Official Sony 40",46" XBR2, XBR3 - Owner's Thread - Page 93

I have a quick and easy question

What setting or settings control the auto brightness adjustment? While watching a movie with dark scenes that move quickly to brighter scenes, it is very obvious that the set adjusts for them. When the scenes go back and forth it gets rather annoying watching it adjust over and over.

Is there a way to normalize this or just have it off?

cheers!
-sean

Ah-HA! I hadn't thought of that. Pretty clever of them... so maybe our friends who want a discreet Vid 9 input could set up a similar macro? I'm sure it's not ideal, but I guess that's the silver lining in the delay between inputs-- I've never noticed that the remote is doing that. Thanks for the info.

holmzee

Does this TV handle SD any better or worse than other 1080p LCD sets?

Turn backlight to "OFF"

say what?


I forgot I had power saving set to minimum. When I turned that off, the brightness adjustments seemed to go all but away. In severe scene changes (from the completely dark room in Saw to when they flip the lights on) the adjustment is still there but not as obvious.

My post was clear as a whistle.

cheezz

Yeah, my bad.

Turning the backlight completely off seems like a terrible solution but I will give it a try.

thanks.

I believe this happens when a 4:3 aspect ratio is zoomed to be displayed 16:9.
When I did this, I could sometimes see the yard lines curving slightly in the corners of the screen.

All,
I need some advice here. I just purchased a 46XBR2 and had to hook up the set via component cables (DirecTV HD/DVR receiver) for a couple of days until purchasing an HDMI cable. Hooking up the set via HDMI last night actually seemed to result in a slightly worse picture to my surprise. I was using Petmic's settings and was hoping for a noticeable step up in picture quality! Could it be the quality of the HDMI cable I purchased ($30 Philips cable). Suggestions as to what I could be missing would be appreciated. I'm pretty new at this so wouldn't be surprised if i'm missing something. Thanks.

BB finally delivered my 40xbr2 today Time to join on in the convo!

After the first round of inspection, here are some observations:

-1 dead pixel
-2 stuck pixel (green/red)
*note that I had to use a dead pixel program to find those (and looking at the screen less than a feet away), would've never seen them without it.
-mild clouding issue only at the lower left of screen, hard to tell unless its completely dark environment and watching a dark color movie. (October build)

Haven't messed with any settings yet, but it still looks amazing.

So now for the questions:
1. Are those 3 things I listed acceptable? Or are those problems big enough that would I be better off with another unit? Personally it's a real hassle to move the unit around (apartment), but since I bought it at BB (during the price error) I still have a little less than a month to return/exchange.

2. For owners with PC's connected: DVI/HDMI or VGA? I've read that VGA looks better in some cases but isn't pure digital better than digital-analog-digital?

3. For owners that had major clouding backlight, did the problem fix itself (for the most part) with time?

4. For owners that have a Digital Cable HD reciever (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3250HD), is DVI/HDMI better to use than component? I ask this because I don't know any shows that broadcast in 1080p, since everything is going to be shown in 1080i anyway, will using DVI cables make a difference?

5. For anyone: Anyone know of a software that shows all the current playing movies on TV (kinda like the "movies->playing now/next" guide feature in Windows Media Center) My cable box has a basic guide, but I really liked the movie playing feature in Media Center.

6. Also, for 4:3 programs, is there a way to make the side bars black instead of gray? Anyone know if this a setting for the TV or the cable box?

Thanks

I have component cables hooked to video input port 5 and DVI to HDMI hooked to video port 8; both sets are of excellent quality. I can't tell the difference in video between the two ports. I have the SA 3250HD cable box and the KDL-52XBR3 TV. I do not have any clouding issues with this set, regardless of settings.

seando, do you have the light sensor on?

Some initial observations from my first evening:

Quality of TV is too good for Standard Def TV ... It is very hard to watch.
Broadcast content is way behind the technology of this TV. There is a big difference in the quality of HD broadcasts as well.

Dish Sat. installed - make sure to have an HDMI to HDMI cable - they do not supply with HD receiver, and the difference between the old technology and HDMI is huge.

Have ordered OPPO DV981HD DVD (Waiting for the big boys to sort out their player wars). Player is not supported in the Sony Brochure for programming the TV remote to operate a DVD player. Will post if I find a solution. Also, OPPO supplies an HDMI cable with their player.

Belkin PF-30 Power Console fits perfectly between bottom of XBR screen and table top (TV on its pedistal). Also the finishes are identical.

Despite using the custom settings posted in this Forum, I find the settings to be more channel dependent. I have flipped between custom and default settings on different channels with varying results.

Why Sony packages an RGB cable with the TV and no HDMI cable is mind numbing. The TV has three HDMI inputs and one RGB. Additionally, Sony is part of the HDMI consortium.

I use component from my SA HD DVR to my 46 XBR3 because I do not have to deal with the handshake when I change the channel and I think the quality is just as good IMHO.

You should judge by your eyes not what someone tells you should look better.

If you want to pursue it you might check if you are getting upconversion from your STB via HDMI. If you follow the default setup on the SA DVR you get everything upscaled to 1080i with HDMI and pass through on component. This also means DRC2 can be invoked on all channels if upconverted to 1080i via HDMI which may or may change the appearance of the picture comparing to component.

enjoy!

SD looks fine on my 46xbr2 in 4:3 with DRC off. The black velvet bezel is a much better choice for the silver stock bezel.

Anyone found any November/December/January XBR2s w/o clouding issues?

just got mine two days ago, December build with NO CLOUDS. Got it from CC

I agree. I've done a lot of side by side comparisions. The xbr2/3 black levels are superior when compared to all plasma TVs' and other LCD panels including the Sharp Aquos. There is nothing on the market that I would consider trading this TV for that is under 60".

Question: Does anybody on this forum have any suggestions on what could enhance the SD - custom teaking or connectivity suggestions?? Please post any hints. PB



==================================

Hmm, the Sony XBR2/3 is very nice but I would disagree. I've seen Plasmas do black better. And I'm not big Sharp fan either.

Am I wrong??
Does this LCD really jump ahead of Pio and Panny Plasmas for black levels??.

Nope. I turned that on once and noticed that it never changed, despite the amount of light in the room.

Oddly enough, when I applied petmic's settings, the bright/dark adjusting the set was doing magically stopped.

If I get some spare time, I will go setting by setting and see what did the trick.

welcome aboard! I will try and answer your q's the best I can



while that (the pixels) is within warranty spec, it does suck..huh? As far as the stuck pixels go, give this a try:

http://www.psp-vault.com/Article168.psp

That is a quicktime movie. If you prefer to not have to load quicktime for this, there are static image solutions you can use...for example:

http://blog.gwax.com/2006/01/03/unst...ck-lcd-pixels/


A friend also used this:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail...l/1131367970/1

And said it did the trick where the above image method did not (he hates quicktime so that was not an option for him).


Per the dead pixel, if you can only notice is when your nose is against the screen, and it does not affect your tv enjoyment at all..dont worry about it. Besides, you will be hard pressed to get sony to warranty that. BB will take the set back (at least I was told by a bb rep that you can return for ANY reason though...your call.



I have tried both and prefer vga. It could be my pc (or vid card) but the overall experience was more enjoyable in vga. I only game with my pc when attaching it to the tv. Not really much help here on this topic, sorry! (I have a standalone dvd player that plays any/all formats so my need for a pc to watch anything has long since vanished.)



I had mild clouding as well on my 40xbr2. I left all the settings default with how sony shipped the set, I put a channel on (sd cable) in full/wide mode so it took the entire screen up, I muted the tv, and just let it sit for a full day.

The clouds in the bottom left were gone completely and the ones in the upper right were reduced to one tiny spot. That spot has all but gone away since I got the set a month ago. I can only notice it when I want to (stare at it long enough to make my blood bubble..hehe)



Do you mean you want to install new software on your television to show you a programming guide that you can nav through, hover over a chan, and upon selecting it, go to that chan?

If you were watching through a tv tuner card I would suggest ati's catalyst solution.

Am I not understanding you correctly?


Grey? It sounds like your settings are way to bright. Jack the backlight down a bit and bring down the brightness. The default settings should be producing a black box in 4:3 though...I remember my set came with the backlight at max, but I do not remember grey sidebars....odd.

Is this a 46'' or 40''??

40in

guys, take a look at this It should help out a lot of you.
hdmi 360

thanks for the post!

I wish they mentioned if it was Definitly going to include the HD drive or not internal.

and if it would be hd game disk compatible.



Guys, I am fenagling taxes right now and money, I might be able to pull the trigger soon!

Even though hmdi and bigger hd are included the rumor floating around is that this will NOT include the hd-dvd drive.

Well, If I use VGA, it won't let me change much picture settings. I plan on using the XBox HD-DVD drive to watch HD movies, so I need to be able to mess with the picture settings. My question is: By using DVI->HDMI, do I get the same picture setting options as component input?


After getting my tv yesterday, I left it on pretty much all day and the clouding is almost all gone already. While I can still see some at a input with no signal, I can't see it at all when movie end credits are showing.


Before I got the XBR, I was watching cable via tv-card with windows media center. Now that I got a HDTV, and digital/HD cable, I have no use for the tv card. However, I would still like to use the features of the media center (such as the currently playing movies option) because I have over 100 channels, and the guide on my cable box shows over 700, so going through the entire guide to see what movies are playing would take a bit of time.



This was a issue with my cable box (was only inputting at 1080i). Now I changed it so everything passes through the box and my tv does all the decoding.

Overall, I'm very satisfied, regardless of the mild clouding/stuck pixels. With using petmic's calibration settings, this set is just amazing (Discovery/HBO/Showtime in HD anyone?).

First place to start would be to make sure you are not using any stretch modes

I too think Plasma blacks are "better" than the XBR levels. Although the XBR2/3 black levels are VERY good for an LCD, a good Plasma will still easily trounce it. We have a Samsung HP-S5053 downstairs which is about a mid-range plasma and the black levels are EASILY superior to my 40xbr2. However, I still prefer the xbr because I can use my PC and not worry about burn in

I agree the black levels on the XBR are fantastic and LCD has come a long
way in this regard but they are still not comparable to say some of the Pioneers
that I have seen.

Although, a friend of mine has the same Samsung you have and he commented
on how good my black levels were on my 46xbr2.