How's your GWII doing - Page 8

LOL, by going back & finding the posts about the lamp timer I found out that it's the lamp that's causing this. Dahhhh! Well I looks like I'll be putting my new bulb in real soon I guess.

I'll let you all know how many hours that's on the lamp.

Couch, got it. Thank You! having trouble printing it, but will resolve that. (hard to scroll on screen to refer back & forth between commands/sections.

My lamp had 16,473 hours on it!

Concerned about temp right now, while in SM for about 30 min. Temp has moved from a start of 28 degrees to 42!
What would be considered the shutdown/do something about it threshold?

Good to hear that. I have no idea what a max. safe temp would be.

It's been a little while... My magenta streak is still there, and like you I noticed it was gone by putting pressure on the TV in the corner. It's just odd that I don't remember seeing it until I replaced the bulb.

As for the gaming PC, I have a HTPC connected via Component because it stopped working on my DVI port (and I am not the only one that has had this happen). The TV's DVI port works fine for other devices and I tried my HTPC on a friend's TV using the DVI out and it was working. So, somehow the GWII stopped recognizing the DVI signal from my ATI AIW 9800 Pro. Component works fine though, and I only have a tiny bit of overscan at the top of the TV, which I can live with.

BTW, the purple hue at the top left just makes me want to go get a 60" TV. (I have the 50)

FYI

I was in the middle of my twice a year tune up and calibration when I noticed (100% full field Gray Scale) in the lower right corner some inconsistent pink tinged colouring. I suspected that my filter had shifted a little. Since I have had the filter in for almost three years I decided to replace it. OMG!!!! After some minor tweaking to the cuts and drives the PQ is back to that WOW factor I remembered when I first did the filter tweak. The old filter had deformed a bit, but did not look (to the naked eye) any different in color value from the new one I in stalled. The picture told me otherwise! I highly suggest to all of you with +2yrs on your filter to swap it out with a new one. My guess is that the heat generated in the optical engine block may degrade the filter slightly with time.

Thanks a lot niesman for checking-in with this information.

IIRC one of the suppliers only sold filters 2-at-a-time; your post indicates two will be needed in perhaps a shorter time than some might have guessed!

I had asked umr about the value of an upscaling player and got this excellent reply here:


So this is kind of moot question but I will ask anyway: has anyone here had any trouble getting a 720p source to play thru Inputs 5 or 6 (component)?

I recently tried hooking my Sony DVP-S7000 thru my ESI VLS-2000 scaler and was surprised that in 720p mode the Sony didn't like it at all--you can see an image but it's shrunk & torn & noisy i.e. does not appear to be syncing. Tried a number of settings to no avail.

Given umr's comments above I will make myself be happy with 480p mode (looks MUCH BETTER than my other Sony DVD player--the 7000 does BTB and the ESI box has a nifty "Enhance" black mode) but I was surprised to see this.

I suppose I should try my Hughes HTL-HD receiver into a component-in to see if its 720p output works (it's currently connected via DVI).

Any other bad 720p experiences out there, or is my VLS-2000 faulty here?

Just finished reading the post above about upscaling and was wondering if this means I should have the resolution output setting on my Samsung receiver to 480p instead of 720p for my GWII 60"? Or have I misinterpreted the explanation...

My second question is whether others have come across a reputable Toronto/GTA TV calibration service for their GWII. I have the Avia DVD disc but I'm a little overwhelmed about the time it would appear I would need to go through the whole disc to calibrate optimally. I have already applied UMR's SM tweaks...should that be good enough?

Thanks.

I've upgraded my GWII to the 70" XBR2. I'm selling the GWII to a friend of mine, so it will stay in the "family." I really enjoyed the set and was particularly happy that it was well adjusted thanks to UMR's tweak guide.

Robin, I hate to ask, but other than the size diff, what % number would you put on the PQ improvement between the two sets? Don't know if the XBR2 has a built-in receiver, but if so, you could factor that in as well.

Coming up on my GWII's fourth birthday, and I'm still very happy with it (the reason I hate to ask).

Randall:

The XBR2 has two built in OTA tuners, but that wasn't a factor for me. The factors that did push me into upgrading:

- 70" size
- 1080P (display and input via HDMI -- not that I have any 1080P sources right now)
- Much, Much better black levels and shadow detail.
- The 70" has removable speakers (which I ultimately didn't remove)

For bright scenes, both sets look great. But on night scenes, the improvement over the GWII is striking. I believe the XBR2 does a better job with SD even though it's now scaling up to 1080 instead of 720. And of course black is now black again -- not dark gray.

All that being said, I needed the extra 10 inches to get me to buy. The 60" SXRD has been available for over a year and didn't jump on that.

FYI, my GWII was only 3 years old -- I got mine toward the end of the model year.

Whenever I feel the urge for a bigger set, I just move the sofa a little closer to the screen!

As for better blacks, I also find that once "the show starts" I get lost in the entertainment. But I do wish you well with the new set.

My next TV won't be a TV at all, but instead a Pearl or a Ruby with a 2.35:1 setup. The current Holy Grail for home theater displays....

Oh my, oh my Robbin. I haven't even so much as walked into a TV store in 4 years, but now you've got me thinking. Later this month, I'm getting a new HD DVR installed. That'll mean I'll have my old Sony SAT-HD200 hanging around with no TV to output to. Maybe I'll move it and the GWII to the 2nd room, and . . . I am indeed glad for you!

I'm thinking about upgrading to the 60" xbr2.

As far as the 70" model goes. I refuse to pay $7000 for a TV. Besides 70" is too big for my living room.

I can't see how sony can justify an $2700 increase just because the case is 10'' bigger. The case is not the cost of the TV. The guts are & there is no diff between the 60" & 70" inside.

I'm happy to report that I didn't pay $7000. But I agree with your point. Unfortunately, people such as myself who pre-pay and buy a set unseen are probably re-enforcing Sony's pricing strategy. Why charge $7K? Because they can. Before this set my only other alternative was the $14K (lately down to $9K) Qualia 006.

If I had wanted a 60", I would have gone with the A2000 model to save even more money.

I bought my GWII in March 2004. The bulb just now burned out in April 2007. Not bad considering 80% of the TV use was displaying HD content. but still.. I believe this will be the first and last time I replace the bulb in this TV set. I'm hoping OLED panels will have matured and available for purchase in three years (2010).

Will there be OLED in 2010? Sure -- Sony and Toshiba have both announced products for this year and next. Will there be sets in the 50-70" size? If so, they will likely still be expensive. A 70" 1080p Plasma is still $15K in 2007. And Sony's new 70" LCD is $30K.

I'm coming up on the fourth anniversary of my 50XBR800 (July). Have replaced two lamps, each about 18 months apart (about 2500-3000 hours each), so if the pattern continues I'll be due for another (which I have in reserve) at the end of this year.

Had a brief scare a few days ago, which prompts this post. Turned the set on, standby light flashed for 5 seconds or so, and then lamp light flashed -- no picture.

Pulled the lamp and it looked fine. Previous lamp failures had resulted in shattered innards in bulb assembly. Reinserted lamp, turned set on, and picture appeared as usual -- but 4:3 picture was offset noticeably to the right. Removed and reinserted lamp, taking care to seat it firmly, and picture is now shifted just slightly to the left.

Is the correct solution to apply the remaining correction to picture centering through service menu adjustments, or is there a 'trick' to proper lamp seating to achieve accurate center alignment? I do not recall having any centering issues when replacing the first two lamps.

I can't help you with the centering, but I wanted to state that I must be lucky because I went 4+ years and 9440 hours on the original lamp before I replaced it.

It is (AFAIK) still working, but I figured I was due so I bought a replacement.

I too have a KF-50XBR800.

I can't help with the 4:3 thing either. I've only swapoped lamps once & that was at about 14,000 hours & it never died. It was sutting down about once or twice a day or so though.

The dumb this was though I never reset the timer so I have no idea what's on this second lamp.

Wow! I envy you guys. My first lamp only had around 3000 hours. I reset the lamp timer and hoped the early failure was a fluke. Not so. Lamp #2 lasted even less. Replaced it, but neglected to reset the timer. Luckily, I have an employee source at Sony to get the lamp at a dsicount, and ALWAYS keep a lamp in reserve.

Along with the murky blacks, lamp life is one of the few things I'm disappointed in. Otherwise, it's an awesome set.

I have had my GWII for close to 4 years... replaced the bulb twice, but it runs 10 hours most days. Recently I started seeing artifacts in the display at the top edge and bottom edge. My local Sony-authorized repair rep just told me that it's called "road mapping" and the blue LCD is "coming apart". His diagnosis is that the optic assembly needs to be replaced, $800 for the part. I have done a couple searches on this thread and didn't find anyone mention this problem, but I could have missed it. Has this happened to anyone else? I can post pictures tonight if anyone is interested in seeing what the artifacts look like, let me know.

Guy

12807 hours.....and counting....on ORIGINAL lamp!

i've owned my unit for close to 4 years now,
and have been really happy. 720P (or whatever it is)
has been just fine. i always take double takes when
i'm out shopping, or see something in 1080P, and yes
it looks awesome, but i'm quite content w/ my unit.!

the one thing i've really used is the split screen (PIP),
and its nice that each of the windows are resizable.

my wife and i call it the "compromiser"- she can watch
her tivo'd shows on one side, and i can play my 360 on the other,

this TV is gonna have to be dragged out of my family room
for me to depart with it. (hopefully no time soon)- but i do know that
i will be really dissappointed if i cant find something w/ the same PIP features.

i have a few questions, if anyone can offer some feedback.

1. since i've owned my unit, i've never "dusted" it (internally), or
had any type of "maintenance"done to it. is there something that i should do,
maybe to clean it internally? or any other type of maintenance that
i've been ignoring?

2. just curious, are there any newer sony units, or even other
manufactures (plasma, lcd, dlp) that offer the same type of PIP
features as my GWII????

thanks everyone for your feedback on this forum, its cool keeping up
with the latest news/info.

[IMG]hours[/IMG]

Yeah, I would say "leave it the heck alone"!!! It ain't broke, so don't try to fix it!

I have a 60XBR800 for some three years now and while I'm dying to build a 2.35:1 CIH setup w/projector & curved screen, the wife says "no way!" and there's no question that movies & HDTV just look great on it. So I can't complain.

Talk about "no maintenance"--I have only once in 3 years touched the screen--and just a tiny area at that! We live in a dirty, country environment and I dunno how the screen repels dust, but it does.

Guess I run it til it breaks. Wonder where one disposes of a 60"!!!??!!

I sold mine in November and purchased a KDS60A2000. But I must say my old GWII was built like tank. I was very happy with the dependability it's still on the same lamp and I purchased it when it was first released. My friend has it in his living room now and it's still kickin'!

Mine is going strong. The color in this unit is very accurate, plenty of brightness with the ORIGINAL bulb. On some things like HDNet, and football, it "seems" to look like the RPTV's over at Magnolia...I think "Geez, why should I bother buying a new unit?" But then in some scenes (especially the dark scenes, it is relatively poor...crushed blacks / little shadow detail (not as important in a football game). Yea, I am waiting to pull the trigger this early fall...maybe a Sony 70"XBR 3/5 SXRD, or maybe a JVC FP (radical, huh? )

After 4 years and 15,000+ hours, my 60XBR800 is now cycling between power on for 1 minute and switching to standby. From the prior posts I guess that means it's time to replace the bulb.

Does anyone have experience on how long it takes sonystyle to ship a replacement bulb order?

I ordered one a few weeks ago and it only took 3 or 4 days.

My secound bulb I installed not too long ago started doing this every 10 minutes or so just the other day. It lasted only a 1/4 of what the first bulb did. 20,000+

I need to order a new one on Mon.

I put the original back in untill I get a new one. It only resets once or twice a day at the most.

Before I ordered the replacement bulb, I double-checked with Tweeter to see if my 5 year extended warranty covered the bulb but they told me no as I already suspected. They did suggest ordering from www.tweeterpartsearch.com, so that's another source for obtaining a Sony factory replacement XL-2000U bulb.