Official Sony XBR8 Series Owner's Thread - Page 2

Originally Posted by irkuck

Vangorkomm, as a Founding Father of this thread I would like to express my warmest thanks for your's being the First owner report.

What is especially joyous is that your report is a class on its own, one almost feels participating in the unpacking and first-powering of the set. The unfolding drama of the bezel scratches is turning deep emotions: How on earth Sony could allow this happening, for such an expensive set? Where this set is made? In any case, if we would have Posting of the Year competition in this forum I would vote for your report, congratulations.

This thread could be a full unscratched joy if moderator could remove posts #2-#7 which were sent by some not-so-brave-hearts insisting on holocausting it. As one can see now, the ready and expecting thread has born magnificent virgin fruit, more then fulfilling the aim of its conception. Let us thus hope this is only the beginning of a flow of reports and lively discussion.

Originally Posted by vangorkomm

More pics of the scratches. I need to get some better pics than these, they don't quite do it justice. I've tried wiping it off with a rag, as I also thought maybe they were just some bad smudges from the styrofoam or something, but it's all mostly engrained in the bezel. My first thought was that they sent me a floor model. Sucky.

Top of Bezel
More of the Top
Top Right, Major Scratch
Closeup of Strange Striations
Small white nick in bezel
Upper Right Corner Scratch

Sony said they'd get back to me in 48 hours. I bought the TV through the Sony Family Center, so unfortunately their only customer support is an email address.

Good times!

Originally Posted by irkuck

Man of some honor would not post here after giving unshameful&unequivocal support in #7 to those who were ploting to bomb this thread.

Originally Posted by TVbc

LOL

borat ? is that you ?


TVbc

Originally Posted by Orta

Is that Sony's Friends and Family program where you buy at employee discount? Based on the pics, it looks like they're probably trying to peddle the second quality units through that channel. Was the discount substantial?

Originally Posted by smartwater

Vangorkomm, do you have any pictures of the outside side of box that shows what features the 46XBR8 has (i.e., 120mhz logo, Bravia engine 2 pro, etc)?
Thanks.

Originally Posted by mfarris214

I just returned my XBR6 and will have my XBR8 tomorrow! The most expensive TV I ever bought! How many people here actually own this tv? From what I can tell only one of you do. Thoughts so far?

Originally Posted by wtfer

Please post pictures of the set when you get it like there is no tomorrow, especially pictures in complete dark with the flash off showing off the black level.

Originally Posted by irkuck

Vangorkomm, thanks again - your postings are jewels of this thread. Since you seem still to be the only person on Earth to have the XBR8 at home, here are some critical opinions from the 'first impressions' thread, guys who just watched in shops:

1. When playing Blu-Ray and there's a fast paced action scene and you have the 120Hz motion set to "smooth", the image gets a bit "blocky".

2. I fully expected the XBR8 to exceed the "wow factor" of the XBR4/5 plus have deeper blacks. While it delivers on the black levels, it otherwise offers nothing exceptional over the XBR4/5. The biggest surprise: these eyes saw significant motion smearing similar to the XBR4/5.

3. The biggest surprise: these eyes saw significant motion smearing similar to the XBR4/5. I believe this is the same thing i've experienced yesterday as well when i was playing the Casino Royale Blu-Ray movie settings. Not really sure if there's a fix for this or not but i was told there's no firmware upgrade for this or any other Sony units they've had in the past. Only way around this is to turn off or switch to another mode in the 120Hz setting. Otherwise it tends to get annoying after a while.

What do you think about this?

Originally Posted by vangorkomm

Ok, quick update. Sorry I don't have any more photos to post, but wanted to answer a few questions.

First, due to the damage to my set, Sony is refunding all my money and picking up the set later this week. I am ordering a replacement set tomorrow. So far, great customer service.

Second, this set is pretty amazing. The main reason I bought it was for one thing: impressive black levels. And it delivers. Blacks are exactly the same as if the set was off, if not darker if that's possible. I couldn't ask for better results at all.

I'm really torn on the Motion Enhancer. I have yet to find a use, and most of the time I find it annoying. The three settings are Smooth, Standard and Clear, and while I see minor differences, I still don't see a good use. So far I prefer just about everything turned OFF on this set.

Gaming looks and acts amazing on this set. The PS3 really shines, games look and respond perfectly. BluRay movies are absolutely breathtaking. I've watched The Bank Job, Ratatouille, Cars and 300. The contrast, vivid colors and black level are the best I've seen on any LCD set.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions! Here's answers to a few of yours:

Jerryinva: I don't remember all of the settings on my previous TV, but the ones I don't remember include MPEG Noise Reduction, LED Dynamic Control, Auto Light Limiter, and Motion Enhancer.

Captainpud: I've played a good amount of PS3 on this set over the weekend, and noticed no lag over HDMI, playing the demo of Fracture, NHL '09 and Tiger Woods '09. Sorry, not much FPS play other than Fracture. PS3 looks amazing on this set, especially the new water effects on Tiger Woods '09.

TVbc: The set was shipped by another shipping company, since it was purchased online through the Sony Family Center. They are picking up the set for return later this week.

Mfarris214: Congrats on your purchase! Which one did you get, the 46" or the 55"?

Back to catching up on TiVo....

Originally Posted by irkuck

Vangorkomm, thanks again - your postings are jewels of this thread. Since you seem still to be the only person on Earth to have the XBR8 at home, here are some critical opinions from the 'first impressions' thread, guys who just watched in shops:

1. When playing Blu-Ray and there's a fast paced action scene and you have the 120Hz motion set to "smooth", the image gets a bit "blocky".

2. I fully expected the XBR8 to exceed the "wow factor" of the XBR4/5 plus have deeper blacks. While it delivers on the black levels, it otherwise offers nothing exceptional over the XBR4/5. The biggest surprise: these eyes saw significant motion smearing similar to the XBR4/5.

3. The biggest surprise: these eyes saw significant motion smearing similar to the XBR4/5. I believe this is the same thing i've experienced yesterday as well when i was playing the Casino Royale Blu-Ray movie settings. Not really sure if there's a fix for this or not but i was told there's no firmware upgrade for this or any other Sony units they've had in the past. Only way around this is to turn off or switch to another mode in the 120Hz setting. Otherwise it tends to get annoying after a while.

What do you think about this?

Originally Posted by vangorkomm

Ok, quick update. Sorry I don't have any more photos to post, but wanted to answer a few questions.

First, due to the damage to my set, Sony is refunding all my money and picking up the set later this week. I am ordering a replacement set tomorrow. So far, great customer service.

Second, this set is pretty amazing. The main reason I bought it was for one thing: impressive black levels. And it delivers. Blacks are exactly the same as if the set was off, if not darker if that's possible. I couldn't ask for better results at all.

I'm really torn on the Motion Enhancer. I have yet to find a use, and most of the time I find it annoying. The three settings are Smooth, Standard and Clear, and while I see minor differences, I still don't see a good use. So far I prefer just about everything turned OFF on this set.

Gaming looks and acts amazing on this set. The PS3 really shines, games look and respond perfectly. BluRay movies are absolutely breathtaking. I've watched The Bank Job, Ratatouille, Cars and 300. The contrast, vivid colors and black level are the best I've seen on any LCD set.

Let me know if you have any other specific questions! Here's answers to a few of yours:

Jerryinva: I don't remember all of the settings on my previous TV, but the ones I don't remember include MPEG Noise Reduction, LED Dynamic Control, Auto Light Limiter, and Motion Enhancer.

Captainpud: I've played a good amount of PS3 on this set over the weekend, and noticed no lag over HDMI, playing the demo of Fracture, NHL '09 and Tiger Woods '09. Sorry, not much FPS play other than Fracture. PS3 looks amazing on this set, especially the new water effects on Tiger Woods '09.

TVbc: The set was shipped by another shipping company, since it was purchased online through the Sony Family Center. They are picking up the set for return later this week.

Mfarris214: Congrats on your purchase! Which one did you get, the 46" or the 55"?

Back to catching up on TiVo....

Originally Posted by vangorkomm

I'm not quite as much of an expert as many of you here, but here are my thoughts:

1. When setting this to smooth, I do not get "blocky". I get the strange soap-opera effect from some of the movement, and it feels incredibly unnatural, but I have not experienced blocky on 300, Ratatouille or The Bank Job.

2. Again here I think you may be referring to the strange motion effects that are created when the Motion Enhancer is turned on. I wouldn't call it smearing, as I've experienced smearing on other sets and this is not quite the same, IMHO. From my limited experience with the XBR4/5, I would say this set is impressively above the XBR4 in every way, contrast, color, brightness, blacks, smooth picture, etc. I would say the XBR5 was closer to this set except in overall brightness and blacks. Also, as a previous "floating glass bezel" owner, one advantage is the much improved style of this set over the XBR3/4/5.

3. Same as #2, if the Motion Enhancer bothers you, turn it off. I need to spend a bit more time with the settings to really find the optimal picture, but so far I prefer Motion Enhancer off, and I get a picture that miles better than my 46" XBR3. And again, I've experienced "smearing" on many other less capable LCD sets, and I still would not call what I see with Motion Enhancer on "smearing". It's an odd soap-opera effect that seems to almost layer elements 3-dimensionally like you're watching a live TV show, if that makes any sense.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by vangorkomm


Gaming looks and acts amazing on this set. The PS3 really shines, games look and respond perfectly. BluRay movies are absolutely breathtaking. I've watched The Bank Job, Ratatouille, Cars and 300. The contrast, vivid colors and black level are the best I've seen on any LCD set.

....