The Official Kd-34xbr960 Thread - Page 107

Didn't someone earlier in this thread mentioned that an xbr970 was in their store's computer? I hope you are not lieing and this is true, I will be all over it.

The guy offered to order one for me. I was on my way to CC for the 960 purchase, now I'm not sure what to do. Advice?

You would think there would have been an announcement or demo at CES if that were true...

I spoke to a sony rep and he knew nothing about an xbr970 and nothing was i n the computer. He did not seem like he knew a lot about their TVs so take it for what its worth.

yea, sorry.. was talking to myself

I had my xbr960N delivered yesterday. I only spent about 20 minutes with it, however, because of my kid's band concert, etc. Once I did get it hooked up to comcast cable and started looking at the HDTV channels, I was floored. The picture is incredible. I did not spot any obvious convergence issues. I'll know more tonight when I get home from work.

haha , just after i ordered my TV

heres the thing though, i actually called sony, and the N model is 2005's XBR model, a 970, sounds odd to me.. also considering i cant find anything what so ever about a 970 model anywhere on the internet im going to write it off as meh

it would be very odd to have it realeased that soon with no word officially on it before it comes out

Hey guys, I got a quick question. I was curious to know if anybody who has the xbr 960 did you have to take the tv out of the box outside for the set to fit through the door? Or will the box fit through the door? The only reason I'm asking this is because mine is suppose to be here Monday and there's a chance of rain. I sure wouldn't want the delivery guys taking this thing out of the box in the rain. That's why I'm hoping it will fit through the door box and all. Anyone care to shed any light on this? Thanks.

This would make sense to me. Lower the price to try and compete with the flat screens, and add a HDMI input. I hope this rumor is true, and that I will be rewarded for holding out for a cheaper price with the 970 model.

I have a typical 36" front door. The box fit through fine. I think the box is about 30"
in its narrowest dimension.

Good luck. The top lifts off after you remove the white hand hold looking things.

If the box is only 30" deep, then I know it will fit through my door. I know this set is only about 23" deep but my concern was I wasn't sure just how big the box was with all the styrofoam they put on the corners. My door is also 36". But, I have a screen door that sticks out some and with it in the way there is only about 34" of clearance to play with. It should fit. Thanks for the reply.

gurrr

Our set had to be removed from the box. Our doorway measures 32" but you must also allow another 2 or 3 inches for the thickness of the door when it is open to get it through the doorway. I was told by the delivery people they often had to do this for the 960.

It will fit with everything opened fully.

Don't worry, Its cardboard and it does slip by.

Hi guys i need advise once again.

I have a couple more days to return my Sony XBR960(not the "n" model) because of the extended holiday return policy, and i was going to live with..or accepting that i got a May 05' model when promised a new one from inventory in December.

But, last week the tv would not turn on for about 30 minutes and each time i turned it on by remote or by the power button on the buttom of set i got nothing on screen..as if the tv was not even turning on.

(To get it working i had to take out the power cord out of the surge protector and reinsert in. And i also took out the surge protector and re inserted it as well.)

But otherwise since then it's been fine, so now i'm wondering if it was a fluke or not.(btw: it's on a good quality surge protextor with only the cable box on the same line).

Now i have heard that the units built in May 05' had problems, so what should i do here?

Exchance it to be safe or is this a common occurance amoung all XBR960 for everyone?

TIA for any replies back, i need to make my decision probably within 24 hours.

Unplug it from the surge protector. As per SONY manual, this TV is designed to be plugged DIRECTLY into the wall. It has an automatic degaussing screen when you turn it on that draws a lot of power initially, more than most surge protectors allow. This could be causing your problem. Other than that i dont know.

Watch out for that "quality surge protector". It could limit the current the set needs at turn on for proper deguassing. I would plug it directly into the wall since Sony already has its own surge protection or get at least a 1500 VA UPC UNIT.

Just a quick post to gush about the picture on the 960 I just purchased. I am still amazed. I tried the pro settings a lot of people use, but found it all too dark. I know, I know they are reference, yadda yadda. But it still looks too dark. I'm using standard mode and it looks beautiful. I find myself watching Sunrise Earth in HD and drifting away.

Furthermore, I find the 34 inch size very pleasing. I'm sitting about 7 feet away and find it immersive enough. I'm thinking our dedicated home theatre will be getting less use with this little beauty upstairs.

I ordered one of these sets from Best Buy last week using a price match from Circuit City. They had one in stock but the box was torn up, actually the packaging looked like a return, so I had them order one. It is supposed to be here on the 25th. I have spent the last 6-7 weeks looking at TV's and finally decided on the 960 after looking at LCD's, SXRD's, DLP's, Plasmas, etc. I thought for the money this would be the best set for us at this time.

We just moved into a new house 12/1 and I had a semi-dedicated HT room in the basement of my old house with a 65" Mits 65413 RPTV so I am concerned with the huge difference in picture size I will have now. There is no practical way to set up a large screen HT in this house and we will only be here 12-24 months. My plan is to use this set here and either move it to a bedroom of our next house or use it for TV viewing in conjunction with a projector when I get a HT room again.

I'm looking forward to getting this set up this week and enjoying HD again.

I would think a new model number would warrant some changes. Probably a new cabinet design and the removal of the Firewire ports. The tube would come from China instead of the US source. The current model is likely going to be the better deal.

Do you guys think i should exchange this amazing XBR960 for say a top LCD..say Sony'a Bravia ?

It's just so strange to have bought a new tv which ran me $1599 at B.Buy(and i had to haggle the price down from $1899) a month back..and has amazing PQ but now that Sony will be stopping it's CRT lineup forever, i'm beginning to think that maybe a no purchase would have been my best option(i also have a 27" Samsung HDTV, from 3 yrs back).

Don't get me wrong i love it's PQ, but there are very few HD broadcasts from Time Warner Cable in my area.(and no FOX-HD) and after the Super Bowl..while i have the YES network(thankfully) to look forward to, there is little else.

And then i'm reading up on the upcoming SED tv's that will combine the PQ of a CRT with the size/weight of the LCD/Plasma's, and i'm wondering if i should just return this HDTV..maybe for a new pc rig or digital camera or just wait until there are many more HD channels on cable.

And oddly the main reason i bought this HDTV was for 360/PS3 gaming, but i'm wondering if the upconverting of 720p to 1080i brings down the PQ to levels of say a LCD? Because every LCD(or most) are native 720p.

I could easily return this(i believe..easily) for a top 26" or maybe larger LCD for my den for 360(and upcoming PS3) gaming, or i could simply wait for the SED's to arrive and just get the VGA adapter for the 360 and pick up a 19" NEC monitor to use as it's display.

I went for months to come to the decision of the XBR960..and it's amazing in it's PQ but i'm wondering if i jumped the gun here a bit too early.

Your thoughts on what you would do if you were mainly into 360 gaming and how you would approch a HDTV now and for the next few years?

LCD? Plasma? SED? XBR960?

It seems there is no perfect answer here for gaming, because LCD's can't reach 1080i in case there are 360/PS3 games in 1080i(or 1080p-->PS3) and the Sony XBR960 has the best PQ but it's upconverting 720p to 1080i and some have said this downgrades the PQ. Add to that a VGA adapter and you would need a very high end pc monitor to reach 1080i/p as well.

There seems to be no right answer for the perfect HDTV/display for 360/PS3 gaming and HD broadcasts. This really is very frustrating.

(don't get me wrong playing COD2/Condemned/PDZ/King Kong and other 360 games on this HDTV is like pure gaming heaven, but then i'm reading in the official Xbox magazine how upconverting in CRT's downgrades it's PQ and since nearly every option for a HDTV is not the perfect choice..and while the XBR960 is closest thing to HDTV perfection for 360 gaming, i't like i'm sticking with a betamax in the 70's or a great technology that is no longer will be supported/sold. And it's not like i can throw down $1600 every 2 years on a new HDTV so i don't want to regret it if the SED's are all they are said to be two years down the road..for about the same price, all while these will be supported for years to come. It's a very strange time in the HDTV field right now, everything is changing so rapidly and there is still no ideal type of HDTV that is setting a standard)

TIA for any advise.

Hey Philip--
I'm sort of in the same boat as you except I'm agonizing between a 34xbr960 and the 50" SXRD. On the one hand, you hear that this CRT has the best picture quality, but it's on practically obsolete tech and is big and bulky. I kind of have my heart set on the 50" SXRD which, by nearly all accounts, has nearly CRT-like picture quality. I'm probably going to wait until we hear more about what the next gen SXRD's provide in terms of 1080p support, form factor, and price. I don't need to have HDTV right this moment and can wait. The 34xbr960/970 is my backup plan if I don't like what I see where SXRD is going. I don't really care for plasmas and lcd's at this point but if they come down in price, those would be something else I'd look at.

Edit to add:
SED doesn't seem like much of an option economically for another 3-4 years.

interesting read philip

glad your enjoying it

I think you made alot of good points. Its like computers. Every 6 months there is something far better.
But I think you made a good decision in the 960 ( forget the N . My N has too much glare )
You must come to peace with yourself. I sometimes get this way but I don't intend
to go looking at anymore TV's for a few years. Thats my solution.

too much glare... errr? what