HDTV Advice - Can Rear Projections Match Sony XBR Tube?  

If the RP TV were 34 inches, probably not. However, when you consider the 40" (4:3) Sony tube weighed close to 300 lbs., this is probably the limit of tube size so you're comparing apples and oranges. As for the PQ of the newest RP's they are starting to approach the quality of the best CRTs, particulary the new 1080p LCOS sets. I could have bought that 40" Sony but I passed and never really considered the smaller ones. To me, the best HD experience is with a large screen and that's not possible with a direct view CRT. If you want CRT type PQ, plasma is your best option, but the new SEDs which should be out later this year, are your best (and probably most expensive) bet. However, they won't be as large as the biggest RP for a while.

stez38,

IMHO, yes RP can produce better PQ then the Sony XBR tube sets, including the two 42" models you are looking at. Yes I know 99% on this forum will not agree with me, and thats ok.

Out of the two models listed I prefer the Sammy over the Sony (btw I have a house full of Sony XBR's, a couple over 20 years old - they still work great!)

The Sony 42" has a very strong red push in dark scenes.........it is much easier to obtain a rock solid grey scale from black to white in the Sammy. Also, it is possible to get a little mis-convergence in the Sony (usually from bad handling-freight damage), which can not happen in the Sammy.

Here is what I see that the Sammy 42" provides that the Sony XRB's falls short on:

No purity issues ever.
No convergence issues ever (a trinitron should not do this; but is can happen)
Extremely solid and even grey scale and colors from rock solid black to pure white, and every thing in-between.
No Red Push in darker scenes - very common with Sony's
No over bleeding of red's in super bright scenes.

Of course each kind of set has it's advantages: If you are looking at a current Sony XBR 16:9 it is 1080i while those two 42" models are 720p.............at that screen size it is almost not an issue; but yes you can see the difference.

Between the 42" Sammy and Sony, like I said I prefer the Sammy..........both sets can produce almost the exact same PQ, with the one major exception that I have come across. If you have the opportunity, to have both sets running side by side, and adjust them to essentially the same PQ, then watch a high quality movie filled with intense dark scenes and shadows..............you will notice the over-bearing red push in the Sony........it is very difficult to get out of the set........the Sammy on the other hand will be producing accurate colors; to me it is a stunning difference. As a result the Sammy is capable of producing a more natural and pleasing picture, for long term watching; because the grey scale is a lot more accurate then the Sony; and it easily shows up that difference in dark scenes.

The advantages to the Sony XBR 34" wide screen are obvious too.........super rock solid reliability............exceptionally wide viewing angle(RPs are not too good here)..........and of course the 1080i vs the 720p.

So the overall question is: what works best for you?

XBR is being clearanced in Best Buy, it just wasn't popular enough I guess, 1900 for a 34" tube vs. 2000 for a 42" projo.

Anyways, no, rear projection cannot match Sony XBR tube in picture quality or reliability (no bulb changes, thing is build like a tank)

The extra few inches, Quite a few inches, along with the lost of around 130 lbs or so on the tv, and lastly the slickness of the tv is also very tempting. If you are going to use the tv for computer at all though, I'd get the two projection sets. Btw, I sent you a pm.

No tv on the market that I have ever seen in a store has even come close to the picture quality that I have on my Sony 40" XBR800. The black levels are second to none and the picture looks like your watching it on a mirror. That was until I saw the 50" SXRD from Sony. The black levels on that in HD looked just as good as my calibrated set. I'm now looking at trading in my 40" crt for a 60"SXRD.

stez38,

Great you are in Dallas....I recommend you go to the Tweeter store on North Central Expressway just north of NorthPark (on the east side of the freeway). They will be able to demo those sets correctly !!!!

Ask them to set all the sets to natural (not the super bright) (both the Sammy and the Sony 42")....they can show you both OTA HD and SAT HD; but typically on opposite sides of the building? (their SAT HD distribution system was having some problems the day I was there; but their OTA was perfect)

The only real problem you may have at that store, is that the Sammy's are on one side of the building and the Sony's are on the other (at least last December it was that way), AND they have two different feed systems to each side of the building. It would be very nice if you could see OTA HD with both sets side by side.

Their Sony RP's are set up with the SXRD in the middle of a 42" and 50" 3LCD RP...........I know everyone loves the SXRD - I don't,,,,,,,,,,,,,I think if you see a HD OTA, with those three sets lined up in a row you will see why, even tho the flanking sets are only 720p.

Just for fun while you are there have them run the full demo loop (hard disk) in the Mit's 1080p 62"; be certain to have them set it to "natural" not "bright"........I think it last about 15 minutes............now that is what good PQ is all about. The Sammy's can do the same thing!

Good Luck

Well macroblocking is one (I call them little squares)..........IMHO you will almost never see them things on LIVE CBS sports OTA that is sent to you as 1080i (your TV would make it 720p, or 1080i or p, etc etc depending on which TV you have)...............You will see those artifacts very often (sometimes a lot) with cable HD (all that heavy duty compression and decoding that has to take place; because they cheat too much on the signal).............so the short answer is.............you can see all kinds of different artifacts, and it is dependent on a zillion variables........the signal, the TV, the compression, the decoding, the speed of the processors, etc etc etc

See if you can find some NASCAR in HD (typically NBC in 1080i source), where they shoot the cars through the chain link fence,,,,,,then you should see all those little squares following all those fast cars, and the TV attempts to reconstruct the picture thru the fence.

I hope that helps....but really you have a loaded question.............I do not directly know of any specific artifacts related specifically to 1080i...............unless it might be a specific TV brand (model) or a particular video source?

I guess you could also say, the a 720p set can do a better job of hiding artifacts then a 1080i or p set, because it does not have to do as much processing or provide as much detail...........but today with the "latest" models this is becoming a non-issue because the TV's processors are becoming so much better.

I swapped my KW-34HD1 for a 50" SXRD a month ago and have no regrets whatsoever. I am realling enjoying the SXRD, especially DVDs and OTA HD programming.

The CRT is pathetically small for a Home Theater. A wide screen panel for immersiveness in HD blows away a CRT Tube. There's a dramatic difference viewing a 60" SXRD vs. a 34" CRT reflective panel - like someone else said - apples and oranges - one will have you saying wow time and again and the other one will give you great color to look at but with 34" = ZERO WOW!

I've owned both and so I'm speaking from personal experience. You want a wide screen HD experience that's better than the Theater - an SXRD or other 1080P displaying native 1080i 1:1 in HD (Sharp) blows away the experience of that monster CRT at 34" puny width and when your watching letterbox your viewing a 27" TV. I donated my Sony 36" monster to a charity last spring and have zero regrets, in fact my 32" Sharp blows away the larger 36" CRT with it's 16:9 mode and now at 45" it's amazing. Sports viewing is a total different experience in 16:9 HD - the 34" cannot give you that WoW experience. CRT wins in one area SD viewing but who cares - why bother with a AV forum to watch SD so go for the GUSTO. :D

The speakers' magnetic fields shouldn't affect the a10.