Hi all just bought my new sony xbr800b. curious anyone else have one yet? the left side of mine has a brownish hue to it and the bottom lfet you can really see the edge light coming through. anyone have that?
Your link goes to a "Trimble Nomad" mobile computer, but I am not aware of a Sony model 900B anyway (unless you mean the model that's almost 4x the price than the 800B). There's the 950B, which is a 1080p set, or the 900A, which is also a QFHD model that's many times the money than the 800B. Different class of TV in any case, really not comparable to the 800B.You should get 850B or 900B.
The 800B doesn't have local dimming (neither does the 850B). Both have 'frame dimming' which means that the set can adjust the intensity of the backlight for the entire panel at once, which pretty much every LCD can do.I saw the model you bought at Best Buy while on a business trip. I though the 800B looked pretty darn good and I have a Samsung F8500 plasma at home. I though the Sony looked just as good as the Samsung F900 curved 4K TV on display. I was impressed by the black levels and dimming. I thought the TV might actually be fully array given what I saw in the store. The X950B was just above the X800B and the picture quality was not any better based on what I saw in Best Buy. Attached is a photo from my iPhone 4 which has a crappy camera which shows the black levels. I have not seen the X800B in a dark room setting, so I don't know if any light bleed or clouding would have been seen, but the black levels looked really good in the store. I was impressed enough with the TV that I though about getting it as a 2nd display for a bedroom. I think the silver bezel gives the TV a cool industrial design. I don't like that the TV is not 3D capable as I have a fair amount of 3D blurays.
This XBR-800B site or 4K.Hi all,
Have had the 50W800B for a week now, enough time to do some tweaking with the extensive user settings (previously owned the Sony KD34XBR960 and know of the importance of proper black and picture levels and with settings provided by others, had calibrated and then slightly tweaked my own in the service menu as well). Used a THX optimizer as the basis for initial eyeballing before the fine tweaking for cable, DVD, DVD-R and VHS with individual 3D settings for each as well. So after all that, can simply say.....
This is just a great set! The HD picture is simply stunning and I'm having the time of my life watching it.
Do not have bluray but the up conversion for DVD is fantastic. Know how vibrant bluray is, have seen it, but DVDs come alive with this model. Great color and most of all there is increased resolution in small objects, with no harshness on the edges or inside details. It is more than I ever expected I would get, especially because of what I read regarding the need for bluray compared to DVD on screens above 40 inches because the bigger the screen the more apparent the reduced resolution becomes.
I love to collect movies and my collection covers those from the silent era to now. Obviously could not afford to buy them all so the majority were recorded onto DVD-R from HD stations like Turner Classic Movies, HBO, Showtime, etc. using a Panasonic recorder with flexible recording with the 1080i signal obviously down converted to 480i fed into the Panny via S-video. Of course, these discs cannot be compared to regular DVDs and thus I use the "custom" mode for this and the "standard" for regular DVDs so to get precision tweaking for each format. The up conversion for these surprised me as well. I was afraid going from a 34 inch CRT to a 50 inch LCD would bring out more of the limitations of my recorded DVD-Rs but that did not happen. Compared to the original source, the recording is between a 7.5 and 8.0 out of ten, which is quite acceptable for forty cents a movie LOL.
Still have some old VHS tapes, mostly silent films that are not available on DVD or have not been broadcast on TCM. This is where one can see how well the up conversion process works. Yes, it still lags far behind the picture quality of HD but it isn't bad at all.
Now about the 3D. Since do not have bluray and have not used any of the apps or cable pay per view, can only go by the simulated 3D. Have experienced store demonstrations so familiar with the eye popping effects coming at you that true 3D provides. Also read reviews on websites which said the 3D was not that good. Was advised by Crutchfield that the simulated affects would appear from the screen going away from the viewer, like when looking out a window, not coming at you as it is with true 3D.
Well, the simulated 3D is a lot better than what I expected. It actually makes the picture appear quite natural with depth, as if one is indeed looking through a window. Yes, the picture is a slightly bit darker because it is active, however, the resolution remains superb. Though not 3D in the way intended by the producers or technicians, this is more than adequate for my purposes, since 3D was not primary reason for purchasing the set.
Finally, my thoughts about the "Soap Opera Effect". I actually like it. Watching old films makes people and objects from the past appear real life, which is is like going through memory lane or a time machine from before one was born. Even with the silent movies. Makes an emotional connection between the past and the present. Don't mind it for modern day movies at all. Combined with the simulated 3D it is actually quite a treat.
On the negative side, one notices a loss of color and contrast as the viewing angle expands and I read this might be more dramatic than on some other sets, however, because it is common with all LCDs, this is something one cannot escape from either regardless of the extent.
The remote could be better, though this should not warrant any second thoughts about purchasing the set. The direction buttons are encircled too closely by others which causes one to press the incorrect button way too often. Also, there are no direct buttons for picture settings, picture size or twin view. Instead, this requires multiple steps which is a hassle. Fortunately, I saved the remote from my KD34XBR960 which had all those direct buttons and it works with this set.
So as one can see, I am so very happy with my new toy and for $799 think it was a steal. Do know that after a while my wife and I will get used to it and the euphoria we feel at the moment will settle down.
Try YoutubeHello All,
I am having a go trying to watch some UHD content today for the first time. Using Amazon Prime UHD Content selection and I selected a demo type program and launched. The video quality only appears to me to be HD quality and not UHD. I have tried all Display modes that I could see without any improvement.. I have an 18MB Internet connection which I thought would be adequate. What am I missing here? Thanks!
Would you mind expanding on this a bit? Is it in fact as simple as they describe to D/L the 4K content from YouTube. Which format do you use to save the content? Do you then drag it to your thumb drive? What is the typical file size and what is the size of your thumb drive? I believe these files can be huge!I use the "4K Video Downloader" app to download 4K content from YouTube. You can read more about it and download it at 4kdownload.com. Once I have downloaded a video, I put it on a USB thumb drive and plug it into the USB port on the TV. I use the Media Player app on the TV to open the thumb drive and view the video.