Official Sony KDL-V26/32/40XBR1 Bravia LCD Thread

Dfluid wow , your setting are almost dead on for me,, I have the

sharpness at 14 and the colour ar 46

I used the Avia Disc for the the calibration.

Excellent idea. Anybody been into the service menu yet??>?? how can I get there?

hehe time to bookmark this thread for when I grab one of these babies. Still undecided between the 32 and the 40.

I'll put in these settings and take pictures compared to the Sharp. btw is this for DVD? STB? or OTA? Each will have different settings.

Good questions. I have my DirecTV STB (LG) outputting at native res hooked up via its DVI out (converter cable) to the HDMI in on the Sony 32" XBR. I'm wondering how different the settings would be on HDMI in vs. component?

Good thread to start. I hope it des not get
HiJacked by sharp and panny owners.

jl

Kind of off-topic, but I've read several of your review threads and it got me curious. Do you plan on keeping both sets or what's the deal? Just curious as to which way you personally lean.

THanks for all your great work.

It's already starting. Now, all we need is OLDCBAND to chime in with his RIDICULOUS rationalizations for buying his Sharp at Costco!

Try these settings to see if you like it:

Backlight (whatever you want, i'm in a bright room: 8)
Picture: 90
Brightness: 45
Color: 41
Hue: G2
Color Temp: Neutral
Sharpness: 50
NR: Off
Black Corrector: High
Constrast: off
Gamma: off
Clear White: High
Live Color: High
Color Space: Wide

Looks pretty good to me.

Please make sure to post what the input is (DVD player, cable, etc. ) AND the cabling used as well (HDMI or component).

If its the settings for your DVD input I'd be curious to know if you're using an upconverter player and what resolution its pushing.

Bump

DFul4d, thanks for posting those settings! You saved me so much work. bluesxtreme, yours are pretty good too. DFul4d's take some getting used to, as they are you know, videofile quality, not homer-vivid, but the extra shadow detail, and great skin tones are worth it. I just bumped the backlight to 3 as we watch lots of cartoons. :-)

DFul4d
I am also using this set mainly on OTA and Xbox. Can you tell me which antenna is good? And, did you change any of your settings? Thanks

Hi bluesxtreme, when you take the pictures I was wondering if you could perhaps increase the shutter speed on your digital camera settings or just freeze the image on the screens, that way the images wouldn't be so blurry. Since the monitors are outputting light increasing shutter speed shouldn't really be an issue in making the photos darker, and almost all digital cameras have an option for changing the shutter speed, or at least an option for action shots. Thanks!

Good Thread. Looking forward to hearing from more people. Haven't played around with too many changes, yet. Figured I'd have to do it all over when I got my HDMI cable.

Currently: SA8300HD ~ component ~ V32XBR1

I'm using the Channel Master CM3021 coupled with the Channel Master preamp 7775. This is a killer combo as I can pull all LA's digital channels from where I am which is about 70 miles from the towers. With the built-in ATSC tuner, I haven't got any breakups yet. I have to say that the built-in tuner is even better than my stand-alone Zenith HD tuner. The only thing missing about the built-in tuner is it doesn't have the strength meter, not that I need it as the signals are always at full strength, day or nite.

Thanks for your help.

Does anyone has their best setting for Video games? I am using S-video only for Xbox and the vivid setting is too bright, the standard setting is too dark. Thanks

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try when I get home today.

I have had the 32" for about a month, mostly for use with broadcast HD and SD via the cablecard, and I just got around to hooking up a DVD player for calibration. (This is a bedroom set for me.) This is the first non-CRT I've had to calibrate, and I happily cracked open my new copy of DVE. (Had been using the old original VE with my CRT RPTV.) While DVE teases you into thinking that it will give you some help with non-CRT displays, it seems only to talk about CRT and various digital PROJECTORS, not flat panels. I am kind of stumped about where to start with a set like this, which throws the concept of backlighting into the mix as well as all these contract and brightness enhancement settings. I am constitutionally averse to using such things (I associate them with things like flesh tone correcters or SVM on CRTs), but maybe that's just not the right approach with an LCD. Any tips about a strategy for calibrating the Bravia would be appreciated.

Would also appreciate tips about calibrating the cable broadcasts. Do you have to find a station that is broadcasting a PLUGE to get this done. On my old CRT, I knew (by trial and error) the differences in settings between cable, DVD, and laser and could tweak as I went.

Not to venture too far OT, but I just purchased the KDL-V40XBR1; should I have purchased the service plan? Anyone experiencing dead pixels or any other problems I should be looking for when I hook it up for the first time?

Thanks,
Newbie

i'm looking to buy one of these LCDs online, if I do run in to trouble with it, would it be easy to buy another at a local bestbuy or circuitcity then just switch to do a return? Or do they check the serial and everything?

I've returned 2 TVs to Best Buy. I returned a 26" Sony LCD. The woman checked to see if I had everything (remote control, TV, Manuals). But, she didn't check the serial number. So, you could possibly switch the TVs.

I also returned a 26" Samsung CRT HDTV, which they didn't check at all. I just handed over my receipt, and left the TV on a shopping cart. The guy refunded my credit card, and I left.

I payed for both TVs with a credit card. Maybe they check the serial number later. And if there is a problem, they will contact you.

Hey there,
Can anyone recommend an ideal upconverting DVD player for one of these LCD tv's? Is it best via 720p or 1080i? Any models that folks have had success with?

Thanks!
-Ed