Sony is set to start shipping these sets in August. Does anyone have any information on the feature set besides what is released by Sony. Is this a major upgrade or does it look similiar to the SXRD sets alreay released.

Thanks

Hi HomeGuy:

You might see what you can glean from the A3000 anticiptation thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=868006), a 2007 SXRD anticipation thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=808504) (with info on both the A3000's and XBR5's), and the A3000 users manual (http://www.docs.sony.com/release/KDS50A3000.pdf) posted on Sony's website.

HTH

A quick glance through the user's guide reveals:

BRAVIA moniker
Same lamp as the A2000
1080p over component input
BRAVIA external module support (connects to the USB service port for internet-delivered video content)
1080/60p via the PC (RGB/HD-15 or "VGA") input (for some reason, in several places later in the manual it says that it is normal to have a black frame surrounding the picture in all formats)
BRAVIA Theatre Sync (control over other Sony components via HDMI)
MPEG Noise Reduction setting
Wide Color Space setting (not sure how this relates to x.v.Color below)
Underscan (for HDMI input only)
MotionFlow ("Motion Enhancer") 120Hz frame rate support
Motion Naturalizer "movement will become more fluid and natural"
Doesn't explicitly state that CineMotion (reverse 3:2 pulldown) is limited to 480i
x.v.Color (x.v.YCC expanded color space support)
1080/24p over HDMI input

...compared to the A2000

A quick glance through the user's guide reveals:
...compared to the A2000
...and A2020 for $1,000 more (approx).