You may have a bad optical cable, receiver, or :eek: optical port on the TV. My optical port works fine from my TV to my AV receiver.

How is your system setup?

Kai

Some questions (and several subquestions directly or indirectly concerning the A10)...

1. Since I've seen several posts about DVD upconversion concerning which is better to output -- 480i or 480p -- isn't as important to make sure you have your DVD player set to output anamorphic? Or is it assumed that it's already set correctly as anyone without setting it would notice gray bars or empty space on the sides? Is it possible someone just used the zoom function to make it fit the screen?

Maybe I'm just confused as I don't have an HDTV, yet. Or, maybe I should just assume if they're on these forums they're smarter than that. :)

Thinking out loud, I would think it would be possible for someone to switch from a 10 year old CRT (no "anamorphic squish" mode) with a 5 year old DVD player (that was never set to output anamorphic, just 4x3) to a brand new HDTV and complain of poor DVD quality. Never even realizing that with anamorphic they might get seemingly double the resolution.

2. Does progressive output automatically go anamorphic?

3. Wouldn't it be nice if Orlando had a large discount electronics store like PC Richards, Fry's or the like? I mean, Best Buy and Circuit City are nice, but seeing people getting this TV for $400/500 less than retail is discouraging. Heck, an Ikea wouldn't hurt either. :)

I want an A10 for $400 below cost, too. Sheesh!

Thanks in advance. Please be kind.


When you set your DVD player to 16x9 mode and use a 16x9 TV the DVD is automatically shown at full rez or anamorphic.
The reason you dont get this on 4x3 tvs without the squeeze modes is because some of the lines of resolution have to be discarded in order to make the letterboxing. Hope this helps.

does anyone know any place in nj that has the stand for the 50 inch in stock . .
cc has been jerking me around about everyday its coming in and i paid for it 2 weeks ago .. and its never coming .. thanks

Jet:

Circuit City in Bricktown, NJ has the stand.

At least, they did when I was there a few days ago.

Call them.

Hi all, I am a new poster and have enjoyed reading through this thread. I have narrowed down my choice between the new Sony 50a10 and the Mits 52725. I plan on possibly buying this weekend. If I choose the Mits I will have to decide quickly due to rapidly dwindling inventory. I am building a new home which should be ready last week of Sept. Showcase(tweeter in AZ) has told me I can purchase now and delay delivery of the Mits. They say the 30 day return policy will start the day of delivery as will the 60 day price protection period. If i choose the Sony there is no hurry as it is a new product. I would love any input , especially from anyone who has compared these sets. Important note is i have two boys ages 3,6 and I am concerned about the Sony's lack of screen protection.

Hey guys,

Quick question.

I can set up a calibration for this set around the end of September with Lion Audio Video consultants.

What do you guys think, do rear-proj LCDs usually calibrate well?

I'm soo tempted to see what can really be done ....

whats going on? does this happen on lcds 2? or just the factory settings getting to me (on standard)

No, RP-LCDs are not known for giving people headaches. However if the image on yours seems to be blurred, I can see that being possible.

When you set your DVD player to 16x9 mode and use a 16x9 TV the DVD is automatically shown at full rez or anamorphic.
The reason you dont get this on 4x3 tvs without the squeeze modes is because some of the lines of resolution have to be discarded in order to make the letterboxing. Hope this helps.

Actually, I was more curious about the people that HAVEN'T set their DVD players to 16x9 and are using a widescreen television. Is it assumed everyone has set their DVD players correctly? I could easily see people not setting their DVD players to the correct output (16x9) and trying to either zoom in on the image or similar. The only reason someone switching to HDTV would already be outputting anamorphic video would be if they have a "squeeze" mode on their TV now (as I do).

It would still seem possible for someone to not realize they have another couple hundred lines of resolution available while still running the DVD player on 4x3.

Thanks for the reply, however.

I recently purchased the 42" A10 and wanted to know what would be a good DVD player to match with this TV to utilize most of its features?

I presently have a Panasonic rp82 which is great but I am not sure it is what I need.

Thanks, Brad

I like the Sony DVP-NS975V or the mega player DVP-CX995V. I can only vouch for the DVP-NS975V since I have one, it has a great picture!

I can set up a calibration for this set around the end of September with Lion Audio Video consultants.

What do you guys think, do rear-proj LCDs usually calibrate well? Almost anything can be calibrated since almost no display comes out of the factory correctly calibrated. The main issue that most people can not fix with AVIA or Digital Video Essentials is grayscale calibration since that is rather tricky to correctly set.

I found a good site of explaining how to Calibrate your HDTV with Avia/Digital Video Essentials. :)
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/Video-calibration.html

After reading about the sale price at Fry's on the 42A10 I called the Arlington, TX store. All gone by 10 am this morning except for the display. The 50" is not on sale here. Considering the price of gas, it takes a very good buy to get me to drive 30 miles to this store. I could go to Circuit City and and get a price match.

On the SONY news page today, they announced that due to heavy demand, the 42" & 50" new A10 series will be made in Mexico rather than the SONY plant in Pittsburg, PA.
Ready to buy the 42" hope the quality will match Pittsburg's. Do I sound like made in America is the best quality ?

Actually, I was more curious about the people that HAVEN'T set their DVD players to 16x9 and are using a widescreen television. Is it assumed everyone has set their DVD players correctly? I could easily see people not setting their DVD players to the correct output (16x9) and trying to either zoom in on the image or similar. The only reason someone switching to HDTV would already be outputting anamorphic video would be if they have a "squeeze" mode on their TV now (as I do).

It would still seem possible for someone to not realize they have another couple hundred lines of resolution available while still running the DVD player on 4x3.

Thanks for the reply, however.

This is exactly what I did and in my "day one" review way back on some distant page of this thread I described my disappointment in how the TV was handling my DVD player's 480i output. Then I stumbled upon the 4:3 vs. 16:9 setting on the DVD player and BAM! The picture was so good that I stopped thinking about getting a progressive scan DVD player. (I also went back and edited my day one review. :o.)

So, yes people should definitely make sure they adjust the screen size setup on their DVD player for 16:9.


Mitch

On the SONY news page today, they announced that due to heavy demand, the 42" & 50" new A10 series will be made in Mexico rather than the SONY plant in Pittsburg, PA.
Ready to buy the 42" hope the quality will match Pittsburg's. Do I sound like made in America is the best quality ?

Primal scream!
Are you serious?
Say you are not!
Shite.
BTW, I didn't know Pittsburgh was the source of these sets......where else are they made?
Thanks
:eek:

Set in the exact same position it appears there is MORE glare on the Sony than the Samsung DLP. I should add we don't, as of yet have blinds in the new house though we hope to soon. Secondly, the glare is not all that bad and is most noticeable off to the sides. Of course, at night..........no glare. What's your experience been folks?

well after lurking around this site for a couple weeks and looking at the a10 about 6 times, I really wanted to fall in love with this set but every time I went to visit it, I saw something else I thought looked better. I think IM going to put out the extra $$ and order the Mits 1080 dlp. It's been a pleasure visiting with you all. Im sure no matter which tv you choose, you will be happy.

well after lurking around this site for a couple weeks and looking at the a10 about 6 times, I really wanted to fall in love with this set but every time I went to visit it, I saw something else I thought looked better. I think IM going to put out the extra $$ and order the Mits 1080 dlp. It's been a pleasure visiting with you all. Im sure no matter which tv you choose, you will be happy.

Don't let the door hit your (you know what) :D Gee there goes another sale! What am I going to tell the sony board members Monday when I report back to my Sony pent house office. :)

well after lurking around this site for a couple weeks and looking at the a10 about 6 times, I really wanted to fall in love with this set but every time I went to visit it, I saw something else I thought looked better. I think IM going to put out the extra $$ and order the Mits 1080 dlp. It's been a pleasure visiting with you all. Im sure no matter which tv you choose, you will be happy.

You sure about that?
I extensively researched that model and well, uh.....
Good luck with it.






;)

Folks,

Not to fan the flames in the other direction, but I was in Sears this afternoon and looked at both a A10 and the 42" Panny 42PX50U Plasma. They were side by side on the same HD cable signal.

I can honestly say the A10 had a much better overall picture. The Panny had slightly better/full colors but the A10 images were more sharp and clear. The 42PX50U almost had clay like faces on a news broadcast. The Panny had a nice sleak design and size of the plasma casing is great.

All in all, the value of the A10 is superior and the with the extra $1,200 - $1,400, I can use elsewhere like in the home theater, speakers, etc

Ok Guys
Please help me to decide on rather to buy a backup battery UPS or have a 4 to 5 year extended warranty that includes bulb replacement for close to the same price. :confused:
If I have a warranty that covers everything why do I need a UPS? In 4 years I'll have to replace the re-chargeable batteries that goes in the UPS, and no telling how much that will cost :mad:

I would get a UPS regardless of whether you purchase a warranty. You can find good ones for $65 or so and replacement batteries will run you about $30.

Incidently, I have a TripLite unit that I've had for probably 9 years and the battery is still fine. That may not be the norm - probably depends heavily on how you use it.

Do I sound like made in America is the best quality ?

Yes. And I have found that it is normally far from the truth.

I would get a UPS regardless of whether you purchase a warranty. You can find good ones for $65 or so and replacement batteries will run you about $30.

Incidently, I have a TripLite unit that I've had for probably 9 years and the battery is still fine. That may not be the norm - probably depends heavily on how you use it.

Can you PM me telling me the best deals and where to buy ups and what power I would need to operate the 50a10 long enough to cool the bulb.
Thanks :)

Well, after over a year and half of looking, I finally did it. Got the 42 A10 at CC. Got it for 3 Benjamins and a Jackson off. Tweeter said no coming off the price, so I walked out the door to CC.

Life is good. Very happy over all. SDE is not a problem at all (I sit at 11-13'). I see a little SSE on a few scenes with very bright content, but I am sure that after awhile my brain will tune it out.

The fan is just a little bit noisier than I would like, but I do have it in a cabinet. I installed a pair of cooling fans in the cabinet (one of which is hooked up so far) to help move air in. I may try putting some carpeting in the cabinet to deaden the sound a bit.

Last night, I watched the football game on CBS (1080i) OTA, and a nature show on local PBS (also 1080i) OTA. Jaw-dropping nice! Watched one DVD so far (the Incredibles), with a 480p player, and was very pleased with the picture. SD DirecTV looks ok to me. Watched one VHS tape and it was grainy, but I don't care about VHS any more.

I do have an issue that I do not understand, and need help from my forum friends here:

I have a Samsung TS-360 DirecTV receiver. I have it attached via component to Video 4. I told the TS-360 that I have a 16:9 TV. The problem is that I want to see 4:3 content in 4:3 (not wide), but it keeps getting stretched. I tell the TV to display Normal, and everything is fine. Then I switch to another DirecTV channel and the screen resizes back to wide. I try telling the TS-360 that I have a 4:3 TV, and again it looks fine until I switch the TS-360 to another channel and it goes wide again.

Help please!

BTW, if I hook the TS-360 up via S-video, I do not have this problem.

Finally, I have seen the 50"A10 in Sears. I own the KDF-50WE655. Sears did have a rather poor signal coming into their HD TV department (stupid, isn't that?..sort of defeats the purpose) but anyway, I have to agree that during a credit roll where the background is solid black and the titles white, it really was solid black. That was impressive. But the set looks so damn cheap. Seems so many people thought the KDF 50 was so bland but the A10 cosmetically just makes you want to upgrade to the 55"A20. I like the side speakers but I imagine if you are needing to install this into a tight spot, this is the way to go.

Yes. And I have found that it is normally far from the truth.

Sure,
Cut up our brothers....you damn Canuckelhead!
:p

Well, after over a year and half of looking, I finally did it. Got the 42 A10 at CC. Got it for 3 Benjamins and a Jackson off. Tweeter said no coming off the price, so I walked out the door to CC.

Life is good. Very happy over all. SDE is not a problem at all (I sit at 11-13'). I see a little SSE on a few scenes with very bright content, but I am sure that after awhile my brain will tune it out.

The fan is just a little bit noisier than I would like, but I do have it in a cabinet. I installed a pair of cooling fans in the cabinet (one of which is hooked up so far) to help move air in. I may try putting some carpeting in the cabinet to deaden the sound a bit.

Last night, I watched the football game on CBS (1080i) OTA, and a nature show on local PBS (also 1080i) OTA. Jaw-dropping nice! Watched one DVD so far (the Incredibles), with a 480p player, and was very pleased with the picture. SD DirecTV looks ok to me. Watched one VHS tape and it was grainy, but I don't care about VHS any more.

I do have an issue that I do not understand, and need help from my forum friends here:

I have a Samsung TS-360 DirecTV receiver. I have it attached via component to Video 4. I told the TS-360 that I have a 16:9 TV. The problem is that I want to see 4:3 content in 4:3 (not wide), but it keeps getting stretched. I tell the TV to display Normal, and everything is fine. Then I switch to another DirecTV channel and the screen resizes back to wide. I try telling the TS-360 that I have a 4:3 TV, and again it looks fine until I switch the TS-360 to another channel and it goes wide again.

Help please!

BTW, if I hook the TS-360 up via S-video, I do not have this problem.

For the componenet input, is the default on the TV set to "normal"? I had this problem as well, and changing this setting fixed it.

I have a quick question as well. Which is the correct screen format to display 16:9 content on this set? I assume it is the "full" setting, but just want to be absolutely sure.

Kai

Can someone help me out with my setup. I found that when my cable coax was put directly into the TV the HDTV was stunning. However, through my Comcast HDTV box with component cables a couple of HDTV channels looked crushed and pixelated.

I fiddled around and found that the Motorola Cable box was set by the installer to push the component signal out at 480i. I switched that and it seemed to get better. Here is my questions(s).

- What is the optimal "YPbPr Output" setting for the Motorola box with this TV (480i, 480p, 780p, 1080i are the choices)?
- What is the optimal "4:3 Override" setting for the Motorola box with this TV (Off, 480i, 480p, stretch at the choices)?
- Should I get a HDMI/DVI cable to avoid this altogether?

Anyone with insight? Thanks.

All of the shelves I have seen including the sony have very little room for a center speaker of any size. I don't plan to mount mine on the wall and am wondering what people have done...

Doesn't the Sony A-10 stand have a small shelf suspended in the center?

After reading a few posts about how these TVs convert digital images into analog, then back to digital before they are displayed, I asked Sony this question;

I am aware that HDMI only takes digital signals. That's not my question. If the TV converts that digital singal to analog then back to digital, I would get a better picture by connecting the DVD player by Component. So, I ask again, does the TV convert any incoming digital signals to analog then back to digtal before it is displayed or not?

They responded with;

Thank you for contacting us with your inquiry.

The signals from the DVD player would go into the TV and be fed to the image-processing chip. At that point it would be converted to analog for the actual reproduction of the image.

The Sony KDF-E42A10 Television features a 3 HD-compatible component video (2 rear, 1 side) it accepts 1080i/720p/480p/480i signals. You can connect the Sony DVP-NS975V DVD player to component video for a better picture.

The Sony Style team is available to assist you with further inquiries

Looks like I'll be hooking up my DVD player with component cables.

For the componenet input, is the default on the TV set to "normal"? I had this problem as well, and changing this setting fixed it.

I have a quick question as well. Which is the correct screen format to display 16:9 content on this set? I assume it is the "full" setting, but just want to be absolutely sure.

Kai

Wide Zoom would be Best setting :)

Don't let the door hit your (you know what) :D Gee there goes another sale! What am I going to tell the sony board members Monday when I report back to my Sony pent house office. :)

I guess you could tell them I liked the mits 1080 better! Dont get me wrong, i love my Sony Qualia, but this set just didnt do it for me. No need to be rude cobb, and Pent House is one word.

Wide Zoom would be Best setting :)

- Wide Zoom is best used for stretching 4:3 content to fill the entire screen

- Zoom is best used for non-anamorphic (letterboxed) DVDs

- Full is best used for native 16:9 content and 1:85:1/2.35:1 anamorphic DVDs

Can someone help me out with my setup. I found that when my cable coax was put directly into the TV the HDTV was stunning. However, through my Comcast HDTV box with component cables a couple of HDTV channels looked crushed and pixelated.

I fiddled around and found that the Motorola Cable box was set by the installer to push the component signal out at 480i. I switched that and it seemed to get better. Here is my questions(s).

- What is the optimal "YPbPr Output" setting for the Motorola box with this TV (480i, 480p, 780p, 1080i are the choices)?
- What is the optimal "4:3 Override" setting for the Motorola box with this TV (Off, 480i, 480p, stretch at the choices)?
- Should I get a HDMI/DVI cable to avoid this altogether?

Anyone with insight? Thanks.

- YPbPr Output looks sharper when set to 1080i

- I leave the 4:3 Override at 480i. Use Wide Zoom on the TV to stretch 4:3 content or use Full for native 4:3.

If your cable box has HDMI then I would suggest using it.

All of the shelves I have seen including the sony have very little room for a center speaker of any size. I don't plan to mount mine on the wall and am wondering what people have done...

I ended up getting a stand with two shelves (besides the top shelf for the TV) and put the center (which is 8" tall and 22" wide) on the upper shelf and my components on the bottom shelf (the VCR sits on top of the DVD player and my receiver sits next to them). A stand that is wide enough for the 50A10 should be wide enough to put your components side-by-side assuming it's not angled for a corner fit.

For the record, I ended up getting a Tech Craft MT400. The TV hangs over on each side by 1.5," but it looks fine. But, note, the upper shelf is too tight for an 8" tall center to sit all the way flush with the front of the stand. A 7.75" tall or less center would fit. My center is tapered from back to front, so I'm able to slide it in there most of the way.

Hope this helps,


Mitch

I ordered my 42A10 tonight. It will be here Monday. I picked up the Harmony 880 right away with it.

I am upgrading from a 27" Zenith round tube circa 1996. I cant wait.

Dropped by the CC at Irving Mall today. They had the 42" A10 on display & hooked up to HD broadcast via component cables (some bikini contest, VERY nice picture IMHO ;)) . IIRC they quoted 2.5 Benjis off the 42" and 50" A10 as well.

Damn near walked out with the 50A10, but I should really wait about a month. :(

As I was leaving, I saw a couple of CC emps helping an older gentleman put his new 42A10 into the backseat of his extended cab pickup. The front edge of the box slipped as it was going in and slammed into the bottom of the door frame. I'd have made them get me another one right there to avoid the upcoming return, but they just put in the bed and took off.

FWIW, the salesguy I spoke with told me he could have waived the delivery charge AND had it to me today if I wanted. He also told me they give 10% off DVD players when bought with a TV, so I'll probably pick up a PS DVD player when I go back for the TV.

Got our new 50a10 yesterday also. We had to put it in storage until our house gets done...tell me that doesnt suck. :(

On the SONY news page today, they announced that due to heavy demand, the 42" & 50" new A10 series will be made in Mexico rather than the SONY plant in Pittsburg, PA.
Ready to buy the 42" hope the quality will match Pittsburg's. Do I sound like made in America is the best quality ?

I'd like to read this article.

Could someone please provide a link?

Thanks.

edit:
Never mind. I found it here: http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/6050

For the componenet input, is the default on the TV set to "normal"? I had this problem as well, and changing this setting fixed it.

I have a quick question as well. Which is the correct screen format to display 16:9 content on this set? I assume it is the "full" setting, but just want to be absolutely sure.

Kai

The default is set to Normal for 4:3 images and Wide images on that input.

My theory is that there is a problem with the A10 software. When the DirecTV tuner changes to another channel, a reset or something happens on the signal. The A10 sees this, and forgets the Normal setting I have for that input, and decides to scale it wide.

If I switch to cable this week (which I am thinking of), then we will see whether this behavior continues.

just giving an update, I am lovin this tv even more than when I got it two weeks ago. I was watching alittle of the HD football on nbc last night, was amazing compared to the FOX HD presentation a few days ago (dislike fox hd for some reason, never looks good)
Is anyone else unimpressed with the foxhd broadcast in general.


These babies are selling like hot cakes, come and get them. In my opinion, you wont be disappointed.

Got the 50A10 set up yesterday and all I can say is that it's awesome. I primarily bought it for gaming and my friend and I played Halo 2 for about 5 hours yesterday and it was fantastic. I was able to watch some OTA HD programming as well and it looks terrific! I could not be happier with this purchase decision! Thanks to everyone on this thread who has posted their opinions and experiences. Also, if you're in SE Michigan and are looking for a great deal on the 50A10, PM me and I'll give you the name of an authorized dealer offering an excellent price.

Has anyone installed a CableCard into the 50A10? Adelphia brought mine out yesterday and it's been a nightmare. They can't seem to push my Digital channels and HBO and HD Plus to the card. At one point it seemed they got into some mode that disabled the sets ability to decode HD signals. My antenna lost all OTA HD signals and free cable HD signals and the set seemed to re-boot into service mode for about 5 minutes and then when it came back up these signals were gone for a half hour or so. We manually reset the cable card and got the signals back but I was thinking they had blown something. This morning I'm still without my digital and hd plus tiers. Any thoughts about possible incompatabilities or something that may be causing the problem?

I've seen a few others ask this already, but I haven't seen an answer, so I'll try again. I want to have Closed Captioning turn on when I "MUTE" the TV. I've only been able to get it either ALWAYS ON or ALWAYS OFF, regardless of MUTE status [using the TV remote or STB remote]. Any ideas?

Just bought the 50A10 at Best Buy in Grapevine, Texas. They are selling at 10% of MSRP and will price match. Informative salespeople too.

Ok,
This is probably a repetitive topic but I still don't get why people would buy the new 1080p sets when HD is broadcast in 720p. Is the source not what makes the picture look so good?
How will 1080p sets be any better than the A10's?
Just confused as friking usual.
:cool: :confused:

Okay, I've had my 42A10 for a few days and I've found a few problems that might prompt me for an exchange or refund.

First off, my 42A10 has a July 2005 build date and was made in Mexico. I ran DVE and adjusted black level, color, etc. Everything seemed pretty good until I ran the 1:78:1 geometry crosshatch pattern and discovered a misconvergence issue. Now, you might be asking how can this be? My understanding was that this wasn't possible with an LCD RPTV. But, I've done some searching and it appears that this is a known proplem with 3LCD technology and can only be fixed by changing the optical block. The misconvergence isn't very noticeable from about 8 feet away, but I can see red fringes below and to the right of white text at that distance. If I get within a foot of the screen it's really noticeable and it's at its worse near the center. So, I am going to call Sony to see what can be done. This may be something that Sony calls "normal" but I'm not going to buy it.

So, if you just got your 42/50A10 do a check to see if you have this problem. White text should be pure white and with no color fringing.

Another problem I've noticed is that DVD playback doesn't look as good as it did on my Sony KV30HS420. The image looks more processed and looks like it's been oversharpened. My DVD player is a Sony 775 hooked up via component, and I've tried both PS on/off with no difference in PQ. Maybe it's just the bigger size of the screen that's revealing more artifacts from poor encoding? DVDs still look pretty good and vary in quality depending on the title.

Uniformity on my TV appears a bit off. When watching a B&W program, there's some bluish tint in the upper right of the screen. This does to appear to be an issue with LCD RPTVs and doesn't bother me that much.

The last thing that caught my eye was the top of the TV. There's some very slight bowing of the top and top front of the bezel that droops down toward the center and it's just barely noticeable when viewing the TV from the front. However, when viewing the TV from the side it's more pronounced. It's VERY slight, but it just seems weird since the screws near the back top of the TV are in place and there are no gaps that I can see. This is a small issue since it doesn't detract from viewing. I'm just curious to see if anyone else has noticed this on their TVs.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the PQ this TV delivers. The only thing that bugs me right now is the misconvergence and the less than stellar DVD playback.

less than stellar dvd performance would definetly be a deal breaker. can anyone else confirm? i've been eyeing this TV also due to its high price:performance ratio.

I bought my KDF-E50A10 on August 12, from Sears, and the sales person said if I would bring my receipt and credit card back to them on August 20 they would refund $250.00 of the price. It has to do with a "price reduction" or "price matching". Thought if anyone bought this set in the last few weeks from Sears, you might want to look into this.


Yuo know with all this talk of impending price reduction on that other company's Plasma's, it make one wonder if Sony will do the same. Can you imagine the A10/A20 wtih MSRP's 500 bucks lower as a starting point.!! :eek: I really, really, want that 42" A10 right now, but I'm gonna wait a few more weeks. If this does come to pass, I hope all you guys (that are still in you respective price-match timeframe) that just recently got your TV's still have your receipts. :D

Ok,
This is probably a repetitive topic but I still don't get why people would buy the new 1080p sets when HD is broadcast in 720p. Is the source not what makes the picture look so good?
How will 1080p sets be any better than the A10's?
Just confused as friking usual.
:cool: :confused:

The source does not always make a picture look good. 1080p combines high resolution and high frame rate (60 frames per second-just like progressive scan) so you get a smoother, more film-like picture. The pixel structure is much tighter so there should be more detail with less, maybe no SDE. Whether or not it lives up to everyone's expectations remains to be seen.

I've seen a few others ask this already, but I haven't seen an answer, so I'll try again. I want to have Closed Captioning turn on when I "MUTE" the TV. I've only been able to get it either ALWAYS ON or ALWAYS OFF, regardless of MUTE status [using the TV remote or STB remote]. Any ideas?

If you figure it out, let me know....I was fooling around with the caption controls last night and couldn't see any obvious choices to set for that option. The manual was no help at all.

I just called Fry's and they confirmed over the phone the price you were mentioning. 4 benjamins off ? ? ? holy cow.

i'm leaving work NOW. =)

I was in a HHGregg's this past Thursday (If you are in the ATL it's the one on Spring Road, near the Quick Trip in Cobb County. The salesmam asked me what I thought was a good price & I answered. He then quoted me a price, as you note in the vernacular, that was also 4 Founding Fathers short of MSRP.

This is making me think that my earlier post today, speculating that Sony may match impending price cuts, is incorrect. Now I am sure that Sony is (as in the present tense) acting preemptively.

Has anyone seen the A10s in the SF Bay area ?
I live in the east vay and I visited CC and BB in Union City yesterday;
Neither of them had the A10s on the floor.
Even though BB had the 42"s listed at MSRP, they were pretty quick to drop down the price..

Do you know if I can see the A10s in person at either Sears or Fry's ?

Thanks !

Some searching through the Sony Web Site Knowledge Base revealed the following:

"Closed Captioning (CC) does not display on the television screen.

Follow this procedure to troubleshoot if Closed Captioning (CC) does not display on the television screen.

IMPORTANT: The televison can only decode Closed Captioned signals received by the built-in tuner. The video inputs do not have the capability of decoding Closed Captioned information. If viewing programming from a set-top box through one of the video inputs, then the set-top box must have the ability to decode Closed Captions.

NOTE: Closed captioning may or may not function when viewing High-Definition programming. Current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations do not require Closed Captioning on most High-Definition programming until January 1, 2006.

Ensure the Caption Vision setting in the television menu is set to CC1.
Ensure that the display is set to CC."

An STB CC option seems like the only choice.

Well, I've had my 50A10 up and running for about 24 hours at this point, and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. It will take me some time to get through all my DVDs and see everything I'd missed on them during previous viewings (on my 1986 vintage Pioneer SD-P40). :)

For the set I paid MSRP minus 18% (from 6th Ave Electonics, $.06 shipping, no tax, they've raised the price since I bought, they called after the sale and tried desperately to get me to buy a non-Sony stand, extended warranty, and two spare bulbs, and they were bitterly disappointed when I declined their offer to "help me" as the salesperson put it).

I bought the matching SU-RG11M Sony stand from CircuitCity and am very happy that I did (I paid MSRP minus 22% when you factor in their web-only sale and 10% store credit rebate from MSN that ran on Thursday last week). It fits the TV perfectly, as it should, and is beautifully designed and built. I'm using the center channel shelf for me DirecTV SD tuner box.

Progressive scan DVD content via component inputs is stunning, as is HD over-the-air broadcast material. DirecTV SD content via S-video input is very clear as well and I have no complaints with it (I had originally worried that the TV would expose limitations of the DirecTV picture, but my fears were unfounded). My preference is to watch all video signals in their native aspect ratio, and I don't even notice the vertical black bars when watching 4:3 at 4:3.

I did a quick evaluation with a THX calibration DVD and found that the out-of-the-box settings were almost exactly where George Lucas and company claim they should be. No complaints about the picture or need for extensive picture tweaking that I can see.

I hooked up my laptop to the PC display input, fired up a wireless mouse and keyboard, and have really enjoyed using the set as a PC monitor.

Sound through the built-in speakers is adequate, but I've experimented with a set of Altec Lansing ATP3 computer speakers (with subwoofer) hooked up externally and am pleased with the possibilities so far.

Overall I'd say the set looks far better than it did in the store at Sears where I first saw it (where it was supposedly showing HD input from DISH Network), especially since I know the settings are where they're supposed to be.

I would buy this TV again in about 2 seconds, especially at the price I paid.

Has anyone seen the A10s in the SF Bay area ?
I live in the east vay and I visited CC and BB in Union City yesterday;
Neither of them had the A10s on the floor.
Even though BB had the 42"s listed at MSRP, they were pretty quick to drop down the price..

Do you know if I can see the A10s in person at either Sears or Fry's ?

Thanks !

CC in Concord have both the 42 & the 50 on the floor. They said they would sell the 42 to me for 4 Georges less than MSRP but only if I bought their extended warranty. Said no thanks and bought it at Sears, Sun Valley on the family and friends day for the same price, no extended warranty required. If this is a keeper I will buy the Sony warranty before the 12 mos is up. (Sears only had the 55A20 on display) -Will pickup the set on Tuesday.

Jim

Got our new 50a10 yesterday also. We had to put it in storage until our house gets done...tell me that doesnt suck. :(

I can almost top that -- our 50A10 arrived the day before I had eye surgery and didn't get unboxed until after I got home. All went well at the hospital, and, needless to say, my recovery has been made far more pleasant by having a beautiful TV to stare at!

Took the plunge today. I went to CC where they had the 42a10 on display. Wasn't blown away but it was obvious they didn't have a great signal going to this TV. I think it will be great when I have my components hooked up. I didn't like the sales people however so I went to BB and got a great price. Less than CC. Took the extended warranty and pretty much got MSRP with the 5yr warranty for zip. Can't complain. Will be there for pick up on Wednesday.
Also I have heard people with questions of mounting the center speaker. Here is a site with one that looks like it will work well with the A10's. I plan on building it myself. They even have a nice diagram online. http://www.btech-usa.com/bt14.html I plan on using the 42a10 for TV/DVD viewing and my PC. I do sound production and Video so Im interested in seeing how well I am able to utilize the TV as a pre production monitor. I'll post more when I finally get it home and set up.

Here is a link (http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/catOid/-12927/Ntk/All/Ntt/speaker%20brackets/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do) to brackets for a center channel speaker. Scroll down the page. I saw them mounted on some lcd tv's (not the A10) and they don't look too bad.

Has anyone seen the A10s in the SF Bay area ?


On the other side of the bay from you, the Sears in Mountain View definitely has one. Looks like they just set it up --- it was attached to a DVD player (playing Sin City), but not yet to the HD loop.

Has anyone in the SF bay area seen the E42A10 at less than few grand below msrp? I bought my tv from Frys and would like to know if any other retail store has a price cheaper than that. If so, i can return to the store within a month for pricematch. Please pm me the price.

Just purchased the KDFE42A10 at PC Richards in Jersey. Unbelievably, the price was 25% off MSRP(5 benjamins). Sales tax 3%. The price was so low that I started looking around at other items(they were having some crazy sale that was over today). I almost ended up getting the edtv panasonic plasma th42pd50U, but I decided to be a cheapskate.

In case anyone is interested, I just posted my thoughts as I tested the A10 against the A20 (mostly gaming but overall as well).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6068224#post6068224

- Wide Zoom is best used for stretching 4:3 content to fill the entire screen

- Zoom is best used for non-anamorphic (letterboxed) DVDs

- Full is best used for native 16:9 content and 1:85:1/2.35:1 anamorphic DVDs

Awesome.. guess I had it right then. That's good to know. :)

Kai

The default is set to Normal for 4:3 images and Wide images on that input.

My theory is that there is a problem with the A10 software. When the DirecTV tuner changes to another channel, a reset or something happens on the signal. The A10 sees this, and forgets the Normal setting I have for that input, and decides to scale it wide.

If I switch to cable this week (which I am thinking of), then we will see whether this behavior continues.

That's very odd. I'm using an H10 DirecTV receiver, and it doesn't do anything like that.

The only other thing I can think of is that your receiver may be set to stretch the image, but you may have already checked that. Wish I could be of more help.

Kai

As far as 4:3 content being stretched, I'm not sure about the A10 but on my A20 via Wegagate I can tell it what to default to when 4:3 content is displayed. Same menu that would be used to change Power Saving to Normal or reduced.

Just purchased the KDFE42A10 at PC Richards in Jersey. Unbelievably, the price was 25% off MSRP(5 benjamins). Sales tax 3%. The price was so low that I started looking around at other items(they were having some crazy sale that was over today). I almost ended up getting the edtv panasonic plasma th42pd50U, but I decided to be a cheapskate.

OMG...how the heck can they sell it so cheap? I believe that's within a few dollars of a certain NATIONWIDE retailer's wholesale cost!

I was wondering if the folks here who are enjoying the e50a10 could post their viewing distances. I'm going to be between 8.5 and 10.5 feet away, and I'm wondering if this is too close...

Thanks,
Rob

Has anyone installed a CableCard into the 50A10? Adelphia brought mine out yesterday and it's been a nightmare. They can't seem to push my Digital channels and HBO and HD Plus to the card. At one point it seemed they got into some mode that disabled the sets ability to decode HD signals. My antenna lost all OTA HD signals and free cable HD signals and the set seemed to re-boot into service mode for about 5 minutes and then when it came back up these signals were gone for a half hour or so. We manually reset the cable card and got the signals back but I was thinking they had blown something. This morning I'm still without my digital and hd plus tiers. Any thoughts about possible incompatabilities or something that may be causing the problem?

It's probably not something unique to the Sony set. CableCards are infamous for causing all sorts of havoc when installed and conected to a cable system that doesn't have 100% of their end set up properly. About a year ago, the editor of Sound & Vision tried to get a CableCard set up -- even with the clout that comes with a nationwide-platform to slam the cable company in question, it took *months* before everything was resolved for him. He eventually had the TV manufacturer, the CableCard manufacturer and the head of technical support for the cable company's main office on a conference call -- and it still didn't work right away.

The conspiracy theory is that the cable companies are deliberately introducing errors as a means to get you to break down and rent a set-top box, since they can't sell you pay-per-view through a current-version CableCard. Bottom line: keep pressing them to get it fixed, and demand that the calls be escalated up to the higher levels of technical expertise.

I was wondering if the folks here who are enjoying the e50a10 could post their viewing distances. I'm going to be between 8.5 and 10.5 feet away, and I'm wondering if this is too close...

We're at 13' from an E50A10; good HDTV looks REALLY good. In at 7', though, it's starting to look funky -- just like the manual suggests! :p

If your eyes are really good, 8.5' might be pushing it.

RCLAMS

As far as 4:3 content being stretched, I'm not sure about the A10 but on my A20 via Wegagate I can tell it what to default to when 4:3 content is displayed. Same menu that would be used to change Power Saving to Normal or reduced.

The A10 has this option as well.

I was wondering if the folks here who are enjoying the e50a10 could post their viewing distances. I'm going to be between 8.5 and 10.5 feet away, and I'm wondering if this is too close...

Thanks,
Rob

i'm about 8 to 9 feet from the tv and i think it is perfect. the 42" version would have definitely seemed too small. the first day i thought it was pretty big and had some second thoughts, but after a few days, i've adjusted and there is no way i'd go any smaller. and, i have very good eye sight.

I am at 8 ft and have the 50in, HD is perfect. no problems viewing.

It all depends on the eyes.

I am at 8 ft and have the 50in, HD is perfect. no problems viewing.

It all depends on the eyes.

The 50" is also excellent at about 12 feet.

What do I set resolution outputs at on my D* H10 STB with E50A10????

All Resolutions / Native ON or 720P only or 720P & 1080I

yesterday we took the plunge with the 50 inch a10. last november we purchased the 42 inch 655 and are thrilled with it. so we thought we would simply buy the 50 inch version of the same model for the rec room. when we found out that model had been replaced by the a10 series, we retrenched and started doing some research. it came down to the samsung hlr 5067 or the a10. nebraska furniture mart here in kc had both sets side by side in their show room. to this set of 20-40 vision eyes, both sets had very similar pictures. screen door was visible from three feet on the a10, but beyond that distance, i couldn't see any sde. on our 42 inch 655, i can't see any sde at any distance. so, we opted for the a10, with delivery on thursday.

i have been reading the avs forum for years, and it has been invaluable to me in learning about tv's and electronics in general. one thing i have learned is that every tv has its detractors, and, in the end, after doing research, you need to see the picture on each set your self and go with what your eyes tell you.

FWIW, I did in fact go to Fry's and pick my 42A10 on Friday. Sure enough it was for four benjamins off list plus free delivery and they threw in some cables (not that I needed them really, but hey, they were free).

Apparently I got one of the last ones they had at the store. I had talked to a manager over at a CC store earlier in the week and he'd said they were selling between 3 and 5 of the 42A10's *per day* at each store. Wow! Whoever set the price point for this thing at Sony sure did the right thing, they're just flying out of the stores.

I'm not technically educated enough to offer any astounding insights on this set (yet), but I can say that so far I have not found a single flaw or even mild disappointment with it. After all the horror stories about SD I'm shocked at how great it looks on mine, which is a big relief. About the only thing I've noticed is that the brightness & contrast of different channels varies greatly - not something I'd noticed on my old tube tv.

I'm having fun messing with the customizable output settings on my Momitsu V880DX to get the best picture. Is the consensus at this point still that component in is going to be better than DVI to HDMI? I don't have a DVI to HDMI cable yet, so it's running thru component, and it looks great. If I get around to it, I'll post some screenshots of a concert DVD I have - there's a lot of very high contrast (very very dark background with a few small things very bright in the foreground) that really show off how great the black levels on this thing are. Oddly enough I was able to see flaws or shortcomings in the source material for this dvd that were never apparent on my old tv!

Thanks to whoever originally posted the comment about the Fry's price - you saved me two benjamins when I was prepared to pay CC's price. With the difference, I can buy the wife a new pair of shoes (don't laugh - it was her condition for me spending so much on a tv). =)

I have *never* been happier to buy a woman some shoes.

And with that I'll close. Thanks again for everyone's voluminous and detailed input that allowed a newbie like me to find out about and learn much about this fabulous tv.

ojo

Wow you got off cheap. I had to buy the Mrs. a dishwasher!!!!

heh. for what the shoes are gonna cost me, I probably could buy a dishwasher! =P

less than stellar dvd performance would definetly be a deal breaker. can anyone else confirm? i've been eyeing this TV also due to its high price:performance ratio.

After another day of tweaking the PQ, I can now say it's mostly the fault of the DVDs and NOT the TV. Since moving up to a 42" screen the fault of the source is more apparent.

I also believe that PQ has improved dramatically by moving back to around 8 feet. I was sitting at 7 feet and this is just too close for the 42A10. 8 or 8.5 feet seems to be the sweet spot for HD and DVD viewing. I'm seeing more detail and the picture just has more density to it.

I was wondering if the folks here who are enjoying the e50a10 could post their viewing distances. I'm going to be between 8.5 and 10.5 feet away, and I'm wondering if this is too close...

Thanks,
Rob


Us: 13 feet away. About ANOTHER 3 to 5 feet seems to make the picture sharper........analog, that is! I don't think HD would make a difference.

Thanks for the advice guys. Is there anywhere that has full dimensions for the set, including the base? What is the 50" a10's actual footprint? I know its base is a little less that the 40" overall width.

Rob

Hello everyone, first off I want to say thank you for providing an intelligent site with intelligent people. No matter what it is I am buying that has electronics in it I always try and do research from people that know as opposed to just review sites and this place is perfect for that.

Ok, now for my question. I have seen the 50A10 and the 55A20 in stores and like them both. I think that the 50 suits my room better but the viewing angle on the A10 looked like it might be a problem. Whereas the A20 didn't seem to have the smaller viewing angle. So my question is to those that own the A10, have you found the viewing angle to be bothersome or it doesn't have much affect on you?

For what it is worth they are both very good looking tv's and seem to have excellent PQ on both. Again my only issue that I seem to have with the A10 is the viewing angle.

Any comments would be appreciated.

John

Has anyone used the new Gefen HDMI switcher with the Sony A10's? Do they actually work? I have a Samsung 931 HD DVD play with, of course, s DVI output so I would need a DVI to HDMI cable and use the regualr audio OUT to the back of the TV using the same audio IN as is used with the current component cables. Any feedback/advice would be appreciated. It seems my Sammy DVD player is not showing the DVD's as sharp and crisp as they were on my Samsung HLN437W which I just sold before getting the A10. It seems to me that the PQ would look better on the new A10 by using the DVI output of the Samsung DVD player. What say you?

Hello everyone, first off I want to say thank you for providing an intelligent site with intelligent people. No matter what it is I am buying that has electronics in it I always try and do research from people that know as opposed to just review sites and this place is perfect for that.

Ok, now for my question. I have seen the 50A10 and the 55A20 in stores and like them both. I think that the 50 suits my room better but the viewing angle on the A10 looked like it might be a problem. Whereas the A20 didn't seem to have the smaller viewing angle. So my question is to those that own the A10, have you found the viewing angle to be bothersome or it doesn't have much affect on you?

For what it is worth they are both very good looking tv's and seem to have excellent PQ on both. Again my only issue that I seem to have with the A10 is the viewing angle.

Any comments would be appreciated.

John

Horizontal angle does not bother me...it seems to be good up until +/- 45 degrees or so.

Vertical angle is more restrictive. My set is at eye-level when I am watching, so again I have no problem.

I noticed the same thing this weekend while looking at the a10 and a20- side by side. I had to sit down to get a bright image out of the a10 where as the a20 was bright while standing up. Not a big problem but something people should be aware of.

Has anyone in the SF bay area seen the E42A10 at less than few grand below msrp? I bought my tv from Frys and would like to know if any other retail store has a price cheaper than that. If so, i can return to the store within a month for pricematch. Please pm me the price.
A few grand below MSRP? Count me in!

Has anyone installed a CableCard into the 50A10? Adelphia brought mine out yesterday and it's been a nightmare. They can't seem to push my Digital channels and HBO and HD Plus to the card. At one point it seemed they got into some mode that disabled the sets ability to decode HD signals. My antenna lost all OTA HD signals and free cable HD signals and the set seemed to re-boot into service mode for about 5 minutes and then when it came back up these signals were gone for a half hour or so. We manually reset the cable card and got the signals back but I was thinking they had blown something. This morning I'm still without my digital and hd plus tiers. Any thoughts about possible incompatabilities or something that may be causing the problem?

I have a cable card in my 50A10, along with the Motorola 6412 DVR cable box (RCN in San Francisco). Thank God I have that cable box, because the cable card, three days after install, still does not display program content. I get all HD, just no idea what program it is. Cable box worked fine right away. Score: Cable Box 1; cable card 0.

Also, the sound out of the TV optical out (into my 5.1 receiver/separate speakers) seems much weaker and less dynamic than the digital out sound from the set top box (even after raising the volume on the TV). Even more vexing, as has been pointed out in this forum, the TV audio optical-out won't provide sound for analog signals, so you have to hook up the TV's analog left/right cables to your receiver as well, and, depending on your receiver, you may (as I must) have to switch inputs on your receiver every time you switch between analog and digitial signals. I know this is the TV's issue, but you're stuck with it when you use the card. The set top box's digital out does not suffer from this problem; all audio from all channels is sent through the digital-out from the box. And the sound is fantastic. Score: Cable Box, 2; cable card, 0.

Picture through the cable card is very good, though nothing compares to the HDMI signal out of the cable box, which is hands down the best quality signal so far, for me (waaaay better than component, which I also tried, with THX-certified, fancy shielded, gas-infused, gold-plated, platinum coated, ruby encrusted, whatever pay-through-the-butt Monster cables I got). To my surprise, the HDMI signal is noticeably better - stunning, especially after Avia tweaking. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes. Score: Cable Box 3, cable card, 0.

Lastly, you lose all interactivity with the card - no PPV and no video on demand. You get this with the set top box, on top of the better sound, better picture, and better programming information. Score: Cable Box 4; cable card 0.

Overall, I don't think the cable card is living up to it's promise, at least not with my system. I'll keep it, though, as it adds a paltry $1.50 to my monthly cable bill, and it does let me watch HD if/when I'm recording both tuners on the set top box DVR. And, all things considered, picture is still pretty damned good out of the card; just not quite as stunningh as HDMI/STB. So, you gotta throw the card a bone on that point. So, Final Score: Cable Box 4, Cable Card 1/2 (just for adding a third HD-capable input and for it's almost-nothing price).

My advice: Get both a STB *and* the card - it's so damned cheap and it will get you an additional HD signal to play with. But don't forego the box.

Has anyone seen the A10s in the SF Bay area ?
I live in the east vay and I visited CC and BB in Union City yesterday;
Neither of them had the A10s on the floor.
Even though BB had the 42"s listed at MSRP, they were pretty quick to drop down the price..

Do you know if I can see the A10s in person at either Sears or Fry's ?

Thanks !

SonyStyle in the Metreon, downtown SF, has both A10's on display (but don't expect a discount from them!).

I purchased my 50A10 from Video Only in SF two weeks ago, but they didn't have them on display at that time (I took a chance, paid off too). My guess is they do have them on the floor by now.

What do I set resolution outputs at on my D* H10 STB with E50A10????

All Resolutions / Native ON or 720P only or 720P & 1080I

Use Native and that way the TV will do all the scaling. This should be especially helpful on SD material. Lew

the HDMI signal is noticeably better - stunning, especially after Avia tweaking. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes. Score: Cable Box 3, cable card, 0.
My advice: Get both a STB *and* the card - it's so damned cheap and it will get you an additional HD signal to play with. But don't forego the box.

You must have the 6412 phase 3 Box if you have the HDMI output? I've heard that mot has improved their phase 3 tuner so that the analog and SD channels looked good. Is that TRUE. ;)

Picked up a 42A10 on Friday and so far I think it looks great. I'm not much of an A/V expert (my previous TV was a 7-yr. old 25" Sharp tube TV that I paid about $170 for) so I'm probably not going to notice most of the "issues" that you guys might. Everything (DVD, DirecTV, and OTA HDTV) looked pretty good to me right out of the box.

The only problem I had was when I decided to upgrade my DirecTV connection to s-video (didn't have an input on the old TV and my DirecTV receiver doesn't have component). I used a Phillips s-video cable I bought at Fry's for around $10 (it looked pretty decent - double shielded, gold plated tips, etc.), but when I hooked it up, the DirecTV picture looked considerably worse than it did using my old-school cheap composite video cable. Does this make any sense? I didn't get the most expensive s-video cable, but it's much higher quality than the composite I was using. Any suggestions/ideas?

I just got my 42A10 delivered a few hours ago. I must say that it is much better than I thought.

Standard analog looks better than i've seen any DLP be able to produce. The high def is simply amazing. Much brighter than I thought. I actually prefer to have the iris turned all the way up.

The Harmony 880 works prefectly with the set. I would recommend this remote to everyone... especially since the Sony remote that came with the set is very long and uncomfortable.

I bought the set without seeing it which worried me, but I definetly am pleased with my decision now.

I am using the TimeWarner Cable "basic" package which costs me about $15 a month after fees and taxes. The A10 picked up all of the local digital/hd broadcasts as well as some other random digital channel. I see no reason to upgrade to the $60/month package for a bunch of channels I dont watch and a few more HD stations.

without a cable box, in order to get HD channels over the air you need an antenna right. Or can you get HD channels from your tv without an antenna.

I'm having fun messing with the customizable output settings on my Momitsu V880DX to get the best picture. Is the consensus at this point still that component in is going to be better than DVI to HDMI? I don't have a DVI to HDMI cable yet, so it's running thru component, and it looks great.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but HDMI for me is absolutely the best signal by a huge margin (I have a Cable Box, component and HDMI out, Motorola DVR 6412). I have reallly high quality component cables out of the cable box, and, though the picture is great, I also have this flickering effect that was really starting to get annoying.

Then my internet-purchased HDMI cable came in the mail last Friday. Hooked it up while keeping the component cables connected just to compare. And - Oh. My. God. Detail, color, clarity . . . everything. . . . Sooo much better through HDMI compared to my fancy component cables. I kept switching between the component cables and the HDMI and the difference was astounding - truly caught me off guard, given the debate as to which one is better. To me, it's a no-brainer: HDMI wins on all counts: color, clarity, shadow detail, everything.

As to this flickering stuff I was getting with the component cables, I guess it was some sort of magnetic interference messing with the analog signal running through the cables. Whatever it was, it's alll gone with the HDMI.

All I care about is now my TV is so stunning, so absolutely better than I had ever hoped, that any nagging buyer's remorse, any lingering I-should-have-waited-for-SXRD thoughts are completely gone. It's really quite surprising to me, this HDMI quality. I wonder if this latest-generation technology TV finally handles HDMI digital signals to their fullest potential. Don't know, but I'm not arguing with success.

You must have the 6412 phase 3 Box if you have the HDMI output? I've heard that mot has improved their phase 3 tuner so that the analog and SD channels looked good. Is that TRUE. ;)

Well . . . . . after watching HD for awhile, and then switching to an SD/analog channel, it just will never look as good, in my opinion. But it's fine for my purposes. I have to say, the analog signal quality is surprisingly good, but, again, there's only so much one can do with a 480i signal, I believe. Good enough for me. Comparing this Sony to other fixed-pixel sets, it seems Sony does the best with SD. Completely watch-able.

As for whether it's better than the older version of this box, I haven't viewed the prior model, so I can't speak to that.

without a cable box, in order to get HD channels over the air you need an antenna right. Or can you get HD channels from your tv without an antenna.

No antenna is connected. Just the coax on the "basic" TWC package.

TurboDiesel,

I also got the 42A10 and have TW cable basic package without the cable box for $15 which gets me all the local HD channels which look great. Anyone know if it is worth it to get cablecard for this TV for the HDTV channels(for an extra $1.75 per month plus $30 one time installation fee)? Would the picture quality be better than the direct cable feed?
Right now directly tuning to the HD channels is a pain because they are on channel 1.2, 1.4 etc. I don't know if the TV guide would work on these channels, I know cablecard does not have interactive TV guide.

Thanks.

TurboDiesel,

I also got the 42A10 and have TW cable basic package without the cable box for $15 which gets me all the local HD channels which look great. Anyone know if it is worth it to get cablecard for this TV for the HDTV channels(for an extra $1.75 per month plus $30 one time installation fee)? Would the picture quality be better than the direct cable feed?
Right now directly tuning to the HD channels is a pain because they are on channel 1.2, 1.4 etc. I don't know if the TV guide would work on these channels, I know cablecard does not have interactive TV guide.

Thanks.

I don't believe the CableCard will improve picture quality at all. It will allow you to access more digital channels(at an added cost) and probablly straighten out the odd channel numbering.

I have most of the HD/digital channels listed as favorites on the Harmony so I just press a button beside the network's logo and it keys in "0.512" for ABC in HD.

Now if I could only decide on an acceptable batter back up/power conditioning system.

I just meant in general, can you get HD channels without an STB. Just from your tv only. Or do you need to buy an antenna to get these channels.

just hooked up the tv, any ideas what I can do about this black dot? Could it be something on the lens or is it a cluster of dead pixels?

I just bought the 42" A10 and I am loving it. This is my first big tv purchase and I think I made one that I will be happy with. I especially want to thank everyone for posting their opinions and experiences.

Some questions I have:

1) It has been mentioned that to get the most out of your display you need to calibrate it. What is the preferred method of doing this?

2) I have the HD pack for my Xbox and games are playing in 480p but are not in 16:9 (I am playing games that definitely support 16:9). I have set the xbox to Widescreen in the Xbox dash. I did play a DVD in the Xbox and the A10 said that was playing in 16:9 so I am confused. Does the Xbox really output a 4:3 signal and then expect the tv to stretch it?

3) If I buy a programmable remote (e.g. Harmony 680) will I be able to program it to go directly to a given input? The sony remote only has the Tv/Video button so I am hoping that the tv recognizes some codes for buttons that are not on the remote.

Thanks for answering these newb questions.

bad luck, dont know what that black dot is but I would return the tv for a new one

I just meant in general, can you get HD channels without an STB. Just from your tv only. Or do you need to buy an antenna to get these channels.

If you want OTA channels you need to hook up an antenna to receive any local HD channels that are being broadcast over-the-air. If you want to get those same "local" HD channels through cable (provided the cable company transmits them), you can do it through the coax without a cablecard because the tv has a QAM tuner and will decode those channels. You need the cablecard for encryted HD channels and encrypted non-HD channels, such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc.

1) It has been mentioned that to get the most out of your display you need to calibrate it. What is the preferred method of doing this?

Thanks for answering these newb questions.

Well I can answer #1 :D Congratulations on your new HDTV!

There are basically two methods of calibrating a set. One involves using a DVD and adjusting the controls on your TV (contrast, brightness, sharpness, color, hue, etc.) using instructions and filters (think of 3d glasses!) to tweak things. These DVDs run about $30-$50 and will give you a good start to calibration. Two DVDs folks use here are Digital Video Essentials and Avia Guide To Home Theater (someone correct me if I'm wrong on the title of the Avia disc...)

The other option, which I highly reccomend, is to come and have a pro do it. Why? Well, you can get the colors down pretty well using the DVD, however you won't be able to adjust your greyscale properly. This is critical for getting the most out of your set. Most greyscales from the factory are way out of whack.

Pros have expensive (read: thousands of dollars) equipment to accurately calibrate your TV. I had my set done 8 years ago and would never look back. Professional calibrations can range from $250 to $500-$600. I think it's the best money spent on a TV.

So I would buy the DVD and in the interim save up for a pro to come out. It will be well worth it!

Chris

any ideas what I can do about this black dot? Could it be something on the lens or is it a cluster of dead pixels?

Looks like dust in the optics to me.

Since there are three panels, dead pixals would most likely show up colored not black (it's doubtful that the same pixals in all three panels would go out anyway). Besides, from your photo, the black dot covers several windows in the "screen" pattern and isn't exactly bounded by the screen. So it's a dust blob in the optics after the RGB has been reconverged.

Don't know if there is any ability for user servicing of this area of the TV. If possible, a shot of compressed air would probably fix it, if not, you'll either have to have someone out to service it or take it in for service or exchange. I didn't see anything in the user manual about a way to clean the optics.

Bummer

Well I can answer #1 :D Congratulations on your new HDTV!

There are basically two methods of calibrating a set. One involves using a DVD and adjusting the controls on your TV (contrast, brightness, sharpness, color, hue, etc.) using instructions and filters (think of 3d glasses!) to tweak things. These DVDs run about $30-$50 and will give you a good start to calibration. Two DVDs folks use here are Digital Video Essentials and Avia Guide To Home Theater (someone correct me if I'm wrong on the title of the Avia disc...)

The other option, which I highly reccomend, is to come and have a pro do it. Why? Well, you can get the colors down pretty well using the DVD, however you won't be able to adjust your greyscale properly. This is critical for getting the most out of your set. Most greyscales from the factory are way out of whack.

Pros have expensive (read: thousands of dollars) equipment to accurately calibrate your TV. I had my set done 8 years ago and would never look back. Professional calibrations can range from $250 to $500-$600. I think it's the best money spent on a TV.

So I would buy the DVD and in the interim save up for a pro to come out. It will be well worth it!

Chris


You know, I think it is ridiculous that one has to spend money on calibration.
These sets cost so much .... you save up for them ....and whack....you need another couple of bills to calibrate the sucker. Am I the only one that thinks this is absurd?
Later
Tec

Sony Canada announced the pricing for the upcoming SXRD 1080p sets today.........
50 inch......$4999
60 inch......$6499

Due mid-September it says.

Later
Tec :)

OK. I've decided to bite the bullet and go with the 50" a10. Thanks for all the help guys.

One more question. I live in the Detroit suburbs, and as far as I know, we don't have anyplace around here that deeply discounts these sets. About the best price I've seen is the CC price. Does anyone know of a store in my area that can do better? Or, should I go through an online source and have it shipped? I don't mind saying that shipping a $2k tv makes me a little nervous but, if there is a source people recommend, I might do it.

Any advice would be appreciated. Feel free to PM me if you have any ideas, or email me at Rob@blackspotstudios.com

Thanks,
Rob

I finally turned off the HDTV and switched to the DVD player. I have a Sony DVP-NS50P/S Progressive Scan DVD player and bought some 4' Monster Ultra 800THX component cables to hook it up.

I'm watching "Signs" right now and the quality is very suprising. It has an extremely film-like look to it. I am impressed once again.

I just meant in general, can you get HD channels without an STB. Just from your tv only. Or do you need to buy an antenna to get these channels.


I picked up a Terk antenna for around $39 and the picture looks better on HDTV than it does with my HDTV cable box. The SD stations are terrible.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, but HDMI for me is absolutely the best signal by a huge margin (I have a Cable Box, component and HDMI out, Motorola DVR 6412). I have reallly high quality component cables out of the cable box, and, though the picture is great, I also have this flickering effect that was really starting to get annoying.

Then my internet-purchased HDMI cable came in the mail last Friday. Hooked it up while keeping the component cables connected just to compare. And - Oh. My. God. Detail, color, clarity . . . everything. . . . Sooo much better through HDMI compared to my fancy component cables. I kept switching between the component cables and the HDMI and the difference was astounding - truly caught me off guard, given the debate as to which one is better. To me, it's a no-brainer: HDMI wins on all counts: color, clarity, shadow detail, everything.

As to this flickering stuff I was getting with the component cables, I guess it was some sort of magnetic interference messing with the analog signal running through the cables. Whatever it was, it's alll gone with the HDMI.

All I care about is now my TV is so stunning, so absolutely better than I had ever hoped, that any nagging buyer's remorse, any lingering I-should-have-waited-for-SXRD thoughts are completely gone. It's really quite surprising to me, this HDMI quality. I wonder if this latest-generation technology TV finally handles HDMI digital signals to their fullest potential. Don't know, but I'm not arguing with success.


May I ask where you got your HDMI cable online? I have looked around and they are quite expensive. I just wanted to order one online but did not want to get one that did not work. If you could just share the brand name of the item, I could find it online.

Thanks, Brad

May I ask where you got your HDMI cable online? I have looked around and they are quite expensive. I just wanted to order one online but did not want to get one that did not work. If you could just share the brand name of the item, I could find it online.

Thanks, Brad

Mono Price is one place for good , cheap HDMI cables. Silly to spend a lot on digital connection cables,imo. Either they work or not. No better connection with expensive ones. Basically digital is like an on/off switch.

Hello. I've read in previous posts that a STB will allow PIP on the A10. Can anyone explain what boxes are needed to do this? I've asked both my cable provider and directv, and both say it is not possible. Any help?

Mono Price is one place for good , cheap HDMI cables. Silly to spend a lot on digital connection cables,imo. Either they work or not. No better connection with expensive ones. Basically digital is like an on/off switch.

I bought mine from RAM, via their link on the AVSForum above, and I certainly recommend them. I think I got a good price, admittedly did not shop around. I do know it was not their "top-of-the-line" most expensive HDMI cable, yet it has worked magic on my PQ and I could not be happier. I also purchased a mid-level coax cable from them for digital 5.1 sound signal out of my cable box and it works just as well as the hdmi.

For this reason, and based on my simple logic that 1's and 0's care not what the quality of their cable is (i.e., digital) - they still deliver that 1 or 0, pristine or otherwise, and that's all that matters to the TV's codecs. For analog/component, I do think cable quality matters. Not for digital, though - just get those digits to the TV in one piece and everybody's happy.

BSparks294...I've purchased cables from RAM, also and find them to be of good quality and most importantly....they work.

Hello. I've read in previous posts that a STB will allow PIP on the A10. Can anyone explain what boxes are needed to do this? I've asked both my cable provider and directv, and both say it is not possible. Any help?

Any STB with 2 tuners. Normally a DVR. Ask your cable provider about their DVR.

Hello. I've read in previous posts that a STB will allow PIP on the A10. Can anyone explain what boxes are needed to do this? I've asked both my cable provider and directv, and both say it is not possible. Any help?

Well . . . . I have the Motorola DTS 6412, with dual tuners, and it does have the tantalizing "PIP" button right there, plain as day. And it does nothing. You press it and press it. And nothing. Perhaps I'm missing something but the PIP button for me on my 6412 remote is some sort of cruel joke . . . .

Well . . . . I have the Motorola DTS 6412, with dual tuners, and it does have the tantalizing "PIP" button right there, plain as day. And it does nothing. You press it and press it. And nothing. Perhaps I'm missing something but the PIP button for me on my 6412 remote is some sort of cruel joke . . . .

Maybe your cable operator has decided not to activate it. Or maybe you just have defective box. Or maybe they're trying to gouge you for another couple of bucks to activate it. Have you asked them about it?

Maybe your cable operator has decided not to activate it. Or maybe you just have defective box. Or maybe they're trying to gouge you for another couple of bucks to activate it. Have you asked them about it?
Gazelle
Are you using pip on a tv without pip?

Maybe your cable operator has decided not to activate it. Or maybe you just have defective box. Or maybe they're trying to gouge you for another couple of bucks to activate it. Have you asked them about it?

Good point, Gazelle. I have not called my cable provider about this, but I will when I get home tonite. Will report back re their response. BTW, it's RCN in San Francisco - a little bit odd since RCN is known more as an east coast provider.

You know, I think it is ridiculous that one has to spend money on calibration.
These sets cost so much .... you save up for them ....and whack....you need another couple of bills to calibrate the sucker. Am I the only one that thinks this is absurd?
Later
Tec

It's pricey but well worth it if you have seen the difference.....think of the cost over many many years of enjoyment. I think it's most definitely worth it.

2) I have the HD pack for my Xbox and games are playing in 480p but are not in 16:9 (I am playing games that definitely support 16:9). I have set the xbox to Widescreen in the Xbox dash. I did play a DVD in the Xbox and the A10 said that was playing in 16:9 so I am confused. Does the Xbox really output a 4:3 signal and then expect the tv to stretch it?

It seems to be a game issue. Halo 2 and NCAA 06 support 16:9 but the display only says 4:3, but the Hulk 2 demo from the latest OXM displays 16:9 720p.

Good point, Gazelle. I have not called my cable provider about this, but I will when I get home tonite. Will report back re their response. BTW, it's RCN in San Francisco - a little bit odd since RCN is known more as an east coast provider.


There are RCN systems in the East that do have PIP on their STB's. Can't see why you shouldn't. Also could be your box is lacking a firmware update?

Gazelle
Are you using pip on a tv without pip?

No. I am not, but i know of very many people who do. Time Warner & Cablevision in the NY/NJ area both supply DVRs with PIP capability even if your TV does not.

Time to post the pictures of my 42 A10:

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV01.jpg

Picture one is of the TV sitting in the cabinet. I have about 1/2" on each side to spare. The opening is actually smaller than the TV, so I have to insert the TV at an angle.

I wasn't necessarily going for the built-in look; I just got the biggest TV I could shoe-horn in.

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV02.jpg

Picture two is of the whole entertainment center. As you might suspect, cooling is an issue. I therefore installed two 3.5" quiet fans in the back corner of the shelf the TV sits on. See picture three. This does two things. They draw air through the leaky door openings, past the A/V receiver in the cabinet below and pushes it into the TV area. The other thing is they ventilate the TV area so that air comes out just above the top of the TV.

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV03.jpg

I tried to take pictures of the local news in 1080i, but they just did not come out. Sorry.

What is everybody setting their 4:3 default to? I've been using normal since none of the scaling looks good to me, and the one setting that did scale well was cutting off the tickers on CNN, etc..

Wide zoom.

I use the "Normal" 4:3 setting. I just don't like zooming, widening, etc. Heck as a 4:3 image it's still like watching a 40" "regular" TV. (I have the 50A10) which is a big step up from the 32" I used to have.

That said, some programs such as Battlestar Galactica do get the zoom treatment since the image is sized for a 16:9 TV but broadcast as a 4:3 image.


Mitch

Hey abward,

You do know that the little channel/volume panel below the screen can be concealed, don't you? :D j/k (unless you didn't realize that in which case, you're welcome.)

Nice set up. And nice job with the extra cooling.


Mitch

I am not a huge sports fan. I'll watch a game if I'm bored or it's a close match or the Cubs are in the playoffs. But, you know, I find myself watching more sports these past couple of weeks even with teams I don't have any attachment to. Afterall, what do I care about Dallas or Seattle? But, the other strange thing is that I only watch these games on goofy fractional channels like 7.1 or 9.1. Strange, huh? I wonder why that is? :)

HDTV is really the cat's pajamas. Throw in some 5.1 audio and it's like you're in the stands. I got guys cheering behind and to the right of me. I got clapping behind and to the left of me. Now, if only I could get rid of these two chatterboxes directly in front of me all would be great. :)

Can you tell I'm really enjoying my 50A10? The only thing that could sour things at this point is if prices drop through the floor before my 30 day price match period ends.


Mitch

Has anybody tried watching Sin City on any of the A10's? Since its mostly in black and white its a good test for A10s.

Time to post the pictures of my 42 A10:

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV01.jpg

Picture one is of the TV sitting in the cabinet. I have about 1/2" on each side to spare. The opening is actually smaller than the TV, so I have to insert the TV at an angle.

I wasn't necessarily going for the built-in look; I just got the biggest TV I could shoe-horn in.

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV02.jpg

Picture two is of the whole entertainment center. As you might suspect, cooling is an issue. I therefore installed two 3.5" quiet fans in the back corner of the shelf the TV sits on. See picture three. This does two things. They draw air through the leaky door openings, past the A/V receiver in the cabinet below and pushes it into the TV area. The other thing is they ventilate the TV area so that air comes out just above the top of the TV.

http://home.nc.rr.com/abward/TV03.jpg

I tried to take pictures of the local news in 1080i, but they just did not come out. Sorry.


May I ask where you got those fancy fans. I have a similar setup and the temp of the cable box is way too high. Do they run off the AC of the normal household current?

Thanks, Brad

2) I have the HD pack for my Xbox and games are playing in 480p but are not in 16:9 (I am playing games that definitely support 16:9). I have set the xbox to Widescreen in the Xbox dash. I did play a DVD in the Xbox and the A10 said that was playing in 16:9 so I am confused. Does the Xbox really output a 4:3 signal and then expect the tv to stretch it?

Yes. 480 signals are 4:3 so you need to set the tv to full to stretch it across the screen. When you have the XBOX set to widescreen and are playing a 480 game, if you have the tv set to normal you will notice the picture will be a squeezed 16:9 image in 4:3, but when you strech it across the screen with the tv settings the aspect will look correct. 720 and 1080 games dont do this because they are inherently 16:9.

Those fans are most likely either 80, 92, or 120mm computer fans.

Most of us are not using it as a "computer monitor". We are using it as an HTPC. My PC is integrated with the TV and the surround sound. I don't surf the internet on the TV, i have a 19" LCD computer monitor for that. What i do is play DVD's and PC games thru the computer. The PC DVD software is so much better than a stand alone DVD player, lots more options. Same with gaming, XBOX and PS2 are no match for PC gaming. So an HTPC (home theater personal computer) immerses you into an entertainment complex. Without getting off the sofa i can play Half Life 2 in hi-def widescreen 5.1, pop in a DVD, or just watch hi-def TV all from the sofa. The whole idea of a large HDTV is to take advantage of the technology. This is why i call out people who mostly use the TV speakers or use the TV just for DVD's etc. And i haven't even begun to touch upon the fact that an HTPC gives you many more options even if you don't play games or if you use a stand alone DVD player. Just visit the HTPC forum to learn more.

If only there was good software for high rez audio playback SACD and DVD Audio then more people would take the PC seriously. Im in the process of putting one together but still have to keep that SACD player - what a shame.

There are RCN systems in the East that do have PIP on their STB's. Can't see why you shouldn't. Also could be your box is lacking a firmware update?

Well, I did call RCN this evening. Here's what happened: They had no clue. I had to explain that the remote has these PIP buttons, they're for a DUAL tuner set top box, so . . . why wouldn't the PIP relate to the cable box? . . . . long story short, they. just. have. no. clue. After some looking around and putting me on hold, she tried to tell me the PIP was just for one's TV - if you use the cable remote as a universal for your TV, then the PIP buttons would operate your TV's PIP. Whatever. Bottom line, I have to figure this out myself, and I'm not too motivated since I really don't use PIP anyway . . . . but I was curious. I suspect they just haven't implemented this functionality way out here west. My box has the latest firmware, according to the rep.

The rep suggested I go to Motorola's web site for more info on the box. . . . ok I guess.

If anybody else experiences a similar no-PIP for their 6412, please post any solution you may find that solves the issue. Thanks.

Quick update on my experience with my Cable Card, three days in:

(1) I may have scored the card v. set top box shoot-out slightly wrong. It appears the card does do a bit better on analog signals. I might be inclined to give a point to the card, but, well read on.

(2) For the second time in two days, the card lost all HD channels. They're sending a tech out next Saturday. It will be my third Saturday in a row hanging out with the Cable Guy. Great.

(3) Even when the card worked, it would only sporadically provide program information. Most of the time, it gave no info. Sometimes, though, I'd get the name of the show. I called RCN, my provider, and asked what the-? They said they provide NO program info through the cable card; it must be a feature on my TV. So, if the program info isn't there, or is sporadic, it must be a problem with my TV. You have to be kidding me.

Initially, I scored my impromptu cable box v. cable card 4 points to 1/2 point in favor of the set top box, especially via HDMI. I may have to yank that 1/2 point from the card if things don't settle down soon. I'd be so frustrated and upset if I only had the card and it kept dropping HD.

Key Take-Away Point: If you are at all inclined to go with cable card only, get the set top box AND the card. Dump the box ONLY after you are satisfied that the damned card functions as promised, if ever.

The A10 does not have PIP on the TV correct? So even with a cable box that does PIP (multiple tuners) it would not give it a real PIP feel, more like a different input. The PIP is something that might hold me off from buying this tv

May I ask where you got those fancy fans. I have a similar setup and the temp of the cable box is way too high. Do they run off the AC of the normal household current?

Thanks, Brad

Yes, they are computer case fans. I got them from here: http://www.quietpcusa.com/

These are a couple of years old, and I think they now have even quieter ones.

I am running them off of an AC adapter running 6VDC into them. One is running all the time (a bit of an annoyance), and the other runs when the A/V receiver is switched on. I sure wish I could figure out how to turn them both on and off when the TV is turned on and off.

Key Take-Away Point: If you are at all inclined to go with cable card only, get the set top box AND the card. Dump the box ONLY after you are satisfied that the damned card functions as promised, if ever.

I suggested this to someone (not sure if it was you or someone else) I figured it was worth the $1.50 extra or whatever. Then I go to setup my own installation and they refuse to do this. They claim that it is not possible and the tv will not accept it............

So instead I split the signal and there is a remarkable difference in the PQ for the SD channels - so now I really wish I had the cable-card to compare the two. What cable company do you have? Are both the STB and the Cable-Card hooked up at the same time?

abward

If you are using a receiver or a preamp, you probably have either a switched a/c outlet or a 12 volt d/c trigger circuit. Either one of these could be used to have your fans come on.

Thanks for the quietpcusa url. My main computer makes entirely too much fan noise. This gives me some options to silence it.

An update on my 4:3 wide problem: I have officially given up trying to get it to work; I have tried all setting combinations to get the output of my DirecTV receiver to be shown as "Normal" with 4:3 content (and actually stay that way when I change channels).

So, the cable dude is coming Thursday and I will be switching over to the dark side (cable), with an SA 8300HD DVR cable box. If the problem continues after that, then it is the A10's fault (I already think it is). I have several choices after that:
1) Switch from component to HDMI and try it
2) Switch to S-video output, a giant step backwards in PQ. I could perhaps use S-video for 4:3 content and component for 16:9 content.
3) Take the A10 back, which combining this issue with the SSE (which I notice more every day now) might not be too far fetched now.

...If you are using a receiver or a preamp, you probably have either a switched a/c outlet...

That is precisely what I am doing for the one fan. I have an older A/V receiver and only use it for sound, and only then for DVD playback, so I cannot use it to switch both fans.

Which reminds me of a friendly warning for A10 (and all RP LCD TV) owners: DO NOT plug your TV into your A/V receiver's switched outlet (or a switched power strip). These TVs must have constant power supplied to them, in order to cool themselves down after you have turned them off. In fact, plugging into a UPS is highly recommended.

There, I did my good deed for the day.

Sony Canada announced the pricing for the upcoming SXRD 1080p sets today.........

The SXRDs would be a lot more interesting if they had the A10 form factor instead of the non-removable side speakers. I'd like an SXRD light engine but don't have the width for the enclosure they are in. So, I'll probably be getting the A10.

Jimmyv there are a lot of members who feel the same way about the new Sony. I think they want to come to market ASAP. If they had put the speakers on the bottom they could have kept the w to under 60" . I cal fit it but it will look out of place. This is giving me thoughts.

...
Thanks to whoever originally posted the comment about the Fry's price - you saved me two benjamins when I was prepared to pay CC's price. With the difference, I can buy the wife a new pair of shoes (don't laugh - it was her condition for me spending so much on a tv). =)

I have *never* been happier to buy a woman some shoes.

ojo
That was me - went over there Friday hoping to find the same kind of discount on a 50", but it was at msrp. :( But I'll just keep watching their ads and have patience - well, as much as I can muster up, that is. :D Keep us posted on your experiences, good or bad. Sounds like it's all good so far!

Did you get an extended warranty at Fry's?

That was me - went over there Friday hoping to find the same kind of discount on a 50", but it was at msrp. :( But I'll just keep watching their ads and have patience - well, as much as I can muster up, that is. :D Keep us posted on your experiences, good or bad. Sounds like it's all good so far!

Did you get an extended warranty at Fry's?


Yeah, when I was there I asked about the 50" and was kind of shocked at how high the price was (even if it was just MSRP) compared to the 42".

I'm still just shocked at how great everything looks!

thanks,
ojo

Quick update on my experience with my Cable Card, three days in:

(1) I may have scored the card v. set top box shoot-out slightly wrong. It appears the card does do a bit better on analog signals. I might be inclined to give a point to the card, but, well read on.

(2) For the second time in two days, the card lost all HD channels. They're sending a tech out next Saturday. It will be my third Saturday in a row hanging out with the Cable Guy. Great.



My Motorola card was doing this during the first 48hrs after the install. I "reset" the card and did yet another scan and have not had the problem since. The channel info is only available if the station includes it in their feed. Some don't. The best you can do is to just label/name the channel so at least you can see station identity.
If you happen to loose your HD signals you might notice that the labels are gone and have to be re-entered again. That's a pain. The SD is the same as if you were splitting the coax. The cable company doesn't want you to know you'll get a better picture, STB orders would dramatically decrease. If you can live without the IPG and configure your favorites (wish there were more than 16 available), then the better PQ and cost are attractive and sold me on the card, not to mention being able to use the TV remote for everything.

"My Motorola card was doing this during the first 48hrs after the install. I "reset" the card and did yet another scan and have not had the problem since. "



I had the exact same experience. So, I think thats just how it works with these tvs for some reason.


Also, the programming information has been sporadic on both of my cable card tvs for a year now. I don't think there is anything wrong with the tv. I think these cable card companies just don't have the whole thing down just yet. They really don't know a lot about these cable cards yet. The guy who came to install my card the other day didn't even know what the hell it was. I had to put it into the tv for him. :rolleyes:


So, don't believe a word they say about these things just yet. I think in time they will get the programming info working but thats just a matter of the cable companies getting their act together with this new technology.

Looking to purchase the A10. Do you guys have any concerns with purchasing the tv over through an internet store, their prices are seriously better than anythign i've seen from a store. They also guarentee that the tv is 100% brand new with USA warranty and all that good stuff. So is there something wrong with these A10s with allows them to sell them at such a discount price?

No, nothing wrong with the TVs. That's just the nature of the online retailers - they are almost always cheaper. Primary downside to purchasing a TV from them is the inability to return the set. If something is wrong, you'll have to get it serviced through the warranty. There are some things, like dead pixels, the the warranty will not cover. For things like that, you're stuck. If you buy from a B&M though, you just take the set back to the store and get a new one. Or if you change your mind in 30 days, you just take the set back...

So is everyone pealing those ugly stickers off the front? Other than that one report are there any damages when doing this?

I took my stickers off. No damage at all.

I just got this tv the other day from Circuit City.. The 42" model. I love it... The picture quality is great.. I'll agree somewhat with others that SD isnt great but im not sure what you would expect.. its not going to look HD.. Its watchable though.. Havent tried xbox yet but Im lookin forward to it.. the incredibles was awesome looking on this tv.. Used the thx optimizer to do some video adjustments..

On a side note.. Im just curious on peoples opinion on a problem i had.. CC was supposed to deliver the TV on saturday morning but the driver tried to take the tv out of the truck himself and dropped it. It of course was then in peices. A redelivery was done on monday and I called to complain and ask for my $40 delivery charge back.. CC Claims i shouldnt get it back because a tv was delivered eventually.. But my point is they brought me a tv damaged it.. I paid for delivery on saturday and they didnt come through.. So why should I pay?

Chris

I took my stickers off. No damage at all.


Outside of the obvious answer "very carefully"..........how exactly did you remove your stickers? Thanks..........I know I'm setting myself up for a cute answer but give it a go! THANKS!

Um, I just put my finger nail underneath it and off it came. Not a scratch on the tv. :D

Um, I just put my finger nail underneath it and off it came. Not a scratch on the tv. :D


Vielen Danke! Gracias! Thanks!

Hi I'm the one with the sticker damage. If any of you owners who peel them off successfully if I could get my hands on the small one to put over my bare spot I would appreciate it. I'm gonna try to get a new TV but I have my doubts.

Thank's in advance.

Talked to the Sony rep at the Pittsburgh plant, while picking up my 50A10. He told me that any damage caused by the removal of these stickers are covered, and to call Sony.

...On a side note.. Im just curious on peoples opinion on a problem i had.. CC was supposed to deliver the TV on saturday morning but the driver tried to take the tv out of the truck himself and dropped it. It of course was then in peices. A redelivery was done on monday and I called to complain and ask for my $40 delivery charge back.. CC Claims i shouldnt get it back because a tv was delivered eventually.. But my point is they brought me a tv damaged it.. I paid for delivery on saturday and they didnt come through.. So why should I pay?

Chris

My opinion is that you paid $40 for a TV to be delivered and they delivered one. So, yes, you should pay.

Now, they should have apologized for the delay, and maybe even give you some of the money back, but that is different issue.

Outside of the obvious answer "very carefully"..........how exactly did you remove your stickers? Thanks..........I know I'm setting myself up for a cute answer but give it a go! THANKS!

I actually used the a corner of the front cover on the manual that came with the TV to gently pry up the edge and then slowly, and a steep angle, peeled them off. The front cover is much softer than any fingernail so it will not scratch when trying to pry up a corner.

Hope that helps.

I searched the thread but didn't see this question discussed at all. Can someone report on the channel changing delay this set may or may not have. Any info is appreciated.

M

I suggested this to someone (not sure if it was you or someone else) I figured it was worth the $1.50 extra or whatever. Then I go to setup my own installation and they refuse to do this. They claim that it is not possible and the tv will not accept it............

So instead I split the signal and there is a remarkable difference in the PQ for the SD channels - so now I really wish I had the cable-card to compare the two. What cable company do you have? Are both the STB and the Cable-Card hooked up at the same time?

I use RCN in San Francisco, which is somewhat unusual in that Comcast is the really dominant player here. For some reason, RCN competes with Comcast in my building, but not across the street. Weird.

I have everything hooked up: the 6412 with both component and HDMI simultaneously connected to the TV (HDMI hands down the better signal v. component for this TV, I find). Plus the cable card. Plus a second, non-hd digital set top box so my TIVO has something to control. Overkill . . . but fun.

As noted in my previous posts, the cable card has been nothing but problems from the moment it was installed. The only good point is that the signal through the card for analog seems to be marginally better than the 6412, but not so good that it would be worth all the pain involved in getting the thing to work right.

I searched the thread but didn't see this question discussed at all. Can someone report on the channel changing delay this set may or may not have. Any info is appreciated.

M


There is no significant delay when changing between analogue channels. I can't remember offhand if there is a delay when changing between digital channels. There is a significant delay when a channel change involves moving from the analogue to the digital tuner or visa versa.

Looking to purchase the A10. Do you guys have any concerns with purchasing the tv over through an internet store, their prices are seriously better than anythign i've seen from a store. They also guarentee that the tv is 100% brand new with USA warranty and all that good stuff. So is there something wrong with these A10s with allows them to sell them at such a discount price?


I'm very happy with my online purchase! Bought the E42A10 two weeks ago. So far....I love this unit. One key on a Sony LCD rear projection.
If you purchase the extended warranty, be sure that the bulb is included in the coverage. My research found that warranty coverage varied greatly, particularly on bulbs. And, "in home warranty service" can have different connotations too.


Mark

I sure wish I could figure out how to turn them both on and off when the TV is turned on and off.


Might be a bit pricey, but what the heck, you spent 2K on a TV, so.....

I would get a wireless AC remote that controls the lights in your home, and hook up the fans to that. (like the ones you can get at Radio Shack)

Then buy a Harmony Remote Control to control your AV setup, and program the remote macro to turn on/off the fans as needed.

... BTW Very nice setup you have over there, man that is FLUSH to the cabinet :)

...You do know that the little channel/volume panel below the screen can be concealed, don't you? ...

Yep, but I leave it down since it is convenient to switch the inputs when I get off my butt to go load a DVD, and I don't want to wear out the funky lowering mechanism. I am one of those people that leave the garage door open all day (when I am home), so that the opener is used one less time.

It never ceases to amaze me that my family members can be standing right next to the TV, looking all over the room, in sofa cushions etc, for the remote, in order to turn on/off the TV or adjust the volume. The button is right in front of them :)

Might be a bit pricey, but what the heck, you spent 2K on a TV, so.....

I would get a wireless AC remote that controls the lights in your home, and hook up the fans to that. (like the ones you can get at Radio Shack)

Then buy a Harmony Remote Control to control your AV setup, and program the remote macro to turn on/off the fans as needed.

... BTW Very nice setup you have over there, man that is FLUSH to the cabinet :)

Just make sure that your shutdown system doesn't kill a/c power to the TV...it needs juice to run the internal cooling fan after you shut the TV off. Otherwise you risk a blown bulb.

...I would get a wireless AC remote that controls the lights in your home, and hook up the fans to that...

... BTW Very nice setup you have over there, man that is FLUSH to the cabinet :)

Hmmm, I have to think that one over!

And, thanks! I think it looks pretty good.

I am actually glad now that the TV is NOT bigger than 42", at least for my sitting distance of 11-13'. I say this due to the majority of content not being HD right now. With SD from cable/satellite and DVDs, my opinion is that this low-resolution content is not good to sit too close to.

About ready to purchase set. On some sources they list a headphone jack, but looking at the set I did not see any headphone jacks. Am I missing something? Would be a nice feature. If a jack is not provided, what can I do to use headphones with this unit. My wife can hear a pin drop, and I stay up later and have to keep the volume low. Any suggestions?

Back on stickers; sorry to others.

I called sony and they said I have to start with my dealer. I called my dealer and he said only way I can get a new on is if sony agrees and will issue him an RA to return. He said he will call sony and see what they say.

Does this sound normal??? If not successful should I go after sony or my dealer or both???

Anybody have any inside help or contacts at Sony?????

...looking at the set I did not see any headphone jacks...

There is not a headphone jack.

It seems to me you could go to Radio Shack and get an adapter and short cable to allow you to plug your headphones into the audio out jack on the back. I *think* that line-out voltage would be the same as that on a headphone jack.

I currentlly have the Sony KDF-E50A10 and use the Samsung HD 931 DVD Player using components. The cable guy is coming today and in about a week or two I will use a DVI out cable with HDMI on the other end. I will use the Moto 6412 STB and it has, I believe, only one HDMI. I will have the STB connected to the TV with the Gefen Switcher using Input "2" and the STB in input "1", then, of course, running the output HDMI from the switcher into the back of the TV. Sorry for being a bit winded, but here's my question. Under the new setup where will I input the DVD player AUDIO output into the back of the TV. Currently using COMPONENT......I use the audio in hookup no. 4 which is listed in the Sony manual under no 7. Please see PAGE 17 in the Sony manual.

My concern is that if I use the AUDIO in the component hookup (which I'm currently using) I might not get an audio signal. I'm sure the "solution" for the problem is quite simple. Obviously since I'm using the DVI output on the DVD player I am "losing" the audio portion since the DVI cable cannot carry audio and must, of course, be plugged in separately. Any and all help is appreciated.


It just dawned on me: would the dvd audio cables be run to the newly installed STB................and NOT directly to the TV?

^You're not using an A/V receiver?

There is not a headphone jack.

It seems to me you could go to Radio Shack and get an adapter and short cable to allow you to plug your headphones into the audio out jack on the back. I *think* that line-out voltage would be the same as that on a headphone jack.

I'm not a A10 owner yet but any good receiver has a headphone jack and I know you have a good surround set with this TV.
You can hear all the explosions better with surround through your headphones hook to your receiver while your wife sleeps. :D

^You're not using an A/V receiver?


Right now the cable goes DIRECTLY into the TV. Sometime this afternoon Insight Cable is supposed to install the Motorola 6412 STB and when I get the Gefen HDMI switcher I will run both the DVD player and the STB thru the Gefen.
In answer to your question, I have not been and will NOT use an A/V receiver in conjunction with my setup.

I don't have any noticeable delay changing channels within a given input source (e.g., UHF/VHF, or Cable), but there is the relay delay (and click) when changing from UHF/VHF to Cable or vice versa.

I recently noticed a few features that I like.

1) Pressing and holding the channel up/down button results in the TV scrolling through the channels and only switching to a channel once I release the button.

2) Bipping through channels does not "reprogram" the jump feature. Instead, you need to rest at a channel (for a second or so) for the channel to be registered. So, if I'm watching channel 5 and then I bip through a bunch of channels and stop at, say, channel 22. The jump feature will bounce between channels 5 and 22 and not between channels 21 and 22 (which is what my old TV would have done).

3) The jump feature also works across tuner inputs. So, if I tune in channel 5 on cable and then switch to OTA (using the antenna button) and tune in, say, 7.1, and then switch back to cable (again using the antenna button), jump will now hop between cable channel 5 and OTA channel 7.1. Although you have the relay switch so it takes a little longer. And, it's probably wearing down the relay, but hey, I got a couple of years to worry about that. :)


Mitch

My Motorola card was doing this during the first 48hrs after the install. I "reset" the card and did yet another scan and have not had the problem since. The channel info is only available if the station includes it in their feed. Some don't. The best you can do is to just label/name the channel so at least you can see station identity.
If you happen to loose your HD signals you might notice that the labels are gone and have to be re-entered again. That's a pain. The SD is the same as if you were splitting the coax. The cable company doesn't want you to know you'll get a better picture, STB orders would dramatically decrease. If you can live without the IPG and configure your favorites (wish there were more than 16 available), then the better PQ and cost are attractive and sold me on the card, not to mention being able to use the TV remote for everything.

Jeeze . . . . talk about a tech/system that's not ready for prime time!

So let's do the math here: The card drops HD channels, it can't display full programming information, you need to revert to buying TV Guide to figure out what's on (well, retro is in fashion I suppose), it can't do on-line PPV, it can't do VOD, the cable companies aren't quite up to speed in servicing them . . . . . for me, that adds up to a no-go. (ok, I admit I stretched it with the buying TV Guide, given one can just tune in to the line-up channel . . . but I couldn't resist)

I do appreciate the remote-economy, but frankly I have literally 14 remotes and take some sort of geekish pleasure in using them. It does make it pretty near impossible for my girlfriend (or anyone) to watch my TV without me there to go through the multi-remote machinations to get things going . .. Big minus for most of the world out there, but I'm entitled to my quirks.

By the way, I'm on my second crap-out on the cable card HD channels in three days, so my experience is a bit worse than yours. That doesn't help with my attitude, I'm sure you understand. . . And I have really become used to program info/details appearing on-screen as I flip the channels (Tivo does that too). It was strangely unsettling to tune to a channel and not necessarily know what was on . . .. chalk that one up to another personal quirk.

I suppose it's just like picking your HDTV in the first place: pick your poison. If you love the one-remote experience and don't care about VOD and PPV that much and can get by with the Station guide channel to see what's on, AND if your cable company can actually make the thing work with some consistency and regularity, then cable card is for you. If you're like me, with all my quirks and oddities, that damned little card just might drive you crazy.

. . . the programming information has been sporadic on both of my cable card tvs for a year now. I don't think there is anything wrong with the tv. I think these cable card companies just don't have the whole thing down just yet. They really don't know a lot about these cable cards yet. The guy who came to install my card the other day didn't even know what the hell it was. I had to put it into the tv for him. :rolleyes:


So, don't believe a word they say about these things just yet. I think in time they will get the programming info working but thats just a matter of the cable companies getting their act together with this new technology.

T-riot, I don't know if I would go so far as to not believe a word they say about cable cards these days (I suspect the "they" is me, given my recent prolific blatherings about those little cards).

I think my rants/complaints about the things boil down to a basic agreement with what you write - that in time the kinks will be worked out of the cable card technology and the cable companies will learn to adequately support them.

My beef at this point is that they really aren't as far along with this tech as I would think they should be (a friend of mine has had a card for 1.5 years or so, same issues I found out). Consequently, any one seriously considering going with just a cable card may be in for a bit of a rude awakening. That's my story and I'm sticking to it . . . . .

About ready to purchase set. On some sources they list a headphone jack, but looking at the set I did not see any headphone jacks. Am I missing something? Would be a nice feature. If a jack is not provided, what can I do to use headphones with this unit. My wife can hear a pin drop, and I stay up later and have to keep the volume low. Any suggestions?

Odd . . .thought I saw a 1/8" headphone jack somewhere on my 50A10, but I'm not at home, can't confirm it, and the 42A10 manual at SonyStyle makes no mention of one.

I suggest two things, depending on how you listen to your TV typically:

If you aren't using external speakers for regular viewing (and using just the internal speakers), you probably aren't using the right/left RCA audio out on the back of the set. Radio Shack is sure to have a right/left RCA-to-headphone-jack converter thingie for cheap.

If you are using external speakers, with a receiver, you can use the receiver's headphone jack, if it has one. If not, or if you're connecting speakers directly out of the TV, then all I can think of is to split the signal coming out of the audio out in back of the TV. Head on back to Radio shack, buy a splitter for the RCA audio outs, along with the same RCA-to-headphone-jack thingie. All low-tech, and it's fraught with possible interference, but that's all I got.

Odd . . .thought I saw a 1/8" headphone jack somewhere on my 50A10, but I'm not at home, can't confirm it, and the 42A10 manual at SonyStyle makes no mention of one.It's on the side:

I currentlly have the Sony KDF-E50A10 and use the Samsung HD 931 DVD Player using components. The cable guy is coming today and in about a week or two I will use a DVI out cable with HDMI on the other end. I will use the Moto 6412 STB and it has, I believe, only one HDMI. I will have the STB connected to the TV with the Gefen Switcher using Input "2" and the STB in input "1", then, of course, running the output HDMI from the switcher into the back of the TV. Sorry for being a bit winded, but here's my question. Under the new setup where will I input the DVD player AUDIO output into the back of the TV. Currently using COMPONENT......I use the audio in hookup no. 4 which is listed in the Sony manual under no 7. Please see PAGE 17 in the Sony manual.

My concern is that if I use the AUDIO in the component hookup (which I'm currently using) I might not get an audio signal. I'm sure the "solution" for the problem is quite simple. Obviously since I'm using the DVI output on the DVD player I am "losing" the audio portion since the DVI cable cannot carry audio and must, of course, be plugged in separately. Any and all help is appreciated.

You're right; using the audio in the component hookup will not provide sound when your TV is focused on input 6, the HDMI input.

But I think I got it figured out. Basically, you just use Input 6 for both because it has HDMI and an alternate RCA audio in. Hook up the DVD audio to the audio IN on input 6 on the TV, right next to where you'll hook up your HDMI out of the switch box. That's it.

When you're Gefen is switched to the 6412, the pure HDMI connection carries video and audio into Input 6. Switch the Gefen to DVD and of course the 6412's HDMI video/audio signal is also switched off and DVD audio instead goes to input 6 via the RCA audio inputs on 6, HDMI still carries DVD video through the Gefen switch.

Potential Word of Caution: I wouldn't keep the DVD playing when you switch to/from the 6412 - seems you might harm the TV having the two audio signals coming into what is really one audio in on Input 6 (the RCA audio inputs are really alternate audio inputs, to use when your HDMI in has a DVI connection on the other end, as with your DVD, which wouldn't carry sound via HDMI). I could be wrong about his causing damage, but it is unquestionably true that you run the danger of sending HDMI audio and RCA audio into input 6 at the same time. I certainly wouldn't want to "experiment" with what effect this might have on my TV.

I really can't think of another way to do this, since your TV must be on Input 6 in order to receive HDMI signal, which is where your DVD video and STB video/audio signal will be coming into the TV (depending on which one the Gefen is weitched to). Kinda by definition, and as you speculated in your post, your TV will recoginize the audio only from the input it is focused on, to the exclusion of all other inputs. So, if you're on input 6, which is where you have to be to watch STB/DVD, only audio coming into input 6 would be available to be sent to your external speakers through the TV's RCA audio out, or to the internal speakers. Good thing for you the HDMI input 6 comes with those alternate audio in RCA jacks.

It just dawned on me: would the dvd audio cables be run to the newly installed STB................and NOT directly to the TV?

Nope; that won't work. If you connect your DVD audio cables to the 6412 STB, you will lose DVD audio when you switch the Gefen away from the STB signal and onto the DVD signal. Essentially, connecting your DVD audio to the STB audio results in you sending DVD audio to the very device you've just switched away from in order to enjoy watching your DVD. Hope that makes sense.

With all that fancy switching stuff, and that high-quality DVD player, you must be utilizing a home theater system, right?

Answer: NO


Hook up the DVD and the 6412 directly to your receiver, with digital optical/coax if at ALL possible.

If you are just utilizing the internal speakers for all of this . . . . . that's just a damned shame.


I'm using the ZVOX 315 Powered Speaker.........MUCH better sound!



In other news, you will love the HDMI picture out of your 6412, if it looks anything like mine. (By the way, if you do have a 5.1 system, HDMI audio won't give you full surround anyway - for some not-smart reason, the powers-that-be-who-make-standards spec'd the HDMI with stereo only. State-of-the-art video and second-rate audio. What gives there?)


Please answer question in post: Where does the DVD audio OUT go:
directly into the STB..........OR........on the back of the TV, and if so, where does it go. Please refer to page 17 of Sony manual showing the REAR of TV.

i just love all these neat-o inputs on these hdtv's.

Take the HDMI input for instance........................................Oh, what was that you said?

"By the way, if you do have a 5.1 system, HDMI audio won't give you full surround anyway - for some not-smart reason, the powers-that-be-who-make-standards spec'd the HDMI with stereo only. State-of-the-art video and second-rate audio."

well ok , but what about that wonderful cable card slot............................come again?

"The card drops HD channels, it can't display full programming information, you need to revert to buying TV Guide to figure out what's on, it can't do on-line PPV, it can't do VOD, the cable companies aren't quite up to speed in servicing them."

ahhh, never mind:rolleyes:

But my point is they brought me a tv damaged it.. I paid for delivery on saturday and they didnt come through.. So why should I pay?

Chris


NO SOUP FOR YOU!!
You should pay double for trying to get out of paying!
:p
;)

It's on the side:
No side headphone jack on my 42A10. Sony must have dropped it from production at the last minute.

my 50a10 has no headphone jack on the side. dont know where you are getting this headphone jack from

just hooked up the tv, any ideas what I can do about this black dot? Could it be something on the lens or is it a cluster of dead pixels?
Update on this - just had a tech come out and take a look. He got me to leave the room (told me to call the store I got it from) and I heard this loud tapping. I went to see what it was and the spot was gone. He told me it was a piece of dust sandwiched between the layers of the lenticular screen, and didn't want me to witness the "repair". All he did was tap the screen until it dropped under the visibile portion. I'm glad it's over with.

Thanks for the replies to my earlier questions.

My next question is: Is it possible to disable the Cable and External Antenna inputs so that they are skipped when I press TV/VIDEO? I use my cable box only (through composite) so I don't want to switch to that input. I did set all of the external inputs to skip but I haven't been able to find out how to get this to skip.

Thanks.

Please answer question in post: Where does the DVD audio OUT go:
directly into the STB..........OR........on the back of the TV, and if so, where does it go. Please refer to page 17 of Sony manual showing the REAR of TV.

See my subsequent post, which I hope indeed answered question in post: Input 6 (HDMI plus alternate RCA stereo in) does it all for you. Simple as that. Ah, well, I am assuming you're hooking up RCA left/right out of the DVD player; not digital audio out. If you're looking to send digital audio out of your DVD player, then you've stumped me - I don't see how you could do it in your scenario.

BTW, what is a ZVOX 315 powered speaker? Is it one speaker, or a pair? Do you prefer it over a 5.1 home theater system, or is it better mostly versus the TV speakers? Ah, wait . . . .found it on the net . . . . Very well received little device. Looks like the best alternative when full 5.1 isn't an option. Good move - enjoy.

my 50a10 has no headphone jack on the side. dont know where you are getting this headphone jack fromWow. Got the image from an major online retailer's site. Could have sworn I saw one on the display 42A10 I saw last weekend, but maybe not.

Singsing, thanks for the update. I am teetering between the XBR 960 CRT and the 42 A10. Your pic/post was stuck in my head as a negative in the A10 column. Glad to hear you got it sorted.

Update on this - just had a tech come out and take a look. He got me to leave the room (told me to call the store I got it from) and I heard this loud tapping. I went to see what it was and the spot was gone. He told me it was a piece of dust sandwiched between the layers of the lenticular screen, and didn't want me to witness the "repair". All he did was tap the screen until it dropped under the visibile portion. I'm glad it's over with.

"He got me to leave the room.... "

LOL

it was a piece of dust sandwiched between the layers of the lenticular screen, and didn't want me to witness the "repair". All he did was tap the screen until it dropped under the visibile portion. I'm glad it's over with.
Congratulations on having a successful repair. (no dead pixals huh?)

On a side note.. Im just curious on peoples opinion on a problem i had.. CC was supposed to deliver the TV on saturday morning but the driver tried to take the tv out of the truck himself and dropped it. It of course was then in peices. A redelivery was done on monday and I called to complain and ask for my $40 delivery charge back.. CC Claims i shouldnt get it back because a tv was delivered eventually.. But my point is they brought me a tv damaged it.. I paid for delivery on saturday and they didnt come through.. So why should I pay?




It's really not a matter of people's opinions, it's a matter of law involving standard of care. Nobody's perfect, and the law recognizes this. It's a simple fact that if you deliver stuff for a living, you're going to drop something now and then. Unless you're dropping stuff at a higher rate than others offering similar services, then the only compensation you owe is to replace the dropped item. You don't owe it to the recipient to work for free as a result. I'm sure the guy who dropped it feels bad, and had to deal with insurance paperwork and possibly a reaming from his boss.

Question: was any part of that $40 charge a premium for Saturday delivery, or was that the standard delivery charge and it just happened to be scheduled for Saturday?

If you paid a premium for expedited or Saturday delivery, then I would say it's fair to ask for a refund for the extra amount paid.

If it was going to cost you $40 regardless, then you didn't "pay for delivery on SATURDAY", you paid for DELIVERY, and it just so happened that it was originally scheduled for Saturday and ended up getting bumped to Monday. In this case, you're not entitled to any refund.

These things happen. People make mistakes. When they do, they have an obligation to correct those mistakes. In this case, that correction involved making the return trip with the second TV, at their expense, at no additional cost to you.

I am having trouble getting the Comcast local HD channels. I understand Comcast has these coming out of their coax because they are local. I can get some of them some of the time.

Initially I found 4 of them, but they changed. The first time I scanned all the channels, WLS-HD was at 92.1. When I went back it was then Discovery Kids. WGN-HD also changed. NBC-HD is the only one that I get all the time.

If I go from 115.1 to 115.2, I get ESPN-HD.
If I go from 115.5 to 115.2, I get FOX-HD.
This happens all the time.

Comcast cannot help, said I need their HD STB. Went round & round with them.
Called CC, they said probably a Comcast problem & not the set. I'm not surprised at their answers, but I was hoping one of them knew the actual frequencies to tune in.

Sooo, has anyone in the Chicago/Elmhurst area tried their A10 with cable right out of the wall? If you can tune in the local HD channels, please let me know what they are.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

It's really not a matter of people's opinions, it's a matter of law involving standard of care. Nobody's perfect, and the law recognizes this. It's a simple fact that if you deliver stuff for a living, you're going to drop something now and then. Unless you're dropping stuff at a higher rate than others offering similar services, then the only compensation you owe is to replace the dropped item. You don't owe it to the recipient to work for free as a result. I'm sure the guy who dropped it feels bad, and had to deal with insurance paperwork and possibly a reaming from his boss.

Question: was any part of that $40 charge a premium for Saturday delivery, or was that the standard delivery charge and it just happened to be scheduled for Saturday?

If you paid a premium for expedited or Saturday delivery, then I would say it's fair to ask for a refund for the extra amount paid.

If it was going to cost you $40 regardless, then you didn't "pay for delivery on SATURDAY", you paid for DELIVERY, and it just so happened that it was originally scheduled for Saturday and ended up getting bumped to Monday. In this case, you're not entitled to any refund.

These things happen. People make mistakes. When they do, they have an obligation to correct those mistakes. In this case, that correction involved making the return trip with the second TV, at their expense, at no additional cost to you.

Well, here's the thing. IIRC, Circuit City has the same day delivery promise (if purchased by a certain time) or the delivery is free. So if they were unable to deliver because the set was mishandled and another delivery had to be scheduled, the delivery charge should be refunded. Bascially, both situations are a failure (for different reasons) to deliver as promised, so shouldn't the fee be refunded? I think so.

Of course, I could be thinking of another place that has the guarantee. :P

Well, here's the thing. IIRC, Circuit City has the same day delivery promise (if purchased by a certain time) or the delivery is free. So if they were unable to deliver because the set was mishandled and another delivery had to be scheduled, the delivery charge should be refunded. Bascially, both situations are a failure (for different reasons) to deliver as promised, so shouldn't the fee be refunded? I think so.


If that's the case, then I'd agree with you. A guarantee is a guarantee. But I've never heard of that policy (doesn't mean that it doesn't exist) and the poster didn't mention it. It it was shipped from a warehouse rather than the local store, then such a policy wouldn't apply.

Anyway, I should mention I didn't post just to hijack the thread for a standard of care debate. :) I've been following for several weeks, and ordered a 50A10 from Vann's on Friday. Looks like it will arrive Monday along with a Samsung HD950, and new main and center speakers this week. Can't wait to get it hooked up... DVD via HDMI, PC via VGA, XBOX and PS2 via component, and DirecTiVo via S-video. This is my first RPTV... currently have a 32" CRT HDTV. Avia and DVE are on the way, I'll post settings once I've had a chance to play around with it. I'm particularly interested in the PC hookup and noticed that the few posts on 1:1 pixel mapping are getting lost... maybe some of us with PC connections can compare notes outside of the thread.

Congratulations on having a successful repair. (no dead pixals huh?)
Thanks, and no dead pixels. Got Comcast HD set up today and it looks awesome. Just need to get a stand now, I've looked at thousands online and in stores and haven't seen anything within my budget that I liked. I have a seperate audio tower so I don't want a stand that is a lot deeper than the TV - I don't see the point of having a stand 20" deep when the TV is only 14" deep.

If that's the case, then I'd agree with you. A guarantee is a guarantee. But I've never heard of that policy (doesn't mean that it doesn't exist) and the poster didn't mention it. It it was shipped from a warehouse rather than the local store, then such a policy wouldn't apply.

Anyway, I should mention I didn't post just to hijack the thread for a standard of care debate. :) I've been following for several weeks, and ordered a 50A10 from Vann's on Friday. Looks like it will arrive Monday along with a Samsung HD950, and new main and center speakers this week. Can't wait to get it hooked up... DVD via HDMI, PC via VGA, XBOX and PS2 via component, and DirecTiVo via S-video. This is my first RPTV... currently have a 32" CRT HDTV. Avia and DVE are on the way, I'll post settings once I've had a chance to play around with it. I'm particularly interested in the PC hookup and noticed that the few posts on 1:1 pixel mapping are getting lost... maybe some of us with PC connections can compare notes outside of the thread.

S-VIDEO? Did you know that s-video cannot transmit HDTV signals? Doesn't have enough bandwidth. It has to be component or higher.

Well I found part of my problem. The "Auto program" missed a few local HD channels. The problem ones were at a frequency other than the channel listed. So I manually dug them out.

How do you manually add a channel to the main program list? I currently put them in "Favorites".

Has anyone else experienced missed channels?

Mike

If that's the case, then I'd agree with you. A guarantee is a guarantee. But I've never heard of that policy (doesn't mean that it doesn't exist) and the poster didn't mention it. It it was shipped from a warehouse rather than the local store, then such a policy wouldn't apply.

Anyway, I should mention I didn't post just to hijack the thread for a standard of care debate. :) I've been following for several weeks, and ordered a 50A10 from Vann's on Friday. Looks like it will arrive Monday along with a Samsung HD950, and new main and center speakers this week. Can't wait to get it hooked up... DVD via HDMI, PC via VGA, XBOX and PS2 via component, and DirecTiVo via S-video. This is my first RPTV... currently have a 32" CRT HDTV. Avia and DVE are on the way, I'll post settings once I've had a chance to play around with it. I'm particularly interested in the PC hookup and noticed that the few posts on 1:1 pixel mapping are getting lost... maybe some of us with PC connections can compare notes outside of the thread.

The VGA overscan at 1280*720 really isn't too bad. I use it with MCE and it's not been a problem. I used the NVidia driver tool to move the displayed picture up a little so I can see the taskbar in Windows Explorer. Of course, a service menu tweak to get rid of the overscan would be great.

I am actually glad now that the TV is NOT bigger than 42", at least for my sitting distance of 11-13'. I say this due to the majority of content not being HD right now. With SD from cable/satellite and DVDs, my opinion is that this low-resolution content is not good to sit too close to.
Nice installation, Abward.

Do you mind sharing the dimensions of your cabinet opening and the inside area (which I assume is slightly wider beyond the "lip" on the sides)? I know you said there was about 1/2" to spair on each side, but I was looking for something a little more precise than that.

The reason I ask is because I have a very similar opening, and while I know the 42" A10 would fit, it would be extremely tight, and it's nearly impossible to evaluate how it would actually look without buying it and placing it in the cabinet. Your photos give me the visual I'm looking for, and having your dimensions would give me a basis of comparison.

Ready to pull the trigger on the KDF-E42A10. Intend to get the extended warranty for this set. Any feedback on quality of service and coverages for Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears or HHGregg would be helpful. The price of the set is important but being stuck with a less than favorable EW plan would be a poor choice. Comments and experiences with any of these retailers would be helpful.

S-VIDEO? Did you know that s-video cannot transmit HDTV signals? Doesn't have enough bandwidth. It has to be component or higher.

I have SD DirecTV. S-video is the best output connection my box has (no component). I watch very little TV anyway. It will be used mostly for DVDs and games.

...Do you mind sharing the dimensions of your cabinet opening and the inside area...

You betcha. It is 40.75" inside, and the opening is 39". Since the TV is 39 3/8", that leaves 11/16" on each side on the inside.

I forget the depth, but it was something like 21". Height is not an issue.

BTW, I have not tried sticking a cable on the side jacks yet. I guess I might be able to shoehorn one on. I did read somewhere that the side jack assembly comes off with two screws, and you can then twist it towards the back a bit to get some cables on it. Right now, this thing has so many inputs, I do not need the side ones!

abward

They're also right angle adapters for component input.

Ready to pull the trigger on the KDF-E42A10. Intend to get the extended warranty for this set. Any feedback on quality of service and coverages for Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears or HHGregg would be helpful. The price of the set is important but being stuck with a less than favorable EW plan would be a poor choice. Comments and experiences with any of these retailers would be helpful.

The main thing is make SURE the warranty doesn't exclude replacing bulbs, and get it in writing. This is by far the most likely reason you need the warranty in the first place. Let us know what you find out regarding who covers the bulbs, and who doesn't.

I'm finally getting my new 50A10 today. :D

I'll be using a DTV HD 10-250 box and a upconverting Toshiba SD5980 as sources for it. Both of these units offer HDMI outputs.

Since the majority of my viewing will be television, I'm planning to use the HDMI output from the DTV box and use component video out from the DVD player.

Will I loose anything using the component output from the DVD instead of HDMI?

Also, could anyone could recommend settings for the DVD player? 480P, 720P, or 1080i output?

Thanks,
Bob

The main thing is make SURE the warranty doesn't exclude replacing bulbs, and get it in writing. This is by far the most likely reason you need the warranty in the first place. Let us know what you find out regarding who covers the bulbs, and who doesn't.

When I bought my 42a10 from BB, I asked them specifically if they would cover bulb replacement. The sales reps said yes, and I just got off the phone with 1-888 number, and they said they will replace the bulbs (not just one) for the life of the EW.

When I bought my 42a10 from BB, I asked them specifically if they would cover bulb replacement. The sales reps said yes, and I just got off the phone with 1-888 number, and they said they will replace the bulbs (not just one) for the life of the EW.

Looks like the bulb costs $199 (per SonyStyle web page) and EW costs $400 (per BB web page) - what's the expected life of the bulb? I couldn't find that in the manual or on Sony's web site.

Looks like the bulb costs $199 (per SonyStyle web page) and EW costs $400 (per BB web page) - what's the expected life of the bulb? I couldn't find that in the manual or on Sony's web site.

It's hard to say depending on usage habits, but around 6000 hrs.

It's hard to say depending on usage habits, but around 6000 hrs.
So, if we averaged 6 hrs per day (a little higher than our current TV usage) we'd probably have to replace the bulb once during the four year EW.

I'm finally getting my new 50A10 today. :D

I'll be using a DTV HD 10-250 box and a upconverting Toshiba SD5980 as sources for it. Both of these units offer HDMI outputs.

Since the majority of my viewing will be television, I'm planning to use the HDMI output from the DTV box and use component video out from the DVD player.

Will I loose anything using the component output from the DVD instead of HDMI?

Also, could anyone could recommend settings for the DVD player? 480P, 720P, or 1080i output?

Thanks,
Bob

I'm also getting the the 50A10 today. Friday will also be getting the DTV HD 10-250 and hooking up Samsung DVD HD850 which has an HDMI connection. So, I have the same question. I originally was thinking DVD w/HDMI, DTV w/component. Now I'm not so sure. I talked to the local DTV installation mgr and he recommended DVD w/HDMI. One last twist, my locals will be OTA coming in through the DTV HD 10-250-does that impact which way I should connect?

Lastly, although I've been researching this TV and HD since the previous model last year. I'm really excited about getting it. I'm no expert when it comes to this stuff but I do have maybe a little OCD when it comes to wanting to learn how it all works and the best methods, etc.. I found this site a mere 2 weeks ago and it has been a tremendous help all the way around. Thanks.

So, if we averaged 6 hrs per day (a little higher than our current TV usage) we'd probably have to replace the bulb once during the four year EW.

My thoughts exactly. So I figure $200 for an EW is not bad at all for 4 yrs and piece of mind. Plus if you're an avid gamer/tv/movie watcher, I'm sure some people will burn through bulbs like crazy. :p

Just so there's no confusion. There is no bulb coverage at Best Buy or FutureShop in Canada... it's different here.

Question becomes...is the service plan still worth it?

Laura,

I think it's personal preference. Some people say EW's are a waste of time, some say they're a good thing. I could go either way, it just depends on what item you have. If you have an older CRT RP, then I'd say yes due to the fact of convergence issues, and more moving parts. I had an old Sony 51" TV that I had flicker, A/V input, and bad CRT issues, so I was glad I purchased the EW. :) LCD wise, they have less moving parts, so that's not much of an issue.

I have been quoted by local dealers that if you take an LCD TV out of the box and set it up, and it works fine, you're most likely set. If it is going to have issues, it will out of the box or during the manf. warranty.

If BB does not cover bulbs up there and you would like an EW, I would recommend going directly through Sony. Their warranties are cheaper than buying from CC or BB. Plus, you can't go wrong buying directly from Sony.

Good luck,
Matt

So, if we averaged 6 hrs per day (a little higher than our current TV usage) we'd probably have to replace the bulb once during the four year EW.

Uh, 6 hours x 365 days x 4 years = 8760 hours.

3 years @ 6 hours/day would be 6570 hours. At 6 hours/day, the rated life of the bulb is about 2 years 9 months.

Sorry for the bad news.

I am in the camp that thinks extended warranties are a waste of money.. You spending alot of money upfront. If the bulb lasts 6000 hours.. Your spending double what a bulb costs over 4 years if you only replace it once...

The pricing is just way overpriced on them..

Chris

Not sure if anyone has posted this but BB and CC now have the A10s available on their web sites. No discount off list at BB but the 50 inch sells for $2299 at CC ($200 below list).

Not sure if anyone has posted this but BB and CC now have the A10s available on their web sites. No discount off list at BB but the 50 inch sells for $2299 at CC ($200 below list).

I was in CC yesterday and the salesguy I spoke with said the 50A10 was $50 less than the site's listing and then offered to take another $100 off when I told him I just wanted to check the image and would be buying later. FWIW, the 42A10 had a sign at $400 off MSRP.

Uh, 6 hours x 365 days x 4 years = 8760 hours.

3 years @ 6 hours/day would be 6570 hours. At 6 hours/day, the rated life of the bulb is about 2 years 9 months.

Sorry for the bad news.

Yep - 4 years is a little less than 1.5 bulbs. So, I'd burn out the bulb that comes in the A10, and get one "free" bulb under the EW and only be half way thru the life of that when the EW ran out. So, I'd have gotten a $200 return on my $400 investment, sometime in the third year.

In my book, money has a time value, plus, over time prices on high tech items tend to go down, so, I don't think paying $400 up front to extend the warrenty from 1 yr to 4 years is that good a value when the bulbs carry a current price of $199.

Can anyone recommend a compatible DVD player for A10 (mine is a 42)? Is an upscaling player better than a progressive scan? There must be a thread on this topic. Thanks for any response or references.

I was in CC yesterday and the salesguy I spoke with said the 50A10 was $50 less than the site's listing and then offered to take another $100 off when I told him I just wanted to check the image and would be buying later. FWIW, the 42A10 had a sign at $400 off MSRP.

$400 off MSRP on a 42A10 is really good. Sears was offering 10% off A10's with 1 yr no interest/no pmt, which seemed pretty good. Was the CC price just on their floor demo unit, or, was that good for new units?

I was in CC yesterday and the salesguy I spoke with said the 50A10 was $50 less than the site's listing and then offered to take another $100 off when I told him I just wanted to check the image and would be buying later. FWIW, the 42A10 had a sign at $400 off MSRP.

Wow, I wonder if that 42A10 price is nationwide... I'll have to stop on my way home & check, could have $100 refunded to me under their price protection...

Which component to use w/HDMI on the 50a10

Samsung DVD HD850?

or

DTV HD 10-250 w/ OTA locals coming through it?

Any experiences w/ these two devices would be greatly appreciated.

Wow, I wonder if that 42A10 price is nationwide... I'll have to stop on my way home & check, could have $100 refunded to me under their price protection...

I was thinkin the same thing.. Im in mass as well so id be interested in finding out if that price is the same here..

CHris

Which component to use w/HDMI on the 50a10

Samsung DVD HD850?

or

DTV HD 10-250 w/ OTA locals coming through it?

Any experiences w/ these two devices would be greatly appreciated.

My logic is this: The DirecTV box is cable of receiving a picture that is 720P or 1080i, and therefore will make better use of the HDMI connection. The DVD player is starting with a lower resolution (480i) and upconverting it, so it cannot theoretically ever be as good as a signal that is 720P or 1080i.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.

It's hard to say depending on usage habits, but around 6000 hrs.

From the experiences of people with the GWIII and GWIV, I would guess AVERAGE life of 6000 hours is pretty optimistic. Many people have lost bulbs in the first year of ownership. Hard to say what percent though. I would really guess that the average life is more like 3000 hours, but the bell curve applies to bulb life, just like it does to everything. Some will die in 10 hours, and some will run 10,000. Most will probably die in the 2000-5000 hour range. The warranty is probably not a bad idea all things considered. It also protects you from power surges, and having a lemon TV. I would imagine though that the 50 inch A-10 equivalent will be retailing for under $1500 in 3 more years the way prices are falling. You could pass on the warranty, and figure its cost will pay nearly one-third the cost of your next tv.

Can anyone recommend a compatible DVD player for A10 (mine is a 42)? Is an upscaling player better than a progressive scan? There must be a thread on this topic. Thanks for any response or references.

If you already have a DVD player, I would hold onto it until the newer HD-DVD and Blu-Ray models come out at the end of the yr. If you need something now, I've heard good things about the Panasonic 77s and 97s.

$400 off MSRP on a 42A10 is really good. Sears was offering 10% off A10's with 1 yr no interest/no pmt, which seemed pretty good. Was the CC price just on their floor demo unit, or, was that good for new units?
IIRC, I didn't see anything saying it was for the display TV. When I asked about the lower price he verbally offered on the 50A10, the salesguy told me they were a "bulk seller" and that they were given a "lowest price" they could offer to make a sale.

However, I'm wondering if a supervisor might have a lower "lowest price". :D

From the experiences of people with the GWIII and GWIV, I would guess AVERAGE life of 6000 hours is pretty optimistic. Many people have lost bulbs in the first year of ownership. Hard to say what percent though. I would really guess that the average life is more like 3000 hours, but the bell curve applies to bulb life, just like it does to everything. Some will die in 10 hours, and some will run 10,000. Most will probably die in the 2000-5000 hour range. The warranty is probably not a bad idea all things considered. It also protects you from power surges, and having a lemon TV. I would imagine though that the 50 inch A-10 equivalent will be retailing for under $1500 in 3 more years the way prices are falling. You could pass on the warranty, and figure its cost will pay nearly one-third the cost of your next tv.

I think that is why vendors do not quote lamp life anymore really because there are too many factors involved. It depends on how often people turn the TV off and on, whether they let the bulb cool, the typical temp in the room, etc. Hopefully more EW will cover bulb replacements seeing how everything seems to be slowly moving away from the old tubes to LCD, DLP, and so on.

Can anyone recommend a compatible DVD player for A10 (mine is a 42)? Is an upscaling player better than a progressive scan? There must be a thread on this topic. Thanks for any response or references.

I bought an Oppo DV971H upscaling, DVI-output player to use with my E50A10. See:

http://www.oppodigital.com/

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=491306&highlight=oppo


Note that the advanced deinterlacing features are only available through the DVI port (Oppo will include a DVI-HDMI converter cable!).

My Oppo looks great (DVI resolution set to 720P) & I haven't had any lip-synch issues (apparently random and easily fixed with a pause & play keystroke combo).

Good luck.

My logic is this: The DirecTV box is cable of receiving a picture that is 720P or 1080i, and therefore will make better use of the HDMI connection. The DVD player is starting with a lower resolution (480i) and upconverting it, so it cannot theoretically ever be as good as a signal that is 720P or 1080i.

Someone correct me if I am wrong.


Assuming this theory is correct, do I return the Sammy 850 for another, lower priced, upconverting DVD player? I think I basically paid a little more b/c of the HDMI connection.

Can anyone else chime in on Abward's connection suggestion?

Abward,
Could you argue that since the DVD starts w/ the lower resolution that you maximize it w/HDMI, and since you receive 720p or 1080i from DTV just use component?

Why not make this TV w/2 HDMI inputs anyway???????

Assuming this theory is correct, do I return the Sammy 850 for another, lower priced, upconverting DVD player? I think I basically paid a little more b/c of the HDMI connection.

Can anyone else chime in on Abward's connection suggestion?

I'm not sure if DirectTV is different, but I have digital cable. The Motorola box outputs 720p and 1080i signals through both component and DVI. If your sat. box can pass 720p or 1080i through component and HDMI, then you can hookup either way.

Not many DVD players upconvert over component. I think the Oppo does and there is a hack for the Sammy. Correct me if I am wrong guys.

I'm not sure if DirectTV is different, but I have digital cable. The Motorola box outputs 720p and 1080i signals through both component and DVI. If your sat. box can pass 720p or 1080i through component and HDMI, then you can hookup either way.

Not many DVD players upconvert over component. I think the Oppo does and there is a hack for the Sammy. Correct me if I am wrong guys.


I don't think the OPPO upconverts over component - but i may be wrong.

With all the HDCP stuff in place these days, it's hard to find a DVD player that will upconvert over component. Hook up your STB with component and your DVD player with HDMI.

I don't think the OPPO upconverts over component - but i may be wrong.
You are correct. The Oppo only does 480i via component. It isn't even progressive scan, let alone upconverting (over component).

So for those of you buying these upscaling players and also have cable boxes, I think there are a lot of people (like my situation) who are going to need 2 HDMI and/or DVI inputs. What are you going to do? Buy a HDMI/DVI switching box?

Aaron

That will most likely be the cheapest solution. But then it comes down to the question, which brand should you buy?

rclams and vabch22 - thanks for the replies. now I have a good place to start my search. btw, I do need o player now and I've heard the new HD players will be $$$, out of my range.

I've decided to have my 50A10 calibrated by one of those ISF certified guys in the near future. Though I've done the DVD calibrations with AVIA, and it looks just great, after I've come this far, I've concluded I might as well take it the final step.

One thought/concern that has come up in my mind, though: Will the calibrations done by the technician be retained if the set is unplugged or otherwise loses power? Paying a handsome fee to have one's TV calibrated is one thing; having to pay that same fee every time you lose power or need to unplug your TV is another . . . .

Anybody know the answer to this, for these TVs?

My suspicion is there's some sort of built in memory (perhaps flash) that would at least hold the settings, but I don't know.

You are correct. The Oppo only does 480i via component. It isn't even progressive scan, let alone upconverting (over component).
If the upconvert is only done on the HDMI and because you have something else connected to the A10's HDMI, why not convert the HDMI to component video? I know you can get HDMI to DVI and DVI to component conversion plugs or cables. In a quick search I didn't see any HDMI to component, but, there probably are some.

I've decided to have my 50A10 calibrated by one of those ISF certified guys in the near future. Though I've done the DVD calibrations with AVIA, and it looks just great, after I've come this far, I've concluded I might as well take it the final step.

One thought/concern that has come up in my mind, though: Will the calibrations done by the technician be retained if the set is unplugged or otherwise loses power? Paying a handsome fee to have one's TV calibrated is one thing; having to pay that same fee every time you lose power or need to unplug your TV is another . . . .

Anybody know the answer to this, for these TVs?

My suspicion is there's some sort of built in memory (perhaps flash) that would at least hold the settings, but I don't know.

Yes, there is a chip inside that holds your settings. You are covered :D

Trust me, you made a great decision in getting your A10 calibrated, it will make quite a difference.

One thought/concern that has come up in my mind, though: Will the calibrations done by the technician be retained if the ...
What about when the bulb ages or is replaced?

FEI (For Everyone's Information), found this on the official HDMI consortium's website:

Audio: HDMI supports multiple audio formats, from standard stereo to multi-channel surround-sound.

So, I was wrong when I impugned the intelligence of the HDMI people and said HDMI was designed only to carry L/R stereo signals - it can indeed do the whole nine yards. My sincere apologies to the HDMI people and their families.

BUT . . . . . . . . . . Sony's implementation of HDMI in the A10's is only for L/R; not full surround. Which sucks. I use digital surround output from the cable box directly into my receiver, so it's not really devastating news, but it would be really nice to have the HDMI do all the work. Every cable saved in what is an appalling rat's nest behind my TV/components is a step in the right direction . . .

Can anyone tell me the exact measurement of the width of the back of the 50a10? I've read it's 30" but I can't remember where, and want to be sure.

Thanks,
Rob