gathered up what I could there. The 44" units would fit - they're less than 47" and the actual screen bezel looks quite thin, near as I can tell from the illustrations.

Only problem I can see is: where do you get one? CCity doesn't seem to have them, and when I queried the philips.com website for availability within 100 miles of Nashville, I got "not available."

Is anybody familiar with these units, or know where a body could even get one?

I guess I'll look around the AVS forums and see what else I can learn....

--PS

Originally posted by driver49
I read about the Philips Cineos sets in "Fortune" last night - I visited the philips.com website and gathered up what I could there. The 44" units would fit - they're less than 47" and the actual screen bezel looks quite thin, near as I can tell from the illustrations.

Only problem I can see is: where do you get one? CCity doesn't seem to have them, and when I queried the philips.com website for availability within 100 miles of Nashville, I got "not available."

Is anybody familiar with these units, or know where a body could even get one?

I guess I'll look around the AVS forums and see what else I can learn....

--PS

They tried to release this TV .. but poor quality forced them to stop, correct the problems and re-release... The date for availability keeps slipping .. right now it is 12-4-2003 but take that with a huge grain of salt.

There is a a long topic on these units on the avsforum.

Yes, I found the topic elsewhere, and all you report here is true. Apparently they're talking Feb-March delivery if that. Meanwhile I'm trying to ascertain if Sony has any plans for a 42" XBR-LCD, the XBR models have narrower cabinets than the WE models... and all I need is a lousy 1/2 - 3/4" inch. But Sony ain't talkin'.

One thing I'm not clear on, though - are the XBR-LCDs supposed to be newer/better than the WE models, or vice-versa?

Others have suggested another look at the Samsung DLPs, which I will probably do, but the pictures just don't seem to have as much "snap" as the LCDs.

Thanks,

--PS

Originally posted by driver49
True, height is another consideration. In my case, I had an inch to spare vertically... I mean, the screen would have filled the available opening completely, and then disappear when the doors to the EC are closed. But the depth of the display part of the casing was just square enough that it would not angle into place.

But you're right, somebody needs to come up with one that has entirely optional speaker placement. Hell, the speakers on these things are practically a useless appendage anyway, since they're all connected to home theater surround sound units.

How dumb that Sony made such a nice unit so much bigger than it had to be....

Anybody know who else has a nice 42" LCD in their pipeline?

--PS



Driver49.....................There is 5 1/4 inches of dull silver running across the width of the FRONT of the Sony GWIII. Yes, I know there is electronic junk in there but to quote Jay Leno, "Here's my question": Why couldn't and shouldn't Sony have put them in that space? That would give us an out with the wife. The GWIII's are simply to d**n wide!.........Hello Sooooooony!

Originally posted by driver49
Yes, I found the topic elsewhere, and all you report here is true. Apparently they're talking Feb-March delivery if that. Meanwhile I'm trying to ascertain if Sony has any plans for a 42" XBR-LCD, the XBR models have narrower cabinets than the WE models... and all I need is a lousy 1/2 - 3/4" inch. But Sony ain't talkin'.

One thing I'm not clear on, though - are the XBR-LCDs supposed to be newer/better than the WE models, or vice-versa?

Others have suggested another look at the Samsung DLPs, which I will probably do, but the pictures just don't seem to have as much "snap" as the LCDs.

Thanks,

--PS

The DLP pictures are very colorful and bright. I think they would be perfect for a bright environment... like a sun room.... or if you were watching from a long distance away. Some folks think they are a little overpowering as opposed to the softer images some other tv's offer.

Originally posted by wxperson
The DLP pictures are very colorful and bright. I think they would be perfect for a bright environment... like a sun room.... or if you were watching from a long distance away. Some folks think they are a little overpowering as opposed to the softer images some other tv's offer.


Wxman:

I'm gonna have to take my Sony KF-42WE610 back to the dealer as the wife doesn't feel it "fits in". It was William Shakespeare who once wrote: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" (peed off about a TV that doesn't, in her opinion "fit in"). Otherwise I love the Sony, no dead pixels, no "hour glass" look......FANTASTIC picture! Anyways, the reason I'm here is to say that if Sony came out with a TV like the XBR (without SIDE speakers) I'd get it!!!

Get in line. I'm first. And pushy.

Originally posted by driver49
Others have suggested another look at the Samsung DLPs, which I will probably do, but the pictures just don't seem to have as much "snap" as the LCDs.
--PS

Has anyone checked the width of the Pany 50". It looks smaller to me than the 42" Sony that I have.

Don

Hello Everyone,

I just went and saw the GWIII 70" at my local Hi-Fi store. WOW!

My question is has any seen a difference in the PQ of the GWIII 50" vs. 60" vs. 70"?

They were playing a DVD with component video thru a receiver and the picture looked really blurry. Has anyone seen this on his or her sets?

Thanks,

Originally posted by vdcone
Has anyone checked the width of the Pany 50". It looks smaller to me than the 42" Sony that I have.LOL, the Panny 50" is even wider than the 50" GWIII (by about 1.5").

I just checked the dimensions on the Panasonic 50" LCD - it's 55" across, -v- the Sony 42" is 47.3" across. Another one with "wing" speakers that make it to big for its own britches.

Sort of ironic (maybe "bizarre" is more descriptive?), when you consider that the Samsung 50 is only 46.6" across. Now I'm wondering if THAT would fit... but it's like $1,200 more than the 42" Sony I sent back ystdy....

--PS

Originally posted by DLiquid
LOL, the Panny 50" is even wider than the 50" GWIII (by about 1.5").

Thanks "D". I forgot the Panny does have the speakers too. Seems like Sammy wins the RP "skinny" prize at this point. Maybe Sony should do a survey. I would bet even the mass market would choose narrow over wider.

Don

It is common knowledge that TVs are, in fact, made of silly putty.

The more your flatten them, the wider they get...

Originally posted by driver49
...

One thing I'm not clear on, though - are the XBR-LCDs supposed to be newer/better than the WE models, or vice-versa?

...

I BELIEVE the XBRs have a purely digital pathway for the signals, from RF right through to the LCD panels. This offers a slight improvement in picture quality. I have NOT seen one of the new XBR950s, but I have ordered one. There are a few other features the WE models don't have, such as a built-in terrestial tuner and maybe a bit more optics.

Originally posted by vdcone
Thanks "D". I forgot the Panny does have the speakers too. Seems like Sammy wins the RP "skinny" prize at this point. Maybe Sony should do a survey. I would bet even the mass market would choose narrow over wider.I can't imagine why anyone would prefer the wider look. I have to think it was a marketing decision, that if you have two 50" TVs at the same price, the wider one will sell better because people perceive it as being bigger. I definitely prefer the Samsung designs and I'd like my big TV to look as compact as possible.

The XBRs also have a better quality internal scaler and color management. But I don't know if there's really going to be much of a practical difference. The last generation didn't look much different in scaling than the Wegas.

Originally posted by DLiquid
I can't imagine why anyone would prefer the wider look. I have to think it was a marketing decision, that if you have two 50" TVs at the same price, the wider one will sell better because people perceive it as being bigger. I definitely prefer the Samsung designs and I'd like my big TV to look as compact as possible.

My personal theory is that they believe it makes the unit look more plasma-esque. Get the window shopper comparing to plasma, then they notice the greatly lower price, and most won't hang it on the wall anyhow. Bingo.

Originally posted by vdcone
Has anyone checked the width of the Pany 50". It looks smaller to me than the 42" Sony that I have.

Don
It's not.

The Best Buy 10% off mailer just arrived for me... time to head off to Circuit City and get 110% of the price difference back on my 42"GWIII! Woo Hoo! Viva Circuit City!

Can they take 10% off the stup-erfuous plastic housing, or does that discount only apply to the price?

I thought so....

--PS

Personally, I wouldn't put a GWIII into any sort of closed entertainment center. Besides ventilation issues, I don't think this set is as 'ugly' as most projection sets (especially CRT's). I like the Silver/black exterior, and the slim profile makes it easy to get close to a wall and still leave the prescribed 4 inches of clearance. I've got a black Oppli stand from Ikea (no casters). Good height from the couch, very nice aesthetics.

But I agree I'd like it even more if the cabinet only extended slightly past the screen width, without any additional speakers. It would be a cleaner look.

GWIII owners,

I was wondering if anyone else can use the THX optimizer test on DVD's and post a picture of the 16:9 circle test. I have noticed when watching DVD's what others have posted about the horizontal bars being uneven. On my set the bars are wider on the right and it makes the picture appear to be tilted. So when I did the 16:9 circle test the circle was in the middle, but the white outlined box was crooked and you could not even see the second set of lines on the left side, it was off the screen. Is this normal? Can anyone who has a THX DVD test this out and post results and a picture if possible. Thanks for your time.

Originally posted by roblake
I BELIEVE the XBRs have a purely digital pathway for the signals, from RF right through to the LCD panels. This offers a slight improvement in picture quality. I have NOT seen one of the new XBR950s, but I have ordered one. There are a few other features the WE models don't have, such as a built-in terrestial tuner and maybe a bit more optics.



Does ANYONE know if Sony will make a 42 inch XBR .....WITHOUT side speakers. I HAD to take my Sony GWIII (42in) back today........so Sony had BETTER make a 42 inch XBR!

Originally posted by kmil
Does ANYONE know if Sony will make a 42 inch XBR .....WITHOUT side speakers. I HAD to take my Sony GWIII (42in) back today........so Sony had BETTER make a 42 inch XBR! AFAIK, no Sony is not planning on making any XBR Grand Wegas smaller than 60", and no Sony is not planning on removing the side speakers from any Grand Wegas. I do agree though, that an XBR 42" or 50" GW without side speakers would be nice.

Originally posted by DLiquid
AFAIK, no Sony is not planning on making any XBR Grand Wegas smaller than 60", and no Sony is not planning on removing the side speakers from any Grand Wegas. I do agree though, that an XBR 42" or 50" GW without side speakers would be nice.



DLiquid: And "AFAIK" stands for..............??? BTW, if its true Sony
does NOT plan to make an XBR 42 I will be pretty p'od. Now
that ought to shake me up.

Originally posted by kmil
DLiquid: And "AFAIK" stands for..............??? BTW, if its true Sony
does NOT plan to make an XBR 42 I will be pretty p'od. Now
that ought to shake me up.
AFAIK=As Far As I Know

Originally posted by kmil
Does ANYONE know if Sony will make a 42 inch XBR .....WITHOUT side speakers. I HAD to take my Sony GWIII (42in) back today........so Sony had BETTER make a 42 inch XBR!

From all the Sony Press Releases and other Info on thr Web, it doesn't appear that Sony will have the XBR GWIII in a 42" size, at least for 2004. My guess it that they will continue the XBR line in the larger sizes...60" and 70"; maybe a 50" sometime in the future. Although the side speakers are just stupid (I agree that there should just be small speakers below the set's screen since most people who incorporate these rptv's into their HT will never use the tv speakers anyhow), it seems as if most lcd rptv mfgr's are placing the speakers on the side.

Maybe you're thinking about your situation backwards...maybe you should consider a new entertainment center and get the 60" or 50" GWIII :D

Possibly backward thinking aside (our entertainment center is just fine, thank you), I'm with DLiquid on this one... nice to know I've got company.

The desired 42" display does not have to be "XBR," I was entirely looking forward to enjoying one of the existing sets.... but it has to be in a cabinet that doesn't add a whole additional foot to the box. If Samsung can do it that way, why can't Sony?

The news that there are no plans for a 42" GWIII in a narrower case is disappointing. I'll have to wait for one of the Philips LCoS 44s...

--PS

Originally posted by bsgoren
From all the Sony Press Releases and other Info on thr Web, it doesn't appear that Sony will have the XBR GWIII in a 42" size, at least for 2004.


Maybe you're thinking about your situation backwards...maybe you should consider a new entertainment center and get the 60" or 50" GWIII :D


Bsgoren: Thanks, but we have a fixed and limited amount of space to
work with (unfortunately).

Originally posted by driver49
The news that there are no plans for a 42" GWIII in a narrower case is disappointing. I'll have to wait for one of the Philips LCoS 44s...

--PS
Do you know that it's side mounted speakers are small enough?

The dimensions of the Philips LCoS 44 are 14.6 x 46.7 x 31.7 - about an inch narrower than the Sony GWIII 42 (more screen in less space).

You can get specs on the Philips Cineos displays from philips.com:

http://www.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/ce/catalog/subcategory.jhtml;jsessionid=0SAM1UCN4L3WQCRQNE2RYVAKGBUCWHD 0?groupId=TV_GR&divId=0&catId=LCOS_TV_CA&subCatId=LCOS_TV_SU

This page lists two 44" models that appear identical; I can't quite tell what the differences are, besides about $300 in MSRP.

Both models have side-mounted speakers, but the additional width seems minimal. More importantly for my purposes, the depth of the bezel around the screen itself seems much shallower, more like a plamsa bezel. Given the .7" narrower cabinet (which was a the margin of error for my GWIII ystdy), and the thinner bezel, I should be able to "angle" the Philips 44 into place behind the doors of our entertainment center.

All I have to do is actually find one somewhere...

--PS

Originally posted by driver49
All I have to do is actually find one somewhere...

--PS
That may be the toughest part.

The Philips speakers are smaller than Sony's. The 56" HLN567 is only 49.9" wide. That's what my wife likes best at this point. The Philips 55" is probably about 6" wider. When (if) they get working demos in the stores I may have her take another look.

Speaker size is immaterial. I'd sooner get a set with no speakers.

I'm looking at the Philips 44, which is 46.7" I think it will fit in the space allowed but...I've said that before. I'm going to call the Tweeter here in Nashville tomorrow and see if they're taking orders. A buck says who ever I talk to has no idea what I'm talking about...

--PS

Originally posted by driver49
Speaker size is immaterial. I'd sooner get a set with no speakers.
--PS
Smaller in terms of width added to the set. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by jkv4
I was wondering if anyone else can use the THX optimizer test on DVD's and post a picture of the 16:9 circle test... when I did the 16:9 circle test the circle was in the middle, but the white outlined box was crooked and you could not even see the second set of lines on the left side, it was off the screen. Is this normal? Can anyone who has a THX DVD test this out and post results and a picture if possible. Thanks for your time.

I noticed the same problem with my 60" GWIII: the second (outer) THX box was missing the vertical line on the left side. To fix this, I went to Menu > Setup > Game Picture Adjust, and moved the picture towards the right 5 clicks. Fixed the problem for me.

On another note, my family and I watched "Finding Nemo" tonight. Unbelievable picture! More than once my kids said, "it looks real!" We are all very pleased with this set.

Originally posted by rbmcgee
Is Wega pronounced Wega (with a W) or Vega (with a V)?

"V" 2 side by side

VV VisionValue or something like that.

check out this link:

http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/ProductDetailDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&productId=169409&navigationPath=32050n45260

on the right side there are some links to Multimedia video where they talk about the VVega.

Hello everyone... long time lurker, first time poster.

Let me just say that this forum is great, and almost all of my research concerning my latest purchase came from the wonderful posts of you folks. That is why I'm hoping some of you experts and fellow owners can help me out.

I just recently bought the 50" GWIII. I received it yesterday. What can I say, the set is unbelievable! I am completely happy with it except for one minor thing (of course).

I just noticed that the picture rotation seems to be off a bit. What I mean is that it seems to be at a slight angle so that the lower left corner is lower than the lower right corner and the upper left corner is lower than the upper right corner. These differences are about 1/4 inch, maybe less. Basically it is skewed at bit counter-clockwise. It really isn't noticeable unless you have a straight line right next to the edge of the screen, paralleling the edges of the screen. On this occurrence you can see that the line moves at a slight angle to the edge of the screen, so, if given the room, it would eventually intersect with it. (I hope this paints a good enough picture).

Is there any way to fix this? All I really need is a function like those available on any decent monitor that allows modification to the picture rotation (usually in the "geometry sub-menu). Is there anything I can do? Might there be anything in the service menu that will allow me to rotate it clockwise just a couple degrees?

It seems stupid to send it back for this one thing, especially since everything else is perfect. The problem really isn't all that bad, but now that I've noticed it it is bothering me...

Thanks guys.

Roger,

This is also my only complaint. I went to 3 different stores and tested it and all three 50inch GWIII were showing exactly what you are describing. Sony is sending someone out to look at the set. I am hoping that it is fixable by simply adjusting something in the SM. I only really notice it when watching widescreen dvds, it makes the picture seem tilted.
Another poster suggested something with the horizontal adjustment a couple of post back, this helped center the picture but it is still titled.

Thanks for the reply jkv4. I guess its nice to know I'm not the only one with this problem, but it is also a discomfort to see that it is not a freak occurance with the set.

I will be very anxious to know what the service guy says or does.

Right now I feel that I could probably live with this issue. I would probably get used to it after a while and not even notice it anymore. But if something can be done then I am all for giving it a shot. :)

Good luck!

Just picked up my 50" GWIII Yesterday along with a HD300.

My initial impressions out of the box with only changing it to "VIVID", and because my wife wanted to watch TIVO last night instead of letting me hook up the HD300, were decent SD performance (this was via a Coax cable, not SVID or Component), but the blacks got drowned out.

I'm hoping that by using a Svideo cable for Tivo, Component cables for DVD, and hooking up the HD300 via DVI that we will see some amazing things.

Rich

Originally posted by greenwing
I just set up a new KF50WE610 from CC...I am very pleased with this set...

Except for one problem:

It seems that the bars of the left and right of the screen when displaying a 4:3 picture, are wider at the bottom than the top...As much as 1/2 of an inch...Very distracting to me...Is their an adjustment for this somewhere that I have not found...

I am using a Samsung HD TS160 reeiver connected via DVI on input 7...I can find ajustments for moving the screen left and right, but that does not change the problem of the bars being wider at the bottom of the screen...

I also turned on the input for the regular tuner (even thou I do not have cable or an ant connected) and the gray bars were similar there...So I do not think it is an input source problem...


UPDATE TO ABOVE:

Received a call from SONYs tech support...He told me that they agree that this uneven bar thickness has been a problem with these LCD sets...He said they have not been able to figure out exactly what causes it yet...He did say that sometimes the problem can occur when the set is not level...I tried tilting the set forward and backward but nothing changed...

If others have this issue it might be worth a shot to verify that the set is level...

Other than that, he agreed to send out a tech to be on site for the problem...Expecting someone here Tuesday...
Well, the tech showed up today...Looked at the TV and said there was nothing he could do and that being off 1/4 of an inch or so is within SONYs specifications...He did not even try the service menu or anything to see if there was something that could be done...

I called SONY back and told them what he said, and they agreed...There is nothing they can do to fix it...

I guess I will be taking this 50" puppy back to CC...SONY really wasted my time on this...They should have said there was nothing they could do when I called them the first time...I guess they were not as concerned about the problem as I was led to believe...

UPDATE TO ABOVE:

CC delivered the replacement 50" GWIII this morning...GUESS WHAT!

The replacement set has the same kind of problem, but it is bar on the right hand side of the screen this time...It is not as bad as the first set, but the bar on the right is wider at the bottom that at the top...Additionally, the upper and lower bars are off on the replacement set by about the same amount as the side...slightly more than 1/8 of an inch...

The replacement set also has a bright blue stuck pixel about 1/3 of the screen from the right side...I can live with this as it is not noticeable a few feet back from the set...

I guess I will just have to use the set for a few days, then decide what to do...

I have a hard time believing that SONY has these sets in production with no way of correcting this problem...

Allright, after reading all of your wonderful posts, I am convinced that the GWIII 43" or 50" will be my new tv soon to be purchased. However, I do have to convince the wife first. With that said I will be taking her to our local CC here in Northwest Indiana. However, I fret at wondering if the guy trying to sell me the set has any knowledge whatsoever about the sets on display.

Anyway, I do have some questions, please dont kill me on these! I will be direct and without explaination.

- what is SD abbreviated for?
- At this time I only watch Cable and DVD (i have a Sony Progressive Scan DVD player), is this TV overkill for these 2 types of inputs?
- No ones seems to mention anything about the built in speakers? Are they as good as the XBR800's?
- is regular analog cable resolution just at 480i
- and will my sony prog scan dvd player, in prog mode, be at 720p?

I apologize now for these "newbie" questions.

SD = Standard Definition. I think this now applies specificaly to the upper channel #s of digital tv. Channels 2-3 are called 'analog.' The terminology changes depending on what saleseperson you are talking to. All analog signals are "SD" (i.e. NTSC/525 standard), but not all SD signals are analog. I'm sure somebody will correct me on this.

Re "overkill" - you will want to see what an "SD" or "analog" signal looks like before taking this puppy home. I'm not saying it's better or worse, but it's different.

I should think the built in speakers would be nearly irrelevant (assuming you've got a surround sound set up), except that in my case they make the cabinet so wide I could not take delivery of a GWIII-42. So they damn well better be good speakers.

Analog at 480i or DVD at 720...OK, you stumped the band with that one, you get a free dinner at restaurant in Burbank. I look forward to learning the answers to these questions myself.

--PS

Thanks Driver49, for not making me roadkill because of my questions.

I do have a home theater system setup that I would connect this tv too, however, there are times when the wife or certain company would just want to turn on the tv and deal with only one device. Frankly, I like it that way too because I dont need the wife or others to start monkeying around with turning on my reciever and dvd player and ... just to get the theater speakers to work. So, when I am at work, I can relax knowing that my system should be spared as long as the built in speakers on the GWIII are sufficient for the wife and others.

Kezug - I'm pretty new around here myself, but you know what they say: if you know more than the next guy, that makes you the expert. I'm sure somebody will come along shortly and embellish my explanations, and I'm looking forward to somebody straightening out that 480i/720p question. But I do know what "SD" stands for even if I'm still confused about its application (i.e. analog -v- digital).

I agree with your scenario re: the speakers. My point is simply that if the speakers that come with any particular display are adequate to above average, then the need you describe is served - somebody can walk in the room and turn on the TeeVee. If you want truly superior sound, you've got that based covered when you're around to push all the right buttons.

For my purposes, I would have been perfectly happy to have NO speakers as I can set my receiver to turn on automatically with the TeeVee. If the GWIII-42 came with no speakers, detachable speakers, or speakers that added less than a whole FOOT to the width of the cabinet, I'd be downstairs watching some DVD in glorious HD color now, instead of working...

--PS

Originally posted by kezug
Thanks Driver49, for not making me roadkill because of my questions.

I do have a home theater system setup that I would connect this tv too, however, there are times when the wife or certain company would just want to turn on the tv and deal with only one device. Frankly, I like it that way too because I dont need the wife or others to start monkeying around with turning on my reciever and dvd player and ... just to get the theater speakers to work. So, when I am at work, I can relax knowing that my system should be spared as long as the built in speakers on the GWIII are sufficient for the wife and others.

kezug,

Anyone trying to make you roadkill, should realize that they were once in your position, and came here for the same reason you did (hopefully), to learn from others, and then, like to paraphrase Driver49, to share your experiences with those who know less than you do. That's what this place is (should be) all about.

Now, the only comment I'll make is regarding the speakers. We have a 42" set in our bedroom. I actually like the speakers on the side because we do not have a surround sound system hooked up, nor will we (probably) ever. Watched Finding Nemo DVD last night, and to me (and my wife) the sound was better than good. Now, I need to watch it in the family room (with the surround sound, and 65" screen).

ENJOY!

David

Originally posted by RogerWilco

I just noticed that the picture rotation seems to be off a bit. What I mean is that it seems to be at a slight angle so that the lower left corner is lower than the lower right corner and the upper left corner is lower than the upper right corner. These differences are about 1/4 inch, maybe less. Basically it is skewed at bit counter-clockwise. It really isn't noticeable unless you have a straight line right next to the edge of the screen, paralleling the edges of the screen. On this occurrence you can see that the line moves at a slight angle to the edge of the screen, so, if given the room, it would eventually intersect with it. (I hope this paints a good enough picture).



Look on this page (http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/sonyadj.html) for how to get into the Service Menu and you can change the horizontal and vertical tilt values. I think this should solve your problem. All the standard service mode warnings apply.

Thanks Jason. I actually stumbled on this last night. I'm a bit hesitant to go into the SM, but I'll brave it and mess around with some of those settings. I'll let you guys know if I get it fixed. I will be a happy camper if this works!

RW

from reading this thread for a while, I have come to discover that "Sony Techs" aren't necessarily trained to make adjustments in the service menu. So having a Sony tech might not change much.

On my Sony, the "Zoom" mode was too overscanned, and it cut off too much of the screen so I changed the size and positioning of horizontal and vertical in order to get it right. I think it's still off but without paying $500 for an ISF tech, I probably will never get it perfect.

Jason

Originally posted by kezug
Allright, after reading all of your wonderful posts, I am convinced that the GWIII 43" or 50" will be my new tv soon to be purchased. However, I do have to convince the wife first. With that said I will be taking her to our local CC here in Northwest Indiana. However, I fret at wondering if the guy trying to sell me the set has any knowledge whatsoever about the sets on display.

Anyway, I do have some questions, please dont kill me on these! I will be direct and without explaination.

- what is SD abbreviated for?
- At this time I only watch Cable and DVD (i have a Sony Progressive Scan DVD player), is this TV overkill for these 2 types of inputs?
- No ones seems to mention anything about the built in speakers? Are they as good as the XBR800's?
- is regular analog cable resolution just at 480i
- and will my sony prog scan dvd player, in prog mode, be at 720p?

I apologize now for these "newbie" questions.
kezug,

driver49 did a good job with your questions, so I will just tweak the answers a bit:

- SD is typically used to describe 480i sources from OTA, satellite, or cable. I have also seen it used to describe 480p, but that is more correctly defined as ED for Extended Definition (so that plasmas you see advertised for EDTV only do 480p).

- These sets actually do better than most on regular TV and like nearly all HDTVs do a great job on DVDs. It is a good investment now that will pay off even bigger when you get some HD in the house.

- I don't know much about the built in speakers since I don't use them. I seem to remember them not being all that impressive, but you should just take a listen and see if they will work for you (at least until you make that big audio system upgrade :))

- Yes, regular analog cable is 480i (or perhaps even less)

- Your Sony DVD player will only put out 480p, not 720p. The Samsung 931 and Bravo D1 are two players out right now that output 720p/1080i; but be aware that all DVDs right now are 480p anyway.

Picture Left Tilt - Again.

As I have posted in the past, I had my Sony "Authorized' Techs physically shim up the the optical block to level the left tilted picture on my 50" GWII. I believe that I'm the only one to have this done.

There are no SM adjustments for rotating the pic in this set. The geometry adjustment parameters are in the SM but they don't do anything. Furthermore, there are no adjusters provided on the optical block assembly to make any adjustments. It is hard mounted into the chassis. Perhaps the mounting holes are slightly misaligned & haven't been corrected during the manufacturing process.

One would have thought that some kind of mechanical adjuster would have been part of the design, but not so far. I suspect that the GWIIIs are the same.

Okay, so we have verification that the "tilt" adjustments don't work on the GWII. Does anyone have firm information as to whether they work on the GWIII? Is there any mechanical adjustment available? Do all of these sets have the slight tilt or is this a reasonably rare case. I do know that one 50" set I saw had it, but haven't checked that close on others.

Originally posted by BTDT
Do all of these sets have the slight tilt or is this a reasonably rare case. I do know that one 50" set I saw had it, but haven't checked that close on others. When testing with the DVE overscan pattern I didn't notice any tilt on my GWIII, and the 5% overscan lines were very close to the edges, so I'd think I would have noticed any tilt. That's good enough for me.

Originally posted by BTDT
Okay, so we have verification that the "tilt" adjustments don't work on the GWII. Does anyone have firm information as to whether they work on the GWIII? Is there any mechanical adjustment available? Do all of these sets have the slight tilt or is this a reasonably rare case. I do know that one 50" set I saw had it, but haven't checked that close on others.

I can tell you the tech that came out to my house for the tilt problem said there was absolutely no adjustment possible...He also said SONY's spec allows for 1/4 inch...SUCKS!

Originally I was thinking it was a fluke...But now I think I agree with the tech that told me it is a common problem with the SONY LCD sets...My replacement set has the same problem (but opposite side), just not as bad as the original set...

I notice a few more posters today and yesterday reporting similar problems with their set...

Originally posted by DLiquid
When testing with the DVE overscan pattern I didn't notice any tilt on my GWIII, and the 5% overscan lines were very close to the edges, so I'd think I would have noticed any tilt. That's good enough for me.

Same thing for me, I actually looked for tilt and I was fine. No deadpixels, no tilt,,,,,either we are the statistical anomaly or some issues are being overexagerated.

I recently purchased the 42" GW III. I got it home and noticed a stuck red pixel out of the box (I can see it from where I am sitting). I realize that this is an inherrent problem with LCD tvs, but I have not been able to find a good answer as to how pixels wear out over time. I guess what i am trying to figure out is if I find a GW III with no stuck pixels out of the box, what the chances are one will burn out 6 months down the road. Can anyone help me out with this?

I just received my GWIII 50" yesterday and so far I am very happy with my decision to go with this tv. My previous tv for about 3mos. was a 40XBR800 which had discoloration problems I was not willing to live with; Nor did I want take a chance with swapping it out with the same model, only to encounter the same problem which is a known issue.

Although the PQ on the 40"er was excellent and generally better than the GWIII in terms of black levels and contrast, I am very pleased overall with the GWIII thus far. D* looks very good and our kid's shows (Disney channel, Nickelodeon, etc.) look great! I also threw in a couple of DVD's (AOTC and Minority Report) which looked fantastic. This is more like the home theater experience I've been looking for.

With the help of this forum, my decision to go with the GWIII 50" was based on general PQ, room size and seating distance (15x17 sitting 10ft from display); and the fact that there is considerably less glare compared to the 40XBR800 (the tv faces five fairly large windows).

My wife wasn't sure that the 50" wouldn't be too big for the room, but now that we have it in the room, she love's it! We would never go back to anything smaller. We also bought the Ikea Oppli stand which worked great, because we have macthing bookshelves that we were able to use for compenents and storing our dvd collection along side the tv. I'll post pics as soon as I get a chance.

Much thanks to the many posts here concerning the GWIII. I look forward to hearing others experiences and recommendations on getting the most out of this tv.

Originally posted by compfan
Same thing for me, I actually looked for tilt and I was fine. No deadpixels, no tilt,,,,,either we are the statistical anomaly or some issues are being overexagerated.
I think you exaggerated when you speculated that "over exaggeration" was possible. :D

Originally posted by compfan
Same thing for me, I actually looked for tilt and I was fine. No deadpixels, no tilt,,,,,either we are the statistical anomaly or some issues are being overexagerated. I do have some bad pixels. You are definitely a statistical anomaly compfan :p, I've never seen a GWIII with no bad pixels. I might try for one exchange of my set to see if I get lucky, but I'll keep my current set if the replacement is worse. The list of things to check is getting longer: pixels, convergence, tilt, buzz, what else?

Originally posted by DLiquid
The list of things to check is getting longer: pixels, convergence, tilt, buzz, what else?
I've had to start a "problems" folder. :(

Originally posted by htwaits
I've had to start a "problems" folder. :(

I must be that anomally someone mentioned. I got my 50" GWIII on Saturday and have been trying to located the problems being talked about.

I initially ignored the pixels, the convergence, and all that stuff. Then yesteday I spent at least an hour looking for some of these problem. I cannot find (or hear) any of them. The set is perfect at this point. I am not a fanatic but I put off buying anything until I saw a picture worth my money to buy it...the GWIII sent me to the bank to make a withdrawal.

I have a Sony 18.1 LCD PC monitor and I have never have seen a dead pixel or had any problems.

No exchange here or problem folder...all the workers must have been on top of their game when they built my set.

Maybe as the set ages I may see some of the mentioned shortcomings but I will deal with that when the time comes.

I just got KF-50WE610 over the weekend, and my picture isn't straight either. I've tried the Star Wars Ep II disc, the T2 disc, and the Unapix Ultimate DVD disc I got when I bought my first dvd player, and on all of them the picture is curved slightly along the bottom. Meaning, a supposedly straight line across the bottom of the screen is slightly lower in the middle than on the left and about a 3/8th inches higher on the right. I had a Best Buy tech come out and look, and after talking to Sony and telling them incorrectly that it was tilted less than 1/8th of an inch, he was told it was within the 1/4 inch acceptable limit. I'm having a Sony tech come out to look at it soon. Has anyone else had this problem? Should I just skip the Sony tech and have Best Buy exchange it for a new one? I don't have any noticeable dead pixels on this one, which I might get on one I exchange for.

Originally posted by notnow117
Should I just skip the Sony tech and have Best Buy exchange it for a new one? I don't have any noticeable dead pixels on this one, which I might get on one I exchange for.

These sets are not precision optical devices. Unless the picture is horribly crooked, I'd leave well enough alone. You could get one that's tilted as much, maybe more, maybe less. You could also get one with noticeable stuck pixels, etc.

Unless the tilt is way bad, I wouldn't tempt fate too much, but that's just me.

yeah, that's why i'm kinda hesitant to do anything about it. most of the time i don't notice it, so i'm not sure it's worth the potential hassle. thanks for the advice.

Ok getting the set next week or the week after ( already ordered..but delayed)

Has anyone been able to get Native resolution work out from DVI connections?

What do we have in that domain so far?
only 1280 by 720 ??

I managed to get SVIDEO hooked up for TIVO, Component hooked up for DVD, and DVI hooked up for my HD-300.

I am utterly amazed at the picture quality of all three. SD looks great (Survivor tonight looked fantastic) from TIVO, ToyStory 2 is jaw dropping on DVD, and HDTV from PBS (OTA), ABC's Threat Matrix (OTA), and Tulane -vs NAVY football on HDNET... I am very very impressed with the quality.

I'm no expert on PQ, but for not having to do any tweaks to get the picture where it's at... I'm one satisfied customer.

I *knock on wood* don't have any bad pixels that I'm aware of -- and my screen doesn't appear tilted.

The only thing I saw today that I could even complain about is when a camera pans too fast there seems to be artifacts around moving objects on the screen.

Rich

What are people's experiences with DVI input from their cable boxes to the 50we610? Comcast offers the motorola 5100 with DVI out, and supposedly the firmware in my area has been updated to support DVI out - I am considering this unit, and I can ALWAYS use the component, but I was just curious about people's DVI experiences...

Lee

Well I try to spend as much time here as possible, though it is not much. I am always trying to learn and under stand this filed, though I am confused more than not. I want to thank everyone who has posted. I had decided to order either a DLP, with the reflection issue, or the KDF60XBR950. Well I ordered the Sony. I am very pleased. I am not taking delivery for about a month as my home theater room is still being finish as I find time. I am also having it ISF calibrated.
I am going to use a Denon 1600 DVD, with a Denon 4800 and a Parasound amp running to a Rocket 7 speaker set up.
Because of everyone here it made buying this huge purchase, to me, easier.
Now I need to figure out a stand, the new one from Sony is $1,000.
One more thing. If I understand it right this T.V. has a built in over the air HD decoder. What do I need to make this work. Thanks Jon.

Originally posted by LeeG23
What are people's experiences with DVI input from their cable boxes to the 50we610? Comcast offers the motorola 5100 with DVI out, and supposedly the firmware in my area has been updated to support DVI out - I am considering this unit, and I can ALWAYS use the component, but I was just curious about people's DVI experiences...

Lee
So far, very few people have had DVI enabled cable boxes. I think I've seen one or two in the past day or so. I don't think there were any before that.

Surge -

I also have a KDF-60XBR950 on order. My wife and I are working on the stand issue. I saw a finish-it-yourself table at Loews about 19"high for $88 that I thought would do, but she said, "Given the way that looks, I'd rather have a board and some bricks." A trip down to IKEA soon, eh?

All you will need for your HD tuner is an antenna. Either indoor or outdoor, depending on how far you are from the stations, how many stations you want to receive, and in how many directions the stations lie. We are on the edge of a hill with a pretty clean shot to the Cleveland transmitter farm in Parma, so I'm going with a powered RCA antenna, only because they threw that in for free. I've seen several and there is one (Zenith?) that fits nicely up in the corner of the ceiling --- if your ceiling corner has the right alignment for a dipole antenna "looking" at the transmitters.

I was told yesterday by the DishTV store that the OTA transmissions are digital and there won't be the worry about reflected signals causing shadows off of tall buildings. "Multi-path", it is. "You'll either get the signal or not." Hope that is true!

You're mounting your antenna on the corner of the ceiling??

Be sure to save the box the TV comes in. It might be useful as a spare bedroom that you're about to need. ;)

Originally posted by LeeG23
What are people's experiences with DVI input from their cable boxes to the 50we610? Comcast offers the motorola 5100 with DVI out, and supposedly the firmware in my area has been updated to support DVI out - I am considering this unit, and I can ALWAYS use the component, but I was just curious about people's DVI experiences...

Lee

I was told by a fairly knowledgeable salesman at CC that Time Warner was switching over to a new HD box from Pioneer which had a DVI connection. After trying to explain to Time Warner that they had the new box and it was different then their old one, I finally got a Pioneer delivered. Of course their cable installer had no idea what DVI was or how to set it up. I bought a $100 Monster DVI cable to use to hook it up with plans to order in a cheaper cable to compare to down the road. I couldn't get a good picture through the DVI connection, in fact it was terrible. I finally gave up and switched back to component connection which I was happy with anyways, I was just hoping I could improve upon it. Perhaps I was doing something wrong so if a thread gets started regarding how to do a DVI connection I may give it another shot. I also wonder if there was something Time Warner was suppose to do but who knows, certainly not them.

When I first received the Sony LCD, the cable guy plugged my right audio wire into a video connection and I kept getting a loud buzzing noise. He said that they hadn't switched it over downtown yet and it would correct itself soon and then he left. An hour later it was still doing it so I checked the audio connections and quickly found the mistake. I even had all the wires labeled and hooked into the back of the TV before he came. All he had to do was plug them into the cable box. They are even color coded, what an idiot. I can imagine how many installations this guy must screw up a day.

Maybe its me getting older and more cynical, but does it seem like the world is full of monkeys with car keys?

Originally posted by JimP
You're mounting your antenna on the corner of the ceiling??

Be sure to save the box the TV comes in. It might be useful as a spare bedroom that you're about to need. ;)

Not a yagi, JimP! The antenna I think I'm getting looks like a mailing tube. We have plaster ( curves at the ceiling/wall junction and it should fit in right there and "disappear" when painted the same color as the wall.

Monkeys with car keys. Amen to that one, brother. I've purloined the line and will be using it as the closing quotation for my e-mail .sig file for a while...thanks.

--PS

I received by 60" GWIII this past Wednesday.

One thing that I thought was a bit unusual was that when the color temperature is set on "warm", the picture is actually a little pink. I know this is the way that its suppose to work, but all the sets I've seen in the local stores had to be set to warm in order to look neutral.

I also found that trying to setup the TV's color decode with only a couple of hours on it, isn't really of any use. It started off with +15 red and -10ish Green. A few hours later, these values decreased.

I think the best you can hope for is to eyeball the setting, making minor adjustments along the way and enjoy it.

As to the virtical black bars being off, if it is, its not enough to notice.

I had one pixel light up last night that I notice when I was close up. Later, I didn't see it.

Monkey's with car keys, lol. The bad thing was this was the guy installing your AV Equip.

Last week I ordered the 42 GWIII from CDW and am patiently waiting. Got a great price which included a corp. discount. Been lurking ever since. I found a nice tv stand option at diamondcase . com /TT/TT_HTML_Files/TT400 . HTML can't post url's yet so tried this way. At least some different design options...

djcsmc

Careful about the stand. Your brightest picture is when you're eyes are dead even with the center of the screen.

There is a lot of discussion about stands that you can read on this thread.

Thanks, I thought the 21-24 inch range was gonna be good as that is some of the range I saw in some of the other posts. I'll have to check how high the SUGW2 stand is for comparison.

I've made some service menu tweaks and of course my hard drive crashed taking my default values file with it. I would really appreciate it if someone could look up a few default values for me. I have the 50" and need to know for 1080i catagory DCP_USR the values for UPIC, AXIS, UGAM in vivid, standard and pro. By the way AXIS is great for reducing red/orange push.

Thanks in advance!

Question for you GWIII owners. I saw a 50" GWIII at Best Buy this week and I saw a VERY UNFOCUSED image on the screen. Could this be a setup problem or is this a defective unit. I saw one at a different store and the image was crisp and clear. Thanks.

fjerina,

It was probably a set up problem. The GWIIIs provide a lot of options with regard to setting the detail level and sharpness of an image. It seems like I am seeing more and more of these sets tweaked to look like you describe. When I have time I tweak them back :).

Originally posted by roblake
Surge -

I was told yesterday by the DishTV store that the OTA transmissions are digital and there won't be the worry about reflected signals causing shadows off of tall buildings. "Multi-path", it is. "You'll either get the signal or not." Hope that is true!
Yet another case of cretinous sales people giving out erroneous information. While it's true that with digital signals you either have a perfect picture, or it breaks up and drops out -- or doesn't tune in at all -- multi-path definitely can be a problem with OTA digital reception. It can cause the interruptions/signal losses described above.

Are the 2 internal tuners in the GWIII sets HD tuners capable of receiving OTA HD broadcasts?

Originally posted by greenwing
Are the 2 internal tuners in the GWIII sets HD tuners capable of receiving OTA HD broadcasts?



no:(

Originally posted by greenwing
Are the 2 internal tuners in the GWIII sets HD tuners capable of receiving OTA HD broadcasts?

Only the XBR sets have HD OTA tuners built in. (Though I don't know how many)

Originally posted by exLabDriver
Picture Left Tilt - Again.

As I have posted in the past, I had my Sony "Authorized' Techs physically shim up the the optical block to level the left tilted picture on my 50" GWII. I believe that I'm the only one to have this done.

There are no SM adjustments for rotating the pic in this set. The geometry adjustment parameters are in the SM but they don't do anything. Furthermore, there are no adjusters provided on the optical block assembly to make any adjustments. It is hard mounted into the chassis. Perhaps the mounting holes are slightly misaligned & haven't been corrected during the manufacturing process.

One would have thought that some kind of mechanical adjuster would have been part of the design, but not so far. I suspect that the GWIIIs are the same.

Home Depot sells a box of shims for a couple of bucks. Just shove'm under the set till it's level. Then take the box that the set came in, spray paint it black and cut out a rectangle and put it over the screen. Voila! a perfectly straight picture. That's a great way to hide those big ugly side speakers too!

Or you could do what I do and just sit back and enjoy the beautiful picture and not worrry about every freaken detail being perfect.

Everyone who's seen my 50" GWIII says WOW what a nice picture. No one has said "I think your picture is 1/4 inch higher on the right" or "Hey! when I put my nose to your set I noticed 2 dead pixels."

Ok my rant's over.

I do have 2 dead pixels that disappear about 2 feet from the screen. No stuck pixels. I have not noticed any tilt from normal viewing distance and I'm not going to get out a ruler.

I might have one problem that I have not heard discussed here. The TV sound seems to suddenly get softer or louder occasionally. My daughter even mentioned that while she was visiting last week. Like a previous poster I usually use the surround sound system but my wife just uses the built in speakers.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Rock

Originally posted by RockScaler
I might have one problem that I have not heard discussed here. The TV sound seems to suddenly get softer or louder occasionally. My daughter even mentioned that while she was visiting last week. Like a previous poster I usually use the surround sound system but my wife just uses the built in speakers.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Rock
Yes, but usually they just get rid of the wife.

Got a 60" GWIII last week, Also picked up a DVD-1600 which I think is only slightly better than my old Sony for picture quality, but the sound is world's better, pretty amazing! I also have Comcast installing the HDTV, I need to pick up a DVI cable if it's been activated - according to HDTV secion of avs it is, so I'll find out tonight.

I'm still messing with the settings that DLiquid stated, a few of them I've changed slightly, mainly the mild mode which I like to be "on" for DVDs, I think "off" the DVDs are clear but the picture is grainy, I don't mind the slightly less sharp view when mild is "on" but the graininess is gone, which I think is worth it. I also changed the color feel to "neutral" for most movies and sometimes "warm" I think neutral is slightly more natural, but a lot of this is subjective.

Also, has anyone tried changing the settings according to Lucas's THX setup? I was going to give it a shot, if anyone has the Lion King DVD there is a setup for the audio and video, I was wondering if anyone has tried setting the GWIII to these settings?

Overall I'm happy so far, I'll be messing with digital cable, etc, tonight and get a DVI cable.

Originally posted by RockScaler
Home Depot sells a box of shims for a couple of bucks. Just shove'm under the set till it's level. Then take the box that the set came in, spray paint it black and cut out a rectangle and put it over the screen. Voila! a perfectly straight picture. That's a great way to hide those big ugly side speakers too!

Or you could do what I do and just sit back and enjoy the beautiful picture and not worrry about every freaken detail being perfect.

Everyone who's seen my 50" GWIII says WOW what a nice picture. No one has said "I think your picture is 1/4 inch higher on the right" or "Hey! when I put my nose to your set I noticed 2 dead pixels."

Ok my rant's over.

I do have 2 dead pixels that disappear about 2 feet from the screen. No stuck pixels. I have not noticed any tilt from normal viewing distance and I'm not going to get out a ruler.

I might have one problem that I have not heard discussed here. The TV sound seems to suddenly get softer or louder occasionally. My daughter even mentioned that while she was visiting last week. Like a previous poster I usually use the surround sound system but my wife just uses the built in speakers.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Rock

It's not really a matter enjoyment. I absolutely love my new GWIII. What it is is the fact that I know that the set could be better. For some reason it just irks me to know that other people, who paid the same amount as I did (maybe less), do not have any tilt or stuck pixels or whatever. It's the fact that there is a possibility that if I exchange the set I will get a better one (or a worse one... that alone makes me irritated). Call me crazy, but when I spend 3 grand on a TV I would like it to be just as good as the next guys exact same TV. That is why guys like myself are asking if there is any way to fix the issue. It's not really a bitch session, it's just an inquiry.

That being said, I have come to the realization that I can live with the slight problems and it's not worth the time and risk to exchange.

Anyway, as for the volume issue there is some sort of volume stabilization mode (I forget the actual name, but it's in the sound sub-menu). I've noticed that this isn't always very accurate and can produce the "softer/louder" effect.

RW

Originally posted by RockScaler
Home Depot sells a box of shims for a couple of bucks. Just shove'm under the set till it's level. Then take the box that the set came in, spray paint it black and cut out a rectangle and put it over the screen. Voila! a perfectly straight picture. That's a great way to hide those big ugly side speakers too!

Or you could do what I do and just sit back and enjoy the beautiful picture and not worrry about every freaken detail being perfect.

Everyone who's seen my 50" GWIII says WOW what a nice picture. No one has said "I think your picture is 1/4 inch higher on the right" or "Hey! when I put my nose to your set I noticed 2 dead pixels."

Ok my rant's over.

I do have 2 dead pixels that disappear about 2 feet from the screen. No stuck pixels. I have not noticed any tilt from normal viewing distance and I'm not going to get out a ruler.

I might have one problem that I have not heard discussed here. The TV sound seems to suddenly get softer or louder occasionally. My daughter even mentioned that while she was visiting last week. Like a previous poster I usually use the surround sound system but my wife just uses the built in speakers.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Rock

Home Depot also sells speaker covers...Try cutting some large holes in the cardboard box so the speakers can be heard...Glue on the HD speaker covers...Be sure not to paint over them...Voila! Better sound...:rolleyes:

Originally posted by greenwing
Originally posted by RockScaler
Home Depot sells a box of shims for a couple of bucks. Just shove'm under the set till it's level. Then take the box that the set came in, spray paint it black and cut out a rectangle and put it over the screen. Voila! a perfectly straight picture. That's a great way to hide those big ugly side speakers too!
Try cutting some large holes in the cardboard box so the speakers can be heard...Be sure not to paint over them...Voila! Better sound...:rolleyes: [Whisper]
Pssst... I think he was trying for some sarcasm...
[Whisper]

Pssst... I think he was trying for some sarcasm...[/B]

:D

I've noticed a faint green bar that moves up the display only when viewing directv. I haven't noticed it with any dvd's. My wife hasn't noticed it and I'm not about to point it out to her. I can barely see it and I primarily notice it when it passes over people's faces because you can see a green tint. It's about an inch wide on my 50" GWIII. I don't let it bug me too much, but I do know it's there. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this and if this could be due to the directv feed or something else?

Originally posted by Surge
Well I try to spend as much time here as possible, though it is not much. I am always trying to learn and under stand this filed, though I am confused more than not. I want to thank everyone who has posted. I had decided to order either a DLP, with the reflection issue, or the KDF60XBR950. Well I ordered the Sony. I am very pleased. I am not taking delivery for about a month as my home theater room is still being finish as I find time. I am also having it ISF calibrated.
I am going to use a Denon 1600 DVD, with a Denon 4800 and a Parasound amp running to a Rocket 7 speaker set up.
Because of everyone here it made buying this huge purchase, to me, easier.
Now I need to figure out a stand, the new one from Sony is $1,000.
One more thing. If I understand it right this T.V. has a built in over the air HD decoder. What do I need to make this work. Thanks Jon.

What does ISF calibration typically cost?

George

Have you been able to save custom video settings for each input? The manual says we can, but neither Sony Customer Support or CC knows how. Could really use some help here. If I can't figure this out, my new GWIII will have to go back to CC.

Hey,

Got my 60WE610 today. I'm very happy. I haven't noticed any stuck pixels or alignment issues. The picture was great right OOTB. SD looks good, zoomed, stretched, or normal. I've got an older Toshiba progressive scan DVD player, and the picture looks terrific. This is our first large screen TV, and it's awesome, like being in the theater. I tried the internal speakers for awhile, but they basically suck. Now I'm just waiting for the HD cable upgrade.

Thanks for all the great advice.

The tech guy came to fix my alignment -- bars -- but he forgot the service manual... he will come again on Tuesday ... so let's see if he can fix it.

Originally posted by abarsami
The tech guy came to fix my alignment -- bars -- but he forgot the service manual... he will come again on Tuesday ... so let's see if he can fix it.

That inspires confidence!

I've been following this thread for a couple of weeks now, so just wanted to give you all a "heads up" that I took delivery yesterday on a Samsung HLN-467, and have posted some initial reaction and questions to a new thread in the rear projection forum under the subject heading of "Happy with HLN-46," some Setup Questions." I'll probably unsubsribe from this thread now.

Thanks,

--PS

driver49,

Hey, if it doesn't make you fall over from dizziness the Sammy DLP is a great set! (seriously! ask my wife) I would own one today if it wasn't for that problem.

Enjoy!

Originally posted by RogerWilco
For some reason it just irks me to know that other people, who paid the same amount as I did (maybe less), do not have any tilt or stuck pixels or whatever. It's the fact that there is a possibility that if I exchange the set I will get a better one (or a worse one... that alone makes me irritated). Call me crazy, but when I spend 3 grand on a TV I would like it to be just as good as the next guys exact same TV.
A coworker told me yesterday that his new $41K truck broke down with less than 1,000 miles on it ... dead on the side of the road. The response was 'what did you expect for only $41,000'? :eek:

In other words, no technology is 100% perfect. I've had my GWIII 42 for 2 weeks on Sunday. I still have my fingers crossed and still wondering if I should have gotten the Sammy DLP.

Good luck with your pursuit.

I just received delivery of my 50" GWIII from Sears yesterday. After getting close to $1000 of the list price (pricematch, sears card discount and coupon) and waiting 2 weeks, I was ecstatic to finally receive it.

I am completely blown away by this TV. OOTB colors were amazing and it was so bright I actually had to turn down the brightness on it when I was viewing it at night. The TV is shallower than I expected, so I was able to put it further into the corner which increased the WAF considerably :)

My wife actually is the one who received delivery for it while I was at work, and she called me right away and first thing she said when I picked up the phone was "this thing is HUGE. It's like a monster!". After sitting with the TV all day, she said it's still really big, and perhaps too big. I put on the Monsters Inc DVD and that quickly changed her mind. She was amazed at the crispness, brightness and sheer size of the picture. After that point, she was sold!

I'm impressed with the standard speakers on it and it will give me more time to do research on a receiver and speakers.

I have to still try to tweak the picture by using the DVE disc I bought the other day. I'm getting a little intimidated by the amount of tests on this disc. I hope I can figure this thing out :)

Thanks for this forum, I was able to do an extensive amount of research and pick out this TV. I'm extremely satisfied and want to thank everyone for all their contributions to this forum. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot in the next week or so on calibration with DVE, so stay tuned :)

Try watching the new Disney Nemo movie on it. My son thought the fish were real.

Originally posted by bobby_t1


I have to still try to tweak the picture by using the DVE disc I bought the other day. I'm getting a little intimidated by the amount of tests on this disc. I hope I can figure this thing out :)




Where do you get the DVE disc? What is a DVE disc?

George

Originally posted by wxperson
Where do you get the DVE disc? What is a DVE disc?

George

DVE is the "Digital Video Essentials" DVD which seems to be the favorite for TV calibration. Other popular disc is Avia from what I understand.

I bought it from overstock.com for $11.99 on sale.

Originally posted by Beth
Try watching the new Disney Nemo movie on it. My son thought the fish were real.
Living in Turlock what do you expect the poor kid to think.:rolleyes:

From one who spent some childhood in Tipton and Corcoran. Zoom out one to include Tipton. :)

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?csz=Corcoran%2C+CA&state=CA&uzip=93212&ds=n&name=&desc=&%20ed=kkr5Iep_0ToERBA5Z3AzhcRx_QwScMFHIIwdDJAuk01r6tiLdORe%3 Cbr%20/%3EcS4JX0FjcrazYZPxKhnUHj3qaggWXxc7Qyw5tVDS&BFClick=&BFKey=&zoomin=yes&resize=s&mag=6

Originally posted by bobby_t1
My wife actually is the one who received delivery for it while I was at work, and she called me right away and first thing she said when I picked up the phone was "this thing is HUGE. It's like a monster!". After sitting with the TV all day, she said it's still really big, and perhaps too big. I put on the Monsters Inc DVD and that quickly changed her mind. She was amazed at the crispness, brightness and sheer size of the picture. After that point, she was sold!

Day One: "OH MY GOD IT"S HUGE! I don't know if I can live with that....THING in my living room".

End of Day One: "Monsters, Inc looks AWESOME, Hunny!".

Day 2: "It's still pretty big, though".

End of Week One: (insert Brad Pitt movie) "I think I'm starting to get used to it".

Week 2: "Does it seem smaller to you, too?".

Day 29 of ownership: "Do they make it in a bigger size? It's a 30 day return policy, right?".

One hopes.... :)

Originally posted by Beth
Try watching the new Disney Nemo movie on it. My son thought the fish were real.

Just watched part of ICE Age in HDTV on mine...WOW...Unbelievable picture...

I've had my 60" GWIII for 2 weeks now, coming from a 48" Sony CRT RPTV. Overall, I couldn't be happier. I've run both DVE and THX video optimizers and have a pretty solid picture for HD, DVD and SD in daylight. At night, however, when the lights go out, things change.

I am *slightly* disappointed with only 1 area of performance as compared to my CRT and that is with black levels overall when the lights go out (more like a deep purple overall with the GWIII). I know this is a characteristic of LCD in general, but,..........

Anyone have settings they would like to share for their vivid/standard/pro nightime DVD viewing? I am looking to achieve better blacks in nightime viewing, particularly with DVD's.

Thanks!

Originally posted by jjkozlow
Anyone have settings they would like to share for their vivid/standard/pro nightime DVD viewing? I am looking to achieve better blacks in nightime viewing, particularly with DVD's.

Thanks!
Are you watching in total darkness? If so you might want to consider back lighting. Here are some threads on that topic.

http://bulbs.com/
http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_lume.htm
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=251865
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=254271
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2043287#post2043287

Originally posted by htwaits
Living in Turlock what do you expect the poor kid to think.:rolleyes:

From one who spent some childhood in Tipton and Corcoran. Zoom out one to include Tipton. :)

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?csz=Corcoran%2C+CA&state=CA&uzip=93212&ds=n&name=&desc=&%20ed=kkr5Iep_0ToERBA5Z3AzhcRx_QwScMFHIIwdDJAuk01r6tiLdORe%3 Cbr%20/%3EcS4JX0FjcrazYZPxKhnUHj3qaggWXxc7Qyw5tVDS&BFClick=&BFKey=&zoomin=yes&resize=s&mag=6

I'm not quite sure how to take your reply it has nothing to do with the GW nor can I find any point in it other than possibly knocking where I live.

I was talking about the quality of the set. Nemo DOES look good on the set. I'm sure it looks better on other sets as well. My son is only 2 and if his opinion isn't good enough for you then tough.

If you are looking for a good price on GW III now. Check your mail and if you got a 10% off coupon from Best Buy you can get 10%+10% off at your local BB store tonight as they have 10% off on most TVs sale this week.

I just got my GWIII 42" at BB for about 20% off of list price + $120 in gift certicates from their reward program.

The price is pretty much as good as it gets, at least i didn't see anything better on that TV. And the tv could be had tonight. Hope that info will be useful.

Originally posted by Beth
I'm not quite sure how to take your reply it has nothing to do with the GW nor can I find any point in it other than possibly knocking where I live.

I was talking about the quality of the set. Nemo DOES look good on the set. I'm sure it looks better on other sets as well. My son is only 2 and if his opinion isn't good enough for you then tough.
Sorry. It was supposed to be a jest about fish in Turlock. As a child I never saw any in Corcoran and Tipton. I meant no disrespect to your son, you, Turlock, Corcoran, Tipton, or my childhood.

I'm looking forward to getting something to watch Nemo on. :)

Originally posted by bobby_t1
I just received delivery of my 50" GWIII from Sears yesterday.

{snip}

Eagerly awaiting delivery of a 50" GWIII



Now you get to change your signature! :)

I"M GETTING MY 50" GWIII delivered by Sears on Tuesday.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH - all the threads, opinions, hints and tweaks I read helped me to make my decision - that and high WAP factor of course.

Now - dumb question time:

GWIII + 2 1/2 year old = marks on the screen.

Since I can't apply a doggie shock collar to the toddling terror, ( I am informed this is "over the top") I'm going to get marks on this screen.
How do I clean the screen.
The Sony service manual download is full of great advise like use a dry cloth. . .please.

So what can I use to clean these things.
50% alcohol/50% distilled water has been recommended.
But then so has Comet and a belt sander.
Or do I have to cover it in plastic like my grandmothers couch?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Originally posted by jjkozlow
I've had my 60" GWIII for 2 weeks now, coming from a 48" Sony CRT RPTV. Overall, I couldn't be happier. I've run both DVE and THX video optimizers and have a pretty solid picture for HD, DVD and SD in daylight. At night, however, when the lights go out, things change.

I am *slightly* disappointed with only 1 area of performance as compared to my CRT and that is with black levels overall when the lights go out (more like a deep purple overall with the GWIII). I know this is a characteristic of LCD in general, but,..........

Anyone have settings they would like to share for their vivid/standard/pro nightime DVD viewing? I am looking to achieve better blacks in nightime viewing, particularly with DVD's.

Thanks!

I also have the GWIII 60"er.

Try decreasing the brightness setting a notch at a time until your can see the specular highlights(white with no detail) on people's faces along the ridge of the nose and just a little on the upper cheek bone.

When the brightness is set too high, these highlights blend in to the next shade. By lowering the brightness, you get the seperation in these specular highlights and the diffused highlights(white with detail). All the other shades seem to fall in place better with this procedure.

I was thinking that my blacks were being crushed on the first few hours of operation. I'm not sure that the set needed some break in time or maybe it was this brightness adjustment, but I'm getting detail in shadows that I didn't get initially. On the Avia 10 step cross step gray scale, I can see all ten steps. Although the darkest value is not an absolute black, it's very good. I do believe that I'm getting better results eyeballing it than by using Avia. I think Avia (as well as other calibration disk) assumes a linear gray scale and a darker black that isn't there.

Part of what may be hurting your absolute black, is viewing in a totally dark room. In the evenings, I always have some light in the room, basically, because I just prefer having some light. Others have recommended using a back light, which would seem to accomplish the same thing.

Originally posted by dans03
I"M GETTING MY 50" GWIII delivered by Sears on Tuesday.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH - all the threads, opinions, hints and tweaks I read helped me to make my decision - that and high WAP factor of course.

Now - dumb question time:

GWIII + 2 1/2 year old = marks on the screen.

Since I can't apply a doggie shock collar to the toddling terror, ( I am informed this is "over the top") I'm going to get marks on this screen.
How do I clean the screen.
The Sony service manual download is full of great advise like use a dry cloth. . .please.

So what can I use to clean these things.
50% alcohol/50% distilled water has been recommended.
But then so has Comet and a belt sander.
Or do I have to cover it in plastic like my grandmothers couch?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Earlier on in one of the GWIII threads someone had an ingenous barricade that would keep his two year old away from the set. It was done nicely and didn't take away from the room(too much).

Originally posted by dans03
I
How do I clean the screen.
The Sony service manual download is full of great advise like use a dry cloth. . .please.

Thanks
If it's a micro fiber cloth then "dry" will take care of most things like dust and regular finger prints. A slightly damp micro fiber cloth will remove more stubborn stuff.

Micro fiber is what you get with glasses. You can get larger cloths at auto parts stores.

Here is some info.

http://www.neatitems.com/micro.htm
http://www.microfiber.org/

We used to have a barrier to keep our two year old away from the stairs. In those days our 19" TV was on top of the piano.

Then you could wait until the little nipper reaches the age of reason -- say about 52.

Agreed, its best to keep the lights on with this set IMO.

Well, Sears delivered the 50" GWIII today as advertised. In fact, they came an hour and a half early – while I was out looking for a DVI cable! Decided to let it acclimate for awhile before firing it up - been a little cool outside. Spent the time connecting components.

One word sums up the performance out of the box -- "Stunning". It ran the “Auto Program” as part of the initial turn on. Knew something was amiss when the local channel 16 (OTA) turned up as 67! Seems it comes preset for “Cable-Yes” so had to change that to “No” and rerun.

The picture quality I observed leaves me completely perplexed by many of the comments I’ve read in this forum. OTA analog is far better than either my 6 year old RPTV or the 3 year old 27” CRT upstairs. DirecTV and the 480P Samsung DVD are very good, and OTA SD is about the same (maybe a little worse). OTA HD is outstanding (even if it wasn’t the Ohio State game).

Haven’t spent much time tuning the display – did back off the ‘Picture’, ‘Color’ and ‘Brightness’ control in the user menu. Probably need to hit the ‘Hue’ as well (or Color Temp) – a little warm for my taste.

Glad I made the investment.

Originally posted by RockScaler
Home Depot sells a box of shims for a couple of bucks. Just shove'm under the set till it's level. Then take the box that the set came in, spray paint it black and cut out a rectangle and put it over the screen. Voila! a perfectly straight picture. That's a great way to hide those big ugly side speakers too!

Or you could do what I do and just sit back and enjoy the beautiful picture and not worrry about every freaken detail being perfect.

Everyone who's seen my 50" GWIII says WOW what a nice picture. No one has said "I think your picture is 1/4 inch higher on the right" or "Hey! when I put my nose to your set I noticed 2 dead pixels."

Ok my rant's over.

I do have 2 dead pixels that disappear about 2 feet from the screen. No stuck pixels. I have not noticed any tilt from normal viewing distance and I'm not going to get out a ruler.

I might have one problem that I have not heard discussed here. The TV sound seems to suddenly get softer or louder occasionally. My daughter even mentioned that while she was visiting last week. Like a previous poster I usually use the surround sound system but my wife just uses the built in speakers.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Rock

I agree that people are just too picky. I think you can find ear plugs very near the shims at Home Depot. When your TV gets louder put in the plugs, when it softer take them out.:)

Thanks JimP and htwaits.
I'll check out the links - am using microfiber on my other PC LCD screens
just couldn't tell from the Manual.

The age of reason. . . . . .

I'm going for the doggie collar!

BTW - Also went to Sears with an Ultimate Electronics 10% coupon
got the match + 10% (of difference) plus a commitment to match any local price until the end of the year.

Once again - you guys - especially htwaits, M****k, umr (sob) and DLiquid have been great!
I'd like to contribute more once I've set up the sytem.

Just bought a set of Blue Jeans component video cables - 2 meters - very reasonable and FAST FAST - ordered Thurs pm - got them Sat pm.

What do you guys think of Agoraquest - it's where I found the manual for the 50WE610

DanS

Originally posted by dans03
Thanks JimP and htwaits.
IOnce again - you guys - especially htwaits, M****k, umr (sob) and DLiquid have been great!
I'd like to contribute more once I've set up the sytem.
DanS
Thanks Dan, but you don't need a system to contribute. All you need is the time to read at least 30,000 messages in the space of a year. ;)

Then you just pass on other people's knowledge -- plagiarism is the highest form of admiration. :D

Originally posted by htwaits
Sorry. It was supposed to be a jest about fish in Turlock. As a child I never saw any in Corcoran and Tipton. I meant no disrespect to your son, you, Turlock, Corcoran, Tipton, or my childhood.

I'm looking forward to getting something to watch Nemo on. :)

Honestly I have no clue about the fish in Turlock or else where. I'm a transplant to CA and have only been in Turlock a short while. My 2yr old and a new business keep me to busy to think about recreation such as fishing though I certainly wouldn't expect Turlock to have much in that area. My husband works in modesto which is the only reason we live in this neck of the woods. I'd much rather be further north were I might get something resembling snow at least 1 day year.

I got my 60" today and it does have much more of a wow factor than the 50 but we sit abit closer than we should so SD looks worse and I can see the screen door effect on light backgrounds. I'm hoping some tweaking will help things but overall they look good. I think I prefer the 60" enough to live with the PQ decline and since we plan to move to a new house with a larger AV room it's not worth going back to the 50 again.

Maybe by then a LCOS will be available and my GW will find it's way to the bedroom but I fear a 60"will be overkill there.

Just purchase the KF50WE610 and am pleased overall. I am connecting all of the routine components (Motorola 5100 cable converter, Progressive scan DVD, Playstation). HD cable looks great.

Here is my question: How do I confirm which format the components are sending (1080i, 720p, 480i, 480p) ? With previous sets I would have some indication on the screen of the signal format. I called sony, they were no help.

Many thanks

Originally posted by Beth
I'd much rather be further north were I might get something resembling snow at least 1 day year.

The snow is due east. :)

I don't think that it is unreasonable (or being too picky) to expect the picture to be horizontal within it's frame, (especially in a TV of the size of 50" or 60" and considering the expense of a GWII). Tilt is very noticeable on a large, wide screen especially with all of the moving tickers and graphics common in today's programing. Being able to rotate the image is so easily accomplished in the SM of other, much cheaper Sonys that I've owned. My pic is level now & I'm happy even tho the fix was unorthodox.

Saw a 50" GWIII today at a SEARS with an HD feed and it looked gorgeous. I'm still shocked how good these Sony's look. It made the poor Samsung 43" in the corner look like it was lost in the sea of RPTV's.

i'm new to this forum so please forgive my ignorance. which is the model number of the 50 inch GWIII - 50WE610 or 50XBR800? what are the main differences? thanks

winddoctor,

There are lots of answers already sprinkled about the forum on your second question. In short, the 50WE610 is the new set. It includes improved LCD panels and optics over the 50XBR800, and thus appears to have a better picture. The GWIII XBRs are just beginning, or will soon, trickle out. They are the 60XBR950 and the 70XBR950. Different case design, built-in tuner, finer-pitch, blacker screen, perhaps better optics. Check out www.sony.ca for some info. The US site doesn't list the XBRs yet.

The 50XBR800 is a GWII and is last year's model.

The 50WE610 is a GWIII (non XBR) and is this years model.

The 50WE610 has a different case, anti glare screen, and better blacks.

thanks to BTDT and htwaits. its interesting that the older XPR model is listed on the sony website for 700 more than the new 610!

Don't you think that the black level of the GWIII is no worse than what you get at the movie theater? I don't understand why people think this is such a major distraction. I love the picture of these new sets and think that the black detail is actually better than the Samsung DLP's. Just my $.02.

I have had my 50" GWIII for two weeks. Out of the box I had no HD feed so used it on SD and DVD. SD is fine, not any worse than the 53" Sony CRT RPTV (5 years old) that the GWIII replaced and in fact the colors are more vibrant and the picture "sharper" on the GWIII.
I then hooked up HD, locals via OTA and DirecTV feeds. WOW. Now I really notice the failings of the SD feeds but its seeing what HD feeds are like that changes ones perspective on SD.

Originally posted by Argee
I then hooked up HD, locals via OTA and DirecTV feeds. WOW. Now I really notice the failings of the SD feeds but its seeing what HD feeds are like that changes ones perspective on SD.

Argee - I know exactly what you are talking about. I, for one, had never even really SEEN an HD feed until I started shopping for a new tv. Once I got HD cable in my own house and started playing around with my 60we610, I was absolutely floored. I had some friends over last night and we were all just watching movie premiers on INHD2 and were just flat out floored by the quality of the picture. ROTK looks great. And to really test out the difference, we sat there watching some undersea footage ... the screen looked absolutely life-like. Can't wait for more HD programming, because the more I watch it the less I can tolerate standard, OTA 4:3 junk.

Best Buy told me they would have this next week for about $5,500.00, and I am going to order one.
I have the measurements and have constructed a cardboard model to use for rearranging the furniture.

Now the questions.
1) Will BB deliver it upstairs ?
2) I don't think it will get up the stairs while still in the packaging material, so will BB uncrate it for me ?
3) I have read that the only differences between this and the KF-60WE610 is the tuner. Are there any that will specifically improve the PQ ?

and thanks

Originally posted by Beth
- deletions -
Maybe by then a LCOS will be available and my GW will find it's way to the bedroom but I fear a 60"will be overkill there.
It's taken me about 2 weeks to get used to the size difference between a 27" 4:3 and the 42" 16:9 in the living room. At first, the 27" in the bedroom seemed huge also. Besides, by the time you make the change, you might want a larger bedroom anyway. :D

htwaits

A favor please. I have given up on Cineos and am leaning toward the Sony LCD's. And the XBR model sounds like the one I want. I know you are up on everything in the bay area. So do you know where I might see one of these XBR sets within a hundred miles? I have tried Magnolia, Andersons, CC, GG's in San Jose area and even though all have 70" models for sale no one has any on display, nor plans to put one on display (?).

Kinda hate to spend 7 large for something unseen. If you know where one is I sure would like to see that critter.

Sorry, I would have checked the same stores. I haven't been out and about the past ten days so I don't know any more than you do. The last time I was in Magnolia they had the 50" GWIII. It was the same at Anderson.

Did any of them plan to display the 60" XBR?

There is a Sony center in San Francisco (don't know it's name) where they might have one of the XBRs.

Is there a Sony web site with a "where to buy" link for each model?

I unpacked the new 42" GWIII today, lifted it up by myself and put it on the stand. Plugged it in, hooked it up. The picture looks GREAT out-of-box (SD DirecTV, component video). I haven't tweeked it yet, and I'm not sure I want to.

All of the concerns I've read about "black levels" seem to be unfounded. The black level looks fine to me. No stuck pixels, either. I upgraded to this TV from a 27" Proscan model, so maybe that is one reason the GWIII picture looks so good to me.

I pulled my hair out for 6 months, worrying and wondering about different technologies and whether or not this was a good time to jump to widescreen...Well, I'm now wondering why I wasted so much time.

I think the GWIII is a worthwhile purchase, although I can't bring myself to say it's a great value at this point. These TV's are still expensive, IMO. But, items like the GWIII are (or should be) purchased with disposable income anyway, so...

To anyone reading this thread and wondering if purchasing this TV is a good idea: I have not experienced any of the shortcomings associated with Sony LCD technology (black level deficiency, stuck pixels, motion blurring etc.). At this point, I'm very pleased with the purchase.

Many of the opinions you'll find at this, or any, HT forum are hyper-critical, which is not necessarily a bad thing depending on the circumstances. I can attest to the fact that the GWIII in my living room looks superb! If it's on your short list...buy it.

Heavy

Originally posted by hexdump
Best Buy told me they would have this next week for about $5,500.00, and I am going to order one.
I have the measurements and have constructed a cardboard model to use for rearranging the furniture.

Now the questions.
1) Will BB deliver it upstairs ?
2) I don't think it will get up the stairs while still in the packaging material, so will BB uncrate it for me ?
3) I have read that the only differences between this and the KF-60WE610 is the tuner. Are there any that will specifically improve the PQ ?

and thanks
I didn't expect BB to sell the XBRs, but there you go. I would think, however, that you can find a better price than MSRP (which is $5,499 I believe).

I would expect that BB will uncrate the unit and bring it up the stairs for you. It is really heavy though, at least compared to the 60WE.

From what I've read here and there the XBRs are supposed to have a better black level due to a very-black screen. The lenticular screen itself is much finer pitched, which should reduce such things as screendoor effect (at least one report I saw confirmed that this is the case). The bulb is driven at 120W which may also contribute to better contrast ratio. There is some talk about better optics and mirrors, but I am not sure if that is the case.

I ordered a 60XBR950 yesterday from my local Tweeters. They don't expect it to be in until 11/26 though (just in time for Thanksgiving football if it shows). I did get a better price that what you are showing due to various promotions.

So, now I wait and continue to scan for real reports by people who have actually see or acquired this set. If it doesn't show for Thanksgiving I guess I'll just have to live with the Tosh LCoS that I have yet to return ;).

Watched a DVD and the Cowboys game in HD today on a 60" GWIII and was never happier. The SD cable isn't even that bad and HBO and SHO looks pretty good too. A good investment.

Regarding black level, the 60" GWIII has it but I see something similar on my tube TVs as well and I guess I am use to it. Once in a while it is bothersome but rarely. I have never had a perfect TV and guess I don't expect this one to be any different but sometimes the PQ takes my breath away and makes it all worthwhile.

I waited for over a year to get a front projector for the basement home theater I was building and after getting a modest projector ($2,000) I wondered why I waited so long. My whole family has received a lot of enjoyment from this system the last two years and not getting it would have been two more years of time lost. Time is flying by these days anyways.

As I heard a comedian on TV once say (or something similar):

Time use to be measured by Halloween, weekend, weekend... Thanksgiving, weekend, weekend... Christmas, weekend, weekend... birthday, weekend...

Now its just birthday, birthday, birthday, birthday....

I posted the same question over on the HD hardware Q&A, but thought I would try here, too, to see if the problem might be related to the Sony...

I have a 160 connected to a Sony KF50WE610. The first time I connected it, everything worked 4.0. Since then I have had some issues which I hope someone will be able to help me with.

Last night I was watching HD HBO. The picture looked great. When I tried to get "info" nothing would come up. When I hit the guide button, the small picture appeared in the upper left hand corner, but no guide showed up.

Today, I tried to turn on the HD and only had a black screen, no audio, and occasional random multi-colored blocks appearing and then immediately disappearing. Finally, just the black screen again. I am connected via a DVI cable and digital audio cable. I tried turning off power to the box and restarting several times with no luck.

I called DTV for help, and they did the same thing...turn it off, back on...

I eventually tried hooking up with s-video...and had a picture for a while. Component...no luck. Finally powed off again and back on...and I had an acquiring info message followed by a good signal again. So i'm thinking that maybe the last reboot did it. Switched back to the DVI input, and that worked too.

I went to dinner, came home, turned on HD, and the same problem was back. It seems like the 160 and the TV are having a hard time synchronizing...or something like that.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm ready to take the 160 back

Thanks for the help.

PS: I did switch the 160 back and forth between DVI and Component as req'd. Also, the 720/1080 setting didn't seem to matter.

PSS: I verified the signal strength is good using my DTivo connection, and swapped sat input cables just to be sure.

I am about to pull the trigger on this set - I saw it while window shopping for an HDTV, and it blew me away.

Now as I contemplate how to arrange my PS2, TiVo, Dig Cable, DVD, etc etc, I am wondering - what is the best use for the DVI connection?

I will be getting comcast dig cable which in my area (philly) supposedly has the 5100 with the firmware that enables the DVI out.

I am also looking for a new DVD player - possibly the Bravo or the samsung (though based on this thread it seems the samsung has BAD black crush on this set - particularly with DVI).

If I got a DVI enabled DVD player - would you recommend using the GWIII DVI port for the DVD or the dig cable?

I would rather not buy a DVI switch, as they are expensive, and component is probably FINE for one of the two sources...

Thanks fo the input-

Lee

How do you set the White Level (Contrast) on these sets? They don't bloom like CRT's. Also, won't the contrast setting effect the black level?

Villageman,

The Good Guys in Dublin, and likely other Good Guys stores as well, has the 70 inch GWIII XBR on display.

Robb

Originally posted by knudsonwe
I posted the same question over on the HD hardware Q&A, but thought I would try here, too, to see if the problem might be related to the Sony...

I have a 160 connected to a Sony KF50WE610. The first time I connected it, everything worked 4.0. Since then I have had some issues which I hope someone will be able to help me with.

I returned two buggy 160s and replaced them with the Zenith SAT520 (LG) and am connected via DVI to my 42' GWIII. It's flawless!

Don

I have a Samsung SIRTS160 connected to my Sony 50WE610...Works great...Have not had any problems so far...I have it set to 1080i and it is connected to the TV via DVI cable and input 7...

The Samsung is much better than the Proscan I use with my SONY VPL10HT front projector because it outputs regular TV and HDTV without having to change inputs on the TV...

Originally posted by LeeG23

I will be getting comcast dig cable which in my area (philly) supposedly has the 5100 with the firmware that enables the DVI out.
Lee

Lee,

EDIT - It seems that as of 11/04 the DVI has been enabled in many markets with Comcast. There are also comments that its been off and on a few times. This is great news!


As far as what to do with the single DVI? I would use it for a true HD source like OTA and not just an up res-ed 480 DVD. Philly has about 9 HD channels on the air and its one of the best cities in the US for HD OTA offerings.

Originally posted by Barrybud
Lee,

EDIT - It seems that as of 11/04 the DVI has been enabled in many markets with Comcast. There are also comments that its been off and on a few times. This is great news!


As far as what to do with the single DVI? I would use it for a true HD source like OTA and not just an up res-ed 480 DVD. Philly has about 9 HD channels on the air and its one of the best cities in the US for HD OTA offerings.

Is this something that comcast uploads as a firmware patch.. i.e. they do it automatically without me even being aware of it?

I tried the dvi on my comcast received about 1 month ago and it was not working?

George

Just had my 50" GWIII delivered on Saturday. Things worked great on Saturday. I turned the TV off, went to bed and when I went to turn it on the following day (by pressing the power button on the front of the TV), it wouldn't turn on and all the status lights on the front of the TV went out as well.

After the lights went out, you could/can hear a "clicking" noise like a relay clicking on and off repeatedly coming out of the back of the unit. Plus, the rear right speaker on the unit makes a "popping" noise as well.

I've tried unplugging the unit and plugging it back in but the clicking noise resumes as soon as I plug it back in. (the power LED flashes green for a half second or so then goes dark) I've tried moving it to a different outlet as well with no results.

Ultimate Electronics is going to be doing a swap-out but according to them, I got the last one they had in MN so I have to wait 1-2 weeks for them to get a new one out to me. Is there anything I can try in the meantime?

Thanks in advance,

Jason in MN

Trade it in for a Samsung?

I say that only half sarcastically, so don't throw whatever brick you've been tempted to throw at your GWIII at me....

I wanted a Sony GWIII at first, but when it didn't fit in the cabinet where the TeeVee lives, I had to abandon that priority and a few days later found a Samsung HLN467 (46"). We watched DVDs all weekend, and I have to say the experience was entirely satisfying. Dazzling, even. I mean, we were going "ooh" and "aah" at the Warner Bros logo before "Harry Potter." These things are BETTER than what you get at the neighborood bijou.

Add to that the fact that the Samsungs are "PC Compatible" (will accept a standard VGA input + audio from your computer), while the GWIIIs cannot (I wonder if the guys who designed the GWIII have ever heard the word "VAIO"?), and you've got a pretty strong argument for providence acting in your behalf - assuming your dealer's got a Samsung in stock...

Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but it does sound to me like your GWIII is a digital lemon.

--PS

I apologize if this has been answered a number of times, but I glanced through this thread and did not see what I was looking for, at 34 plus pages it's a bit thick.

I am debating whether to buy a component or DVI enabled DVD player. There are many good component machines available and at this point and only two reasonable priced DVI players. The Sony GWIII native rate is 1386x788, so although the DVD DVI output would be in the digital domain it would need to be scaled by the GWIII to it’s native rate. Therefore, based on the Bravo and Samsung short comings would it be better purchase something like the Denon 1600 driving component? Have any of the GWIII owners fairly accessed the DVI vs., component performance on this RPTV?

60" GWIII owners specifically

Its obvious that you have to have some kind of bias lighting for the 60" GWIII for evening viewing. Has anyone come up with an approximate solution for a light behind the set splashing upon a light colored wall?? I'd prefer this to be a soft light (no hard shadows) and probably a combination of general room lighting plus reflected splashing lighting.

Asking too much?? :)

djcsmc-

Please comment on your experience purchasing with CDW and check your pm.

Originally posted by driver49
Trade it in for a Samsung?

I say that only half sarcastically, so don't throw whatever brick you've been tempted to throw at your GWIII at me....

I wanted a Sony GWIII at first, but when it didn't fit in the cabinet where the TeeVee lives, I had to abandon that priority and a few days later found a Samsung HLN467 (46"). We watched DVDs all weekend, and I have to say the experience was entirely satisfying. Dazzling, even. I mean, we were going "ooh" and "aah" at the Warner Bros logo before "Harry Potter." These things are BETTER than what you get at the neighborood bijou.

Add to that the fact that the Samsungs are "PC Compatible" (will accept a standard VGA input + audio from your computer), while the GWIIIs cannot (I wonder if the guys who designed the GWIII have ever heard the word "VAIO"?), and you've got a pretty strong argument for providence acting in your behalf - assuming your dealer's got a Samsung in stock...

Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but it does sound to me like your GWIII is a digital lemon.

--PS

Gee.. if skinnyguy went through all the trouble of comparing different sets and manufacturers, deciding on size and price.... why should he throw his decision to go with the GWIII just because he got a bad one... It does not sound like these sets have had many "DOA" problems.. (well almost on arrival).

Now, it this was just an impulse decision and he did not even look at the DLP's then I agree, that is an alternative.

George

You're right George, and if my post is off-base I'll delete it. I guess I'm curious why "skinnyguy" made the choice he made (I know, we've been through all that elsewhere on the forums).

My point was simply that if he was on the fence, and doesn't want to wait for his retailer to restock (even though two weeks is immaterial on a decision that he should be living with for many years), then in the opinion of this particular reader, the Samsung presents a viable option.

Remember, I wanted a Sony in the worst way, was crushed when it didn't fit, and couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. So I was must ruminating that "providence" was pushing skinnyguy's attention in a different direction, as it did mine.

No harm done, I hope.

--PS

Thanks for suggesting Samsung but for me, the GWIII is the best choice on what matters to me. (Size, PQ & Price) VGA isn't an issue for me.

If I have similar problems with the replacement unit, I'll probably start looking at Samsung again but it would be a pretty big leap in price.

Thanks for the advice though - I'll keep it in mind.

Originally posted by driver49
You're right George, and if my post is off-base I'll delete it. I guess I'm curious why "skinnyguy" made the choice he made (I know, we've been through all that elsewhere on the forums).

My point was simply that if he was on the fence, and doesn't want to wait for his retailer to restock (even though two weeks is immaterial on a decision that he should be living with for many years), then in the opinion of this particular reader, the Samsung presents a viable option.

Remember, I wanted a Sony in the worst way, was crushed when it didn't fit, and couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. So I was must ruminating that "providence" was pushing skinnyguy's attention in a different direction, as it did mine.

No harm done, I hope.

--PS

Nothing off base IMO.. :-)

I wrestled with DLP, Phillips LCOS and LCD... Nice to have choices.

Originally posted by exLabDriver
I don't think that it is unreasonable (or being too picky) to expect the picture to be horizontal within it's frame, (especially in a TV of the size of 50" or 60" and considering the expense of a GWII). Tilt is very noticeable on a large, wide screen especially with all of the moving tickers and graphics common in today's programing. Being able to rotate the image is so easily accomplished in the SM of other, much cheaper Sonys that I've owned. My pic is level now & I'm happy even tho the fix was unorthodox.

I didn't mean to pick on you personally by my remarks, it's just that your solution of using shims brought to mind the wooden shims used for installing doors & windows and I decided to have some fun with it.

I think for anyone who has a defect visible from normal viewing distances it is reasonable to expect a solution. Correcting tilt problems was easy with CRT technology (just adjust the magnets bending the electron beam) but it is apparently not so easy in LCD RPTV's.

I'm glad my set doesn't have this problem, but if the tilt was 1/4 inch I think I could live with it considering the whole cost/benefit equation.

I was slightly alarmed this weekend when I noticed a sports ticker was lower on one side of my set. OK I admit I got out a ruler and it was off by about 1/4 inch in the width of the screen. (I only noticed it because I was sensitized to the issue after reading about it here). I then switched to a movie that was wider than 16:9 so it had black bars at the top and bottom and they were dead on horizontal. So in this case it was the local station's ticker that was off and it would not have been noticeable on a smaller set.

Rock

The set will be a Sony, 60" LCD and it will go in a 17' room. I have a choice of two walls. One has a large window that is covered by wooden blinds, the other faces the window so it will get any reflections from the window.

I have read that having the set backlit is a good thing and wonder if the window will suffice or will it be too much.

So what would you do ?

and thanks

My local Tweeter has had a leftover GWII that they are willing to make a smoking deal on; I was just about to pull the plug when they moved a GWIII in the same display room, hooked up to DirectTV. While the XBR has a nice picture, boy-o-boy was the black level difference apparent. The GWIII has much nicer blacks, no doubt about it. These are both out of the box, so no tweaks. So it looks I may be getting the III; there are no XBRs (GWIII) available for display, only in the warehouse.
Mike

Originally posted by hexdump
I have read that having the set backlit is a good thing and wonder if the window will suffice or will it be too much.

Back lighting is used in totally dark rooms so I don't think you should look at your windows as a back lighting source. :)

I would put the TV on the wall without windows.

I've had my 50" GWIII since Wednesday and have been tweaking UM settings a bit. I took a brief look at the SM, but got out of there pretty quick before I messed anything up. The set has been pretty good - of course the blacks could be blacker, but I can live with it and I want to get rid of the horizontal overscan. Then last night I decided to take a closer look at the screen. Now, if there was only one or two stuck/dead pixels, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I have at least 4 stuck green, 3 stuck red and a couple dead (I kind of stopped counting after I found more than 8 total). This set is probably going back - hopefully the replacement won't take long.

Just wondering.. I bought the set from Sears, but did an in-store pick up. Would I have to return the set to the store myself, since it wasn't delivered? I'll give them a call, but it doesn't hurt to ask if anyone else had this situation.

Originally posted by moeronn
I've had my 50" GWIII since Wednesday and have been tweaking UM settings a bit. I took a brief look at the SM, but got out of there pretty quick before I messed anything up. The set has been pretty good - of course the blacks could be blacker, but I can live with it and I want to get rid of the horizontal overscan. Then last night I decided to take a closer look at the screen. Now, if there was only one or two stuck/dead pixels, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but I have at least 4 stuck green, 3 stuck red and a couple dead (I kind of stopped counting after I found more than 8 total). This set is probably going back - hopefully the replacement won't take long.

Just wondering.. I bought the set from Sears, but did an in-store pick up. Would I have to return the set to the store myself, since it wasn't delivered? I'll give them a call, but it doesn't hurt to ask if anyone else had this situation.


Moeronn: Yes, sorry but YOU will have to take your TV back to Sears. I too picked mine up GWIII 42" inch (wife made me take it back) sob sob (the picture and sound were better than perfect with NO dead pixels). Sears said I would have to bring the set back!

"I bought the set from Sears, but did an in-store pick up. Would I have to return the set to the store myself, since it wasn't delivered? I'll give them a call, but it doesn't hurt to ask if anyone else had this situation."


I did an in-store pick up from BB. I exchanged it because of a problem so I took it back myself,I didn't pay for delivery originally, so they were not going to deliver an exchanged set free of charge. Plus it was much quicker for me to exchange it than have to wait on them to do "in home Service."

Originally posted by Villageman
htwaits

A favor please. I have given up on Cineos and am leaning toward the Sony LCD's. And the XBR model sounds like the one I want. I know you are up on everything in the bay area. So do you know where I might see one of these XBR sets within a hundred miles? I have tried Magnolia, Andersons, CC, GG's in San Jose area and even though all have 70" models for sale no one has any on display, nor plans to put one on display (?).

Kinda hate to spend 7 large for something unseen. If you know where one is I sure would like to see that critter.

Understand your concern, maybe this will help...

I bought one of the first Toshiba 57HLX82 LCoS sets that supports 1080P - it was awesome, when it worked. Toshiba customer service was great, but after my second set we decided return it and wait for their next generation model which is still not shipping. I gave up waiting and based on comments from avsforum members I took delivery on the 70XBR950 a couple of weeks ago - and I couldn't be happier. The OOTB Experience is awesome! Everysource I've tried is either 'reasonable' (old std def)or 'outstanding' (hi def)- haven't even started tweaking it yet.

Just measure your room, if you can fit the 70 in then go get it - you won't regret it. I am very, very satisfied with this purchase.

good luck!
jg

Originally posted by mnc
How do you set the White Level (Contrast) on these sets? They don't bloom like CRT's. Also, won't the contrast setting effect the black level?

I am wondering the same...I have a sony 10HT front projector...The contrast control really helps you to get more detail in the darker scenes...

The GWIII does not seem to have this adjustment...It has a "picture" adjustment, but not the same thing...

Gruber:

I still have my to-be-returned 57HLX82 and am looking closely at the GWIII XBRs. I saw a 70XBR950 today and was *very* impressed. I am only thinking about getting a 60"-er right now, but the bigger screen would be nice. The brightness and PQ would seem to support it given a 16-18' viewing distance.

So, based on your memory, how would you say this set compares to your old 1080p Tosh LCoS? My first impressions are "brighter" and perhaps "deeper" if nothing else.

Guys, I need some feedback please, I'm still to much of a newbie to know the correct terms but here is my problem.

I got my new 60" GWIII on Sat and finally got a chance to take a good look at it with Avia and DVE. On the sharpness test I see what looks like ghost images of the letters. They are faint and slightly off center like a bad attempt at 3d effect in photoshop. I don't recall this on the 50" and they are there no matter what settings I try.

I like the 60" but it just seems to have an overall worse picture than my 50". I know I am subject to more of a screen door effect but I'm wondering if I have a bad set. Any light areas look splotchy. Such as large snow shots. The snow is splotchy as if someone took an image and then saved it at a lower resolution. Even the hue tests look splotchy.

I plan to get the set ISFed as soon as I can find someone that has a clue about these sets in my area but I don't know how soon that will be and I don't want to lose my 30day window if the set is bad.

Thoughts? Or other threads you can point me to with similar problems?

Hey Beth:
I've got the 60"er also.
Sounds like you're crushing your whites. Lower the picture setting some.

Is that for the splotchy problem only or should that fix the ghost issue as well? I'll try lowering the picture setting but it seemed about right with Avia.

I'm not sure I'll ever learn enough of this to feel comfortable with it but I'm trying. :D

Your "ghost" image might fit into this discussion:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=318208

The splotchy problem might be this one:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2883518

FWIW, I saw the 70XBR950 at GG in East Palo Alto this afternoon. Very impressive! I have the 42" and it is outstanding, but the XBR PQ was even better. It is large so you better be prepared to back off a bit or you WILL see the "screen door". From 10' away it will knock your socks off.

Don

htwaits, thanks for the threads, I read a bit of the ghost image thread and I think that's right on. I'll finish reading the thread in hopes of a solution though a kind AVer send me a PM with some suggestions as well.

Originally posted by Beth
htwaits, thanks for the threads, I read a bit of the ghost image thread and I think that's right on. I'll finish reading the thread in hopes of a solution though a kind AVer send me a PM with some suggestions as well.
You're welcome. Today has been my day for posting thread links. :)

I may have to exchange my GWIII because of a defect, so I decided to take another look at the Hitachi LCD. CC had them both sets side-by-side, and the Hitachi definitely has better blacks. It's also a lot more customizable, and has a great remote with separate buttons for inputs (Sony, are you listening?). I played with the setting to get both sets as close as possible, but the Sony had a noticeably sharper, more detailed picture. Sony's colors looked better too, but I still was considering the Hitachi LCD until I read the owners thread. After a few weeks of use, folks are reporting crop circles and blotches that come and go. Very strange stuff indeed. And apparently the manual has disclaimers for just about everything, including limiting your 4:3 viewing to 15% of the time. So, I'm clearly back in the Sony camp, and very glad I purchased the extended warranty from CC.

Greenwing and others that have helped... I exchanged the Samsung for a new one today and everything seems to be working fine. Hopefully it was just a bad box.

Does anyone switch between 720/1080 output or between component/DVI on the Samsung connected to the 50" 610? I saw one thread where one person thought they received a better picture on sports (i.e. bright shows) through the DVI and movies and other shows looked better on the component. I don't have an OTA antenna and don't know that switching between 720/1080 makes any difference on DTV.

Any inputs welcome! Thx.

Wade

Once again, to those that are buying from CC or GG: do yourself a favor and think about buying from Sears. Extended warranty is $200 cheaper ($399 vs $599) and also covers the bulb. AFAIK, sears is the only company that has extended warranty that covers the bulb.

Sears also has great pricematching policy too, which should beat anything CC has it priced at.

Kudos for Sears here too. I purchased the GW III 50 inch last night. Will be delivered next monday. I also got them to reduce the list price by exactly $1k by telling them my relative got a great deal on a Panasonic from CC. He didn't even ask me for my receipt of proof, gave me the deal anyway.

I also purchased the 3 year warranty. I thought he told me that I can also continue the extended warranty after the time is up.

Originally posted by BTDT
Gruber:

I still have my to-be-returned 57HLX82 and am looking closely at the GWIII XBRs. I saw a 70XBR950 today and was *very* impressed. I am only thinking about getting a 60"-er right now, but the bigger screen would be nice. The brightness and PQ would seem to support it given a 16-18' viewing distance.

So, based on your memory, how would you say this set compares to your old 1080p Tosh LCoS? My first impressions are "brighter" and perhaps "deeper" if nothing else.

BTDT,
as you know, I returned a couple of Toshiba sets after my bout with 'blue flares', the eyeball and pinstripes. Toshiba customer service couldn't have been better - I'm still very impressed. But if I had seen these two sets side-by-side today I would pick the XBR. Here's why:

1. definitely brighter. I had to keep the room lights lower for the LCoS set.
2. Less 'noise'...not sure how to explain this, but the LCoS picture seemed to have many small dots, like different colored pieces of sand. The picture on the XBR is smoother. This wasn't a big deal when viewing HD sources but is very noticeable when looking at DVD or SD material. The XBR simply has a better picture. And you can view it comfortably from 10'.
3. cooling fan is quieter on the XBR
4. I spent lots of time 'tweaking' the LCoS - was never completely happy. The XBR OOTB is great. (yes, I will get around to tweaking it but it isn't a priority)
5. I was concerned about the lack of a VGA port on the XBR but now that ATI has PC graphics cards that support DVI w/HDCP it won't be a problem. The plus for the XBR is the serial firewire interface - lots of possibilities for HD recording.
6. light bulb is replaced from the front of the set, won't have to move it to replace it
7. you can get field service for the XBR
8. you can't get a 70" from Toshiba
9. with the stand, price was about the same
10. and most important reason, my wife loves it! She hated to watch SD on the toshiba - but she thinks this set rocks! And she wanted the $850 sony stand too - I have to agree with her though, It does look great.
I am completely satisfied with this set.
best,
jg

Originally posted by bobby_t1
Once again, to those that are buying from CC or GG: do yourself a favor and think about buying from Sears. Extended warranty is $200 cheaper ($399 vs $599) and also covers the bulb. AFAIK, sears is the only company that has extended warranty that covers the bulb.

Sears also has great pricematching policy too, which should beat anything CC has it priced at.

I was told by the supervisor and dept manager at BB that their extended warrantee would cover the bulb as well as anything else except abuse. It was $299 for 4 years.

Gruber,

Good to hear your positive assessment, although it does sound like your Tosh sucked more than mine does :).

The "picture noise" thing I think has to do with the high level of video processing built into the Sonys. This can be used for good or evil of course, but in the right hands can make a better picture out of something not so good.

#7 is a biggee for me. Having a set that can't be maintained even after 6 months is kind of a show stopper....

After seeing the 70"-er yesterday it caused me to consider whether I would want a set that big (plus pay the extra premium to get it). After watching various things on the Tosh last evening at 57" I think I am satisfied with just 60". It would be fun, but for another $1 to $1.5K I'm not sure I can justify it.

Originally posted by old_muggle
I was told by the supervisor and dept manager at BB that their extended warrantee would cover the bulb as well as anything else except abuse. It was $299 for 4 years.

I got my GWIII 50" at BB and got the exact same quote, although the salesperson did say the coverage on the bulb was for defective bulbs only. If the bulb wears out after it's normal lifetime it would not be covered, but he insisted that this would be after the 4 years (not so sure about that, but if it happens before I suppose I could always try to claim it was defective and have it covered).

I went into Tweeter yesterday, and I don't want to break any pricing rules, but their 5yr EW on the GWIII 50" was >$1K. Does this seem absurd? Granted they said that included yearly in home maintenance visits, but a third of the cost of the set? Seems VERY steep.


Lee

Odd. I just put a deposit down on a 60" XBR at Tweeters and the 5-year EW was just over half of what you are quoting. That IS very steep.

two and a half weeks with my gwIII, no noticable stuck pixels until today i decided to move very close to the screen and bam, stuck green an inch from the bottom and three inches in on the left and stuck red in just about the same position on the right....hard to see unless you are really not paying attention to what you're watching and seeking out said pixel (not hard for me to do now).....definitely nowhere near the normal viewing area but damnit, lesson here is, don't go looking for them! now that i know the green one's there i can't stop staring at it from my viewing distance of 8.5 feet.....i'd take it back but then i guess i'd be taking a chance on getting a stuck one somewhere even worse! do more pixels tend to die/stick over time or can i be reasonably confident that my new red and green friends will remain lonely throughout the majority of the life of this set?? not going back up close during a hockey game to look for dead pixels!

CCx, there is actually a fix for the kind of stuck pixels you are describing.

Don't look for them.

Seriously, if you can see it from your viewing distance, but it is extremely hard to do so, just stop looking for it when you're watching TV and you probably will rarely, if ever, notice it again. If you often notice it even when not looking for it, then I would consider an exchange.

yea, i dont think i'm going to go looking for anymore in the future, and like i said i'm just glad they're not really in the viewing area....just keeping my fingers crossed that no more pop up :) thanks, DLiquid!

Originally posted by LeeG23
I went into Tweeter yesterday, and I don't want to break any pricing rules, but their 5yr EW on the GWIII 50" was >$1K. Does this seem absurd? Granted they said that included yearly in home maintenance visits, but a third of the cost of the set? Seems VERY steep.

What annual maintenance does a GWIII need? Absolutely none! They'd probably just screw it up anyway if you let them try to "adjust" the set every year. If their 5 year EW was >$1000, I hope it came with a lifetime supply of Vaseline...

OaklandRobb

Thanks mucho for the information re Dublin GG. I will try to get up there this week.What did you think about it? Is the bug 70" much less sharp than the 50"? How about brightness?
I want the 60", I think, but sales guy in local GG suggests I take a 70 they have in stock and exchange it for 60" when available. That way either I will keep the 70" or exchange in which case they would have the 70" to set up in their shop. But I still want to see one before i do anything.

Looks like the tech couldn't fix my horizontal and vertical bar issue. I will exchange the tv ... I hope the new one will be better. I'll let you guys know.

Originally posted by abarsami
Looks like the tech couldn't fix my horizontal and vertical bar issue. I will exchange the tv ... I hope the new one will be better. I'll let you guys know.

Did he try any adjustments? Service menu? Ensuring the set was level, etc?

He tried some adjustments, but I think he just couldn't figure it out. He said he'll call sony tech. tomorrow to see if they know of any adjustments off hand. He was looking for pin cushion adjustment -- like you have on crt sets. I think he said it's called like PAN something.

I honestly think it's not possible and is nature of this tv. So, hopefully luck will be by my side when I call to exchange tv tomorrow.

Oaklandrobb

whoops

Originally posted by Soprano
Kudos for Sears here too. I purchased the GW III 50 inch last night. Will be delivered next monday. I also got them to reduce the list price by exactly $1k by telling them my relative got a great deal on a Panasonic from CC. He didn't even ask me for my receipt of proof, gave me the deal anyway.



Soprano - PMed you - let me know if you can help - TIA

I was just in CC tonight, and their EW was about half what I quoted earlier - that salesperson at Tweeter MUST have been mistaken...otherwise they should sell their $1K EW WITH vaseline - just to make it easier for the consumer ;)

Lee

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by LeeG23
I went into Tweeter yesterday, and I don't want to break any pricing rules, but their 5yr EW on the GWIII 50" was >$1K. Does this seem absurd? Granted they said that included yearly in home maintenance visits, but a third of the cost of the set? Seems VERY steep.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't want to break confidences either, but Sears & Rex < $ 400 for 5 yr plan. I got KF60WE610 on a Price Match between stores w/5 yr warranty for **about** MSRP - 10% difference!

Installed and in place - Fantastic, though frustrated by lack of HDTV Sat - see other threads re: Dish fiasco - 811/921/Superdish! NUTZ

Archivist

Anyone,

I've lost my marker re: ISF Calibration of KF **WE610. Has anyone posted the proper settings? Also has anyone managed to access the Service Menu and make great (UMR type) Tweaks, yet? I've yet to be able to get into mine.

Archivist

I have a 60XBRIII on order. My wife wanted the 70 but cost and size ruled it out. I wanted the 50WE. We settled on the 60XBR950. Now my questions. What is the min. sitting distance from the 60 inch and 50 inch screens. For that matter how about the 70 inch.
What would also be the optimum distance to help keep me from noticing stuck or dead pixels?
Also are the pixels going to continue to die or is there a break in and then no more? Thanks Jon

Originally posted by Sommer3
Anyone,

I've lost my marker re: ISF Calibration of KF **WE610. Has anyone posted the proper settings? Also has anyone managed to access the Service Menu and make great (UMR type) Tweaks, yet? I've yet to be able to get into mine.

Archivist
Is this the thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=318288) your are looking for?

Well my new 60 I got on Sat is definately going back! I just counted 21+ stuck pixels including a bright blue cluster that can't be missed which showed up today. The screen is littered in red and blue dots. Most aren't noticeable but several are together so they stand out like a LED. I stopped counting at 21 so who knows how many there are. Additionally there are several dead pixels which don't show from normal viewing.

This on top of ghosting and a red/green problem plus some splotchiness which might or might not be tweakable. First a bad 50" which compared to this 60" wasn't THAT bad now a bad 60. :( I guess I'm just having rotten luck but I'm dreading the 3rd set for fear that it will also be bad.

It seems like each day I see something new and it's only been 3 days with very few viewing hours.

Now does that means my 30 day starts all over again with the new set?

Originally posted by Beth
Now does that means my 30 day starts all over again with the new set?
If it doesn't get your money back.

Hi Beth:

Sorry to hear about the problems you're experiencing with your set.

Since its going back anyway, try this experiment. It seems to work under certain circumstances.

Turn the brightness and picture(contrast) controls up to 100 % while displaying a white background and let it run for 15 minutes. Then readjust those setting back to where you had them.

Please let us know if this has some effect on the bad pixels. It seems that a while back in the front projection forum, someone was recommending doing this to correct bad pixels.

Originally posted by compfan
Sorry, I tried to add this to my original post but couldnt.

That's what I call "clean." Very nice. No wires, no fuss, no muss.

JimP, that didn't make any change at all and honestly I think there are more bad pixels now than last time I looked. This time I can see a cluster of red from 12 feet away in addition to a couple of blue clusters. I think I got a lemon.

Originally posted by Surge
I have a 60XBRIII on order. My wife wanted the 70 but cost and size ruled it out. I wanted the 50WE. We settled on the 60XBR950. Now my questions. What is the min. sitting distance from the 60 inch and 50 inch screens. For that matter how about the 70 inch.
What would also be the optimum distance to help keep me from noticing stuck or dead pixels?
Also are the pixels going to continue to die or is there a break in and then no more? Thanks Jon

From the Sony Grand WEGA XBR Manual:

"Sit at least 2.2m (approx. 7') for KDF-60XBR950 or 2.6m (approx. 8') for KDF-70XBR950 away from your LCD projection TV, and within 60 degrees of the vertical viewing area and 130 degrees of the horizontal viewing area."

I sit between 9' and 12' away from our 70" XBR - no screen door and absolutely no stuck pixels are visible.

I have ~ 3 stuck pixels but they are very dim and not visible past 1'
best,
jg

Need your advice-When watching SD cable on a 60" GWIII with Time Warner cable, I notice faint horizontal bars that crawl up the picture. They are very thin, are about a foot or so apart and are consistent in nature. They are most noticeable on dark pictures since they are a light color. I do not get them on HD channels. I have a Monster line conditioner/surge protector. Any suggestions on things to try or threads to read.

Again, hard to diagnose at a distance, but:

This is sometimes caused by a terrestial TV signal getting into your set. Check all cables from your source to the set. Check the feed from the cable provider for breaks or un-snug connections.

I've sometimes used 72 ohm terminator plugs (ex-Radio Shack) to stub the open, unused inputs. We are a stone's throw from a crappy AM radio station (over modulated ghetto radio) and line-of-sight to a campus FM station (a bit better on the spectral spatter). I could get the AM station on my telephone until I got an RF filter!

Again, this is likely a TV station broadcast polluting your signal. Nothing else would come close to sync-ing up with your desired program.

Originally posted by Beth
JimP, that didn't make any change at all and honestly I think there are more bad pixels now than last time I looked. This time I can see a cluster of red from 12 feet away in addition to a couple of blue clusters. I think I got a lemon.


Beth
Time to send that puppy back.

I sit about 11-12ft depending on what part of the sectional I sit on and my 60" still has some "big" feeling to it at that distance but the 70 would have a more HT effect IMO. I do see stuck pixels but only those that are in a cluster and closer to the center of the screen. There is one spot that is extremely annoying because it looks like a bright blue led just off center. I'm getting a replacement of course. Most of the others aren't visible from a reasonable sitting distance or are very faint and can be ignored. I do see some screendoor on lighter images though it might also be partly to blame on the screen texture.

My set also suffers from ghosting and a red/green outline which can be seen from 12+ feet back and makes the whole picture look blurry.

FYI, from a distance of 8.5', 50" is fine for all sources for me including SD. Mind you, maybe my tolerance for SD is higher than others :)

Originally posted by roblake
Again, hard to diagnose at a distance, but:

This is sometimes caused by a terrestial TV signal getting into your set. Check all cables from your source to the set. Check the feed from the cable provider for breaks or un-snug connections.

I've sometimes used 72 ohm terminator plugs (ex-Radio Shack) to stub the open, unused inputs. We are a stone's throw from a crappy AM radio station (over modulated ghetto radio) and line-of-sight to a campus FM station (a bit better on the spectral spatter). I could get the AM station on my telephone until I got an RF filter!

Again, this is likely a TV station broadcast polluting your signal. Nothing else would come close to sync-ing up with your desired program.

Thanks for the help. I think you may be correct. I unhooked an unused s video cable (leftover from experimenting with different connections) that was still connected to the TV, along with rearranging my wiring, and most of the problem went away.

The 70" XBR I saw in a showroom lost the "screendoor" at around 7", so Sony's recommendation seems sound. I do think that some people can see it further out due to their amazing visual acuity.

Originally posted by roblake
Again, hard to diagnose at a distance, but:

This is sometimes caused by a terrestial TV signal getting into your set. Check all cables from your source to the set. Check the feed from the cable provider for breaks or un-snug connections.

I've sometimes used 72 ohm terminator plugs (ex-Radio Shack) to stub the open, unused inputs. We are a stone's throw from a crappy AM radio station (over modulated ghetto radio) and line-of-sight to a campus FM station (a bit better on the spectral spatter). I could get the AM station on my telephone until I got an RF filter!

Again, this is likely a TV station broadcast polluting your signal. Nothing else would come close to sync-ing up with your desired program.

Good advice, I have the line creep as well (it looks like "line snow" rather than "dot snow" if that helps descriptively) slowly scrolling up the screen spaced at a frame interval. It looks like a loose connection or defective cable, but I have checked the feed. I will try the termination as the GWIII has several antenna inputs. It shows up on analog cable channels most prominently in the 40's (I'll have to check where the frequencies are), nothing on digital channels or HD digital channels.

Does iLink on XBR go both ways?

A question for owners of XBR models. I see in the rather skimpy specs on Sony website that there are three iLink (firewire) connectors, one in front and two in back.
My question is this: Does that mean you can record OTA programs from the built in HD receiver onto a D-VHS box? For me that alone would make up for the price premium for the XBR.

Originally posted by Villageman
Does iLink on XBR go both ways?

A question for owners of XBR models. I see in the rather skimpy specs on Sony website that there are three iLink (firewire) connectors, one in front and two in back.
My question is this: Does that mean you can record OTA programs from the built in HD receiver onto a D-VHS box? For me that alone would make up for the price premium for the XBR.

Along those lines, I intend to test iMovie via FireWire on my Mac from the XBR as soon as it arrives. I've been able to go VHS - Dazzle Box - FireWire - iMovie - DVD. Should be interesting to see how the FireWire works with/without the "Broadcast Bit".

Roblake

Very interesting, I would like to hear how it goes. But you plan to output from the Mac to the XBR, right? My question has to do with XBR tuner out to firewire recording device.
Or perhaps I am mistaken and you are talking about output. I think I read somewhere that Macs running OSX 10.3 can record HD via fireware onto the hardisk as well. As I recall you need to download some freeby software from Apple but that it is no big deal if you have a fast enough Mac. Again, as you can probably tell, I am no techie. I only know enough to confuse myself.

Originally posted by Villageman
Roblake

Very interesting, I would like to hear how it goes. But you plan to output from the Mac to the XBR, right? My question has to do with XBR tuner out to firewire recording device.
Or perhaps I am mistaken and you are talking about output. I think I read somewhere that Macs running OSX 10.3 can record HD via fireware onto the hardisk as well. As I recall you need to download some freeby software from Apple but that it is no big deal if you have a fast enough Mac. Again, as you can probably tell, I am no techie. I only know enough to confuse myself.

Macs running OS 10.2 or 10.3 with the free iMovie software can record to hard drive. I'm not certain about having the bandwidth for HD, but I'll ask at the Apple Store.

I intend to record onto the Mac from the XBR via FireWire and display interactive graphics from the Mac onto the XBR via DVI. (Actually, the graphics run on the PC and I use some software to make the Mac's console act like the PC's console.)

Line Creep:

Terminating the antenna jacks on the back of the GWIII does not affect the "line snow" creep. Will try upgrading the splitters on the cable lines next, then replace cables.

The answer to my own question is no. It turns out XBR can not output OTA via firewire.
I went to East Palo Alto GG store where they have a 70" XBR on display. The picture is just stunning. Even the SD stuff looked pretty good, as close as ten feet. And the design of the set is really attractive, by far the best looking RPTV I have ever seen. The OTA tuner gets a perfect picture and DVD's look great as well. You have to see the size of the thing--it absolutely dwarfs 50" sets next to it. I could not believe how much bigger 10 inches diagonal makes. The base retracts to be flush with the screen and a built in cabinet could cover the front right up to the picture bezel. Built in properly it could be mistaken for a plazma, and the picture is as good as any plazma in that GG store--and it is the biggest most impressive GG I have been in. They said it is the GG Expo floorplan. Whatever, it is some nice store--located right between a giant Ikea and one of Home Depots new Expo centers.

But it is not the set for me, unfortunately. Because it is almost as reflective as the GWII from last year. The Plexiglas shield, which the salesman says is not removable...and it sure looks like it is not removable to me---makes a beautiful mirror. We have windows everywhere and a view of the entire SF Bay Area from San Jose to San Francisco so the little wife would never put up with bricking up the windows, or even air raid curtains. I may have to settle for the 60" GWIII with its ugly cabinet and inferior picture. If you have a light controlled room I would highly recommend this giant. It has the WOW factor in spades.

Is this TV multisystem (Does it do PAL) like most Directview Sony's do ?

I am planning to order the 50" GWIII over the weekend from Sears.

Any advice / help to guide me to get a good deal by present owners would be very highly appreciated.

If any of the current owners are willing to post their receipts' jpeg image (as posted in the Panasonic forum) it would be my ultimate solution - any willing / helpful owner could also email it to me at starlights_@hotmail.com

At the moment I havent found any printed advts with low prices so I am a little concerned

Thanks

FYI - here is the coupon book i used to get that extra 10% off the 50" GWIII at sears on top of a pricematch and sears card 10% off promotion:

http://cgi.*********/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2962939215

Originally posted by Villageman
I went to East Palo Alto GG store where they have a 70" XBR on display. ... You have to see the size of the thing--it absolutely dwarfs 50" sets next to it. I could not believe how much bigger 10 inches diagonal makes.
I probably shouldn't intrude on your grieving but the diagonal difference is 20". That's a lot of square feet and $$$$.

It's amazing that in a store like that they managed to line this 70" GWIII up perfectly to catch all the glare from their front doors. :rolleyes:

I am now the proud papa of a bouncing baby KF-60WE610 :D . My baby arrived at approximately 10:20 this morning. I'm very happy at this point, but admittedly I didn't get to play too long as I had to scoot back to work. I adjusted to DLiquid's user menu tweaks (thanks for that D, I owe you a beer :) ). Blacks are better than I thought based on all the comments here. I really don't need them any blacker. I would say my only concern at this point is a bit of pixellation I've noticed. A particular scene is in Monster's Inc. when Sulley is lying in bed at the beginning, I definitely see "blocky" coloring on the pillow next to his head. Also, the analog SD channels aren't great, but as good as expected. They were never great before on our CRT either. Other than that, just trying to get used to the sheer size of this baby. We are moving up from a 32" direct view CRT. A big plus is that my wife likes the way it looks, and how secure it seems, on the Sony stand. She told me she is glad, now, that we spent the money on the stand.

Now here, everybody, take one.

http://www.jrcigars.com/graphics/brandlogo/PARTAGAS%20LIMITED%20RESERVE.gif

Just FYI - when I bought my 50" GWIII at Tweeter here in MA, I got the 5 year extended warranty, which includes one bulb replacement and an annual cleaning, for $300. It's normally $350. I also got free delivery, and, at the time, delivery was 3 weeks ahead of what I could have gotten from Sears. Sears offered a price match on the price I got at Tweeter, which was about 15% below list, but they would not match the price on the extended warranty. All in all, I saved about $150 over what I would have paid at Sears, and got the set a few weeks earlier.

If I had waited for the Sears card 10% deal on top of the price match, I would have only saved $150 over the Tweeter price for the whole deal. I did try to get Tweeter to honor that after the fact, but they said no. I toyed with the idea of returning the Tweeter set and purchasing at Sears, but didn't feel the $150 was worth it.


Originally posted by bobby_t1
Once again, to those that are buying from CC or GG: do yourself a favor and think about buying from Sears. Extended warranty is $200 cheaper ($399 vs $599) and also covers the bulb. AFAIK, sears is the only company that has extended warranty that covers the bulb.

Sears also has great pricematching policy too, which should beat anything CC has it priced at.

Originally posted by Bongo100
I am now the proud papa of a bouncing baby KF-60WE610 :D . My baby arrived at approximately 10:20 this morning. I'm very happy at this point, but admittedly I didn't get to play too long as I had to scoot back to work. I adjusted to DLiquid's user menu tweaks (thanks for that D, I owe you a beer :) ). Blacks are better than I thought based on all the comments here. I really don't need them any blacker. I would say my only concern at this point is a bit of pixellation I've noticed. A particular scene is in Monster's Inc. when Sulley is lying in bed at the beginning, I definitely see "blocky" coloring on the pillow next to his head. Also, the analog SD channels aren't great, but as good as expected. They were never great before on our CRT either. Other than that, just trying to get used to the sheer size of this baby. We are moving up from a 32" direct view CRT. A big plus is that my wife likes the way it looks, and how secure it seems, on the Sony stand. She told me she is glad, now, that we spent the money on the stand.

Now here, everybody, take one.

http://www.jrcigars.com/graphics/brandlogo/PARTAGAS%20LIMITED%20RESERVE.gif

LOL I'll pass on the cigar but congrats! I also noticed the blockiness but figured it could be tweaked out. CC is suppose to call tomorrow to arrange a replacement of my defective 60". At 60" it's more of a toddler than a baby. My own 2yr old has given it the kid seal of approval as have my husband's gaming buddies so I think once we get a working one it's a keeper if we can tweak out the few issues I have seen.

I'm ready to order a GWIII 60" and was thinking to bargain until I get it for a $1K off list seeing other got the 50" for the same discount.
Am I dreaming to get it for that price? Can anybody PM the deal they got or what I should shoot for?

I understand it is forbiden to post pricing or receipt from the little time I've spent reading messages. I'm not sure if it is OK to ask about price like I'm doing. If not, fell free to remove my post

Thanks


--

Eagerly awaiting to join the GWIII owner group

Originally posted by Beth
My own 2yr old has given it the kid seal of approval

Hopefully mine will be giving hers tonight. My wife really likes the tether on the back of the Sony stand which connects to the back of the TV. Keep it from tipping forward (essential with 2 year old running about).

Had you attempted to make any headway on tweaking out the "blockiness"? If so, any luck?

I guess I'm blessed in that early on my child learned not to touch certain things or to do so gently. I work at home and have an office full of computers which are very UN-2yr old friendly. The most we've had to do is remind him to keep his hands off the glass on the stand. He hasn't bothered to touch the set since it was delivered nor any of the A/V equipment which now sits on the stand under the TV.

He has his own set and stereo not to mention computer so he pretty much leaves ours alone.

We haven't even bothered with a tether since the stand and set are so solid together. We don't have the sony stand for what it's worth.

I haven't bothered to do much tweaking since the set was obviously a lemon and will be exchanged tomorrow or Sat hopefully. I'm fairly sure it can be tweaked out otherwise I doubt there would be so many happy GW owners.

Bongo100

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

If you need a godfather, let me know. :)

In addition to the filter install on my GWII, have taken my GWIII apart and have installed the 20cc red filter. I will be posting instructions, photo's, and service menu settings shortly. The results are better than what I was able to achieve with my GWII and the loss in brightness is not as severe. This will be one you will want try if you feel comfortable removing the front of the set. With the red filter installed and the color temp and decoder properly set, this is, by far the finest monitor I have ever seen

Originally posted by JimP
Bongo100

Congrats on the new addition to the family.

If you need a godfather, let me know. :)

Thanks Jim. Hey, if you become the godfather, that doesn't mean I end up with a horses' head in my bed, does it? ;)

So has anyone went as far as purchasing a service manual yet?

Kev

Originally posted by dm71
So has anyone went as far as purchasing a service manual yet?

Kev I tried about 5 weeks ago but Sony Parts said it wasn't available yet.

does anyone know if the 50" GWIII fits on the Sony TV stand made for the 42" model. thanks!

Originally posted by wazzup
I'm ready to order a GWIII 60" and was thinking to bargain until I get it for a $1K off list seeing other got the 50" for the same discount.
Am I dreaming to get it for that price? Can anybody PM the deal they got or what I should shoot for?

I understand it is forbidden to post pricing or receipt from the little time I've spent reading messages. I'm not sure if it is OK to ask about price like I'm doing. If not, fell free to remove my post

Thanks


--

Eagerly awaiting to join the GWIII owner group

Well first let me say I just spent the better part of today here at work reading just about every post in this thread. Good use of my time huh?:D Secondly I did this because last evening I made the plunge and bought a 50WE610 at my local Sears. They will have it in on Tues for me to pick up...I can't wait.

Now Wazzup to answer your question and hopefully without breaking the rules too badly.:cool: We all know the list right? I went price shopping locally and found a local store that would sell me the set for list -$400. I went to Sears as I liked their EW better and they were having a 10% off sale which also applied to the EW. So I tell the guy the deal I can get and he figures the difference. Then I asked if they would then knock the 10% of their sale off of that price (I fully expected the answer to be no and I was going to walk). He checked with his manager and then came back and said yes. So I got the price match (-$500, he inputed the price wrong by $100 and I wasn't going to tell him :D ), 10% of the difference (another $50) and then 10% off of that amount and the WE. My total out the door including the 6% PA sales tax and the WE was list-$300 which I feel is a pretty good deal.