The OFFICIAL KD-36XS955 Thread... - Page 7

I'm not here to start a war and I'm just one of those people who want to be better informed.

In my viewpoint, if they mad a 36XBR960, that would be the set I would buy, because the 34" widescreen is too small for my needs. I currently have the 36" XBR250 or something old from 5 years ago.... The size seems to be good. Still I'd have to say I would rather have a 38" widescreen or even a 40" widescreen, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen for the CRT world (in the $2000 range).

Is the 36XS955 my best bet? I don't have an issue with the black bars, I still watch SD, but I also watch HD and DVDs... WHY OH WHY won't sony make a 38" 16:9 XBR TUBE!!!!!!!

CRUNNNCH! My set was late in arriving today. I called the store and found out that the drivers had a mishap. Seems they dropped the corner of another set onto the box in which my set was quietly awaiting delivery. They said there appeared to be only cosmetic damage and offered me a discount. I refused that, and am now confronted with the decision to accept the store display unit (at a small discount) or wait. I have not decided yet, but I am thinking about cancelling the whole thing and ordering anew from sonystyle.com and getting the free stand even though I don't need it.

JamisonBWolsh,
People have tried to point these facts out to you delicately and, now, more pointedly. Personally, I hope that no one reads your review and takes it as a credible analysis of this television. You are clearly biased. It shows through the dozens and dozens of posts you've made and threads you've started.

You are proclaiming yourself as a semi-expert, but I fear the reality is you are just a very enthusiastic hobbyist like many of us (myself included), with little or no expert knowledge of real value. I said earlier that I hope you love your new tv. I mean that sincerely. However, it is not necessary for you to convince the world that you bought THE BEST television currently on the market.

(This paragraph edited. I thought it was too harsh. Sorry)

O.K. This is all getting too heated for comfort. Can we please stop the existing conflict and stick to reporting impressions of the 36xs955 once installed?

Agreed... anyone else want or need a 38" 16:9 tube wega? Or am I alone in this desire....

that thing would be HUGE like 350 lbs. but very nice I bet.

Agreed. To be blunt, I think he is some overzealous kid who has read a little bit, think he learned it all and is now running around spitting out random strung together tidbits he's picked up as knowledge. Unfortunately, he's just misguiding people. I almost spat out my drink in laughter when I seen his "There is practically NO DIFFERENCE!!!" remark. Calibrating a digital display that originally looks average (at best) with analog content does not make a dramatic difference. A small difference is gained in reality. I feel sorry for any newbie who has the misfortune to read any of his posts.

To all....PLAY NICE please or risk post removel or account being removed.

Thank you.

Wow, what the hell's this?

Anyways, I walked into my local retailer today and by complete uknown happenstance, what TV is staring me right in the face 30 seconds later? You bet.

I bought the Zenith c32v37 back in March, and I'm happy with it and I'm probably going to keep it for years to come. But I'll tell ya: You want to talk about a severe upgraditis/I wish I won the lottery right now type feeling that I had.

You all must be blown away with this set. The retailer wanted 2G's for it. I'm assuming that's MSRP? Anyways, too rich for my blood, but...wow.

FWIW, they had this TV showing SD material on a spliiter with God knows how many other TV's. Looked amazing. I can't imagine what HD must look like on this. I'm kind of glad I didn't see it, because then I might have done something rather rash.

That being said, my ultimate dream TV has to be the XBR960. What's the MSRP on that? Academically, I'd love to see these two Sony's side by side and run through their paces for the hell of it. Obviously, I would expect the XBR to better, but by how much? Considering how impressed I was today with the XS, the XBR must just downright be ungodly.

Now...if I do see that pup anytime soon, running DiscHD, please pray that my credit card is already near maxed out or something or...I might do something REALLY rash.

And I'd love a 40 inch 16:9 WEGA tube. I'll just pay a moving company to come bring it and set it up! I'll MAKE room for it!

Funny post!

Dude, you might want to consider getting one of those fresnel lenses they used to sell that were supposed to make small picture tubes look big. I think they sold them in the back pf Parade magazine! (Because of all the bad vibes around here lately, I want to note and emphasize that I am just funnin!)

Anyway, a 40"er would be quite the unit. But it would fit in so few cabinets or require such a substantial stand that the manufacturers probably figure that you'd be a candidate for a CRT-RPTV at that point.

I don't think any CRT RPTV's that I have personally seen yet have come anywhere close to a PQ that the good ol' tubes still do.

I don't need any cabinets or furniture! I'd simply get whatever TV stand Sony would sell with that 40 inch super monster and be on my merry way...nevermind that I'd probably have to bulldoze down a wall or something...

I am very happy with my 955. HD in 720 and 1080 looks incredible, for some reason the local PBS 720p antenna feed looks almost real. I have my DirecTivo hooked up and I am very happy with the picture. I have not calibrated my DVD input with my Avia disk yet but I am happy with the picture right out of the box, Star Wars IV was great... 7 inputs plus cable and antenna are enough selection for me.

I am glad I waited and got the 955,,,seems like an excellent value.

Yeah, I know some people really like the CRT-RPTV's, claiming especially that the ones with "9 inch guns" are really great. But I don't understand what advantages they see in those. To me, the direct CRT display is the safest purchase right now and the '955 is the one I am after--if I can just get one delivered in one piece!

Let me make a plea to all the manufacturers who are still producing Direct-view CRTs. All of us CRT lovers would really love it if you could just produce a tube that was a little bit bigger. We know that Sony feels like they can't make anymore money with a 40 inch 4:3 and Loewe and Thmpson don't feel like they can make anymore money with 38-inch Widescreen. How about a 38-inch last hurrah 4:3 and a 36-inch Widescreen? I gurantee you if you produce at least one model of each variety it will sell and it won't hurt sales of 37-inch Widescreen Plasma or 42-inch Rear Projection LCD, it's only a little bit bigger so it wouldn't be impossible to make or have the problems that the 40 and 38 inch ones had. To paraphrase John Lennon: All we are saying is give Direct-view a chance!

All was fine...until it died.

Watching a program on DirecTV and the picture and sound quit...and it will not come back, turn it on and it flashes a little red light at me 8 times and then nothing.

Sony Service is not open at 8PM on Saturday...looks like Monday will be the start of my adventure with the service route.

It worked OK for a week, about 20 hours.

Do I sound happy?

It Lives!!!!!

Unplugged it from the UPS....it rebooted and now works fine, or so I think.

Should I have a repair scheduled? should I buy the extended warranty?

Digital TV's are like computers? I hope not...even though I just read my software agreement for the Linux software version it uses.

I just placed an order at sonystyle. It is on backorder. I wonder how long it will take? Anyone else on Backorder?

If the set drew too much power from your UPS, it might have caused an undervoltage condition in which case the set would shut itself off. You might want to double check that the UPS is big enough for the set, keeping in mind that there is a pretty good size surge when the beast starts up. Just a guess. You could check this with a multimeter plugged into one of the other AC plugs on the UPS--just take appropriate safety measures when you do so.

It is also possible that the set draws enough current to cause a voltage sag on your circuit. After the set has been running for awhile, turn it off, immediately pull the plug and check the temp of the plug tips. As a rough guide, if it is anything more than slightly warm to the touch, then you may need to beef up your wiring or run another circuit. Consult an electrician if you are the least bit squeamish about messing with this.

I have a New Sony KD-36XS955 and It only has a HDMI Interface to connect pure Digital to a Receiver. I have a Monster DVI to HDMI Cable connecting my receiver to the TV. I see the DVI indicator lit up on my Receiver but No Input on the TV Side. Is there something I should be doing that im missing?

Jason

OK I have been scrolling through these pages reading info and I have to start responding. There is some great info here but no offense there is some incorrect info too. If this has already been addressed in the pages following, I apologize in advance for the redundancy.

Lets start with the above statement.

Some background, NTSC and SD programming carry the same inherent resolution - 480i. In theory and generally in practice, the digital transmission of the image allows for a better product on the receiving end. The resolution is still essentially the same tho.

All of the sets discussed in this thread 34-910 & 960 and both the XS models are ANALOG display devices. Most CRT displays are pure analog devices while some could be termed as quasi-digital. Because of the way a CRT produces its image IMO no CRT could every be described as a fully digital device.

On a side note, the defined HD signal itself does not require that the signal be applied digitally(although any other known way is so bandwidth inefficient that they are borderline impossible) merely that the signal itself contains much more information and therefore creates a more defined(high def) image. There are currently still some very expensive analog CRT projectors that can still trounce the performance of even the most expensive digital display devices. Digital devices generally have a defined reolution, analog devices can have widely varied resolution potential. A hi-def signal can be displayed on either an analog or digital device if its resolution is high enough.

That aside I believe what you were trying to say is that the 960 and both XS models have such high resolution that they tend to more easily expose weaknesses in the relatively low res input signal.

The most logical place to look for the source of problems in displaying SD images on these sets is the interface between the QAM signal and the display output on the set.


I also wanted to address some comments made earlier about poor(or similar performance) of some HD channels off the rf cable feed from the wall made by Adam. Now Adam you later changed your opinion of the hi-def performance. If your cable company is setup the way mine is, with your rf cable connected from the wall, you are not getting any hi-def signals through the cable. The 960 and XS series have built-in OTA hi-def tuners and QAM tuners. OTA works with antenna derived hi-def signals and QAM tuners decode either SD or HD signals transmitted via cable. If you hooked up an antenna and had a hi-def station in your area you could have viewed hi-def without assistance from the cable company. The QAM tuner however will only allow you to view hi-def signals that the cable company is allowing you to view. Having the QAM tuner built in is like having an unauthorized cable abox in your tv. You were likely recieving a SD view of a hi-def channel. You are not gonna get the full high-def signal from the cable company until they authorize it via their own STB. So after receiving the hi-def cable box those channels should have looked much better.

Hope that makes sense.

ss

Your assumption is incorrect. Some cable providers encrypt all of their channels, some just encrypt the 'premium' channels, and some don't encrypt anything at all. I couldn't receive channels like HDNet or HBO through the QAM tuner, but I could receive the local CBS affiliate and, although there wasn't any actual content at the time, a placeholder graphic for a channel that shows nothing but high-definition Braves games. I was absolutely seeing HD material on the CBS affiliate. The difference is blatantly obvious, and SD material wouldn't cause the XS955 to lock into widescreen mode and indicate 1080i input.

I am not assuming anything, merely giving a plausible and possible reason for your description of the HD performance pre and post your STB procurement. Had you listed widescreen and 1080 lock in your first post I wouldnt have mentioned it.

And if your cable provider is passing HD free via the built-in tuner they are different than mine(not a huge suprise.) You cannot receive HD(even from networks) without their Hi-def STB(ostensibly with POS de-encryption) and an additional fee for HD service.

ss

I don't think the performance is really any different between then and now, just my perception of what I was seeing. That was the first time I'd really spent any length of time with a high-def set before. I mistakenly thought that HD was supposed to be crystalline and razor-sharp at any distance, even if I practically had my nose pressed against the screen. I understand now that isn't the case, which makes what I believe was the only negative comment re: HD performance in that initial post moot.

Yea it is going to be hard for even a quality HDTV to have razor sharp resolution up close. A lot of this has to do with light output and beam spot size. A CRT computer monitor for instance typically has about a .25mm beam spot size and much lower light output that a similarly sized direct view tv. IIRC the beam spot size on the fine pitch Sonys is about .68mm vs a more typical .9-1.0mm on most TVs. So even tho the Sonys will look better closer than the average CRT TV it is still not gonna look anywhere near as sharp as, say, a computer monitor.

An interesting note about beam spot size and true picture performance is that you can use beam spot size to calculate the "sweet spot" resolution for a CRT device. Just use the height of the displayed area in mms divided by the lines to be displayed in that area. This will also show you how ridiculous the claims can be for lines drawn in particular area. Even with these fine pitch monitors it is unrealistic to expect 1080 lines to be drawn with a .68mm gun in the available space. Granted the HD signal will carry more info, but if the picture cant be drawn in that space without without image quality destroying line overlap, youre not getting the full affect. And that brings to the fore another disadvantage to the CRT devices, the beam spot size often is applied to widely varying screens when it will perform its best really in a limited screen size range. Another reason I have always favored 540 and 720p to 1080i

True line performance is where digital devices can quickly get a leg up on CRTs. They dont have gun speed to fight against.

ss

Great Thread! I live in Canada and am contemplating getting the 955 since Sony Canada has decided not to carry the 960.

I would like to know if any of you have had any experience trying to connect your PC's video card via the DVI output to either the HDMI or Composite inputs on either the 960 or 955. I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256mb Video Card and I get my HDTV signal via my DVB-S Satellite PC Card. Has anyone done this by just using a cable (DVI>Composite or DVI>HDMI) and had it work right off the bat?

TIA

I haven't seen this tv at the Circuit City or Good Guys. Not showing up on the online sites either...

Will they be carrying this tv?

Russ

ps What happened to your review Jamison?

He opted not to post it in this thread, for some reason. You can find it here.