Official Sony 40",46" XBR2, XBR3 - Owner's Thread - Page 77

thanks to those who answered my question...looks like I won't need to spend money on any filtering or conditioning type adapters

this might have been ask before but i want to know if the xbr 2 supports hdmi1.3 connection. thanks for all the people who contributed to this thread and any other thread for that matter. helps me alot.

I'm planning to buy the KDL-40X2000 (UK equivalent of 40XBR2). I'm already completely sold on the set but I don't know what player to get.

I could get an upscaling DVD player, in which case my choices are Oppo 970HD, Oppo 981HD (not out yet), Denon 2930. I get the impression there are image quality issues with the Oppo players on some TVs. Will this be a problem on the Sony?

Or I could wait for the new Toshiba HD-XE1 (UK equivalent of HD-XA2). Does anyone have any idea what the upscaling is like on this player?

Or would I be better off getting a DVD player that outputs in DVD native resolution over HDMI and using the TV to do the upscaling? What players can do this? How good is the scaler in the TV set?

Obviously I'm tempted to go straight to HD but since I already have a decent collection of movies in SD I could hold out until prices come down and there are more discs available.

If you bought an Extended Warranty for your Sony, where did you buy your coverage from and does it vary much? Does it pay to shop around? I checked with the place I bought my KDL-46XBR3 from (local High-End A/V Store) and they wanted ~$560 for five (5) years and I could purchase anytime up to the 17th month of my 18 month standard XBR3 warranty. I looked on Sony Style and the five year costs ~$320 but starts the day you buy your TV and you have to purchase within 60 days of the date you purchased your TV (which leaves me about a week to decide). I'd like to hear what you all decided on and where you bought if you care to share.

Thanks...

That has been answered redundantly dozens of times. Try searching on "HDMI" (I understand the bad search function here can't search on "1.3", but "HDMI" or "HDMI 1.3" should get you plenty of right matches.)

Neither the XBR2 nor the XBR3 have HDMI 1.3 connections, they are all 1.2.

Your player questions should be asked over in the forums for those:
DVD players (incl. up-converting like Oppo)
HD DVD & Blu-Ray player forums

Two of your qns seem relevant to this forum:

• The Oppo 981 should not have any bad macroblocking problems on the XBR2 since it uses the same Faroujda processor as its predecessor which reportedly doesn't have problems with the XBR2/3. (Even if it did, Oppo does have a return policy if you want to switch down to the 970 which does not use the Faroujda & cannot have that issue.)
  
  
• The XBR2/3's scaler can work okay, but it's reportedly not as good as something like the Oppo 981's Faroujda or better processors in expensive DVD up-verting players, and no upconversion is as good as native 1080 HD DVD or Blu-Ray. I find that even DVD's played by my old DVD player are okay & very watchable, though they certainly don't demostrate the HD potential of the TV and would no doubt look a little nicer with the 981 or an expensive player.

I emailed Sony about this and this was their response:

"Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.

The HDMI version of the KDL-40XBR2 television is 1.3. All the Sony televisions having an HDMI port follows this HDMI version."

Did I just get someone ay Sony that doesn't know what they are talking about?

Just picked up 40" XBR2. I have been reading this thread for some info on the Display Area. I only have this panny connected to Comcast HD DVR and DVD for now. I go switch to Full Pixel and it is greyed out and can not be changed. This is also with the Picture Temp. Cool and Neutral are only available. I am using HDMI from box to panel.

As far as picture mode, which preferable to use for HD. Normal, Full, Wide Zoom, Zoom. I am a little confused. Thx for the help.

The DISPLAY AREA option can be set to "Full Pixel" only for 1080i or 1080p sources. If you're not viewing a HD source, the "Full Pixel" option is not available.

The "Full" setting for the WIDE MODE option displays a HD source in its original size and is probably the setting you're seeking. The "Normal" setting is used for Standard Definition sources to view them in their original size.

Have fun with your new TV!

Is this banding/clounding on a 40XBR2? I took this in the dark from a sharp angel while the TV was on (with no input.)

Hey all. HDTV noob here who just got home from purchasing a 40XBR2. I used this forum heavily to help make up my mind about which screen I wanted. Just wanted to say I appreciate all the tips. I haven't unboxed it yet (it's my first big screen, so I'm going to need some new furniture to hold this thing), so I don't have any feedback on what I think of it. I picked it up at my local Fry's store for $2,249 and I took there extended warranty 5yrs for $289 (to answer a previous poster's question about warranties). This was comparable (if not the exact same price) as Sony's extended warranty, so I went for it.

Thanks all!

Does the XBR2 have HDCP support? Will I be able to use this TV with Vista?

Just got my 46xbr2 setup and have been watching a couple hours - and WOW, what an incredible TV - football was awesome today, sahara was great, and my kids Cars and Ice Age were spectacular. I am a very happy xbr2 owner!

this hdmi 1.3 issues is driving me insane, read a lot of post from different threads and forum and seems to 50% said xbr2 lcd does have it and another 50% swears its not 1.3 but rather 1.2 hdmi. some even chatted with sony rep and got conflicting answers. is there anyway to really find out the truth? i bought a xbr2 last saturday and will pick it up monday but now thinking about cancelling this all together until i got a clear concensus. their manual does not specify what version they're using either. pleaasseee help!!! someone. any advice?

I am not aware of any manufacture that is shipping a hdmi 1.3 compliant set including Sony. Even if the XBRs supported 1.3 I seriously doubt that the LCD panels could display the extended color range that 1.3 allows (I do not know that for a fact so I will let others correct me here.)

If you are worried so much about color range and the XBRs than I'd be more inclinded to wait for LED backlit sets than worring one way or the other about hdmi 1.3.

In my mind, for the current generation of LCDs, hdmi 1.3 is a non-issue as any device that sends 1.3 data will work with an older 1.2 device; and this is what is confusing folks. Yes the Sony set will work with 1.3 devices (all of which are non-existent today) but itself is not a 1.3 device.

As to why this is driving you insane, I can't answer that.

46 XBR2

Have had this set for 3 months and it's been great up until today. Used petmic's cali's when he posted them and they really gave HD some great WOW and SNAP. Just like looking out the picture window. I'm running a DB4 for OTA HD. Nothing can be wrong I wouldn't think with the antenna because the signals are the same. Seems not to have the jump out at you like it did. Kind of fuzzy and not as detailed. Noise reduction seems to be hung up. None of the 4 NR settings does a thing and this should take the haze off of it. That does cause a haze if turned on. Just no sparkle anymore on any of the HD's. 480i looks about the same as 720p &1080i. Vivid and standard now look a little better but custom was fantastic. Don't want to use the torch settings of Vivid. Did a reset, didn't help, still has a haze instead of a sparkle effect. Wonder what the hell happened ? Same on all HD channels. SD almost looks as good. ATSC tuner gone bad ?

The haze is similar to the ones brought on by engaging power saving or light sensor settings, which have always stayed off. Petmic's settings were used to a tee and looked great for a few weeks.

By the way I'm only running cable to the Cable and DB4 OTA/uhf-vhf to the RF connectors -- no components. TV only.

thanks to rsonnens................. it's just i like to future proof as much as possible before buying a $3,000 tv, i thought i was buying a top of the line lcd to start my home theater system but with all the issues i'm reading will probably just wait for the next year offering.will continue to monitor this thread and others.

I hear you loud and clear on not wanting to buy something that's obsolete months from now. I struggled long and hard with that before finally giving over the $3,000 for the 46XBR2.

Truth of the matter is though, this is pretty much the case with high tech gadgets these days, no matter what you do. I think we just have to accept that a year from now there will be something better out there, possibly for equal or less money. But when that happens at least we had a year of enjoyment. And even if you wait and buy then, the same thing will happen, and the same "coming attractions" will loom at that point.

I had the same problem when I purchased the XBOX360 last year. There was talk about PS3 and how great it would be, etc. And now if MS upgrades to HDMI output in the XBOX I will be tempted to think "I should have waitied". But I have had a lot of fun with it over the past year too.

I think this is wicked true in digital cameras these days. A while back I replaced my Canon SLR with a Canon digital SLR and it seemed like every few months before that the megapixels would jump and usher in a whole new price point. But at some point I just jumped in at 12 mega pixels and made a purchase. Will it be replaced by someting better at some point? Sure, but I'd never buy anything if I kept waiting for the final best version.

DVD players have the same problem and have had. At some point progressive was the rage. Then upconverting and 720 and 1080 outputs. Now it's HD-DVD versus BlueRay and HDMI.

CD players, with SACD and DVD audio, etc. Seems they were pretty stable for a while. but I guess that's because there is such a large consumer market for the media that they can't keep changing that as frequently.

And don't even get me started on computers. It's pretty much the chip of the month in that arena, with so many changing standards and capabilities so frequently.

It's time to replace my old receiver and I've been struggling with the same thing there too. I'm looking hard at the Yamaha RX-V2700 which seems like a nice box. But then HDMI 1.3 starts to creep in. And the fact that it doesn't upconvert to 1080p, only 1080i (which is still pretty much state of the art). There's a part of me that wants to wait, and a part of me that knows it really doesn't matter.

Just sharing some thoughts so you know you're not alone. I think we all struggle with the changing landscape in the A/V arena as well as other technical products. But at some point you just have to decide what your criteria are and jump on. Ride the purchase for as long as possible, recognizing that after a while there will be better things available. But if you buy a product that satisfies your core requirements, and can learn to live without have all the shiny bells and whistles every time they are released, it should provide years of value and enjoyment.

Good luck with your decision, no matter what path you take I hope it works out for you.

~bill

Sorry about the late reply,

I would suggest that if you have an extra few hundred dollars, I would pick a power conditioner up. Keep in mind that a power conditioner is like high end cables. A cheap one will always work, but a good one might work better.

Monster power bars use "Clean power" that filters out very low amplitude spikes in voltage (talking about mV). This might help clear up some noise in the screen. But just like high end cables, is there really any EM interferance to protect against? Maybe not, but it will never hurt.

Monster (and other brands) also make better devices that can acually regulate the voltage (a couple of volts) coming out of the wall. This can be handy if you area is subject to brown-outs, or small power surges.

The question of you needing one might just depend of you current situation. for myself, I live in an old house with poor wiring. Before, when I turrned of the vacuum, I saw interferance on my TV. Since hooking up a Monster clean power center there is no more interferance.

Keep in mind too, that an interferance problem can also be caused by other things (like your amp -this is the purpose behind a stage one and stage two power center) or you could have a ground loop problem (different solution required.)

You should always have some sort of surge protection because you don't ever want to have to buy a new TV if lightening hits the city power tranformer down the block.

OhioLfty:

I was not originaly planning on pruchasing the Extented warrenty but I did in the end (mostly becuase I got a much better price on the TV.

Yes it does pay to shop around. The cheapest warrenty I found was directly through Sony. At my local Best Buy it was about $1000 (CAN) for three years. I ended up buying it from Visions for ($600) 3 years, but if I don't make any claims, I get the value as a store credit.

However, If i seen one pixel out, I will be making a phone call.

Hi,

Could someone please link me to petmic10's calibration settings for the XBR2?

Thank you.

Post #152

petmic10 settings

Just placed my order on a 40" XBR2 at the sony site awesome price and got the Warrenty as well. Thanks to everyone out here I have ready every post on the XBR line. Should have it next week and then I will use Petmic's settings.

DAMN that's bad!
post that in the sony uneven backlight thread.

I have a question to owners with Xbox 360's

Does playing 720p games on yoir 1080p screen make the games look jaggier/more jaggies?
I read from someone that 720p content on a 1080p TV will not look as good period as on a 720p set.

I don't see any banding or jaggies on any of the 720P games.. I guess it might depend on how closely you are looking, but on the 46 XBR2, the games a pretty spectacular...

Jay S.

Everyone who has tried them seems to say it a great improvement over some of the other settings. I'm hoping it isn't the 46XBR2 here, but just using the Standard Setting and bringing down the Backlight, Picture, Brightness (just using the "What looks good" method), and Color Temp of Neutral is producing an excellent skin color tone, bright colors, sharp images HD images, etc. I haven't really tried much else.

We did load up a custom setting with Petmic's parameters, and the images seemed ruddy and somewhat dim and/or hazy by comparison. The whites were not white, and in general things seemed flat. Input is Comast 1080i signal from Motorola HS box with DVI-D to HDMI via adapter. I did not try the component side (which I also have hooked up), but will do that as well.

I still do have some of that halo'ing around highly contrasted graphical overlays though (again black letter on white backgrounds or vice-versa).

Actually, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Sharp's upcoming high-end HD-DVD player (shipping in Dec.) are both HDMI 1.3 devices.

Just pulled the trigger and am waiting for delivery. I'm trying to get cables in order. Manual say it comes with a VGA cable (for PC input):
1- Can someone tell me the cable length?
2- Is it HD15 Male on both ends?
3- New to HMDI, Assume I need a HMDI Male to HMDI Male cable to connect to a SA 8300 HD DVR? Neither manual addresses the connector gender.

Apologize if these have been answered, I did try search but feature is lacking.
Thanks.

The HD15 I got with my 46XBR2 is just under 64" from end of connector to end of connector. So I'd say it's a nominal 5' cable.

Yes, 15 pin male on both ends.

You mean HDMI (not HMDI) but that's cool. I am not familiar with that device, but if it supports a HDMI output then yes, you will need a "male to male" HDMI cable. Ends look like this, so "male" is used liberally, almost looks more like a "female" to me. But you won't see much else at most stores. You can see some good close up images at crutchfield(dot)com.

~bill