The Official Sony 2006 KDS-(XX)A2000 [NO PRICE TALK] SXRD Owner's Thread - Page 104

that depends on what it was being fed ... could be the content had issues. Problems can show up anywhere in the chain from camera lens to the TV, so you need to know what you were seeing ...

Optical block replacement. LCoS panels have low yields. This was known before products ever shipped. Using an analog silicon backplane was supposed to increase yields, and maybe it did. But obviously not high enough so that everyone can get a trouble-free set when you consider the number of OB replacements on the XBR1's. Just be glad that Sony doesn't seem to be putting up a fight about doing these OB swaps (like they did at first).

I really feel sorry for guys like Maximum360 who had to suffer though replacement after replacement and was never able to get one without issues. I think that is about as bad an experience you are going to have. But if you go into the purchase knowing this, and tolerant of a possible repair in the future, your chances of ending up a TV you can love are actually quite good.

This SSE stuff is truly mystifying to me. I cannot see it no matter what I do and I have been looking at my 50" SXRD for more than 7 months now. It doesn't make any difference how close I sit, I still don't see it. I see the green stain, but I don't see any silk screen effect.

I agree with skeeball. I am willing to get the OB replaced in the future if I have a problem.

What I am really nervous about is if I will have the problem out of the box. I don't care if it comes on in 6 months or later.

I guess this is because if I have it out of the box, I have many options (return, exchange, repair) rather than just one (getting a repair) if it comes on after the return period. I hate making decisions like that.

I just hope I don't have an experience like the guy in the tweak thread that said his whole set was greenish and that the delivery man had it upside down on the truck.. yikes.

We'll find out Saturday if I got a lemon or not!

Given the ups and downs of this thread, we are now at a low point. It is about time for somebody to post some good news (i.e. Calibrated side by side comparison of XBR1 and A2000, misterjensen's green blob disappearing, etc....)

Has anybody received their 55" sets yet? If so, what is the build date?

I am hoping if I order it after the sonystyle date of August 16th, that I may get an August build date and hopefully reduce the likeliness of having problems.

Thanks Skeeball. Of coarse thats correct. I was just getting ornery over all the green blob talk. While several may have some color issues the vast majority do not so far. I hope this will continue.

I was just pandering to the people, hoping to cement my place as legend like you promised. I think we are all hopeful. Well, except the trolls, of course.

WELL SAID!!! Its a known fact that the SXRD produces vibrant colors that while look very awesome to consumers, arent technically perfectly accurate.

Set and stand and room looks great. Post more pics if you can.

Long-time lurker, first time poster.

For the 55", I've noticed at least one major online AV retailer change their status from "Pre-order" to "In Stock" since yesterday.

I fully intend to purchase the 55" A2000 in the coming months, regardless of the limited chicken little-esque early reaction. I very much appreciate all the impressions and photos especially.

I'd also like to second the nomination for more Xbox 360-in-action photos Also, for those with the system, what are your personal impressions of 720p vs 1080i with the 360 on the set? (I've read AVBill's already)

I guess ignorance is bliss as far as you're concerned. Whatever floats your boat.

I'd rather spend my money on quality products than be short-changed on defective or downgraded items. If the A2000 is it, fine. If it's another competitor's product, fine. I'm not so nearsighted that once I purchase something (or if I'm set on purchasing something) I can't be open-minded and accept objective criticism of that item. The set has some good and some bad qualities. The purpose of the owners thread is to discuss things like this and if possible find ways to circumvent questionable design decisions or problems to give owners the best picture possible. It is also useful to discuss the good qualities as well.

Blanket statements like yours help no one.

The end.

Boy are you right!!! How can one judge any item in life without some sort of test material? None of us "stare" at test patterns, but they sure give one an insight into the quality and nature of the television...be it good or bad.

Can someone help me on this?

Through CABLE (no cable box, straight from coax) I cannot get this TV to keep the setting to display in Widescreen. This is a HD signal that are in HD displays of 720 and 1080. I change the settings in the Menu, but when I switch back from DirecTV to Cable the display is in 4:3 instead of 16:9. Is this normal? Thanks

I called Sony last night. They told me that 9 blinks indicate over heating. But I told them I have proper airflow and the room temperature is 79 degree. They think it is a problem with the power unit. Another problem that I have is that every time I turn on the TV, I get Initial Setup screen. Sony tech said that indicate the the power is lost while the TV is off. They ask me to schedule a service with a local service center. I live in New Hampshire. The closest service center is 60 miles away in Vermont. I called the service center. They told me that Sony is not good in paying the milages and asked me to ask Sony to initiate the service. Called Sony again. After long discussion, they told to get back to me in 72 hours. The TV is less than a week old. Should I ask Abt for a replacement?

randomcreek,
use RG-6 to send your component signals and you can go up to 300 ft, I think.
100ft easy
nw

Yes, Why wait for Sony and then wait again for service, and most likly will take a week or more! Call ABT for a replacement..........That is what I would do!

I have the green blob and hue on my KDS-R60Xbr1. I usually never buy extended warranties, but I did this time. Long story short: Doofus service techs came out and turned the color down to almost whitewash and said "Hey that looks pretty good". Called CC ,even though it's past 30 days they are going to replace it, because of extended warranty. They are willing to even exchange my set with the KDS-60A2000. Is this a good swap? I know the A2000 doesn't have pip or a cable slot. What about PQ? I paid 3500 for the R60xbr1, what is the price diff? Should I ask to wait for the Xbr2? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Wait for the XBR2 and pay the difference!

If you can afford it, the XBR2 would probably be the better alternative. MSRP is likely to be $4500 though, so take that into consideration as well.

Audio, how long is the wait on the XBR2?

That's far from an obvious interpretation either. How much visual difference this ultimately amounts to is hard to guage at this point in time anyway. It's not really a big concern of mine. I just think some people put a little too much thought into developing complex theories about this change.

Basically, you're just making conclusions to make yourself feel better about the V1.0 DRC in the A2000. There has also never been a non XBR SXRD either. You argue they should have continued to use V2.0 on a SXRD why would they change? I argue that they have never used V2.0 on a non-XBR product. Maybe they consider it a strong differentiator for XRB vs. non-XBR.

Some people would rather develop an elaborate plot that states V2.0 is flawed than that this is just further differentiation on Sony's part for the A2000 line and XBR2 line.

That's easy. My "test material" for this television is the actual content I intend to view on it. And so far, I can report that my A2000 set passes the following "tests":
1. NFL football in HD
2. Other HD television programming
3. SD television
4. DVD movies upconverted to 1080i

I have not yet run my game console and HTPC test patterns, but I will report those results once I have.

Synthetic test patterns have their place, to be sure. I'm fascinated by how much has already been learned about the set's internal processing just by analyzing synthetic test patterns. But whatever shortcomings have been found don't bother me at all, because the actual stuff I watch looks perfect to me. Synthetic test patterns are also useful to objectively compare different sets, even if I personally think the personal subjective comparison is all that should matter for making a purchasing decision. The things that kept me from buying a DLP based set were the video noise, and motion artifacts in actual content on all the sets I looked at. I don't know if those things can be picked up by test patterns.

the PS3 will support 1080p over component cables, but the A2000 will not.

Yes. For instance, when I am watching the evening news on the local HD channel (cable), the picture is in 4:3. If I stretch it out, when I switch to another station and return, the picture is in 4:3. When I stretch the picture on the same station's analog channel, the picture stays stretched when switching among stations.

I suspect that this is to prevent you from accidently watching a 16:9 transmission in one of those disproportionately stretched formats.

Yesterday I went into my local Sonystyle store and they had the 60A2000 set up where the 60XBR1 used to be. The XBR1 was previously hooked up to the prototype Sony bluray player. I have gone into sonystyle numerious times and watched the XBR1 on their bluray demo. Ive watched the Kill bill demo of stand def vs hi def numerous times, as well as the Spiderman 2 train scene which is mind blowing.

In short the A2000 looked better. Where I saw the most noticable difference was on the menu screen. The white lines we're clearer around each menu button. The sony employee who I've been dealing with for the past couple weeks said he saw a difference on all the scenes. We watched the spiderman 2 demo and the colors poped out just as much as the XBR1, for example on spidermans suit. I really couldnt see much of a difference during the train scean, but its is a pretty fast moving scene. The sony guy was postive he saw a little bit of a difference, but I couldnt tell. Im pretty sure some of you guys who are very critical and know what to look for better then I do, might of been able to see something.

I also saw a little bit of difference during the trailers when the blue text came up. "beyond high definition" ect ect. This was only when I got closer to the TV though. Nontheless if the menu screen and lettering looks better, its an indication that the A2000 must be a little bit better then the XBR1 when recieving 1080p signals. I also bet the Sony bluray player is a lot better of then Samsungs player, even though its a prototype.

So in short I think the 1080p HDMI ports offer it an adge over the XBR1. It may not right now, but in the future when 1080p comes more common with things like PS3 it will.

I really dont agree with this whole "pop" thing. The A2000 seems to pop just as much as the XBR1. Ive seen the TVs pretty much side by side two times in Tweeter and Circuit City. Once was on the Hawaii video and the other time it was just on DirecTV's HD. And they looked exactly the same. Ive never seen a SD comparison when there side by side though, only at 1080i. I think its pretty possible that the difference your seeing is because of the settings on each TV. Even if there both useing the exact same settings, I would think it would be possible to mess around with the A2000 tell it did pop like the XBR1. Like I said though I never saw a differnece.

Did you think about getting an A2000 for just a week or so to see if you would be satisfied? You've only had it for about two weeks right? Youd be able to return it before the 30 days still.

I wonder what the stores do with all these returned sets?

Tim,

Good news that you are reporting, but I found that post very hard to read. You may want to run the spell check next time, No offense.

Does anybody have a picture of the 55" a2000 on the official sony stand? I would like to see how it compares to the 60" on the stand.

Thanks.

O*tp*st.com

I don't agree with this 'pop' thing either - in fact, both sets have too much out-of-the-box as they're both greatly exaggerating reds and greens from what I've seen. Using Custom mode and making sure all of the 'enhancements' are disabled helps some in the A2000's case, but more work is still needed to bring it closer to where it should be (most likely service menu changes will be needed to do this). I'll be calibrating my coworker's set very soon now - he should be up to around 100 hours on his set sometime this weekend, which is the magic number I was waiting for before calibrating it. I still may not have my spectroradiometer back from Gretag Macbeth at that time though (I sent it back to them last week for a yearly recertification of its accuracy; I'm not actually aware of it having any problems), so this may end up waiting until the weekend after that for me to get around to it...