The Official Sony 2006 KDS-(XX)A2000 [NO PRICE TALK] SXRD Owner's Thread - Page 4

You're missing the point of the new thread; try reading the post again...
1. Post your answers in the other thread
2. Only post locations of in-store displays (where people can actually walk in and see the A2000's)

I doubt any of the store actually have these on the floor yet, though i do remember someone saying it would be on display at a CC near them on 7/19.

But i can't find that post now.

dlm

my plan also, but i have to wait for 55 inch set.......that makes me less concerned about drc-gate issues....scalers/etc will keep getting better and upgrading a vp30 seems easier than upgrading an hdtv

congrats and let us know how the combo performs for you

Reading WHAT post again? The one I responded to?

Sorry you got offended that I didn't use your new thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the question I answered. Last time I checked, SonyStyle.com was not an in-store viewing location.

lets all get along, it was a mis-understanding.

Westa, you have consistently "knocked" the SXRD's SD performance. I've commented on that before; but will do so again.

Of course SD looks better on your Sharp. It also looks better on my small flat panel LCD Samsung. But, even the most expensive outboard video processor can't take a SD signal and make it look as good on any 60" screen as it will look on a "decent" small screen.

The SXRD is capable of good SD processing if fed a reasonably good signal. It won't look great if fed a "crappy" analog cable signal; but what should we expect. Feed it 480i out of a good DVD player; and you see what it is capable of doing.

As I've previously said, my current ISF'ed 60" SXRD provides as good or better picture from D*'s SD channels as my previous ISF'ed Mitsubishi 55" CRT RPTV did when supported by a Lumagen processor for upconverting 480i to 1080i. Both of the sets were tweaked by professionals to to ensure optimal SD viewing. If I wasn't satisfied with the SXRD's upconversion, I would have continued to use the Lumagen. I know you did not have your set long and maybe you just didn't have it properly set up for SD.

Opinions obviously vary; but I've read almost all of the posts on this and other threads regarding the SXRD, and most people are pleased with the SXRD's handling of SD. I agree with most of your posts; but on this subject I can't agree that "SD is it's weak point". Unless of course that is relative to HD vice relative to other sets.

Have you tried the Lumagen on the SXRD? Might be interesting to see the difference.

Have I missed results, or has no one tried it yet? As well, the have we heard any answers yet to the whole DRC issue (Well, maybe it's not an issue, but I can't spell debaucle. See, I told you I couldn't spell it. :-))

I'm sitting here, wondering whether to flip the switch on ordering yet, or wait for XBR2. I don't mind waiting.

FYI - Crutchfield now shows the 60 in stock. I really want the 55, why do we have to wait... argh

So you are saying you think his old Mitsubishi CRT was bob deinterlacing?

I followed along with the entire old thread and the DRC-MF version dramas. Have you guys priced good external scaler/deinterlacers? Quality VPs only became affordable in the last 6-8 months. And when I say affordable, I mean .5x - 1x the cost of the A2000. And a year or two ago pixel-based motion adaptive cost what? Probably 5k+?

Gary did a good job of educating buyers on what they should be looking for. I think the way he presented his results as pass/fail caused people to freak out unnecessarily, but given the magazine format constraints and time it would have taken to do a detailed chart, it is understandable. Did any of you read the second article? Were you able to pick out the differences in the photos without staring at the area highlighted in the box? Could you do it on a moving picture from 8 feet away?

I'm not saying you shouldn't look for a quality deinterlacer in your new (moderately) expensive TV. But some people in the old thread wanted to get together a class action lawsuit. People that probably couldn't tell bobbing from blending if you put a gun to their head. Which you shouldn't, because violence won't get your content deinterlaced properly.

So what is my long and rambling point? Sony has been taking care of it's customers... well, ok it's XBR customers... even when it wasn't cheap to do it. And this isn't an XBR set. But it accepts it's native resolution so if you don't like the deinterlacing it does... well then you can do something about it.

While that's a good idea, unfortunately the HD-Tivos (which is currently the only D* HD DVR available) will not allow you to output via component while the HDMI output is hooked up. So for normal TV viewing you'd actually have to unhook the HDMI cable from the HD-Tivo each time you wanted to watch SD material. I think the composite/S-Video outputs will activate when you select "Record to VCR" so you might be able to watch everything SD via that mechanic, but you couldn't watch live TV via that method. May be an option if you absolutely hate the compromised SD settings, but frankly I didn't feel the '05 SXRD's SD viewing was that bad.

Now if you're referring to the "coming some day" MPEG4 D* HD DVR, then you might have a shot depending on its design...

I'd suggest just optimizing the D* HDMI input for HD & live with slightly worse SD on those few shows you'll still want to watch in 480i after experiencing HD, but YMMV depending on your viewing habits.

Enjoy...

Whoa! I'm sorry if you took it weird, but I'm not offended. I thought you were responding to the previous post.

Wow, thanks DaMavs! You clearly read the owners manual too....Yeah I just realized that the S video only activates when doing save to tape (at least that's what it says). If the difference I can create with custom settings is DRAMATIC then maybe its worth the time to yank the hdmi cable out of the back of the player, but I doubt that the difference will end up being that great. At least I can upgrade to the new DVR in the fall that will be MPEG4 compatible.....If i didn't try to keep up with technology i'd having nothing to do! Thanks again for your reply.

Westa6969,

I suspect fade23's request is more related to testing the lag at 480i for older gaming systems. You are correct that only a moron with an HDTV would actually play the 360 at 480i for any extended period of time. However, knowing how the set lags at 480i is a valid test for older video game systems (GameCube, PS2, etc.). The Xbox 360 suffices for testing out lag at 480i, even if that is not the resolution anyone would actually play it at. That's what's nice about the 360 for testing purposes. It can output at 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i. I have asked others to run similar tests in the past.

Did you measure this on your own A2000, or did you calculate it based of pictures? I'm only asking because it looks like it would be smaller than 8.25 inches. Thanks for your help!

Thank you for your test Mr. Foo.

Can anyone else help Mr. Foo out here (i.e. walk him through a 1080i test with the equipment he has)? It sounds like my 360 suggestion test was inconclusive. Are there any nice test patterns on any HD-DVD discs he could use?

Thanks Mr. Foo, that's a very good sign. Hopefully this weekend you'll have a few minutes to actually enjoy your new set in between all that testing.

Exactly. I wasn't sure if he had a PS2 to test with or not, so I was presenting an option to use what we know he did have in order to test for gaming lag with 480i sources.

I'm glad you responded before I did AVBill, cause mine would have been a lot less nice.

Heh. No, I wrote that before I realized what sort of set he had. Still, if the A2000 looks better than a native 1080i unit, that leads one to believe that it ISN'T throwing away resolution.

Valid question, but how many people do you think are actually replacing their 2005 SXRD with a A2000?

Sorry! Yeah, I did probably take it wrong. Must've been too sensitive this morning...

I also got 8.25" from base to the bottom of the actual screen.

I've sent him an HD DVD iso with the relevent test patterns. I layed out a step by step procedure here; that's geared towards using a PC to output, but all the steps are the same once you have a test pattern outputting at 1080i fron an HD DVD unit.

Rhythm games like DDR or its variants are ideal, but I'm not sure if there are any of those out on the 360

Good test games=
- Geometry wars (fast furious fun)
- Fighting games (as long as you are well-versed in the game - try to do reversals).
- Sniping games and game modes (try going for zoomed in head shots with the Jackel in a Perfect Dark Zero match with a number of bots that are running around).
- The lock picking in Oblivion might be good if you know the trick of how to do it (the locking mechanism rises slower and the there is a high-pitched "plink" at the moment the mechanism reaches the top).
- Dancing Games (none for the 360 yet).
- MBL 2K6 (the swing I think)

As with anything, the way to notice the lag is to be able to do an A/B comparison. If it is something with narrow timings you remember being able to do in game previously, but you are having trouble doing it on the a2000, then lag is the likely culprit. I can't comment too much on sports games, but I think table tennis is a bit too slow.

Awesome! Thanks fade23!

Mr Foo, the 1080i test is (IMO) still the top priority. We already have some data in another thread the suggests the a2000 should be adequate in the game lag arena (since the XBR1 seems to be OK), but we welcome any opinions you have on the matter.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...=684899&page=1

Goggled A2000 found. FotoConnection has a Sony KDS-55A2000 55" SXRD Rear Projection Television. Availability: In Stock. Is this possible?