Official 2010 Sony ...HX701 Owners Calibration thread - Page 6

Best Buy Website $2430

It sure is heavy.

This set is not Kuro black. It is not Panny black as it is on a g or v out of box. It is not even samsung black.

The rating on this set is already that black is not very good. And its visable even under spotlights in the store next to the other sets. I saw it in Magnolia are in my BB last eve. Which isnt that bright in there.

I am looking to replace a G panny 54 inch. I was not inpressed in the least with this set.

I am mulling over a 55 or 60 EX 500 or 700. Decent but I want to be wowed this time. May wait till later in the year and see what pans out.

The hx700 has the same backlight and panel as the ex500 series but also has the filtered glass so it'll be blacker be default. The ex700 series (which I saw side by side with the ex500) wasn't as dark at the top and bottom of the screen as the ex500 and had a lower contrast. And I did set them to the same scene settings to compare. The guys at the Sony store even let me turn off the stores lights to compare the sets. Wait to the opticontrast panels later this year if the hx700 isn't dark enough.

My V5100 gets blacker than a V or G panny- it get's below .006-7 ftl/L.
The Z/XBR series gets lower than that.

Of course if the backlight is jacked up to maximum, those numbers all go out the window because of the lack of per pixel lighting.

What site reviewed the set? Somewhere in Europe?

The reason this set is better is the filter. I said it gets Kuro black with some ambient light with the filter. Never did I claim that a ccfl backlit set can compete with a 9G kuro in minimum luminance.

Calibrated, in a dimly lit room, on axis, this set can compete with an xbr8, handily.

Sony is probably the leader with black level on their ccfl sets. They're ahead of Sharp, Panasonic, LG, and at least equal to Samsung, but Sammy's processing can't compete.

I'm all for a C750 sammy versus HX701 comparision.

I apologize i did confuse the model numbers when looking at reviews.

The V series does not measure better than although very close to The V G S panny plasma pre rise black, It has slightly lower than the best LED local dim sammy and xbr8 sony according to cnet.

Now with that said There is a chance I had a bad angle due to the HX being on the high spot in magnolia though I felt the tv was tilted down enough. I can easily believe that It wasnt tilted enough for me to get a good look at the black level.

I have a 52v5100 on a wall in the next room and when my pannyg10 was new it beat the v5100.

Anyone noticed the sound too low through HDMI?

There's some clouding at the top and bottom, but nothing too big. I'm pleased with the HX700.

I've noticed this with my EX700. I wonder if they have the same/similar components in them. I have to remember to turn the volume way down before switching to my Xbox 360 (connected via component cables) or the sound nearly deafens me.

I wonder if this is an issue with other lines like the EX500 or NX700

a short quick note here:

i saw my first movie on the 55HX701 today: a non-bluray, dvd "Chungking Express" brought here to the US by Tarantino. this is certainly not the obvious choice to test out a brand new tv (and a new Sony 307 bluray player, btw), but, my netflix blurays did not arrive on Sat as promised!! bummer.

i wanted a good experience of a meaningful, well made film experience as my first movie on this tv, not just some whiz bang demo-quality film that has little meaning to me and is, to me not well made.

quick thoughts: blacks are plenty black. like the tv a lot so far via HD cable and Planet Earth from BBC (dvd, not bluray version). will have more to say, obviously, when my 2 blurays from netflix arrive tomorrow, monday.

I would also like some info regarding this comparsion? Anyone Have aything to share?

Thanks in advance

Here's some of my observations after 1 week:
- Picture looks great. Blacks are not as good as my Samsung 8500, but it's better than the SXRD. Colors are quite "natural" (which I like) compared to the Samsung. I noticed that it doesn't emphasize the colors like the SXRD did (this is in Standard mode).
- It's slow to start up the internet widgets and the volume control which is annoying sometimes.
- Design is nice, glare is as expected for a full sheet of glass.
- The Deep Black screen cuts down on the whites, but it's not too bad.
- One thing that annoys me (being picky) is that the XMB is shown in 480 resolution which really makes the letters/symbols blurry. Just an OCD note!

NO....sorry if you took it that way. I have a 101FD and was going to compare. Hence, being the judge of that.

My initial impressions are:
It is a beautiful set. I would even say more beautiful than my 101FD. The single pane and near invisible bezel in darkness just makes it damn sexy. I have to read how to turn off the Sony emblem (figured it out), but I have only watched it for an couple hours. The stand with it's brushed aluminum finish is gorgeous. But, I love brushed aluminum, so I am sure some would prefer a straight black stand. The movement of the standard is excellent and makes it easy to position TV for viewing and to get behind it.

Menu is very intuitive especially if you have a PS3. It is identical. For the internet/widgets/streaming, I did not try any of them out as I use my Xbox 360 for all my streaming needs Netflix, videos, music, pictures, etc. But, I might fool around when I find some time just to see how good they are.

Remote is scarce and missing a lot of essential buttons. I was hoping for a better and more advanced remote. I will have to purchase a Harmony remote for this TV now. The one odd thing I noticed is the Sony remote causes my iHome to change stations when I use the volume. That's right, I raise the volume on the TV and my iHome Alarm clock turns on with the radio screaming. It took me a half an hour to figure out why my alarm clock was doing this. I seriously thought it was a damn ghost the first couple of times.

Sound is not good at all. Heck my wife was complaining, and she never complains about stuff like that. Normally, Sony doesn't fail on sound, but to keep the clean front, they had to put the speakers somewhere. Personally, I would rather have the clean front and poor sound. This is what a receiver is for.

Picture is very uniform with no visible flash lighting or clouding. Probably one of the best CCFL pictures I have seen out of the box. Definitely impressed. Standard mode was very natural. For HD material, the TV is very, very good. I need to play with the settings more to see how good I can make it. Shadow detail and blacks were good, but I don't know if they are as good as the new Samsung LCDs. Definitely, not as good as the LED LCDs (both edge and back lit). They aren't close to the my Kuro, but I will pass final judgment after a proper calibration, but I have my doubts.

Standard definition with my AT&T U-verse, didn't impress me. Lots of macro blocking that isn't apparent on my Kuro and wasn't present on my XBR1. I have yet to use the game mode, but I hope to give her a play through with COD: MW2 when I get home. In the end, I am extremely impressed, but I don't know if this TV can dethrone an equivalent Samsung as being the best CCFL LCD out there.

Well my 55HX701 will be here tomorrow. I have not received my shipping e-mail from Sony and when I called they think it didn't leave the warehouse. I called the shipper and they were able to look me up by my town and first name. Very impressed so far with DB Shenker. So my final order post is that my card was charged on 3/23 and it will be here 3/30 thats from west to east coast. Not bad.

Can't wait to start posting some calibration info.

It never was easy to interpret on a message board

There's a new in box HX-701 for sale on ebay. Use search and type in Sony 55" lcd tv. It's below the middle of the single page.

I did some more viewing last night and with Blu-ray and upconverting DVDs, it is a very good picture. I was shocked on how good the settings are out of the box. I am more impressed the more I view it.

However, I did notice slight clouding in right corner.

My HX701 will be here tomorrow via big rig If you any of you know the roads in Maine this time of year you will understand my concern. (shake rattle and roll) It will be a second party carrier doing the drop off.

Whole process took less than 2 weeks, so no complaints there.

I will post my out of the box thoughts(assuming it is in one peice) Then after a little burn in and setting changes I will post a more in-depth review.

Fingers crossed!!!!!

Thanks to all on this forum for bringing the Sony exchange to my attention. I would not have known otherwise. Again this Forum proves to be an indespensable tool in all aspects of audio/video.

Thank you,
Brian

I second that Brian. Just got the 701 now. Box was wet and dented I opened it and plugged it in before he left all seems well at least on power up/ start screen.

What is the difference from the NX700 & HX701 ?

NX700 is edge-lit LED, built in WiFi, 120hz...
HX700 is CCFL LCD, WiFi ready, 240hz...

Just got my HX701 today, around 3:30pm (mtn). Delivery was smooth, checked over the panel thoroughly, then plugged it in to make sure it worked right out of the box - which it did. Signed off for it. Very simple and painless process, from Sony to DB Schenker. Kudos to both of them.

The box it came in was pristine, along with the set inside of it. It was packed very well with styrofoam on each corner shoulder, and a middle breaker. I'll post back here in a couple of days with my intial impressions after running it through some paces with games, Blu-ray discs, and satellite DirecTV.

Pretty busy at the moment, otherwise I would have gone bonkers with it.

Sadly, I will only be able to do a visual inspection. I have to meet the truck at the end of my road(private dirt road) the truck cannot make it down here.

HX701 just arrived: First impressions...It's brigh,t even on home mode...but HD looks great(still needs tweaking)...SD not as good as SXRD at least not yet. Off angle veiwing is not bad at all IMO(black level most noticed change in off angle). Glare is there in dark scenes, for ovious reasons, but not as distracting overall as I thought it might be. The blacks are very nice, one would not be dissapointed.

The edges of text as on news ticker, or static text seem to be a little jagged, but should be able to smooth those out with some adjustment.

Overall very pleased so far with PQ. Will post more in-depth review games, blu-ray, etc. after some adjustment and burn-in.

Audio:
I have no lag in audio through HDMI to my Denon 1910. Voice matches perfectly with motionflow on any setting, high, medium, or off. Stock speakers are week, buy good enough for casual veiwing, news etc.

PQ:
Seems the picture has softend after about 15 hours of running(could just be me) also some content is jittery/laggy while others are fluid with motionflow on high. I will attribute that to source. Blu-ray is awesome, very fluid and true to life color and picture in Cinima mode with a few changes.

Netflix:
First you will need a sonystyle.com account if you dont allready, as you get routed through Sony first with a code, before going to NF with another code. Load time isnt bad, not as fast as PC, PS3, XBox but not bad. PQ with NF is not good full screen, but a zoom out/in option is available which helps.

Network/DLNA:
So far, while in XMB I can acces my network media drive for music and pics, however it does not see any of my movie titles(lack of media player).

PS3/XBox 360:

My son will be giving me his opinions soon.

Hi,
I read this forum and didn't believe it until I called Sony for myself. I told them how I had already had my video block replaced, and wanted to see what offers they had for me. Here they are:

KDL52EX701 $550.00 + local sales tax
KDL55HX701 $550.00* + local sales tax
KDL46NX700 $160.00 + local sales tax
KDL46Z5100 $50.00 + local sales tax

I was told I had 1 week to make a decision. It took 1 minute, I chose the HX701. I sent my serial number to SONY using priority mail on a Friday and they confirmed it was received Tuesday. I received an email stating 2 weeks and then I would be contacted for delivery. It was 1 week to the day, and I got a call at 7:50 am stating delivery for that day between 1 and 5pm. I didn't get a call until they were at my house, but not big deal.

I opened my tv and was amazed at how heavy it was. 2-3 people needed. I had just purchased a 52" Sony Bravia with the Bravia 9 engine in it from Best Buy. It is my understanding that the HX701 is just the 2010 model of the Bravia 9 I bought in February. I am extremely pleased with my tvs. I now have a 52" bravia, a 55" Bravia, and my SXRD 60" that looks awesome still.

So I'm guessing they DID NOTHING for your SXRD, as in "swap" it?
Wow! Congratulations!

Did you get an email stating that the TV had shipped? I'm still waiting on that email. I live in San Diego, I'm looking forward to getting my TV.

I received my HX701 today by surprise. This was a replacement for my 60" SXRD. It was a surprise because I wasn't expecting it to arrive so soon:

19 March Received replacement offer
19 March Selected HX701
22 March Serial number received by Sony
25 March Sony acknowledges receipt of serial number
30 March E-mail received stating TV has shipped
31 March TV received without any further warning

The box was a bit mangled but fortunately the TV survived. I installed the stand and hefted it onto a table -- couldn't wait so I did this by myself. After the quick setup process, I went right for Dark Knight on Blu-ray. In a word: Awesome. The picture is so fluid, yet very sharp with beautiful colors. At first glance, I'm not sure how you could improve on it with calibration though I'll probably try at some point.


I also connected it to my LAN -- sucks that the wireless adapter is an optional accessory so I had to hard-wire it. It was interesting that the web app selections were a little different from my Sony Blu-ray player. For example, CBS is available on the TV and not on the Blu-ray player. I was pleased to see Netflix was on the TV -- something I thought might not be there since this was primarily a Canadian model.

Still no word from Sony on my replacement

19 March Received replacement offer
19 March Selected HX701
24 March Serial number received by Sony (Priority mail notification)
26 March call Sony and was informed that they had not received my Serial Sticker. I gave them the tracker number and they respond that the Serial Sticker has not been processed by the mail room.
30 March called Sony again. Again they stated that the status was unchanged since my 03/26 call. It was still waiting processing from the mail room personnel.

It seems that Sony staffers in the Ft. Myers mail room are being over worked, if they have difficult updating a open ticket found in there system.
I am hoping that my HX701 is actually on it's way as I type, and that Sony simply has a legacy manual IT system.

My 701 came on Tuesday and upon quick inspection it was good. I'll be wall mounting it where my 52 XBR4 now resides. My LAN cable is behind the XBR4 so I'll be hard wired in.

Question for members that have it already hooked up: Does the sleep timer have a button on the remote to activate it? I don't understand why they wouldn't put one there. My XBR4 remote has it but my Z5100 didn't. It's just a pain to have to access the menu to turn on the sleep timer every night.

Thanks and enjoy the new set!

[quote=mactarkus;18413

The box was a bit mangled but fortunately the TV survived. I installed the stand and hefted it onto a table -- couldn't wait so I did this by myself. After the quick setup process, I went right for Dark Knight on Blu-ray. In a word: Awesome. The picture is so fluid, yet very sharp with beautiful colors. At first glance, I'm not sure how you could improve on it with calibration though I'll probably try at some point.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, I also will probably get the unit calibrated. But as you said it is very good as is.

My box was also a bit mangled, and WET..but all is well.

I got an email stating it would ship and in about 2 weeks I'd hear from them. Delivery company called me one week later to the date. Mailed S/N sticker on Friday and 11 days later, had new TV.....AWESOME!!!!

Anyone have any luck tracking down discrete infrared codes? My Harmony One is nearly useless now.