Hi everyone! This is a great forum.

Sony's 30" 955 model is coming out soon and there hasn't been too much written about this particular widescreen model on these boards. Based on what I've read, this set has most of the features of the revered 960, with comparable high-end picture quality.

I have seen Sony's entry-level 30" HDTV, the HS420, and was very impressed with its HDTV picture through an HDMI/DVI cable. The 955 is a better model so I can't imagine how good it must look.

If you have seen this set, please post your thoughts!

Here are the 30" 955 features and specifications, from Sony's website:

• Full HDTV (built-in ATSC tuner for over-the-air HD reception)

• DRC™ Digital Reality Creation™ Multi-function Circuitry analyzes a 480i NTSC image and creates a digital bit mapped pattern in real time. The original NTSC signal is mapped in real time, replaced with an HD representative, and then discarded. Because DRC™ processes video signals in real time, it creates an image with 4X the density of the original signal. Resolution is increased both vertically and horizontally.

• Hi-Scan 1080i™ Display accepts the full 1080 interlaced scanning lines (1080i) or 720 progressive scan (720p) from an external HDTV receiver or a compatible high definition digital satellite receiver. It also accepts 480 progressive (480p) scanning lines from compatible DVD video sources.

• SuperFine Pitch CRT provides better image detail with high definition sources. The Aperture Grill was improved by making the vertical slits a finer pitch that increases the number of slits by up to 65%(16 x 9 base). Also improved were the High Precision Deflection Yoke, Fine Focus Electron Gun and the inclusion of higher intensity Luminescent Phosphors. The result is a more detailed image for both moving and still images, higher resolution picture quality, and better edge detail.

• HD Detailer™ Wideband Video Amp provides greater detail on finer images, delivering the best possible image from high bandwidth sources.

• ClearEdge VM™ (Wideband Velocity Modulation Scanning) allows you to select levels to create better separation between an object and its background for clearer edges, greater picture depth and improved overall picture quality.

• ATSC Integrated Tuner allows the reception of local, off-air digital broadcasts providing the viewing of free, true high-definition network programming without the addition of a set top box or a monthly fee.

• Digital Cable Ready with CableCARD™ Slot A set of hardware specifications that are defined to include a removable security module, which separates the cable operator's proprietary conditional access system from the retail digital cable device, to enable portability of the host to other cable networks.

• HDMI Interface (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) – HDMI is the first industry-supported, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any audio/video source, such as a set-top box, DVD player, and A/V receiver and an audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television (DTV).

• HDCP Interface (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) was developed to protect digital entertainment content across a DVI interface. It also serves as the security system for HDMI.

• CineMotion™ Reverse 3-2 Pulldown improves the display of video programs originally shot on 24 frames per second film preserving the integrity of the original film frames for more fluid motion and more fine detail.

• Memory Stick® Media Enhanced Playback (JPEG,MPEG1,MP3)

Specifications • Dimensions (WxHxD): 35 3/8" x 23 3/4" x 22 1/4" (898 x 604 x 564.5mm)
Weight: 154 lbs. (69.8kg)
Power Requirements: AC 120V 60Hz


• Inputs and Outputs:
Component Video Input (Y/PB/PR): 2 Rear
Composite Input: 1 Front/3 Rear
S-Video Input: (With Detection): 1 Front/2 Rear
Control S: 1 Rear
HDMI: 1 rear


• Tuner:
8 VSB
ATSC, NTSC
Clear QAM
Digital Cable


• Audio:
TruSurround® SRS® Audio (7.5W x 2 With 15W Sub)
Steady Sound® Automatic Volume Control With BBE® Audio Effect
Auto Mute Tuner
Auto SAP
Audio Output (Variable/Fixed)


• Video:
Dynamic Focus™ Circuitry
Dynamic Picture™ Circuitry
Trinitone® Color Temperature
ClearEdge VM™ (Wideband Velocity Modulation Scanning)
Vertical Aperture Compensation
Vertical Center Adjustment
3D Digital Comb Filter
Wide Modes: (Normal/Full/Zoom/Wide Zoom)
Auto Pedestal Clamp
Auto White Balance
High Voltage Regulator
HD Detailer™ Wideband Video Amplifier
NTSC Color System
ID1 Detection
Magnetic Quadruple Pole
Tilt Correction
Vertical Correction
Vertical Size Adjustment


• Convenience:
Auto Channel Program
Caption Vision (CC)
Channel Fix
Channel Skip/Add
Video Label
V Chip Parental Control
Speed Surf™ Channel Selection
Sleep Timer Function
Tilt Correction
Program Palette™ (Vivid/Movie/Standard/Sports) presets
On Screen Display (English/Spanish/French)
Channel Jump
Front Button Menu Control
Favorite Channel
Energy Star® Compliant
Clock/Timer Two Event
Antenna Level for DTV
PSIP Program Information
DTV Auto Add

.

Has anyone heard of a firm release date? I've read 9/30/04 on a
couple of sites, but these dates have been known to be incorrect
from time-to-time.

At a MSRP of $1399 it's a little steep, but still an attractive set.

I saw a 30XS955 last week at a local electronics store (Robert Paul TV in Roseville MN). They had just gotten it in and didn't have it labeled yet, but it was definitely a 30" and dark gray, not silver.

It was showing a local OTA DT channel, but it was a soap opera so I don't think it was HD. It was in "pillarbox" mode, and at the edges of the picture the color was a bit off ... the left edge of the picture looked green, for example. I assume this could be corrected through calibration.

Anyway ... Crutchfield lists it as 9/30 but it looks like it's in stock at sonystyle.com.

At a MSRP of $1399 it's a little steep, but still an attractive set

You should find the "street" price to be significantly less. I have one on order from PC Richards (NYC retailer). I was told to expect delievery no sooner than the end of the month.

I saw the 34xs955 at CircuitCity on Monday night for $1450, so I'm sure the 30" will be less than $1399

Talk about coincedence. PC Richards just called, my 30xs955 arrives Friday!

I ordered one from the Palo Alto Sony Style store on Saturday. They said to expect delievery in 7-10 days or sooner since it was coming from LA. They offered a $150 gift card with purchase.

$1,450 for the 34" 955. That is a good price. All the CC's here are selling it for MSRP $1,999.99.

I wonder why some CC's discount prices while others do not. I remember walking in one CC and the speaker prices are totally different from the CC by the house.

Brian

I look forward to reading everyone's feedback on this set.

My 30xs955 just arrived. Cablevision is scheduled for this afternoon, so for now I just have SB and DVD, both of which look very good. I'm going to spend the next few hours playing with the video and audio settings (so many choices!), so that when "cable guy" arrives I'll be ready.

Why do CRT manufacturers keep putting speakers on the side of their 16:9 sets? I would get this in a heart beat of not for the extra 4 inches in width comapred to the Toshiba 30HF84. Honestly, how many people do not have their TV's and entertainment system powered through an extrenal source? This even has a digital audio output making it very easy to hook up to a reciever.

Does anyone have this set?

Needanutv,

Lets hear the full Review??? What do you think of your new tv set???

I wish someone would notify every company in the world to make ALL cabinet/shelves, entertainment centers, credenzas, etc. WIDER!!! If I had a nickel for every post that I've ever read about a space being too small I'd be a millionaire! Here's a revolutionary idea--if the freakin' TV you're going to buy costs alot more than the small cabinet you're trying to fit it into smash the cabinet like Jimmy Hendrix, buy a Massive cabinet for a great looking TV and post in that "You're experienced"!

Sorry it took so long to get back but I've been watching a lot of tv. The tv arrived Friday morning, and Cablevision came (on time) at 2pm. I'm glad I didn't bring up the CableCard capabilities with Cablevision because the tech had enough problems just switching out the set top box (SA4200HD). The first two were defective, but fortunately the third (and his last) box worked. As expected, PQ with widescreen HD material is spectacular. The biggest surprise for me was the pq in SD. Much better than what I typically saw at retailers. Currently the ClearEdge is off, DRC is set to CineMotion and video is on Pro. The only downside so far (and I anticipated this) is that the pq is, at times, so retina burning dazzling that I wish I could have accommodated the 34XS (or 960), but at nearly 40 inches wide it was not manageable.

I bought this HDTV last Friday and spent the past few days watching regular SD, DVDs, HDTV, and also played some PS2.

I previously had a Toshiba 30HF84 that I purchased from Best Buy. It seems like a few people in the forum actually like this HDTV, so I must have had a really defective set. Browse the 30HF84 thread "Comments on 30HF84 I Just received from Amazon" to see the list of problems that I had. As the old saying goes, first time shame on them... second time shame on me. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice and ended up returning the Toshiba to Best Buy for a refund.

Now for my thoughts on the Sony 30XS955. Overall, I am very impressed with this HDTV. I have an older Sony 20" Wega TV which was one of the very first Wega TVs made. I have been very impressed with it's quality and was well worth the $400 it cost many years ago. Based on that positive experience, I decided to spend a large sum of money for the Sony 30XS955. $1399 MSRP is alot for a TV, but it's worth every penny.

For SD content that I get from Charter Communications, the 30XS955 is superb. I've been reading how HDTVs will produce a subpar picture for SD content compared to an anolog TV because they're digital. My experience with the Toshiba confirmed this as the SD picture was terrible and had a ton of moving grain on the screen. The 30XS955 has very little grain, the pictures looks great, and the colors are spot on. I can safely say the 30XS955 beats out my 20" Wega, which I am very fond of! From what I can gather, I think the DRC feature really works and produces a sharp and solid SD picture.

I have a Pioneer progressive scan DVD player hooked up via component cables to the 30XS955. The DVD picture quality on the Toshiba was good, but not great. I was shocked at how much better the 30XS955 was. The picture looks rock solid and I saw details I never saw on my Sony 20" or Toshiba. For example, I was watching "Finding Nemo" with my daughter and I could clearly see more detail in the debris floating in the water. Playing the same movie on the Toshiba produced a slightly grainy picture, but the Sony was crystal clear.

With regard to HDTV, I have only watched a little bit so far. I have an OTA antenna plugged into the 30XS955 to test out the built-in tuner. Sadly, I can only get one channel (NBC) in high-def. Although my OTA options are kind of pathetic, the HDTV picture of NBC (Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live) was breath taking. I finally got that "WOW" factor from a HDTV. I thought my expectations were set too high because I was sorely disappointed with the Toshiba, but the Sony really knocked my socks off in HD. The image has zero grain and just looked damn good.

Although the speakers on this HDTV will probably never be used by some folks because they'll have a surround sound setup, we plan to use the built-in speakers heavily because the 30XS955 is just our regular TV for the living room. Our future home theater downstairs will have a HD LCD projector with surround sound. The sound quality is actually very very good. In comparison to my Sony 20" and previous Toshiba, the sound is very rich, dynamic, and has great bass. The bass surpprised me the most because I've never heard ANY bass from a TV this size or smaller. Quite amazing actually... The speakers on the Toshiba were almost an afterthought, but it actually made it's cabinet look very sleek and compact.

To sum it all up, I would gladly pay $1399 for this HDTV again. I purchased the Toshiba for almost half that price, but I was really disappointed with it and felt I just wasted all my money. Perhaps my Toshiba was a defective set, but I've had such a great experieince with Sony TVs, why mess up a good thing?

did you compare this set to the 34" xbr960? I wonder how it holds up against it.

Hi all,
quick question
Does anyone know if the sony built in digital tuner will pickup unscrambled digital and hd channels from cable. I read in another post that the samsungs dont, and although ive read that the sanyo with buit/in does im not crazy about it. Just wondering if anyone has tried it yet, even with a different model sony with buit/in digital tuner.

I was able to pick up a couple of HD channels (just locals in my case, but that owes more to my cable provider than the television) and quite a number of digital channels. There are a lot of channels I can get with a set-top box that I couldn't get by plugging the coax directly into the set, but more than likely, you'll at least get something. I do subscribe to a digital cable package, and I'm not sure if that's a requirement for picking up those channels or not with the QAM tuner.

Has anyone tried the convergence & geometry tests from an Avia Home theater disc on these XS955's? I took mine to the 34XS955 at BB today and noticed a lot of geometry issues in the extremes (which is better than being in the middle I guess). Like the bottom right had some serious issues and the bottom left and upper left had some issues as well (though not as bad). PQ still looks pretty good tho (better than my 30HF84, but not like in a "wow that's a lot better" sort of way). This could be a contender if I ditch my 30hf84...if Toshiba can't correct the geometry.

All large screen widescreens have geometric issues. Even the beloved 960's. Some are bnetter than others however. You just have to be lucky to get one that does not have major issues. There is a fix however. You can:

1.) Enter the Serrvice menu. (learn yourself or hire an ISF tech)
2.) Get a service tech to use a specialized magnet on your set

I have an older Video Essentials DVD that has some test patterns. The 16:9 Anamorphic grid is for geometry and convergence issues. I used this when I had my Toshiba 30hf84 set in FULL mode in tandem with the service menu to fix the geometry. It was scary how bad the geometry was on my 30hf84. I could have lived with some distortion at the extreme outer edges, but the geometry was off everywhere. I was able to improve some of it with the service menu settings but I had a really nasty problem near the center and to the right 3 inches. The line was fairly straight but had a sharp "step" that couldn't be corrected. It was very noticeable when any text would scrolling down the screen (e.g. credits of a movie). If you play any video games (PS2 or XBOX), then geometry issues are very visible because there are lots of straight lines and the image is bright.

My Sony 30XS955 isn't perfect with the same pattern, but it's a light and day improvement over my previous Toshiba. The geometry was excellent on most of the screen and only had problems on the extreme top edge (3/4" inch). I'm pretty picky about video quality and so far so good with the 30XS955. I haven't entered the Sony's service menu (not sure how?), but I won't mess with it anyhow because it doesn't bother me.

OOhhh you were able to tweak the settings in the service menu of your 30HF84? I'm way jealous. If my tech isn't able to help (which I don't think he will) can you go through the 3 or 4 settings that mess with the geometry and explain how each one changes the picture? I already have a BMP with all the stock settings and how one user changed his to mitigate his issues but he doesn't really explain how each setting changes the picture. I'd rather not just jump into it and start tweaking with settings I have NO IDEA how they affect the picture. My screen kinda has an x^3 graph for the vertical lines (rather than just a pincushion () or )( ) most of the screen runs fine with no distortion but when credits roll (bottom to top) when they get like 2/3 of the way up you can see the letters visually move left about 1/4" and then continue their way up.

also how much were you able to pick up the 30xs955 for? how does it compare to the 30hs420 sony ...how does it compare to the 30hf84 toshiba (in both picture quality and other impressions with the most weight on good HD PQ in 16:9 mode)

I paid roughly 80% of MSRP from a well known Long Island/NYC area chain. Plus $48 for delievery (well worth it, IMO)

Computer CRTs generally have adjustments for horizontal and vertical overscan, and for horizontal and vertical "pincushion". Why don't TVs have these adjustments?

Boden11,

If you want to enter the Toshiba service menu, see the following link

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4343396#post4343396

If you enter the service menu, be sure to write down the factory settings first before changing anything. Unfortunately, I no longer have the Toshiba and don't remember exactly what I changed. There are like 60+ different adjustable settings and I think I modified 4 or 5 of them. I recall that most of the adjustments were only 2-5 points off and the geometry settings were in the 1st 30 settings. I'm not sure what the proper order to adjusting the settings is because they're all interactive. Changing one setting ends up throwing off another. An ISF technician would know for sure.

I ended up getting my 30XS955 for 13% off MSRP. I posted a comparison between the Toshiba and Sony earlier in this thread. With regard to HDTV specifically, The Sony and Toshiba are both pretty good. From my experience thus far, the Sony's was noticeabley better with regard to graininess and screen geometry. The Toshiba seemed to have this fuzzy grain move around on the picture regardless of source, although SD seemed to have an excessive amount of grain. Everyone already knows about the Toshiba's vertical geometry issues.

I am trying to get this TV this weekend, but none of the stores(BestBuy, CC, Tweeter, Sears) have it in stock. Do I really need to order this through SonyStyle? Can you suggest anywhere else that have this in stock? Thanks.

Does anyone have comments on this set? Here in Florida, very few stores are even carrying it (CC and BB don't even have it in their system). Most stores seem to have the 960 and the 420, but not the 955.

To those of you who do have 30" 955, any comments would be appreciated.

no comments yet but I am planning on buying this set in the next 5-10 days. I'll certainly post a review once I get it in.

I too am going to look next week and i will try my best to compare the toshiba 34HFX84 to the sony 34hs420 & 34xs955.

I will keep everybody updated, i plan on purchasing the sony 34hs420 but i will wait untill columbus day instead to pull the trigger, so for now i'm just looking and comparing.

Just a quick question for all of you owners. Are you happy with the size of this tv? I am helping a close friend pick out a TV, and he is pretty set on the 30XS955. I personally feel that 30" is too small for his room, but it is the only TV that will fit in his new entertainment unit. How far do all of you sit from the set. Is this your main TV, or do you have this in a bedroom? Thanks a lot for all of your responses.

Mike

Well, am I happy with the size of the tv? No, I wish I had the room for the 34" or even a DLP set. But, for now, this is what I have room for so it will have to do.

I sit about 5-6 feet away from the TV so I think it'll serve its purpose which is a high quality TV to watch HD until I move into a larger house at which point, the 30" will go into bedroom duty.

My 30xs955 should be here early next week.

I've had my 30XS955 a few days now (direct from Sonystyle). DVDs and HD are incredible on it. I live in an apartment so I didn't really need a huge TV. Now that it is here it looks much larger than the last year's model looked in the store so I'm glad I didn't get the 34". Also the 34" has a 'film' safety cover over the glass which my cats could damage but I didn't find that out until I read the 30" owner's manual which is the same manual as the 34" and the 4:3 36" versions of the XS955. When I have to move it, it weighs 150lbs and has two 'handholds' on each side which make lifting it pretty easy for two people.

Starwars IV-VI are all clear as can be. I can see the camera refocusing on the different characters as they speak and even errors in the camera work when they shift characters and pull the focus too far and have to push it back. Every skin blemish is visible.

For SD TV shows I usually keep it in the wide-zoom mode just because I don't mind the distortion too much and like the TV to 'wear evenly'. This set has very bright phosphors and so I'm a bit leary of getting odd burned in lines if I watch it in 4:3 cropped mode too much. As expected SD TV can look pretty bad on this set if the program source is blurry. This blurriness is expanded to fill the screen. Most digital channels have a pretty good signal where I live and these SD channels look fine. Most of the worst channels are ones I never watch anyway.

For HD, I've watched discovery HD, football, PBS, HBO and other channels (such as Fox which currently shows widescreen non-HD that is ok but not great). The HD is better than the DVDs but not by a whole lot. It has a clear look to it without having the exagerated sharpness of the DVDs (in my opinion!) and very nice color and of course fills the screen (unless 'cropped' like on ESPNHD baseball).

My recommendation is to set the video to Pro as soon as you get it and make tweaks from there, the other presets are ridiculous unless you have very bad lighting issues. I had to increase the black level a bit from the standard Pro defaults to get some of the darker details visible but not much else. There is also the option to 'de-emphasize red' buried a bit in the setup so make sure to look at all the video setting options.

When it arrived and I turned it on it came up with horizontal lines and the options to adjust tilt, vertical center and horizontal center but it required no adjustments to any of these.

Using Avia, I can see that the sharpest part of the screen is the center but it is almost imperceptable. In movies in HD or DVD it isn't noticeable at all. No obvious geometry issues until you get to the extreme corners. Nothing that a tech would even acknowledge and nothing that I'd care to tweak.

The only problem I've had is while installing the HD cable box and fiddling with all the settings I somehow managed to get the 'input' text box that shows up in the upper left corner of the screen when changing inputs to stay on screen at all times instead of fading after a few seconds. I couldn't see any way of doing this or reversing it so I did a reset on the TV and it went away.

Also, when setting up the HD box I had it set to input 6 but couldn't get HD to work correctly. Drove me nuts. I had a 16:9 picture, but it had black bars all around it. Finally I cycled through all the inputs back to 6 again and it popped to full screen. Some autosensing something going on I guess. I tried the cable box at 720p and 1080i. 1080i was noticeably better so I left it at that.

Overall I'm very pleased with the TV. I had considered a Toshiba but after seeing the XS955 with the finer resolution I changed my mind despite the difference in price. The fact that it has a built in tuner didn't figure in at all since I can't receive OTA HD where I am. So, I can't comment on the tuner at all. If I someday change to a CableCard at least I'll be ready. I have a DVI->HDMI cable on the way and will try connecting the cable box to the TV using that instead of the component connection I'm using now. If it works well then I have another component input free'd up for other use. I may also get the new Sony DVD player with HDMI out (and an HDMI switcher box) but only because it does totally digital to the TV at 1080i.

Oh, the manual spends a lengthy section explaining the mermory stick functions. For fun I put some MP3s and JPEGs from my computer on a stick and tried it out. I suppose if you are having people over for a slideshow it is fine, but it doesn't have much use other than that. The pictures look fine and the MP3s sound ok (they accompany the slideshow). If I didn't already have the memory stick I wouldn't have bothered with it though.

The reason HD does'nt look that much better than dvd's is because you only have a 30" screen, HD is best on bigger screens, this is when you notice the wow factor.

Well in most cases bigger is better for screen size. In the interview Carrie Fisher did with George Lucas he said that screen size is more important than resolution for the overall 'experience'. I try to compensate by using my 'manual zoom mode'. I move my chair closer to the screen if no one else is watching. At about 5 ft it looks great. (2x30" = 60" = 5' optimum viewing distance). And for football I move even closer to get the 'surround picture' effect. I can't see individual 'pixels' until around a foot or foot and a half. I haven't seen a plasma or DLP or LCD screen that has a picture as well defined as the direct tubes, but maybe someday. You CAN use this TV as a computer monitor with the right video cards and setup but it requires a lot of fiddling. I decided it really wasn't worth it. If that was important to me I'd get an LCD or DLP that was made to connect to a computer's DVI out.

HD broadcasts seem to have a lot more 'depth' than DVDs. And I found that the INHD1 and INHD2 channels seem to show HD shows with higher quality than other channels sometimes. There the difference between DVD and HD becomes very obvious. Also, people in the stands in the background of baseball/football games are clearly defined. Golf scenes show the green and flag clearly in the distance and you can follow the ball very easily. You can read what the coaches have written on their pads of paper on the sidelines.

The biggest difference I see between HD and DVDs is the color and texture that comes through in HD. The DVDs give crisp details on object edges but not so crisp on the textures and colors of the object itself. Still, the new Starwars DVDs are the best DVD transfers I've ever seen.

I've hooked up a monster DVI-HDMI cable between the box and the TV. I can't say the difference is really noticeable to me between using this cable and using component but now I can hook up my xbox and DVD player to the component inputs. I tried a pacificcable DVI-HDMI cable first but it didn't work at all so back it goes. (green dots, green and red horizontal lines, TV resynching all the time). Hated to pay for the expensive monster cable but it does work. Also, since the cable box is DVI you don't get sound through the HDMI connection on the TV and have to use RCA cables still.

Still very pleased with the set. I think I'll go for the 5 year inhome extended warranty when I register it though just for peace of mind. I figure in 5 years I'll be ready to change to whatever new tech is out.

Balcerak,

Did you try using your 30XS955 with QAM? (if you did and it works, which cable provider do you have?)

Nope, I only tried OTA with a borrowed antenna, then spent way too much time getting my computer to work with it and by that time the HD cable box showed up. Didn't try to play with the cable signal directly.

Got my 30xs955 yesterday. I am waiting on my new progressive scan DVD player to arrive later today so I haven't tweaked anything from DVE yet, but out of the box, the HD picture looked fantastic. I've got D* with all three satellites pulling in at least a 95% signal. The OTA stations are coming in great too so I was able to watch all of my local Digital Channels and I was very impressed.

Now, to the SD picture. I had read and read about how bad SD looked on a WS HD television but I must admit it was worse than I was expecting. Like I said, I haven't even begun to adjust anything so I'm not ready to pass judgement yet, but for now I'd have to say that watching anything SD is painful. It seems way too bright and "jaggedy". The graphics from my TIVO's menu screen are just as bad as the picture.

Anyway, I'm still very pleased with how the HD looks and will get a good look at DVD tonight. After a little tweaking, I'm hoping that SD content will at least be watchable :)

Any suggestions for tweaking this with DVE? I've had the disc for awhile in anticipation of getting a TV but I've never actually used it to tweak any settings.

OK, dumb me. Forgetting that the set remembers video settings for each input.

My normal TIVO was set to the "Vivid" setting. Once I changed it to "Pro" and made af few adjustments, SD television is much better to watch on this set. HD still blows me away.

Ahh good :) Yup 'vivid' makes everything look awful.

Well, I've had the TV for a week now and went into the convergence/geometry tests from AVIA to see how it is doing. It has a noticeable geometry problem in the upper right corner (but it is RIGHT in the very corner), very slight geometry problem in upper left, and convergence problem on the far right all along the very edge. Same as when I originally got it really.

Nothing noticeable anywhere around the middle of the screen and having these problems on the far edge and far corners is pretty minor in my opinion. I don't see any of them when watching the TV in any mode. Some of this may be due to the AVIA DVD not handling 'normal' screen mode correctly for the widescreen tests. I had to manually set the TV to 'FULL' on the widescreen tests to fill the screen and this stretching might have some impact or only be informative for how it plays back DVDs. (Maybe someone knows a better way to look at this). Would be nice to have a HD test.

Originally posted by Balcerak
Would be nice to have a HD test. If you have HDNet, they show a decent set of test patterns that play on Tuesdays from 8 AM - 8:10 AM EST.

My 30XS955 was delivered this past weekend. I have only viewed SD as my cable company is coming this weekend to install an HD-DVR box. I am very impressed (and relieved) that SD programming does look so good on this set. I have the set in my bedroom and I think it makes a great bedroom TV.

Based on some threads I have read within this forum, I bought a good S-Video cable and have been watching SD through that input. I have read that SD can actually looks better through an S-Video input than a component input, maybe because S-Video was created for analog viewing.

I set the picture to "Pro" mode and the DRC to Cinemotion. I tweaked some other settings on the user menu and the picture does look very good. I also recommend viewing SD content in the "Wide Zoom" mode.

One other thing I was thinking of trying is a signal amplifier from Radio Shack. But the picture, even without the amplifier, is very watchable.

I will report on the HD picture once my cable box is installed this weekend.

I'm very interested in this set but every B&M store in my area -
Circuit City, Best Buy, local hi end audio/video stores - only carry
the 34" inch model. Did most of you purchase directly from
SonyStyle? Do they have a good return policy if your unhappy
with your purchase?

Yup I got mine via Sonystyle online. 30 day return from the date THEY SHIP it and you pay for the shipping back, have to use original packaging etc etc. It took about 8 days to receive it so I had about 20 days to get an RMA if I'd had to return it. I haven't had any problems and like the set very much though so I didn't try it. Not a nick, blemish or anything. One thing to consider is for large items they ship via NCI to a local delivery company which will vary from city to city. So, your delivery experience may vary depending on who they contract to do the delivery/install. My two delivery guys just brought in the box, opened it, had me pull off the plastic as they lifted it out and put it on my stand and said "have fun playing with your new TV". And they delivered on Saturday. (Was scheduled for 10am-12 but they called at 8am saying they'd had some deliveries rescheduled so could they come at 8:30? I could still taste the toothpaste.)

Oh, also if you order from Sonystyle and then decide to change your order you are out of luck unless the item isn't in stock. They 'begin the shipping process' the moment you hit the 'finalize' button on your order and no changes can be made from then on. Also, don't expect to track your order on large items. It will say 'in transit' until they call to arrange delivery.

Does anyone have a center speaker resting on this HDTV?

My center speaker is about 20" in length and 7" deep and
probably weighs about 20lbs. I was thinking of applying Velcro
if the top of the set has enough area to support the speaker.




Thanks,

Jim

I have a pretty small JBL center speaker on mine... its a little precarious since the top of the set isn't perfectly flat, but so far it feels like it'll stay in place. I thought about putting just some kind of padding behing it for support but so far its stayed up fine.

Just curious, what's the resolution of this TV?

I thought I would revive this thread as I just purchased this HDTV
today and it will be delivered tomorrow.

What are your settings for contrast, color, tint, etc. for SD cable,
HD cable, etc. I currently have my AVIA DVD on loan and may not
receive it back until Monday. I realize that each environment is unique,
but I'm just looking for ballpark values at this time.



Thanks,

Jim

This question has probably been asked numerous times, but when is the 30XS955 going to start showing up in stores? I find it a little ridiculous how this TV was originally intended to be released in late August, and it still hasn't made it to the stores.

I finally got the 30XS955! I purchased it locally with 15% off MSRP and free delivery. Out of the box, the TV was a bit dusty (not a lot), though it was new. Most of my recent Sony products is dusty for some reason. I bought a new Sony 19" LCD from a different place and that too was dusty.

The 30XS955 is a nice TV. Mine states that it was built in October. During initial setup I had to set the tilt to 6, is this normal?

Everything seems to be working including QAM, OTA HD, regular cable, and the various input jacks. Analog cable looks excellent with my Motorola signal booster. It's almost as good as 430i digital. All those complaints about analog looking crappy on HD sets doesn't apply here. Stretch modes look fine as well as the picture quality. Speakers sound good. I'm not really a Home Theater guru, so I haven't used the avia diagnostics. This is my first HDTV and everything looks so nice.

For those that have this set, how do you add individual digital channels to the channel listing? The manual states that we should use the "Digital Channels - Add" option, but this only autoscans digital channels. Also, is there a shortcut to the "Diagnostics Information" (Signal Strength)? I wish we can just press one button to see that information rather than going to the "Main Menu".

The remote control is so-so. Quality wise it seems the same as remotes from other Sony components, but I don't like the light color. I took my current Sony VL700 remote and programmed all the new buttons from the new remote. (Remotes that learn... rocks)

I plan to purchase the Gemini ZHDTV1 antenna. The old Rabbit Ears works when it's extended, but the Gemini seems compact and looks like it'll match with my stand and the TV's silver colors. I am getting QAM channels from Comcast, but I can't seem to get all the local channels. Local channels that do come in like FOX and NBC aren't consistent. Sometimes it's there and sometimes not. Interestingly, sometimes it locks to some movie "not-local" channels flawlessly. I do get a lot of music channels which I just hide from the channel list.



For those that plan to buy this TV for a small room here's some tips: The box is big, so be prepared if you plan to set it up yourself. Someone mentioned that there were handles on the TV set, but we couldn't find any "obvious" handles. There's a little ledge on the sides of the TV where you can left. During the lift, wearing gloves (some thick cloth will do) is wise if you plan to place your hand under the front part of the television. The instructions on the box states that you need to tear the carton apart to get the TV out, but you should be able to take it out just by opening the top portion of the box.

All in all, I'm quite happy with the purchase. I'll post back if there's any problems.

I have been able to keep a mid-size Def Tech center channel on my 34XS955. I put two stick-on rubber feet under the frond side of the speaker. Then I rolled up a rubber mat that was previously used under weightlifting equipment. I held the roll together with a small scerw and placed it under the back side of the center channel. The only way it will come off is if someone pushes is relatively forcefully. (see photo album)

So any word on when Circuit City or Best Buy will have this set?

Circuit City or BB probably will never carry it. It's been a few months and it should have been in their stores by now. The last time I stop by in both stores, the model was in their system but none in the warehouse. I also tried tweeter, but they needed to special order it. Tweeter didn't even know the set exist until I showed them via the Sony website. Fry's and Sears seems to be the only other place that carry them. With Sears, you might need to order, but at least you can pick it up at the store (or have them deliver).

I ordered mine on 12/31/04 at Sears and they said I wouldn't be able to pick it up until 1/12/05. If your interested in getting the Sony stand that is made for the 30hs420 and the 30xs955 Circuit City has the lowest price.

Update:

Previously, I mentioned how I couldn't get some local hd channels via QAM. I'm using a 3-way splitter with my CableSignal, so I thought that was the problem. Someone in the HDTV section suggested that the TV might not fully support QAM. Surprisingly the problem was the cable between the splitter and my TV. It was some generic cable and didn't looked damaged, but for some reason it had problems transmitting channels above 100. Apparently cable quality still matters when you're dealing with digital signals.

I replaced the cable with some better ones and wala... I get all local HD channels via QAM with no data errors. So, QAM64 and QAM256 (with 1080i) works wonderfully with this set.

I would like an HDTV and this is the one I am leaning towards but I have a few questions first.
1.Now I have a 20"Sony Triniton, it's just too small is the extra 4" worth the money for the bigger one?
2.How is Cox HDTV servive?
3.Does anyone in the New England area know what HDTV channels are available over the air?
4.Where is the best deal on this or the 34" in model?
thanks for the help.

anyone?

I just got my 955 and wanted to know what is the "avia" and do I need it?
Obviously it seems that everyone is adjusting their set, is this something that needs to be done out of box? I haven't seen Hd since time-warner came out to install the HD box and it was bad. so they took it back and am stuck until I go and get the HD box myself. i would appreciate it if someone
could please educate me no this avia thing.

I would like an HDTV and this is the one I am leaning towards but I have a few questions first.1.Now I have a 20"Sony Triniton, it's just too small is the extra 4" worth the money for the bigger one?
2.How is Cox HDTV servive?
3.Does anyone in the New England area know what HDTV channels are available over the air?
4.Where is the best deal on this or the 34" in model?
thanks for the help.


1. A 20" 4:3 TV is 16" wide and 12" high, this TV is 26.1" wide X 14.7" high.

2. Don't have Cox HDTV service, but I can receive all the local HDTV channels with a $14 UHF antenna from Radio Shack.

3. Try http://www.titantv.com

4. I bought my TV from Sears during Christmas at 5% + 10% off.

The only problem I have with this TV is the cold tuner problem (please see my other thread). Sears offered to replace it with a new one and gave me 90 days to decide whether I want a new TV. The picture on this TV is so good that I am afraid to get another replacement TV.

To all the 30XS955 owners, does your tuner need to warm up before it can lock in on the HDTV channel ? I need to wait 90 sec, power down and then power up to get the HDTV channel.

In response to your question:
To all the 30XS955 owners, does your tuner need to warm up before it can lock in on the HDTV channel ? I need to wait 90 sec, power down and then power up to get the HDTV channel.

Yes - I am having the cold tuner problem also. Living with it for now but I am considering getting a directv HD tivo. Then it will not be a problem.

Originally posted by acwai


The only problem I have with this TV is the cold tuner problem (please see my other thread). Sears offered to replace it with a new one and gave me 90 days to decide whether I want a new TV. The picture on this TV is so good that I am afraid to get another replacement TV.

To all the 30XS955 owners, does your tuner need to warm up before it can lock in on the HDTV channel ? I need to wait 90 sec, power down and then power up to get the HDTV channel.

Do you have to power off and then on, you can't just switch to another input and come back to the digital tuner in order to get HD? Just to be clear--this is happening whether you start the tv cold and use the HD tuner or whether you have been watching analog tv for awhile and swith to the digital tuner

Do you have to power off and then on, you can't just switch to another input and come back to the digital tuner in order to get HD? Just to be clear--this is happening whether you start the tv cold and use the HD tuner or whether you have been watching analog tv for awhile and swith to the digital tuner

I can not switch to another channel and expect the TV to pick up the HDTV channel.

The easiest way for me to lock in on the HDTV channel is to power up, watch some NTSC channels for 90 sec, hit the SYSTEM OFF or POWER OFF button, then the POWER ON button again.

Once it locks in on the HDTV channel, it will function until the TV is cold again (POWER OFF for 30 minutes or longer).

Once it warms up, I can turn it off for less than 30 minutes, when I turn it back on, the HDTV tuner still works.

Acwai, my TV doesn't need to warm up. It's like -10deg outside and whenever I turn on the TV after work, HDTV from OTA or Cable QAM comes up instantly (well after a couple seconds of red led blinking). Are you sure it's not the OTA signal? I noticed that my indoor antenna is quite sensitive and would unlock on a signal when I walk around a certain area of the room. Is your problem with both QAM and OTA HDTV?

On a side note, you said you have great picture quality... Out of curiosity what number do you have your TV's "TILT Setting" on?

Acwai, my TV doesn't need to warm up. It's like -10deg outside and whenever I turn on the TV after work, HDTV from OTA or Cable QAM comes up instantly (well after a couple seconds of red led blinking). Are you sure it's not the OTA signal? I noticed that my indoor antenna is quite sensitive and would unlock on a signal when I walk around a certain area of the room. Is your problem with both QAM and OTA HDTV?

Dear AVjam,

Can you unhook your Cable QAM and see if still works. I don't have Cable QAM, I only use the antenna. I can get almost 75-95% on the signal strength. I have to wait 15-30 minutes before it will lock on to a HDTV OTA channel if I don't do anything. If I power down and power up, it will take less time to warm up. The tuner behaves like it is missing a signal (may be from the Cable QAM).

There is one other person that seems to have the same problem with his tuner. He has antenna only.

I am using -5 on the tilt setting. When you go to the tilt menu, there is a horizontal reference line displayed along the bottom of the TV screen, I used that as a reference and adjusted the tilt setting.

As I previously posted, I ordered my 30xs955 from Sears on 12/31/04 and was promised to recieve it by 1/12/05. I still have not recieved it. About how long did it take to get yours? The only thing Sears is telling me is that they have no idea where my tv is at or when I will get it. Did any of you have to go through all this? Thanks

I bought mine from Sears on Dec 11, I had to go on a business trip so I requested to have it delivered on Jan 6. They did come and set it up on Jan 6.

Sears offered to replace my TV due to the tuner problem (when I called on Jan 14) and promised to deliver it on Jan 30.

They also gave me an option to have a new TV if I make the request within 90 days from Jan 6.

Originally posted by sentra1985
As I previously posted, I ordered my 30xs955 from Sears on 12/31/04 and was promised to recieve it by 1/12/05. I still have not recieved it. About how long did it take to get yours? The only thing Sears is telling me is that they have no idea where my tv is at or when I will get it. Did any of you have to go through all this? Thanks

I ordered mine as well from a local store on 12/31/04 and just recieved it this past weekend. Where do you live and can you get this TV anywhere else? It must be annoying to have to waith this long but this TV does seem somewhat tough to get.

The TV however is excellent. HD is incredible and analog is good (for analog). The only issue I have is dark scenes/shadows seem a bit too dark or lack detail at times. Turning up brightness and contrast don't solve the issue completely.

I've read all the posts in this thread... I don't know if stepping up from a KV30HS420 to this TV is really worth it. I looked at the differences and the only thing that I'd look down in the future and realize I don't need at ALL is the cablecard option cause I'm not that big of a cable person. I'm buying an HDTV for movies and Xbox and future offsprings of xbox. I don't know if buying this would be worth it, especially leaving it behind for my parents when I go to college in Fall of 2006. I don't know if I should wait for its price to drop as I save for it or if I should get it ASAP or anything like that... can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.

Acwai, I don't want to unplug my cable TV. I assume you know what I'm talking about when I say QAM... Do you have basic cable? Maybe your cable provides local HD channels using QAM. See if HD channels come up instantly through cable.

One thing I've learned about OTA signal strength is that it can be picky sometimes. Even at 95%, sometimes in my room the signal would just drop if I start walking around a certain area in the room (and blocking the antenna).

I don't know if there is a problem. In the end, it's your decision if you want to exchange it.

Originally posted by wivolfan


The TV however is excellent. HD is incredible and analog is good (for analog). The only issue I have is dark scenes/shadows seem a bit too dark or lack detail at times. Turning up brightness and contrast don't solve the issue completely.

I agree about the darkness. I find the "movie" and "pro" settings almost unwatchably dark on my 34XS955. Is this just a function of the fine-pitch tube, or could this be an actual problem?

Originally posted by joe newbie
I agree about the darkness. I find the "movie" and "pro" settings almost unwatchably dark on my 34XS955. Is this just a function of the fine-pitch tube, or could this be an actual problem?

It's a function of the super fine pitch tube. And actually compared to gen 1 of the SFPT (910 series), the tube in the 955 has improved brightness. If you look at the less expensive 30HS420 and compare it to the 30XS955, the 30HS420 has a brighter image. The 955 series is not as bright and looks like it has a grey cast to it. Some people, myself included, actually prefer the 420 series for its brightness, despite the fact that it has a lower resolution tube and older menu structure. Videophiles probably appreciate the resolution of the 955 and would say that the 420 is overly bright and not as accurate.

I agree about the darkness. I find the "movie" and "pro" settings almost unwatchably dark on my 34XS955. Is this just a function of the fine-pitch tube, or could this be an actual problem?

You can go to the menu and edit the settings in the "movie" and "pro" mode. In fact, you can modify all four settings including the "vivid" and "standard" mode.

Well I have not seen this thread before
but I got some help from some members here when considering the KD30

and I did buy it
I bought mine from Crutchfield
it was not dusty, and I paid no taxes, free shipping, and 10% off retail

I have mine connected via DVI to HDMI from PC (6800 standard), analogue cable to RF coax jack, DirecTV to svideo input, and Zenith antenna to UHF/VHF Coax input

I can get most channels well from the antenna and the picture looks excellent from antenna and HDMI input
the DirecTV looks pretty good via svideo
and analogue cable looks pretty bad but use to it since my service provider sucks

I do live in apartments and Southwestern Bell provides both DirecTV and analogue cable (where this is my bedroom TV)
Southwestern Bell monopolizes Apartment communities and when you call to ask them to adjust the cable because of picture issues
They make you set up an appointment and then send out the rudest individual they can find, and then do nothing about the picture (reception)

but anyways.....

I do have Avia but DVE and am in the process of using it to set up all the color calibration (I should have done it by now, had the TV since early Jan.)

my TV was produced in Nov of last year

I find the Zenith antenna is especially picky with two channels
Fox and CBS
it is great for Fox at one position and great for CBS at another
but I cannot find a spot where it likes both
yet the diagnosis is like a steady 70% for CBS and 80% for Fox in either position

I cannot tune ABC at all since the antenna is VHF, unless I am missing something

the picture from HDTV is truely gorgeous
and I did do some comparsion to it at Ultimate Electronics (and would have bought from them but Crutchfield made me an offer and Ultimate Electronics would not work with me on the price)

the Picture on the KD30 looked better than any of the other CRT HDTVs/HD monitors in area
and the image was identical to the XBR960

the XBR 960 was not directly beside it, but the 34XS was above it
and the XBR960 was off the shelf displayed on its own

the picture from all three was awesome and the exact same
I did walk back to look at the Projection TVs and Flat Panels

the Image on the XS and XBR CRTs was easily as good if not better than the high end Plasmas and definitely better than the Projection style sets (DLP/LCD)

all were taking an HD source although I am not sure what and I am guessing component input

I did have to adjust my tilt as well (I think it is +3)

and can someone please tell me how to access the service menu?

oh and vivid looks like crap with any source
Standard or Pro seems close for TV
and movie does look nice for DVDs from PC DVD player

setting up the HDMI input for PC was a breeze
the newest nvidia drivers allow 480p/576p (PAL) 720p and 1080i (also 1080p)
and can either overscan (display natively) or display the full image
apparently Sony got the EDID right
cause this was very easy

I purchased the majority of my cables from Ram electronics
and a few high end RCA brand cables for the extras I needed (from Fry's)
(refuse to monster after they sued a friend of mine)

using Wide Zoom for most 4x3 content
except the 480i material over the antenna
I do not have this option and not big on horizontal stretch so watch at default Full

if I try to set to horizontal stretch anyways as soon as I switch channels
it goes back to full

the TV is not still calibrated nor is the PC DVD player

yet I have messed with doing by eye every once in a while

need to use the DVE disc......

Crutchfield has about the same policies for return and no shipping as Sony but charges no taxes
making it an easy decision to buy from them

the antenna does definitely lose signal when I walk by it
but not sure where I got put it

Sound from speakers is nice and TruSurround seems to the best option

would be nice if there wa optical input added with the HDMI input since some devices are still DVI and not native HDMI

being able to skip inputs is very nice as well and the DTV and analogue cable channel scanning was only 10 minutes not the 50 that it says

Originally posted by kny3twalker


being able to skip inputs is very nice as well and the DTV and analogue cable channel scanning was only 10 minutes not the 50 that it says

I'm curious, how do you skip inputs on this TV?

you just go into the menu and choose skip rather than a label such as PVR or DVD

Originally posted by kny3twalker
you just go into the menu and choose skip rather than a label such as PVR or DVD

Ah, very cool, thanks.

but really anyone know how to get to the service menu????

guess a better question would be how do you navigate the service menus?

http://members.aol.com/philselectronics/servicemenu.htm

this does work for this sony TV

Originally posted by kny3twalker
guess a better question would be how do you navigate the service menus?

http://members.aol.com/philselectronics/servicemenu.htm

this does work for this sony TV

Yes I would like to know this, too (e.g. how do you adjust pincushion?).

Quick update...

On Sonystyle.com, price reduced to $1199. In addition, Sonystyle.com has free shipping AND free set up AND free financing with no payments for 18 months (need to phone in the order). Also, 4 year service plan is $129 - cheaper than Best Buy. No brainer on this one. :)

Only downer on this deal is they charge sales tax/disposal fee in CA (about $107).

look at Crutchfield then
they will match anything Sony does themselves and they do not charge taxes

look at Crutchfield then
they will match anything Sony does themselves and they do not charge taxes

Does that include financing? I can't seem to find anything on their site about financing. I like to put my money to work (put it into safe investments, earning interest)...I always take advantage of free financing/no payments, then pay it off at the end of the term.

JUST confirmed...Crutchfield cannot match the no payments/no finance charge financing.

yes
I got it when I bought my Sony Kd30xs955 from Crutchfield

well I got it
sorry you cannot for whatever reason

I got 18 months of no interest no payments

I bought from Crutchfield and signed up with Sony Financing

Alternative choice:
I just got got my 30xs955 from belmont tv. I bought it in the store but you can order online or by phone. They charge shipping but maybe not tax if you are outside VA and MD where they operate. Price is similar to BB. Their website is their name. (can't post url yet)

Has anyone had this issue. When i hit the power button, the set takes 13 seconds to come on. Otherwise I am extremely happy with this tv.

Has anyone had this issue. When i hit the power button, the set takes 13 seconds to come on. Otherwise I am extremely happy with this tv.

No problems with mine. Takes less than 5 seconds to power up.

No problems with mine. Takes less than 5 seconds to power up.

did you actually count?
, cause I had to program the time into my Harmony remote so it knows when to switch inputs
and it was just over 10 seconds although it certainly does not seem that long

I plan to buy this TV in the next couple of days. I have a couple of questions and I'm new to this stuff (this will be my first HDTV), so bear with me:

1) Are monster cables really worth it? - $120 for HDMI monster cables is a lot to spend.

2) I have a progessive scan DVD plan - is it worth it to upgrade to a HD-DVD player (there's a Samsung out there for $150 that I was looking at if so)?

3) I already have a Motorola DVR from Comcast which I use for my SD television. It says it is HDTV ready. Do I need to upgrade or can I just use that one (I can already view the HDTV channels on my SD TV). How will non-HDTV channels look on this TV when running through this digital cable box?

4) What's a good calibration DVD to purchase and where can I purchase it?

5) Am I making the right television choice here?

Thanks for any help.

I plan to buy this TV in the next couple of days. I have a couple of questions and I'm new to this stuff (this will be my first HDTV), so bear with me:

1) Are monster cables really worth it? - $120 for HDMI monster cables is a lot to spend.

2) I have a progessive scan DVD plan - is it worth it to upgrade to a HD-DVD player (there's a Samsung out there for $150 that I was looking at if so)?

3) I already have a Motorola DVR from Comcast which I use for my SD television. It says it is HDTV ready. Do I need to upgrade or can I just use that one (I can already view the HDTV channels on my SD TV). How will non-HDTV channels look on this TV when running through this digital cable box?

4) What's a good calibration DVD to purchase and where can I purchase it?

5) Am I making the right television choice here?

Thanks for any help.
I would suggest buying an HDMI cable thru HDTVSupply.com. They are better and much cheaper than Monster. I have the samsung dvd player 941 which is an upscaling dvd player. The 1080i image thru HDMI is great all though the display on teh unti is a little bright. Also, when using an HDMI connection, the Samsung will display an error message when you put int eh dvd saying "HdMI audio not supported" for like 1 second. Other then that, for the price it's a great deal and supported dvd audio and sacd.

I assume your motorola will work as long as you call the cable company to upgrader your service plan.

I plan to buy this TV in the next couple of days. I have a couple of questions and I'm new to this stuff (this will be my first HDTV), so bear with me:

1) Are monster cables really worth it? - $120 for HDMI monster cables is a lot to spend.

2) I have a progessive scan DVD plan - is it worth it to upgrade to a HD-DVD player (there's a Samsung out there for $150 that I was looking at if so)?

3) I already have a Motorola DVR from Comcast which I use for my SD television. It says it is HDTV ready. Do I need to upgrade or can I just use that one (I can already view the HDTV channels on my SD TV). How will non-HDTV channels look on this TV when running through this digital cable box?

4) What's a good calibration DVD to purchase and where can I purchase it?

5) Am I making the right television choice here?

Thanks for any help.

Question 1 :

I have an older first generation DVD player, the signal is fed to my Sony VHS recorder, then to the TV. The PQ is superb even with this set up. Then I bought a Sony DVD with progressive scan recently and hooked it to the TV through the component input (using py, pb and py), I did not see any real noticeable improvement. I later found out that the TV has a built in feature called DRC:

Digital Reality Creation™ (DRC) Multifunction Unlike conventional line doublers, the DRC Multifunction feature replaces the signal’s NTSC waveform with the HD equivalent, while doubling the number of vertical and horizontal lines. This results in four times the density for quality sources, such as DVD, satellite and digital camcorders. The Video Menu allows you to select interlaced, progressive or CineMotion™ output.

It seems to improve the signal from the DVD player, so I would not buy the monster cable until you have tried using the DVD with a regular cable first.

Qustion 2 : see above

Question 3 : I have Comcast High Speed Internet with the 12 channels basic option. The TV has two antenna inputs, one for over the air signal and one for cable. I can now get over 100 channels (mostly music stations) from the Comcast cable including some HDTV signal (like ABC, NBC ....). Non-HDTV channels look better than my older Sony TV.

Question 4 : You can use any calibration disk. I created one from using the patterns from this website : http://www.tigerdave.com/test_patterns.htm

Question 5 : Yes. If you need confirmation, read the March 2005 issue of Consumer's Report.

1) Are monster cables really worth it? - $120 for HDMI monster cables is a lot to spend.

2) I have a progessive scan DVD plan - is it worth it to upgrade to a HD-DVD player (there's a Samsung out there for $150 that I was looking at if so)?

4) What's a good calibration DVD to purchase and where can I purchase it?

5) Am I making the right television choice here?

Thanks for any help.

Get your cables from BetterCables simply because they sponsor the forum.

If a $150 player is an upgrade then by all means get it.

Avia is good and pretty easy to use. You may want to consider an ISF calibration at some point.

Yes, you are making the right choice.

Just got this set a few weeks ago. I am having trouble with the HD tuner. Sometimes I cannot properly tune in OTA signals. They appear on the screen with a sort of garish photo negative look. For example, watching the Houston Astros, all I could see were red (the uniforms) and green (the field) vivid blotches. Everything else was dark. The signal strength is usually in the 89-92 range, so its not as if it's the signal. Often times, I can wait it out, and after a period of time, the HD picture will clear up. Sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes an hour.

I spoke with a Sony CSR a couple of nights ago, and he had me try a power cycle, unplugging the television, but that did no good.

Then, when I was pushing the television back into place, it hit the wall (not very hard) and the HD picture popped in perfectly.

Someone elsewhere on the boards mentioned a service bulletin on a bad transistor for this set. Anyone familiar with that? Can you point me to it?

Otherwise, anyone had any similar problems with this set?

Is there anyway to merge the million other Sony 30XS955 threads into this thread?

you can pm alan but I do not think we should merge every KD30XS955 thread

you can pm alan but I do not think we should merge every KD30XS955 thread

It just seems to me everyone that buys a new one or is thinking about buying one is starting a new thread.

I'd like to hear from the new owners how they set their picture up, what tweaks they've done etc.

There 5 threads on page one alone. One person is asking for help with set up. If we can create one resource questions may get answered quicker with more input.

there is a sony tweak thread already

and even a few of them

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=421583

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=531494

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=531494

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=479498

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=566903

Thanks to this forum, I was able to verify that the KD30XS955 was a good choice. I picked one up at BB for $673.49 (10% off for open box and another 15% with coupon printed from BB site). I can't wait to get it set up and see how good it looks at home and properly adjusted!

I just Bought the tv yesterday, I am very happy with it so far. My cable box for HD hasent been installed yet but Using a 20+ year old UHF antenna in the attic i actually pick up more digital channels then i do analog ones. In HD the picture is fantastic. I do have one complaint though, and i wanna know what other owners solutions were.. The TV has NO flat area on top... I am left with no place to put my Center channel speaker.. My old panasonic had a center speaker mode where you could use the TV speakers for the center... does this tv have anything like that? I am thinking about cutting a block of wood to wedge the back of my center so it stays on, but did anyone come up with a better solution?

I will say though its a great TV.. thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Dr.

try this....or something similar...unless you think your wood block would be better.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=4637174&type=product&id=1051806204991

I was wondering how significant the difference between component and S-video is on this set.

I just picked it up the KD30XS955 but my Pioneer 1014 receiver only has one video component out (which is going to my front projector). So the easiest way for me to hook it up would be S-video cable straight from my HD box.

I've also heard that S-video looks slightly better when displaying SD signals. Not that I'll be watching too much SD I hope.

Anyway, feedback is appreciated.

jmac

The inexpensive way out is to try 3 RCA Y connectors from Radioshack $5? a piece. Not sure if the HD signal likes to be split like that or if you can only watch one display at a time?
Maybe someone in this forum knows.
Then there are switchers: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=553529
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=509068
s-video does not support HD

If your receiver has multiple component ins, use it as your switcher.

he said he was using the component out from his receiver to his projector

I've also heard that S-video looks slightly better when displaying SD signals. Not that I'll be watching too much SD I hope.

maybe cause the cable boxes have had poorly implimented component outputs

component in theory should be better than svideo or composite for SDTV content

Just a quick silly question:

When the TV is turned on, the red light flashes 5-6 times (I forget) before it actually powers on - Is this normal? It has always done it. - Warming up maybe?

Thanks

normal.....states it in the manual

Thanks, I should try to find that.. Any since I am already asking silly questions..

Is there a way to change the input other than cycling through all of them? For example, if im on #1, is there a quick way to just to #7?

Thanks again!

Thanks, I should try to find that.. Any since I am already asking silly questions..

Is there a way to change the input other than cycling through all of them? For example, if im on #1, is there a quick way to just to #7?

Thanks again!

You can set it up to skip inputs that you do not have anything hooked up to.

Check the manual. :D

You can set it up to skip inputs that you do not have anything hooked up to.

Check the manual. :D

Yeah, but that is still annoying, especially when one has several components hooked up! Anyone know if it’s possible to use set buttons for the individual inputs via a programmable remote?

get a universal remote like a harmony which can jump inputs for you with one press of the buttons
they are activity based remotes and work with everything under the sun

get a universal remote like a harmony which can jump inputs for you with one press of the buttons
they are activity based remotes and work with everything under the sun

Actually, Sony itself makes a killer universal remote (the Digital Remote Commander) which so far has only tripped up on the GI/Motorola DCT-2xxx digital cable STBs (amazingly, the same DRC works just fine with the analog and Moto HD/DVR STBs). So if you can't find the Harmony (out of stock, unavailable, etc.), consider the Sony.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get the 30XS955 I had my eye on (BB sold out too darn fast), and that particular store doesn't have my next choice (another Sony, specifically the KD34XBR960). However, the CC across the street DOES have the 34" XBR. The only way I can get the 30" XS is ordering directly from SonyStyle. Has anyone done this? My issue is, of course, the shipping method (as this is a one hundred fifty pound behemoth of a set); who handles shipping for Sony on the East Coast?

Actually, Sony itself makes a killer universal remote (the Digital Remote Commander) which so far has only tripped up on the GI/Motorola DCT-2xxx digital cable STBs (amazingly, the same DRC works just fine with the analog and Moto HD/DVR STBs). So if you can't find the Harmony (out of stock, unavailable, etc.), consider the Sony.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to get the 30XS955 I had my eye on (BB sold out too darn fast), and that particular store doesn't have my next choice (another Sony, specifically the KD34XBR960). However, the CC across the street DOES have the 34" XBR. The only way I can get the 30" XS is ordering directly from SonyStyle. Has anyone done this? My issue is, of course, the shipping method (as this is a one hundred fifty pound behemoth of a set); who handles shipping for Sony on the East Coast?
I just order the 30XS955 from Amazon for $950 & $99 for shipping. It's not quite the deal that BB ran but they're getting scarse and every other place that still had them in stock wanted a couple hundred $$ more. I procrastinated way too long and missed the deal from BB, but at least I'll be getting one at a decent price.

The picture on my 30XS955 is great for HD, but when I watch SD channels or bring up my program guide I notice that the 4:3 image isn't square. It's bows out at the top and bottom (mainly the top). I've read other threads from people with similar problems.
Is their a way to fix this? I haven't ventured into the service menu, is this where I have to go?

Sidenote: this doesn't sound good, about ten minutes ago my screen went black for about 10 seconds, when it came back on the bowing seemed a bit worse.

anyone else have this issue?

This may have been covered but is it possible to get HDTV through a non hdv box with Comcast since this tv has a builit in tuner. My projector is hooked up to an hd (box)receiver, I could try it. I was just wondering if I was able to avoid the HD reciever. Any input is appreciated.

The tv has a QAM tuner. If comcast is sending the HD channels digitally and unencrypted (most likely true for your local stations, probably not true for ESPN-HD or HBO-HD - - you'll need a cablecard for that), then you will get the channels, but they won't be mapped to where comcast puts them.

I don't have HD service w/comcast, yet I get all the locals (I have extended basic only). They are channels like 86.1 vs something like 802 on the official comcast listings.

The QAM tuner also picks up a few other random channels like the music audio channels and a few unencrypted stragglers, also in non-standard channel settings.

EDIT - worth adding the comcast is not allowed by law to encrypt the local affiliate HD feeds.

Jmac, I think that might be a geometry problem, but the experts will get to that, I think. I just got mine today. It doesn't look real good, but then it was a floor model so I know I will have to do some tweaking to get it right. My question is, do you have to enter the service menu to really get it looking good? I don't really want to mess around with something I don't understand.

Thanks for any advice.

I just got this TV and I was wondering if you have any tips for improving video quality of old videogames... I was just trying out my old N64 using a standard RCA cable and it looked realllllllllllly bad.

The tv has a QAM tuner. If comcast is sending the HD channels digitally and unencrypted (most likely true for your local stations, probably not true for ESPN-HD or HBO-HD - - you'll need a cablecard for that), then you will get the channels, but they won't be mapped to where comcast puts them.

I don't have HD service w/comcast, yet I get all the locals (I have extended basic only). They are channels like 86.1 vs something like 802 on the official comcast listings.

The QAM tuner also picks up a few other random channels like the music audio channels and a few unencrypted stragglers, also in non-standard channel settings.

EDIT - worth adding the comcast is not allowed by law to encrypt the local affiliate HD feeds.
maybe a stupid question, but for QAM do you have to do anything special? I hooked cable up to mine just to try it (i have a DVR box) and i just got the standard channels. My cable company DOES however carry all the HD channels, but auto programming didnt turn any up.

Dr.

EDIT - worth adding the comcast is not allowed by law to encrypt the local affiliate HD feeds.


I thought it was a regulation for the cableco 's to carry locals in the clear not necesarily the the HD locals.

Did you connect via the a coax cable frrom the wall to your cable tuner on the television ? The scan will take about 40 minutes to complete. Make sure it is on the cable tuner and not the antenna.

maybe a stupid question, but for QAM do you have to do anything special? I hooked cable up to mine just to try it (i have a DVR box) and i just got the standard channels. My cable company DOES however carry all the HD channels, but auto programming didnt turn any up.

Dr.

The only thing special you have to do is find the channels. As you noticed they sometimes don't show up under auto program.

Check the local HDTV thread for you area. Often times some one will post the QAM channels for the various cable companies.

Opps! Just saw that you're a mustang guy, please disregard any helpful posts.

Check the local HDTV thread for you area. Often times some one will post the QAM channels for the various cable companies.

My tv found my locals, except CBS & Fox. I checked my local (boston) thread, I I learned to add channels 87.1 and 87.2.

I might be wrong about the legal requirement, but I thought it was something along the lines of if they carry the locals in HD, they can't encrypt them. The local threads are a wealth of information.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45

I just got thi tv yesterday. Can anyone give some basic numbers for contrast, brightness, etc. BB just turned them all way up and left it at that. The brighter the better. Any help would be appreciated, but if the advice is get a test disc, I don't have a dvd player, and I don't have the money for the disc at this point in time. Again, thank you to anyone willing to help.

Greetings

Then just use pro mode and set color temp to warm (ntsc).

Regards

There is really nothing more I can do to make it look better? You guys are the experts, so I will go with it. Thanks.

Greetings

The problem with taking other people's settings is that if they did it the correct way ... they set it up based on DVD test patterns on their DVD player.

Problem is ... these optimal settings vary from player to player to player because all players vary. Add to that ... all TV's vary too. So which one is right? I don't know ... they all are right ... for those particular equipment pairings ...

Unless you have their combination (which you can't possibly have) ... then the numbers provided are a wild A$$ guess. Sony's Pro mode is a good WAG to start at. If you think the image is still too dark ... then boost the brightness to suit you. If the image looks too dim ... boost the contrast a bit. (you are optimizing for your TV now and your viewing environment.) Since we can't see what your TV looks like ... this part is entirely up to you. We also can't see through your eyes ... to know what you think constiitutes a good picture versus a bad one.

REgards

Darn Noob Question Alert!

Why won't my xs955 allow me to watch Bambi in Normal mode at 720 or 1080? It only gives me options that distore the picture, which was originally produced in 4:3. On 480 it allows the "Normal" option. Is that just the way it is, or is there a setting on my TV or DVD player that needs to be adjusted.

full mode would be the correct mode for an upscaling DVD player set to 1080i

it sounds like your DVD player is outputting the incorrect aspect ratio, have you set it to 16:9 mode in the player's menus?

there is no normal mode for HD inputs, only full, zoom, vertical and horizontal stretch

I have seen a similar issue with Madden 2006.


Xbox connected via HD Pack w/ component. Xbox set to widescreen.

Sony recognizes the feed as 4:3. Full.



Make sure your dvd player has the correct display settings.

Is it worth buying this TV from clearence at BestBuy or should I go for 34 or 36 inch model of same TV ? I was at my local bestbuy yesterday and they had last piece left which was marked down to 897. They are offering 897 - 10% for demo model - 15% for openbox coupon so my final price would be 668 USD. I just want to know if it is worth taking risk of buying it at this price, BestBuy is also offering 4 year warranty on this TV for 199 USD. I saw the 30 inch model and 34 inch model (both display only) and felt 30 inch was better for my needs. Any comments ?

If I'm not mistaken, SONY offers a 5-year warranty on a television priced in this range for $119. As long as they give in-home service, what would the differences between the SONY and higher priced warraties be?

If I'm not mistaken, SONY offers a 5-year warranty on a television priced in this range for $119. As long as they give in-home service, what would the differences between the SONY and higher priced warraties be?
Very good observation, do you know if SONY offers in home service ? Also where can I buy this warranty from ?

thanks for your help.

-mj

Is it worth buying this TV from clearence at BestBuy or should I go for 34 or 36 inch model of same TV ? I was at my local bestbuy yesterday and they had last piece left which was marked down to 897. They are offering 897 - 10% for demo model - 15% for openbox coupon so my final price would be 668 USD. I just want to know if it is worth taking risk of buying it at this price, BestBuy is also offering 4 year warranty on this TV for 199 USD. I saw the 30 inch model and 34 inch model (both display only) and felt 30 inch was better for my needs. Any comments ?



it's an obvious choice

My internet dropped out so my message did not go thru. I bought this same tv the other day, a floor model. I didn't take their warranty, but they said I have 30 days if I want to get it. You can get a warranty thru sonystyle.com, but I think they are going to charge based on the msrp price, not the price we paid for it. I want to check it out as well as I really don't want to spend 200.00 to warranty a tv I paid 6+ for. It just seems like a lot, even though I have a gut feeling it will come in worth while.
Just my thoughts on it all. As far as the price? 670 for a tv that normally goes for 1200. How could I not do it. I wanted the 34 as well, but at this price, it can't be beat.

My internet dropped out so my message did not go thru. I bought this same tv the other day, a floor model. I didn't take their warranty, but they said I have 30 days if I want to get it. You can get a warranty thru sonystyle.com, but I think they are going to charge based on the msrp price, not the price we paid for it. I want to check it out as well as I really don't want to spend 200.00 to warranty a tv I paid 6+ for. It just seems like a lot, even though I have a gut feeling it will come in worth while.
Just my thoughts on it all. As far as the price? 670 for a tv that normally goes for 1200. How could I not do it. I wanted the 34 as well, but at this price, it can't be beat.

Hey thanks for your encoraging words, I'll definatley grab this one. They also have 34 inch model as display but for some reason I think it is too big for me. Also the model is marked down only to 1449 & with all discount will come down to around 1100. And seeing that 36 inch brand new can be bought for 1499 at Circuit City I dont see it as too attractive offer compared to 30 inch model. I've just sent email to SonyStyle to check if they will provide extended warranty for this unit or not.

Please post results as I am very curious to find out how they approach this one. Personally if I had the money, I would go with the 34 only because I wanted the extra size, but now this will be the bedroom t.v and it is okay for in there. Which 34 model did they have that they were selling, the xs955?

Please post results as I am very curious to find out how they approach this one. Personally if I had the money, I would go with the 34 only because I wanted the extra size, but now this will be the bedroom t.v and it is okay for in there. Which 34 model did they have that they were selling, the xs955?

yes the 34 inch model is xs955. It is at Marlborough BestBuy in MA.

SONY service is automatically in-home for any TV 25" or larger. Spoke with a SONYstyle rep who said it is based on the selling price of the tv, not the list price. 3-yr plan is 69.99, 4-yr is 92.99, 5-yr is 119.99. I'm not sure how it works, but I think that when you buy it from SONY, they send you paperwork that you need to return with a proof of purchase. Given the crappy 90-day labor warranty that SONY gives, extending that to 5 years for $24 per year seem like a winner to me (and I usually HATE extended warranties).

Nice find.

I agree, nice find indeed.

Might consider the two year add on for $46.99. Wonder if I can use sony points from my sony credit cards. I have seen some people have found Sony to be a bit tough to work with on warranties.

This link might get you there (not sure how they anchor their links):

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/EW_ViewExtendedWarranty-Detail?CategoryName=CE_TV&TabName=Pricing&Telesales=

Last Thursday I bought the last 30XS955 from the Best Buy in Westwood, CA. It was the display model, so I spent about 30 minutes looking it over and playing around with the settings. It looks like it hadn't been in the store very long and it looks as though they hadn't cranked up the brightness too much. Also there wasn't a scratch on the case anywhere.

Anyway, $899 - 10% (open box) - 15% (coupon on closeouts and open box tv's) = $687.(+tax) :)
PLUS, I'm getting a $50 gift card (as long as I remember to send in the form) and Reward Zone points.

The TV is absolutely beautiful, by the way. I traded my old cable box for an HD box and now I'm getting like 10 or so HD channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, TNTHD, DISCHD, HDNET, ESPNHD, HBOHD, PBSHD, ...). DISCHD, PBSHD, and HDNET generally have the best picture quality. Regular TV is kind of boring, but does work.

I'm thinking of upgrading my DVD player to one of the HDMI-upconverting players. Not sure which one to get though. Which ones go well with the 30XS955?

Can anyone give some basic numbers for contrast, brightness, etc.

i'd be interested in this info too.

I traded my old cable box for an HD box and now I'm getting like 10 or so HD channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, TNTHD, DISCHD, HDNET, ESPNHD, HBOHD, PBSHD, ...). DISCHD, PBSHD, and HDNET generally have the best picture quality.
you do not need an HD cable box for those channels in HD on your TV
they should be unencrypted QAM or get a cable card and save some money

I have seen a similar issue with Madden 2006.


Xbox connected via HD Pack w/ component. Xbox set to widescreen.

Sony recognizes the feed as 4:3. Full.



Make sure your dvd player has the correct display settings.


i'm having the same problem with my xbox. in the dashboard, i have widescreen, 480p, 720p, and 1080i turned on. 720p games, such as tony hawk pro skater, look great. halo 2, gta: san andreas, and other games that are native 16:9 and look fine on my mitsubishi hdtv, are being displayed by the tv in a 4:3 pillar box mode. using the "full" or "wide zoom" modes distort or cut off the life/ammo guages. i would understand if this problem were occuring on games that did not support 16:9 but this is just frustrating.

dvd's and hd channels look fantastic, just having this wierd problem with the xbox. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last Thursday I bought the last 30XS955 from the Best Buy in Westwood, CA. It was the display model, so I spent about 30 minutes looking it over and playing around with the settings. It looks like it hadn't been in the store very long and it looks as though they hadn't cranked up the brightness too much. Also there wasn't a scratch on the case anywhere.

Anyway, $899 - 10% (open box) - 15% (coupon on closeouts and open box tv's) = $687.(+tax) :)
PLUS, I'm getting a $50 gift card (as long as I remember to send in the form) and Reward Zone points.

The TV is absolutely beautiful, by the way. I traded my old cable box for an HD box and now I'm getting like 10 or so HD channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, TNTHD, DISCHD, HDNET, ESPNHD, HBOHD, PBSHD, ...). DISCHD, PBSHD, and HDNET generally have the best picture quality. Regular TV is kind of boring, but does work.

I'm thinking of upgrading my DVD player to one of the HDMI-upconverting players. Not sure which one to get though. Which ones go well with the 30XS955?

Welcome to the gang, I scored same TV same price in Marlborough, MA. How do you get all HD channels ? Do you need to subscribe for HD or it picks up on its own. I know that it has built-in HD tuner so do I need anything specific to receive HD programs ? Also I took Sony's extended warranty and they charged me 96 USD for 5 years in-home service plan. I think I'm better off not taking bestbuy warranty which is like 199 for 4 years. Also what form you are talking about ? I've rewardzone card so I get points on that but is there any other 50 USD rebate or giftcard on this TV ?

are being displayed by the tv in a 4:3 pillar box mode. using the "full" or "wide zoom" modes distort or cut off the life/ammo guages. i would understand if this problem were occuring on games that did not support 16:9 but this is just frustrating.

well it sounds like these are 480p games in which full mode is the correct mode
if something is getting cut off your TV's overscan is set too high, you can only adjust this in the service menu

You can either get it as OTA w/ an antenna (the radio shack 15-1880 worked for me, $50). Or, the QAM tuner will pick up any HD cable channels that are unencrypted.

well it sounds like these are 480p games in which full mode is the correct mode
if something is getting cut off your TV's overscan is set too high, you can only adjust this in the service menu


so even if a game is made to support 16:9 and 480p, i'll have to stretch the picture by using "full" mode with the sony tv? i have two other hdtv's in my home that don't have this problem, so i'm pretty sure that there is some setting with the sony that i'm missing. i even tried playing widescreen dvd's through the consoles and they played fine, the issue only occurs with games. i've read through the manual and can't seem to find anything that addresses the issue. i think i'll give sony a call tomorrow and see what they say. i'll post their response.

what do you mean stretch the image
full mode is not stretching, it sounds like you have your xbox setup incorrectly

full mode is the correct mode for any anamorphic or HD sources
(unless you are wanting to stretch or zoom)

Normal mode is only for 480i 4:3 broadcasts and 4:3 DVDs

Zoom mode is the correct mode for non anamorphic DVDs and non anamorphic 16:9 broadcasts

There is something strange going on w\ Xbox because my xbox upon bootup will show (via the Sony display button) 16:9 + 480i .......... When the game loads it shows 480p 4:3.

There is something strange going on w\ Xbox because my xbox upon bootup will show (via the Sony display button) 16:9 + 480i .......... When the game loads it shows 480p 4:3.

that's the exact problem that i'm having with this tv. it's not the way the xbox is set up, i have 2 other hdtv's in my home and neither one of them have this issue. the problem is also happening with ps2 with games like god of war that support both 16:9 and 480p.

what do you mean stretch the image
full mode is not stretching, it sounds like you have your xbox setup incorrectly

full mode is the correct mode for any anamorphic or HD sources
(unless you are wanting to stretch or zoom)

Normal mode is only for 480i 4:3 broadcasts and 4:3 DVDs

i understand what you're saying there and it makes perfect sense. that is exactly how games that support 720p display, in full mode, and they look great. 480p games that are made to be displayed in 16:9 format are being distorted, stretched, in "full" mode and as bullgates said, are being shown in 4:3 480p by the tv.

i don't think the tv his having any kind of overscan or geometry issues becase hd channels and games as well as dvd's played on both consoles and a stand alone dvd player look fine and do not have any of the issues we're describing. it's really strange. when i get home from work, i'm going to call sony support and see what they say.

[QUOTE=bjenkins] 480p games that are made to be displayed in 16:9 format are being distorted, stretched, in "full" mode and as bullgates said, are being shown in 4:3 480p by the tv.
QUOTE]

I bought the same TV this past Friday and it does the same thing you are talking about with Halo 2 @ 480P. However, full does not distort anything other than the HUD. The maps and characters are true 16X9 and only the radar, aiming guide, amo...ect are distorted. This is just how it is with Halo 2. What you are seing is not a problem. For some reason this TV and my Sony 50" LCD RP HDTV both list the input as 4X3 480P. In normal mode you will notice that the HUD looks correct but your gun, and everything else on the screen is tall and skinny.

Again, nothing is wrong with your TV. "Full" is the correct mode for games. 720P and 1080i also default to "Full". It's all good.

i'm sorry for being so persistant, but if there is no problem with the tv, then why do the games display in 16:9, with absolutely no distortion, on my mitsubishi and phillips hdtv's? on the sony tv, gta: san andreas in "full" mode has a black bar on the left side of the tv and the right side of the game is cut off. if the settings on the game consoles are set to 16:9, the tv should recognize this instead of displaying a 4:3 image.

the hud in halo should have no distortion when displayed in 16:9. there was an issue with this when the game was first release but it has been patched an corrected. since you're saying that you have the problem on your 50" sony lcd, i believe the problem must just be with sony tv's in general. if i experienced the issue on my other tv's, i wouldn't be so concerned. honestly, when xbox 360 releases in 21 days this will be an afterthought since all games are hd and i most likely will not be playing xbox or ps2 for awhile anyway ;)

i emailed sony support. i'll post thier reply when i get it. other than this particular issue, i'm super happy with the set. hdtv is gorgeous and dvd's look great (even when played through the game consoles).

i'm sorry for being so persistant, but if there is no problem with the tv, then why do the games display in 16:9, with absolutely no distortion, on my mitsubishi and phillips hdtv's? on the sony tv, gta: san andreas in "full" mode has a black bar on the left side of the tv and the right side of the game is cut off. if the settings on the game consoles are set to 16:9, the tv should recognize this instead of displaying a 4:3 image.

the hud in halo should have no distortion when displayed in 16:9. there was an issue with this when the game was first release but it has been patched an corrected. since you're saying that you have the problem on your 50" sony lcd, i believe the problem must just be with sony tv's in general. if i experienced the issue on my other tv's, i wouldn't be so concerned. honestly, when xbox 360 releases in 21 days this will be an afterthought since all games are hd and i most likely will not be playing xbox or ps2 for awhile anyway ;)

i emailed sony support. i'll post thier reply when i get it. other than this particular issue, i'm super happy with the set. hdtv is gorgeous and dvd's look great (even when played through the game consoles).

I think it's just a "personality quirk" for lack of a better term. I have the Sony 34XBR960, and it's the same thing for me. I put the TV in Full mode, and I'm all set on games in WS.

It's not a problem that you should be worried about.

the hud in halo should have no distortion when displayed in 16:9. there was an issue with this when the game was first release but it has been patched an corrected.

I remember the patch you are talking about having something to do with 480P but I was not aware that they did anything to fix the distorted HUD. Like I said my 50" sony does the same thing and these two sets are the only ones I have played on 16X9. It's not been a problem but I'd still like to know for sure that this has been fixed. I'm having trouble understanding how the HUD could be right on one TV but not another. The XBOX does not care what display is hooked up to the end of the component cables and it's sending out the same signal to all. Everything on the screen is stretched when in full and it just so happens that the stretch makes everything but the HUD be in the correct 16X9 porportion.

that's why i'm so frustratred with games on this tv. on my mitsubishi, when halo 2 was first released, the hud was a little distorted and cut off. once the patch was released, it was no longer distorted or cut off. i think the problem is that the sony tv's are not recognizing the game systems as a 16:9 source. my mitsubishi and phillips sets display 16:9 games in thier native formats but the sony tv indicates that the image from the games are 4:3 480p and it then has to be stretched to 16:9 by using the "full" mode.

Here are more threads on this same topic:
Panny Projector with the same problem -
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=553918&highlight=halo+2+HUD
Here is another Panny with the same problem -
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5583755&highlight=halo+2+HUD#post5583755

From what I have read this morning the update to Halo 2 only fixed 480P split screen HUD issues and the 16X9 is still not right. Everything else on the screen is correct when in "full" mode. For some reason the Xbox/game is not sending the proper 16X9 message tag to the TV and that’s why it defaults to standard. The proper way of looking at the problem is that the image is squeezed into the standard format rather than stretched in the full format.

that's why i'm so frustratred with games on this tv. on my mitsubishi, when halo 2 was first released, the hud was a little distorted and cut off. once the patch was released, it was no longer distorted or cut off. i think the problem is that the sony tv's are not recognizing the game systems as a 16:9 source. my mitsubishi and phillips sets display 16:9 games in thier native formats but the sony tv indicates that the image from the games are 4:3 480p and it then has to be stretched to 16:9 by using the "full" mode.

Go put Halo 2 on that TV and check out the HUD. I bet you a steak dinner that the HUD is stretched. yeah the TV may see the image as 16X9 and display it that way without you having to do any "full mode" change but there is no way that HUD will be correct.

so, do you want to drive to texas for that steak dinner or do i have to drive to alabama? :D

I can get an open box XS955 for $899 (w/ scratches on the cabinet,) but do the SuperFine CRT and CableCard capability make it a better deal than the HS420 for $715? Is the difference in picture quality that great?

I can get an open box XS955 for $899 (w/ scratches on the cabinet,) but do the SuperFine CRT and CableCard capability make it a better deal than the HS420 for $715? Is the difference in picture quality that great?


I saw HS420 and XS955 side-by-side and found picture quality noticably better on XS955. Also check if you are interested in Toshiba. I saw Toshiba 34HF85 for 899 as an openbox item for clearence. So it would be same in case you can find one at your local BestBuy.

best of luck.

I saw HS420 and XS955 side-by-side and found picture quality noticably better on XS955. Also check if you are interested in Toshiba. I saw Toshiba 34HF85 for 899 as an openbox item for clearence. So it would be same in case you can find one at your local BestBuy.

best of luck.

I just got back from BB, and unfortunately, upon closer inspection there are some scratches on the open box's screen. The only new XS955 in my area will run $1,200, but that seems a little on the high end.

Hey guys! I just picked up the Sony 30XS955 from Best Buy... a brand new one and used that 15% coupon and am going to be getting the $50 gift card in the mail, all in all, a great deal. One thing though is that I have a cable box from Cablevision. They offer the HDTV for free so it all works out. Anyway, for the actual screen options on the tv, when I have them set to "normal" for both Screen Mode AND 4:3 Default, the analog channels show up with big black bars on the side and then the HDTV channels show up with those black bars on the sides AND then gray bars on the top and bottom AND then another set of gray bars from left to right making the viewing picture for HDTV very small. Am I supposed to leave the options at normal or should they be full or is there just something wrong with my cable box? I called my cable company and they said that the analog channels should be full screen and the HDTV channels should also be full screen as long as the programming is actually being programmed in HD. Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciaited as I'm rather new to the whole thing. Thanks!!!

IndyPetey

Set the screen options to full. That should correct the problem.

Thanks. It takes care of the analog but the HDTV channels still have gray bars on the top and bottom. Is it supposed to be this way or should it still be on the whole screen. Also, is the setting it should be at or should it be Wide Zoom or Normal or something. Thanks again!

the correct setting should be for correct aspect ratio
normal for 480i SD connection via svideo, composite, component at 480i, and coax
when the broadcast is widescreen but still 480i, the correct mode is zoom
same for non anamorphic DVDs

for 4x3 aka fullscreen DVDs should use normal mode

for HD and anamorphic DVDs, the correct mode is full mode

if the broadcast is upscaled SD on a HD channel and widescreen the correct mode is zoom

widezoom is a non linear stretch meaning distortion stretch and zoom method to fit 4x3 SD content on your 16:9 screen with little distortion and little loss from zooming

the horizontal and vertical stretch modes for HD inputs are useless IMO
I have never seen a use for them unless it bothers you that some movies are wider than 16x9
and the fact there are 4x3 movies

HD connections are only DVI, HDMI, component and digital coax feeds from an antenna with an ATSC tuner or by passing your cable box and using the QAM tuner built in the TV with or without cable card

IMO, you have either incorrectly setup your cable box or are not using the proper cables

Hey guys! I just picked up the Sony 30XS955 from Best Buy... a brand new one and used that 15% coupon and am going to be getting the $50 gift card in the mail, all in all, a great deal. One thing though is that I have a cable box from Cablevision. They offer the HDTV for free so it all works out. Anyway, for the actual screen options on the tv, when I have them set to "normal" for both Screen Mode AND 4:3 Default, the analog channels show up with big black bars on the side and then the HDTV channels show up with those black bars on the sides AND then gray bars on the top and bottom AND then another set of gray bars from left to right making the viewing picture for HDTV very small. Am I supposed to leave the options at normal or should they be full or is there just something wrong with my cable box? I called my cable company and they said that the analog channels should be full screen and the HDTV channels should also be full screen as long as the programming is actually being programmed in HD. Any help you guys can provide would be greatly appreciaited as I'm rather new to the whole thing. Thanks!!!

how much did you get it for and which bestbuy ? Also what is this 50$ giftcard offer ? I didnot see it when I bought mine this Sunday. Mine was demo model with scratch or dent on TV just some dust as it was in open.

It was $899 then I had a 15% coupon and Best Buy is running a $50 rebate in the form of a gift card which is sent through the mail, it prints out on the receipt ($50 gift card that is). The 15% coupon I had to print off their website and show it to the cashier.

As for my tv hookup, I have an HDMI running to and from my cable box and tv so I guess there might be something wrong with my cable box? I'll find out soon enough. Thanks guys!

It was $899 then I had a 15% coupon and Best Buy is running a $50 rebate in the form of a gift card which is sent through the mail, it prints out on the receipt ($50 gift card that is). The 15% coupon I had to print off their website and show it to the cashier.

As for my tv hookup, I have an HDMI running to and from my cable box and tv so I guess there might be something wrong with my cable box? I'll find out soon enough. Thanks guys!

That is pretty good price for brand new one (sealed in box). When I bought this sunday it didnot print any 50$ rebate receipt. Might be because mine was demo piece. Did it say anything specific on rebate form for new or demo.

i spoke with sony support last night about the issue with 16:9 games being displayed in 4:3. i went through 3 techs and none of them could explain why this is happening but all agreed that it isn't normal. they advised me to call one of thier local service centers to have a tech come out to see if the issue can be resolved by "recalibrating the component inputs."

the specialist tech that i was trasnferred to last, stated, as has been mentioned here, that 480i/480p are 4:3 signals and have to be stretched to fill the screen (this makes sense to me and is a very logical explanation). my question to him was, if that's the case, then how come dvd's played through the consoles are displayed in a 16:9/480i format (verified by pressing the display button on the sony remote). he really didn't have an answer for that, so i pose the question to you guys. my thinking is that if the tv will display dvd's in that format, then surely it should display a native 16:9 game in that format as well.

i'm gonna leave it at that. i don't want to hijack the thread with this issue. i definately recommend this set to anyone considering making the purchase. hdtv and dvd's on this baby is spectacular and i'm positive that games will be too once xbox 360 comes out.

i spoke with sony support last night about the issue with 16:9 games being displayed in 4:3. i went through 3 techs and none of them could explain why this is happening but all agreed that it isn't normal. they advised me to call one of thier local service centers to have a tech come out to see if the issue can be resolved by "recalibrating the component inputs."

the specialist tech that i was trasnferred to last, stated, as has been mentioned here, that 480i/480p are 4:3 signals and have to be stretched to fill the screen (this makes sense to me and is a very logical explanation). my question to him was, if that's the case, then how come dvd's played through the consoles are displayed in a 16:9/480i format (verified by pressing the display button on the sony remote). he really didn't have an answer for that, so i pose the question to you guys. my thinking is that if the tv will display dvd's in that format, then surely it should display a native 16:9 game in that format as well.

i'm gonna leave it at that. i don't want to hijack the thread with this issue. i definately recommend this set to anyone considering making the purchase. hdtv and dvd's on this baby is spectacular and i'm positive that games will be too once xbox 360 comes out.

Not that you are going to listen to me any better today than you did yesterday, but here goes again :)

The Xbox game is not sending the proper 16X9 message tag to the TV. It's a known issue and it's not a problem with the TV. People have had this problem with other TV's than Sony's. It's my understanding that if the signal is sending the proper tag that the TV will go to Full on it's own. Without the tag you have to make it do it. Simple as that. I'm guessing that the DVD signal contains the 16X9 tag. Many people set up their 16X9 displays to go to "full" for 4X3 material and this takes care of the issue as well.

After looking around on AVS yesterday this is a topic that has been talked to death many many times. Use some simple search terms and look around for yourself if you are still having a hard time with the idea of your TV not going to full on it's own. The TV is not the problem.....its the game signal not containing the proper tag. The TV is doing just what they designed it to do.

All that with a big southern smile :)

Well Cablevision fixed my problem. Basically I was supposed to have my tv set to Video 7 and just had it on channel 3 which was causing all the bars heh. Something so simple yet never crossed my mind. Analog and HDTV channels are both set to full mode which I'm going to guess is the right one. If I set analog to normal then there are still the black bars on the side so for full screen I'm just setting it to full. Don't think there is a PQ difference so it's all good. Thanks guys!

Not that you are going to listen to me any better today than you did yesterday, but here goes again :)

The Xbox game is not sending the proper 16X9 message tag to the TV. It's a known issue and it's not a problem with the TV. People have had this problem with other TV's than Sony's. It's my understanding that if the signal is sending the proper tag that the TV will go to Full on it's own. Without the tag you have to make it do it. Simple as that. I'm guessing that the DVD signal contains the 16X9 tag. Many people set up their 16X9 displays to go to "full" for 4X3 material and this takes care of the issue as well.

After looking around on AVS yesterday this is a topic that has been talked to death many many times. Use some simple search terms and look around for yourself if you are still having a hard time with the idea of your TV not going to full on it's own. The TV is not the problem.....its the game signal not containing the proper tag. The TV is doing just what they designed it to do.

All that with a big southern smile :)

i guess i've just been reluctant to accept that due to the fact that everything is fine with my other sets without me having to make any adjustments. i appreciate your southern hospitality and putting up with me the past few days, thanks a bunch :D

i guess i've just been reluctant to accept that due to the fact that everything is fine with my other sets without me having to make any adjustments. i appreciate your southern hospitality and putting up with me the past few days, thanks a bunch :D

No problem. BTW You never gave an update on the HUD on your other display. Be sure you pick up a weapon that will show off the stretch good. It may look round at first but it's not. That motion sensor may look round but it's not either. If those displays allow you to change from full to normal try that as well.

I'm looking forward to the Xbox 360 so we can forget about all this stuff. That's why I bought this TV. 360 baby!

i never bothered to connect the xbox back up to that tv. after spending 2 hours on the phone with sony support last night, i just wanted to kick back and enjoy some nba in hd. i must say, it's gonna be hard to go back to watching sports on the rear projection set, the picture on this tube tv is simply amazing.

I have a question for you guys who game on this TV with 480P/i and 16X9. From what I have read on the boards I have found two setups that people tend to use. I have not seen both discussed a lot and never in the same place. I thought I'd bring them up here to see what you guys think looks best.

Setup #1:
Xbox Set to 16X9 and 480P
XS955 set to Pro picture and adjusted for taste; clear edge turned off; color axis set to monitor
Rationale: 480P is better than 480i so this must be better and the Pro setting takes out most of the "jaggies".

Setup #2:
Xbox set to 16X9 and 480i
XS955 set to a modified standard setting that is a compromise between standard and pro; clear edge turned off, color axis set to default; DRC set to interlaced (sub question….is interlaced or progressive better for gaming with respect to DRC? I always thought that progressive was better for moving and interlaced for still but the user manual says just the opposite in the “using the menus” section.)
Rationale: For this TV's DRC capability to be used it must have a 480i signal. The picture is "softer" than the 480P setup but the jaggies are almost gone completely.

I guess the bottom line is if the TV’s DRC up-conversion of 480i is better or worse than the 480P up-conversion. I’m looking for the best possible picture that also gets the “jaggies” to a minimum.

Out of the box on the standard picture setting with 480P 16x9 was about the worst display of jaggies I have ever seen!

Bummer update on Sonystyle warranty: Just got off the phone with SONY, and they are now claiming that the price of the warranty is based on list price of the tv, not price paid. So basically, even if you paid $750 for the tv, you have to pay the $1000-$1500 warranty price, which is 50% higher. Pretty stupid that warranty on tv that cost me $750 costs the same as warranty for $1499 set.

I can get an open box XS955 for $899 (w/ scratches on the cabinet,) but do the SuperFine CRT and CableCard capability make it a better deal than the HS420 for $715? Is the difference in picture quality that great?

*Yes.*

Why? You won't need that BBB (Big Bulky Box) for your local HD channels (the built-in unencrypted QAM tuner will handle those) if you have merely *analog cable*; if you absolutely MUST have the pay digital and/or HD services (ESPNHD, HBO HDTV, etc.) you simply get a CableCARD (PC Card-type device that slides into the rear of the set, thus taking up no space). Last, and certainly far from *least*, even if you are watching plain old fashoined old-school analog over-the-air TV via antenna (indoor OR outdoor) the SuperFinePitch CRT in the XS (and XBR) series is, quite literally, the SAME CRT used in the infamous Trinitron Professional Series that the same stations use in their control rooms as a reference source. (In plain English, it is, quiter simply, the best CRT technology available to consumers. Period.)

Guys finally today BestBuy delivere my TV to my home. So far it looks good, question for all what you use to get HD broadcast ? I've Comcast HDTV box but as per what I'm reading in above post you need just cablecard to get all your channels no need to have bulky cable box sitting around. So how this work ? Also is there a website from which I can find out what all HD channels I'm getting in my area using OTA ? Also what is choice of people on this forum for OTA antenna ? I'm really missing Discovery HD. Any idea if it is free with OTA or you need to subscribe thru Comcast for it.

Guys finally today BestBuy delivere my TV to my home. So far it looks good, question for all what you use to get HD broadcast ? I've Comcast HDTV box but as per what I'm reading in above post you need just cablecard to get all your channels no need to have bulky cable box sitting around. So how this work ? Also is there a website from which I can find out what all HD channels I'm getting in my area using OTA ? Also what is choice of people on this forum for OTA antenna ? I'm really missing Discovery HD. Any idea if it is free with OTA or you need to subscribe thru Comcast for it.

You should be able to get local HD channels (ABC, NBC, etc.) just by plugging the coax cable in the back of your TV and doing an auto scan for the channel (or typing them in if you know them - I had to do this for some of my channels since the TV didn't find them for some reason). Discovery HD you will probably have to pay for, and you can rent a cablecard from your cable company instead of using that box.

Well Cablevision fixed my problem. Basically I was supposed to have my tv set to Video 7 and just had it on channel 3 which was causing all the bars heh. Something so simple yet never crossed my mind. Analog and HDTV channels are both set to full mode which I'm going to guess is the right one. If I set analog to normal then there are still the black bars on the side so for full screen I'm just setting it to full. Don't think there is a PQ difference so it's all good. Thanks guys!

analogue broadcast or SDTV is not 16x9, it is suppose to be 4x3 with black bars

have you never owned a TV before? TVs were 4x3 long before 16x9 TVs!!
have you never watched a widescreen DVD on an older TV, they have black bars on top and bottom

I mean you can by all means stretch or zoom the image all you want
but thats not the correct aspect ratio!!!

the correct mode is whatever you prefer, but if you want the correct aspect ratio
then there will be black bars on non HD sources
and black bars on top and bottom for DVDs that are wider than 16x9.

XS955 set to a modified standard setting that is a compromise between standard and pro; clear edge turned off, color axis set to default; DRC set to interlaced (sub question….is interlaced or progressive better for gaming with respect to DRC? I always thought that progressive was better for moving and interlaced for still but the user manual says just the opposite in the “using the menus” section.)

more than likely 480i vs 480p is just a preference issue
logically I agree with you, you would think that 480p is better
but it really does depend on what you percieve as better

I guess the bottom line is if the TV’s DRC up-conversion of 480i is better or worse than the 480P up-conversion. I’m looking for the best possible picture that also gets the “jaggies” to a minimum.

probably depends on if the game is really 480p native or just deinterlacing itself
then it would be which device has the better scalar

the SAME CRT used in the infamous Trinitron Professional Series that the same stations use in their control rooms as a reference source. (In plain English, it is, quiter simply, the best CRT technology available to consumers. Period.)

are you sure? if so thats incredible, cause those professional CRTs are quite unreal
able to do both 720p and 1080p scan rates

So far it looks good, question for all what you use to get HD broadcast ? I've Comcast HDTV box but as per what I'm reading in above post you need just cablecard to get all your channels no need to have bulky cable box sitting around. So how this work ? Also is there a website from which I can find out what all HD channels I'm getting in my area using OTA ? Also what is choice of people on this forum for OTA antenna ? I'm really missing Discovery HD. Any idea if it is free with OTA or you need to subscribe thru Comcast for it.

the cable card decrypts all the digital and HD digital channels you subscribe to
the coax line goes straight from your wall to TV

and then you would use the TV's built in guide

antennaweb.org

I personally get my HD source from Over the Air as it is my only option in my apartments which have contracted with a Directv dealer

outdoor antenna are the best option
but if you need an indoor
the DB2 is the best option but large
then the Radio Shack 15-1880
and then the Zenith Silver Sensor


you can only get the locals over the air, just like analogue TV
meaning ABC, CBS, etc...

HD discovery is only available through cable

also you should check out the HD forums here at AVS
and you should know that many HD channels many times only locals are unencrypted meaning you can get them by connecting the coax from wall to TV
with basic cable service

analogue broadcast or SDTV is not 16x9, it is suppose to be

the cable card decrypts all the digital and HD digital channels you subscribe to
the coax line goes straight from your wall to TV

and then you would use the TV's built in guide

antennaweb.org

I personally get my HD source from Over the Air as it is my only option in my apartments which have contracted with a Directv dealer

outdoor antenna are the best option
but if you need an indoor
the DB2 is the best option but large
then the Radio Shack 15-1880
and then the Zenith Silver Sensor


you can only get the locals over the air, just like analogue TV
meaning ABC, CBS, etc...

HD discovery is only available through cable

also you should check out the HD forums here at AVS
and you should know that many HD channels many times only locals are unencrypted meaning you can get them by connecting the coax from wall to TV
with basic cable service

Related to cablecard, I also have Tivo so should I feed Tivo with RF from wall and take RF out from Tivo and put it in TV ?

The RF from Tivo to TV wouldn't do you any good. Use the best available connection frrom your Tivo unit. If your Tivo isn 't HD than use the S-Video connection.

The RF from Tivo to TV wouldn't do you any good. Use the best available connection frrom your Tivo unit. If your Tivo isn 't HD than use the S-Video connection.

So my connections should look as RF from wall going into Tivo and Component from Tivo going out to TV ?

At present my RF from wall goes into HD cable box. S-video from HD cable box goes into Tivo. Component from Tivo goes into TV. But with this setup when I do automatic channel tuning it doesnot find any channels. I've to change to Video 6 (as that is component input on my TV) and then change all channels using Tivo's remote.

Now to get the most out of this, this is how I would set it up. I would take the cable from the wall, put it into an Amp/3-way Splitter (powered). Feed one into the TV directly into the Cable input, one into the HD Cable Box, and one into the Tivo. Now, connect the HD cable box to the TV via Component Cables or HDMI and connect the box to the Tivo using the S-Video as you already do. Connect the Tivo into the TV using Component or S-Video. Now with this setup, your tv will tune automatically to all channels coming in directly from the cable that you can get analog and that are Clear QAM digital. You then also have the HD box feeding its high def signal into the TV also. Third, you setup your TV for two cable connections, one directly and one thru the Cable Box. That way you can record on there anything that doesnt require the box without tying up the box, or record from the box if needed. I know this sounds like a complicated setup, but it gives you the most options to record and watch something else.

Just for reference, this is how I have my setup-

Cable comes from wall to 4-way powered splitter/amp. One feed goes into my ReplayTV, one into my VCR, one into the TV directly, and one into my EyeTV 500 for my Mac. The replay is connected directly to the TV via Component Cables, the VCR is connected to the TV via Composite cables, the Mac is connected via DVI-HDMI. This way I can technically record three things at once, and watch a fourth program, without worrying that some RF signal isnt set to pass-thru (the old TV/VCR on a VCR or the Replay being on or off). This setup works great and with using this 4-way amp I got from Radio Shack, my picture is actually clearer than it was originally straight from the wall doing the RF daisy chain of Wall-VCR-ReplayTV-TV.

Some might think this sort of setup seems excessive, I just find it as the most simplistic in the end result where everything is independant of the other and all components just interface with the TV directly.

So my connections should look as RF from wall going into Tivo and Component from Tivo going out to TV ?

At present my RF from wall goes into HD cable box. S-video from HD cable box goes into Tivo. Component from Tivo goes into TV. But with this setup when I do automatic channel tuning it doesnot find any channels. I've to change to Video 6 (as that is component input on my TV) and then change all channels using Tivo's remote.

Now to get the most out of this, this is how I would set it up. I would take the cable from the wall, put it into an Amp/3-way Splitter (powered). Feed one into the TV directly into the Cable input, one into the HD Cable Box, and one into the Tivo. Now, connect the HD cable box to the TV via Component Cables or HDMI and connect the box to the Tivo using the S-Video as you already do. Connect the Tivo into the TV using Component or S-Video. Now with this setup, your tv will tune automatically to all channels coming in directly from the cable that you can get analog and that are Clear QAM digital. You then also have the HD box feeding its high def signal into the TV also. Third, you setup your TV for two cable connections, one directly and one thru the Cable Box. That way you can record on there anything that doesnt require the box without tying up the box, or record from the box if needed. I know this sounds like a complicated setup, but it gives you the most options to record and watch something else.

Just for reference, this is how I have my setup-

Cable comes from wall to 4-way powered splitter/amp. One feed goes into my ReplayTV, one into my VCR, one into the TV directly, and one into my EyeTV 500 for my Mac. The replay is connected directly to the TV via Component Cables, the VCR is connected to the TV via Composite cables, the Mac is connected via DVI-HDMI. This way I can technically record three things at once, and watch a fourth program, without worrying that some RF signal isnt set to pass-thru (the old TV/VCR on a VCR or the Replay being on or off). This setup works great and with using this 4-way amp I got from Radio Shack, my picture is actually clearer than it was originally straight from the wall doing the RF daisy chain of Wall-VCR-ReplayTV-TV.

Some might think this sort of setup seems excessive, I just find it as the most simplistic in the end result where everything is independant of the other and all components just interface with the TV directly.

Thanks for very detailed explaination. Based on your setup it seems to me that you are using cable card (as there is no mention of HD cablebox). If that is case I'll follow your setup as it makes more sense. Could you please post what kind of powered splitter you are using to get cable from wall and split it between various sources (if you have url it would be great).

Thanks for very detailed explaination. Based on your setup it seems to me that you are using cable card (as there is no mention of HD cablebox). If that is case I'll follow your setup as it makes more sense. Could you please post what kind of powered splitter you are using to get cable from wall and split it between various sources (if you have url it would be great).

Here is the url of the splitter I use:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103093&cp=2032057.2032187.2032188.2032195&pg=3&parentPage=family

I actually do not use a CableCARD, I just pick up the networks in the clear, if I had a CableCARD, I would just plug it in and it would just complement my setup.

So my connections should look as RF from wall going into Tivo and Component from Tivo going out to TV ?

At present my RF from wall goes into HD cable box. S-video from HD cable box goes into Tivo. Component from Tivo goes into TV. But with this setup when I do automatic channel tuning it doesnot find any channels. I've to change to Video 6 (as that is component input on my TV) and then change all channels using Tivo's remote.


you do understand that svideo cannot carry HD video

you will need to do either using an HD box

use the coax from wall to HD box then svideo to Tivo for recordings
AND component or DVI/HDMI from cable box to TV for HD broadcast

then when using cable card
you would use coax from wall to splitter then from splitter to TV and to Tivo
then from Tivo to TV via component

you will have to use two inputs on your TV in your setup cause Tivo cannot record HD and via svideo is not HD capable nor does it have its own cable card with aTSC tuner

you will have to use the Tivo simply for 480i recording either from digital cable when using a Hd cable box or recording from analogue cable when using cable card

I would take the cable from the wall, put it into an Amp/3-way Splitter (powered). Feed one into the TV directly into the Cable input, one into the HD Cable Box, and one into the Tivo. Now, connect the HD cable box to the TV via Component Cables or HDMI and connect the box to the Tivo using the S-Video as you already do.

why would you connect the coax from the wall to Tivo and svideo from cable box to Tivo

you only need one or the other

if you have a cable box, I would use svideo

if Tivo will setup multiple inputs sources then this may be an option since then you could record analogue cable and then still change channels on your cable box box
but I thought Tivos were limited to one source for recording

Some might think this sort of setup seems excessive, I just find it as the most simplistic in the end result where everything is independant of the other and all components just interface with the TV directly.

certainly sounds like the REplay boxes can have multiple recoding sources though
and it is certainly not excessive, making the best use of your components IMO

why would you connect the coax from the wall to Tivo and svideo from cable box to Tivo

you only need one or the other

if you have a cable box, I would use svideo

if Tivo will setup multiple inputs sources then this may be an option since then you could record analogue cable and then still change channels on your cable box box
but I thought Tivos were limited to one source for recording



certainly sounds like the REplay boxes can have multiple recoding sources though
and it is certainly not excessive, making the best use of your components IMO

Tivos can handle multiple inputs as well.

One more question for moving away from HD cable box to Cable Card. When I plugin HD cable box using DVI to HDMI adapter to my TV I get 1080i for HD channels. But when I pass it thru my Tivo (Toshiba RS-TX20) I get only 480p. This raises question if I use cable card instead of HDTV box and directly plug RF-in from wall to back of TV (channel 3), will it still allow me to see HD channels in 1080i ?

Also what is best DVD player to watch DVD in 1080i or 720p on 30sx955 ?

One more question for moving away from HD cable box to Cable Card. When I plugin HD cable box using DVI to HDMI adapter to my TV I get 1080i for HD channels. But when I pass it thru my Tivo (Toshiba RS-TX20) I get only 480p. This raises question if I use cable card instead of HDTV box and directly plug RF-in from wall to back of TV (channel 3), will it still allow me to see HD channels in 1080i ?

you did not read any of my post did you???

I answered this already
svideo cannot capture HD, period !!!

the TV has a HD tuner which can tune digital cable and the cable card decrypts the cable for you

Also what is best DVD player to watch DVD in 1080i or 720p on 30sx955 ?

1080i, the Sony does not display 720p at all
all 720p sources are converted to 1080i
when the TV displays 720p thats the source resolution

I just picked up a 30XS955, but after talking with my cable provider, it looks like the whole purpose of getting an HDTV w/ CableCard is moot.

The Cablevision rep said that I will not be able to pick up HD channels if I opt for the CC over the cable box. Can anyone confirm the veracity of this?

i have the 30xs955, and am successfully using the following setup:

- cable line in from wall into two-way splitter
- one line from there goes directly to tv, where it is decoded by CableCard
- the second line goes to cablebox
- cablebox feeds tivo (via coax)
- tivo feeds into tv via svideo

i opted not to get an HD cablebox, since the sole purpose of the box is to feed my tivo, which can't use hd signals anyway.

my cablecard brings in all of the hd channels my provider (rcn boston) offers, and the SD channels look a little better than a neighbor's (also with a 30xs955) who uses their HD cable box.

im not well-versed enough about cablecard standards from provider to provider to know if CableVision allows cablecards to decode HD signals... but a) they should, and b) most techs don't know squat about cablecards yet, so I wouldn't believe any of them until I tried it out myself. I see no reason why a provider wouldn't let the HD signals pass through the cablecard... maybe your tech didn't know the 30xs955 has a built in hd tuner?

I just picked up a 30XS955, but after talking with my cable provider, it looks like the whole purpose of getting an HDTV w/ CableCard is moot.

The Cablevision rep said that I will not be able to pick up HD channels if I opt for the CC over the cable box. Can anyone confirm the veracity of this?

That makes no sense whatsoever. The rep is either clueless about what the CC does, or he/she didn't understand that your television has an HD tuner.

The whole point of the cable card is to decode encrypted digital channels, including HD channels. I'd call back and talk to a different rep.

-

you did not read any of my post did you???

I answered this already
svideo cannot capture HD, period !!!

the TV has a HD tuner which can tune digital cable and the cable card decrypts the cable for you



1080i, the Sony does not display 720p at all
all 720p sources are converted to 1080i
when the TV displays 720p thats the source resolution


Hey I did read your post and after that only I bought DVI to HDMI cable to take advantage of true HD as you mentioned. But still you've not answered my questions
1) If I use cablecard, at that time I've cable coming in from wall into splitter. From splitter one cable will go directly into TV, one will go into Tivo DVD recorder and one will go for my broadband internet. By using this setup will I still be able to get 1080i on my TV for HD channels or it will drop to 480i ?

Also is there any setting in 30xs955 which can force all incoming signals to display in 1080i ?

2) which is best DVD player to use with 30SX955 ? I've read somewhere on this forum that all up-conveting DVD players are not worth it, it is more of a hype.

2) which is best DVD player to use with 30SX955 ? I've read somewhere on this forum that all up-conveting DVD players are not worth it, it is more of a hype.


Linn Unidisc 1.1

Linn Unidisc 1.1

$11,000 for a DVD player!! Holy crap! That doesn't seem possible.

They say the reason to go cable card (aside from "one-wire" aesthetics) is that it uses the tv's tuner, which is usually better than the cable box, thus you get better PQ.

The reason not to is that cablecard is one-way only, so no tv guide and no PPV/on-demand.

I am using the QAM tuner w/o cable card. It is picking up all my locals in HD, albiet in places other than where comcast would place them in their listing (channel 87.1 vs 803 for example). I just programed them into my favorites, and it works good. I like the PQ, but don't have a box, so can't say if it would be better or worse.

$11,000 for a DVD player!! Holy crap! That doesn't seem possible.

and it would be obsolete within year when HD and Blue-ray makes its entry in market.

$11,000 for a DVD player!! Holy crap! That doesn't seem possible.

Do you want the "best" or an also ran? :D

and it would be obsolete within year when HD and Blue-ray makes its entry in market.

Surely you are joking and simply left off the smiley.

I guess the 10 billion DVDs currently sold are just going to vaporize once the first HD/Blue-ray DVD hits the market just like all the VCR tapes did when the first DVD was sold.

;) Surely you are joking and simply left off the smiley.

I guess the 10 billion DVDs currently sold are just going to vaporize once the first HD/Blue-ray DVD hits the market just like all the VCR tapes did when the first DVD was sold.

Any idea how good is Toshiba's RD-KX50 DVD recorder ? It does HD up-coversion for all sources. Here is link at bestbuy
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7384261&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat13900050019&id=1122654250373

Can this be used like a PC monitor? If so, what resolution(s)? I was considering the Samsung Slimfit, but I kept reading that it had low resolution and the Sony was better.

What is the difference between this set and the XBR (besides the $$$)?

Add Me To The List Of Owners!!!11

BB of Rego Park had 1 display unit left, no box, with remote. I paid like others did the 760 after the 15% coupon. thank you everyone.

Only 2 problems getting the tv in my apt was havoc.

the second problem. My room is TO SMALL FOR THE TV!!!!11

I am having to move around furniture and now have to look for a new tv stand as i didnt realize my current tv stand is only 17 inches deep and the tv is 24 inches deep!!!!!11

btw hooked the tv up with component cables to the hdcable and oh boy was i loving watching the news since that was the only thing on besides college football :)

thank you EVERYONE in this thread and the others who personally told me to scan the BB's for the tv. it is going to be a pleasure.

If you have access to any tools just cut a piece of plywood the shape of the tv and screw it down if you dont care about the stand, you will be fine because you probably have notice that there is very little weight in the rear of the tv

Add Me To The List Of Owners!!!11

BB of Rego Park had 1 display unit left, no box, with remote. I paid like others did the 760 after the 15% coupon. thank you everyone.

Only 2 problems getting the tv in my apt was havoc.

the second problem. My room is TO SMALL FOR THE TV!!!!11

I am having to move around furniture and now have to look for a new tv stand as i didnt realize my current tv stand is only 17 inches deep and the tv is 24 inches deep!!!!!11

btw hooked the tv up with component cables to the hdcable and oh boy was i loving watching the news since that was the only thing on besides college football :)

thank you EVERYONE in this thread and the others who personally told me to scan the BB's for the tv. it is going to be a pleasure.


I think you guys might need to give BestBuy one more visit. Because if you by display unit you get automatically 10% OFF and on top of that you can use 15% OFF coupon so this way your price should be 686 instead of 700+.

By using this setup will I still be able to get 1080i on my TV for HD channels or it will drop to 480i ?

yes, of course

using the splitter will not convert anything


Also is there any setting in 30xs955 which can force all incoming signals to display in 1080i ?

using an external scaler, or using a PC as a scaler

otherwise NO

the Sony is setup pretty well
it will display 480p or 960i for 480i sources
and 480p for 480p and then 1080i for 720p or 1080i

Can this be used like a PC monitor? If so, what resolution(s)? I was considering the Samsung Slimfit, but I kept reading that it had low resolution and the Sony was better.

the resolution has nothing to do with what resolution inputs it takes
and no CRT HDTVs are not replacements for PC monitors IMO

the only progressive resolution this TVs displays is 480p
which is 4x3 and only 720x480p or 640x480p

everything else is displayed at an interlaced resolution of 1080i
which means flicker since only half of the horizontal lines are displayed at once

What is the difference between this set and the XBR (besides the $$$)?

the XBR only comes in 34"
it has firewire, twin view, and adjustable DRC

I think you guys might need to give BestBuy one more visit. Because if you by display unit you get automatically 10% OFF and on top of that you can use 15% OFF coupon so this way your price should be 686 instead of 700+.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im going to have to go back this week and complain! Thank you :d I guess im buying the harmony remote now :)
the guy was puzzled with my 15% coupon so him "forgetting" that i bought the display would make sense.

If you have access to any tools just cut a piece of plywood the shape of the tv and screw it down if you dont care about the stand, you will be fine because you probably have notice that there is very little weight in the rear of the tv
That is what I plan to do this coming week figureing re-enforcing the unit was the key.

Thanks for the comment, lets me know im on the right track tog etting set up.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for all the information. Yesterday I went out hunting and actually found 2 stores that the 30XS955's available Best Buy in Azusa off the 60 freeway had 1 display unit available and Best Buy in West Covina had one new in the box which I purchased with the 15% off coupon w/4yr Service Plan for $1034. They actually spent a few minutes trying to find the actual coupon on their own site, which they didnt. Great deal considering I almost hit the order button at Crutchfield for $1199! :eek:

I think you guys might need to give BestBuy one more visit. Because if you by display unit you get automatically 10% OFF and on top of that you can use 15% OFF coupon so this way your price should be 686 instead of 700+.

mjoshi- Where does the 10% kick in? Is it a coupon also- please explain- I just bought one for $762 which reflected my 15 % coupon.

I have a question for you guys. I want to use my PC as a video player with this tv and plan on purchasing a dvi to hdmi cable. Now, how do i go about sending the audio to the tv from my soundcard(Audigy2)? I have a ATI x800 XL but I am planning on upgrading to a Nvidia 7800GTX, what resolution should i be using? TIA! :D

Thanks to everyone in this thread for all the information. Yesterday I went out hunting and actually found 2 stores that the 30XS955's available Best Buy in Azusa off the 60 freeway had 1 display unit available and Best Buy in West Covina had one new in the box which I purchased with the 15% off coupon w/4yr Service Plan for $1034. They actually spent a few minutes trying to find the actual coupon on their own site, which they didnt. Great deal considering I almost hit the order button at Crutchfield for $1199! :eek:

I think you should consider cancelling your 4yrs plan with BestBuy which costs like 199 and instead buy 5 yr extended service from Sonystyle.com. Sony provides this plan for 96 or 119 USD depending upon what Sony considers it as sale price. And it is inhouse plan so you wont need to carry this giant :) anywhere in case of any problem.

mjoshi- Where does the 10% kick in? Is it a coupon also- please explain- I just bought one for $762 which reflected my 15 % coupon.
10% is not a seprate coupon but it kicks-in whenever you buy demo model. In my case I purcahsed demo model but BestBuy ended up sending me new one. :)

I think you should consider cancelling your 4yrs plan with BestBuy which costs like 199 and instead buy 5 yr extended service from Sonystyle.com. Sony provides this plan for 96 or 119 USD depending upon what Sony considers it as sale price. And it is inhouse plan so you wont need to carry this giant :) anywhere in case of any problem.
best buy will send someone to your home within 48 hrs from your call and if they cannot repair it on site they will give you a tv or equal or greater value from their stock.

So how do you get the extended plan with sony. Do you just call the number on the sony style website.

So how do you get the extended plan with sony. Do you just call the number on the sony style website.

here is link to Sonytyle plan
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/EW_ViewExtendedWarranty-Detail?CategoryName=CE_TV&TabName=Pricing&Telesales=

Dont rely on BestBuy for offering expensive plan when you can have same for almost half the price. I bought mine for 96 USD for 5 years. And it covers inhome service in case anything goes wrong.

After i registered the tv online I got a letter with all of the info.

here is link to Sonytyle plan


Dont rely on BestBuy for offering expensive plan when you can have same for almost half the price. I bought mine for 96 USD for 5 years. And it covers inhome service in case anything goes wrong.

Will Best Buy allow me to ?return? the service plan? Also, how do I order the warranty from Sony? TIA!

Will Best Buy allow me to ?return? the service plan? Also, how do I order the warranty from Sony? TIA!

Yes if it is within 30 days they will refund you full price provided you've not called them for any issue. Call Sony's 800 number and you can talk to their customer service and buy service plan on phone.

Yes if it is within 30 days they will refund you full price provided you've not called them for any issue. Call Sony's 800 number and you can talk to their customer service and buy service plan on phone.

Muchas Gracias my friend, I will try next Saturday when I have time. Cheers :D

Would anyone be kind enough to post their calibrated video settings?

I bought the 30XS to take the plunge into HD, but when watching DVD's, there's a ton of grain and what appears to be artifacting.

I'm using the Oppo Digital upconverting player via HDMI, too. So I'm praying that adjusting the video will fix this problem.

Muchas Gracias my friend, I will try next Saturday when I have time. Cheers :D

You might not even need to visit store, try calling on BestBuy's 800 number and see if they can cancel on phone. If not you might need to burn some of "precious" gas to visit store.

Would anyone be kind enough to post their calibrated video settings?

I bought the 30XS to take the plunge into HD, but when watching DVD's, there's a ton of grain and what appears to be artifacting.

I'm using the Oppo Digital upconverting player via HDMI, too. So I'm praying that adjusting the video will fix this problem.

Are you watching it with the video "Vivid" setting on? That setting bothers me on some programs ... when watching DVDs in a real movie-watching mode, I'll turn off the lights and use the "Movie" setting. While the picture isn't as bright, it does look really nice in a dimly lit (or dark) room.

However, I'd still be interested in some calibrated settings, if anyone has specifics --

I've tried pretty much every setting. Right now it's on Pro, and that really improved things. But still, I see LCD's on showroom floors that look magnificent, and CRT's are supposedly the best pictures around. I just don't see it.

Even with an upconverting DVD player it won't look the same as HD, the info just isn't there. I find if I set the color to neutral and turn the brightness up a bit from the Pro default level it helps. I also have the Picture setting turned down a few notches and sharpness down to around 20. Don't expect miracles but this is what I've come up with from messing around with my picture settings.

Would anyone be kind enough to post their calibrated video settings?

I bought the 30XS to take the plunge into HD, but when watching DVD's, there's a ton of grain and what appears to be artifacting.

I'm using the Oppo Digital upconverting player via HDMI, too. So I'm praying that adjusting the video will fix this problem.

I don't know much about the HDMI interface, I watch DVDs through a progressive scan player. I, too, see artifacting, but I believe it is inherent in the DVD. All movies are heavily compressed media, and some discs show it more than others, as do some players. Maybe a "special edition" or "remastered" or Criterion disc should be used for judging. As for settings, other than the service menu, all rooms, sets, and eyes have different standards, that's why we can adjust the picture. I'd start with one setting, play until you like it, and move on through the menu.

Even with an upconverting DVD player it won't look the same as HD, the info just isn't there. I find if I set the color to neutral and turn the brightness up a bit from the Pro default level it helps. I also have the Picture setting turned down a few notches and sharpness down to around 20. Don't expect miracles but this is what I've come up with from messing around with my picture settings.

Right. Tom, keep in mind that even though your DVD player is "upconverting," you still can't expect true HD. For that, you'll have to wait for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray (or PS3).

How do you feel about the picture quality on network programming from your cable provider/OTA?

Right. Tom, keep in mind that even though your DVD player is "upconverting," you still can't expect true HD. For that, you'll have to wait for HD-DVD or Blu-Ray (or PS3).

How do you feel about the picture quality on network programming from your cable provider/OTA?

No, I understand that I won't be getting true HD, but I look at it this way:

I had absolutely no problem with my DVD's when I had an SDTV. Now I have an HDTV and picture looks bad.

Haven't got a cableCARD yet, so my next visual experience will be with the Xbox360.

No, I understand that I won't be getting true HD, but I look at it this way:

I had absolutely no problem with my DVD's when I had an SDTV. Now I have an HDTV and picture looks bad.

Haven't got a cableCARD yet, so my next visual experience will be with the Xbox360.

Yep, it's disappointing, isn't it? At least DVDs don't look as bad as SD tv does now ...

quick question:

Got my Xs955 about a month ago. I have Comcast Cable. I have digital cable with HD channels on my donwstairs TV. I have the Xs955 upstairs in my office. I have the cable plugged directly into the back of the Xs955 with no digital box. (Straight from wall to TV). I am able to get ABC, CBS, FOx, WB all in HD. I thought I needed another digital box to get the HD channels? Also should I get a digital box just to use the component input/outputs? Will the picture be better going through component cables as to the regular cable wire?

thanks!

quick question:

Got my Xs955 about a month ago. I have Comcast Cable. I have digital cable with HD channels on my donwstairs TV. I have the Xs955 upstairs in my office. I have the cable plugged directly into the back of the Xs955 with no digital box. (Straight from wall to TV). I am able to get ABC, CBS, FOx, WB all in HD. I thought I needed another digital box to get the HD channels? Also should I get a digital box just to use the component input/outputs? Will the picture be better going through component cables as to the regular cable wire?

thanks!

You could get a digital box, this won't necessarily give you better picture with the HD channels you are already getting with the clear QAM, but it will give you access to other channels. Another option, which in some cases is cheaper, is to get a CableCARD from Comcast which will let you get all the channels you box downstairs get, except the xs955 will not have access to PPV, Video on Demand, and the EPG that comcast has on its box (They will tell you this repeatedly when you call Comcast as if to talk you out of getting the CableCARD).

thanks!

Yep, it's disappointing, isn't it? At least DVDs don't look as bad as SD tv does now ...

WOW, DVDs look incredible on my KD30XS955
I am using my PC as an upscaling DVD player
and they look close to HD IMO

dissappointing, no way
I wonder of all of these open box units where abused or something
cause my experience with my TV even with SDTV has been impressive
(although there are some SD channels that are bad quality)
but then all my image sources are digital, directv, DVDs, and over the HD

Larry, the QAM tuner picks up all the unencrypted digital channels, including the available locals in HD. To get the encrypted - - you'll need cablecard or a box.

I use the QAM tuner, no cablecard - - because I am only an extended basic subscriber.

Thanks to everyone on this site I have found this tv at a Best Buy close by and will be picking it up in the next day or two.

I am thinking of getting this stand, do you think that it'll work okay?

Was going to post a link to a picture with dimensions, but it is model no: 1153-465 on Best Buys website.

The picture with dimensions has the top of the stand as 18 5/8" deep. Will that be deep enough.

For a picture with the dimensions you can go to sauder com/images/drawings/larger/Universal_TV_Stand_1153-465_1.jpg

Just put a . between sauder and com and it should work.

I was thinking that I would get this stand because I really like the fact that it swivels. I think that I'll put a few 2x4's under it so that it'll be a few inches higher.

five,

You need to find one that is deeper. This TV is DEEP! It's 22 1/4" deep. That put's it hanging off the back almost 4". Most of the weight of the TV is at the front so it will not ben in any danger of falling off. I'm just not sure you want to go out a buy something that is to small. Be different if you already had the stand and just wanted to use it. JMO. Good luck, dude!

five,
you may want to take a look at this one:

http://www beachaudio.com/product_info.php?products_id=49779&GCID=C12585x003&GTKW=vs21836&ref=true

add the dot after www

This is the one that I got for my 30xs955. This also helps me in lacing my Yamaha receiver + Tivo + DVD Player + Cassette Deck + Comcast cable box. All in one place and all wiring running from behind. If you buy this stand make sure you dont cover it from behind if you are planning to put many components. It is hard to do wiring from small hole that they have in behind so I left back side open that way it gives easy access to all my components.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5319951&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03116&id=1051806244321

Quick question. I am looking into surge protectors, but if I get the warranty from the sony website, will they cover any damage I may have even without a surge protector?

Thanks to everyone on this site I have found this tv at a Best Buy close by and will be picking it up in the next day or two.

I am thinking of getting this stand, do you think that it'll work okay?

Was going to post a link to a picture with dimensions, but it is model no: 1153-465 on Best Buys website.

The picture with dimensions has the top of the stand as 18 5/8" deep. Will that be deep enough.

For a picture with the dimensions you can go to sauder com/images/drawings/larger/Universal_TV_Stand_1153-465_1.jpg

Just put a . between sauder and com and it should work.

I was thinking that I would get this stand because I really like the fact that it swivels. I think that I'll put a few 2x4's under it so that it'll be a few inches higher.



This is the one I got for my 30xs955:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Tech-Craft-30-32-TV-Stand-HXS3032-/sem/rpsm/oid/111597/catOid/-12892/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

It's the Tech Craft HXS3032 and it works perfectly. I'd highly recommend it, esp. since it was designed to fit the 30xs specifcially.

Quick question. I am looking into surge protectors, but if I get the warranty from the sony website, will they cover any damage I may have even without a surge protector?

Go for a nice surge protector ... they're not that expensive, and is worth the peace of mind. And, if you go with a good brand, the warranty will cover all connected units (DVD player, TiVo, etc) that are damaged in a power surge.

Thanks for the replys guy. I would really like a stand that is around 27" high and really can't find anything that fits the bill.

I thought about buying one and then using cinder blocks to raise it and then fake it around the bottom.

It is hard to do wiring from small hole that they have in behind so I left back side open that way it gives easy access to all my components.
Do you think that compromises the weight that the stand is able to hold?

Also the BB site has two different heights for the VS47136, is it 23-7/8" or 25-7/8". If it's basically 26" that would probably do the trick.

I will probably add the IN-TS10006 TV swivel:
bestbuy com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7234913&type=product&productCategoryId=cat08094&id=1115364132257

after a month of searching for a stand for my 36xs955, i found a nice stand at walmart for $80. it have black laminates top and bottom with steel uprights and is rated for 240#. i rigged it up with some casters from menards and got a nice stand on wheels for ~$100.

i like it so much that i got another for my 30xs955 (from the bestbuy deal :) ).

Do most stands come without wheels? I want to be able to move it around the house if possible. Thanks for the advice about the surge protector. I agree it is a good idea and down the line I will get one, but if I have to chose between the extended warranty and a SP, wouldn't the warranty make more sense?

Thanks

This is the table I got from ikea - I think is ugly by itself but the looks complement the TV nicely and it fits perfectly.

TV unit with casters
OPPLI
$44.99

Unfortunately this forum still won't allow me to put in URLs

Do most stands come without wheels? I want to be able to move it around the house if possible. Thanks for the advice about the surge protector. I agree it is a good idea and down the line I will get one, but if I have to chose between the extended warranty and a SP, wouldn't the warranty make more sense?

Thanks

You might be able to find one with wheels, but due to the weight of the 30xs955, i would imagine that the majority don't. the stand i mentioned earlier has a swivel base, which is sufficient for me.

good point about the extended warranty vs. a sp ... it's really your call. though most people will tell you to never get the extended warranty, if you can afford it and it will give you peace of mind then go for it. just dont wait too much longer to get a decent surge protector.

This is the table I got from ikea - I think is ugly by itself but the looks complement the TV nicely and it fits perfectly.

TV unit with casters
OPPLI
$44.99

Unfortunately this forum still won't allow me to put in URLs

How is that unit holding up under the weight of the 30XS? Ikea's website says it can only hold 40kg/88lbs.... about half the weight of the 30xs...

I posted this a couple weeks ago but I don't think anyone noticed...
I was wondering if there are any settings for this TV that will make OLD VIDEOGAMES look even close to what they would look like on a SD TV. At this point playing an N64 game for example is nausiating.