Official Sony XBR2 (60" & 70") Owner's Thread - Page 5

I got my set a couple of hours ago. Since I took off from work this morning, I couldn't hang around the house to long to check everything out. One thing that I am concerned with is that just like the A2000 that was exchanged for the 60XBR2, I am getting light green splotches of color on the screen when I am watching b&w dvd movies. It was the first thing I looked for when I hooked everything up and it was there sure as shootin.

Right now, I am viewing dvds on a sony progressive scan player (I have a Toshiba A1 on the way). I have only seen the color splotches on b&w dvd movies. There is no trace of it on OTA HD, nor video games. Has anyone else seen this on b&w dvd movies? It's a big factor for me as my wife and I like film noir and other b&w movies.

It really is apples and oranges. A Wobulated DLP with a 14400 RPM 6 segment color wheel has to switch the mirror many times per frame. Each frame corrosponds to 4 color wheel revolutions x 6 color wheel segments. Thats a lot of switching.

ugh, is this correct? I measured a 60xbr1 and it was a tad under 40" in the middle. I thought they would be the same. My Boltz stand has a maximum of 40" of clearance between the damned bolts on its top!

Could this be a sign of GREEN BLOB?

Please say no!

...cue up Jaws theme

I'm not ready yet to up-grade my 50''SXRD1 but I am very interested in reading any and all feedback on the new models. I never had a "green blob" problem with mine, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new ones are green blob free.
BTW, how is the PQ compared to the SXRD1? Did someone say it's a little brighter?

I am not an expert, but that sounds like an issue with the DVD player. That sounds nothing like the green blob, haze, purple tints, yellow streaks, etc. that have been associated with the defective sets people have owned, it's either there or it isn't.

This problem can definitely be in the broadcast. I have seen similar effects many time on poor B&W movies.

To eliminate such problems you need to turn off the color--turn it down to 0. You will not need to do this normally..but to find out if your set has color non-uniformity you must turn the color down to 0..

You should also play one of the Avia or VDE test disks - looking at flat grey test screens --with the color turned off.

That said, based on you additional comments I predict all color problems with B&W movies will go away when the color is at 0.
Good luck.

KT

Have a question for you folks.
My XBR2 should be coming in 1-2 days now, and since this is my 1st TV, I have no idea how the delivery happens.

I dont think I have Sony's Premiere Delivery, just the basic home delivery. I am expecting a call form the delivery service either today or by tomorrow.

So when they deliver will they like plugin the TV, and check it out before they leave?
I mean how do i make sure that the TV arrived in 1 piece and working condition while they are still there?

Do I not sign the papers (or whatever they make me sign) till I have checked out the TV?

Thanks

Thanks, I'm not crying wolf as far as the green blob thing goes. I've never even seen what those nasty things looks like. My A1 will be here on Thursday so I'll try the b&w movies on it also. Turning down the color on b&w, hmmm.

As I understand it, if you have Sony's standard delivery, the TV gets delivered to your door and that's it.

If DLP has such a fast response time, I am just curious why they are said to have the most video lag when it comes to video games. I was told to stay away from DLP from video games but I have no idea how much the DLP video game issues have been proven.

Rillson you're a good man. Thanks for the coordinates for the inputs.
Belvista

The Samsung threads seem to have plenty of people who love their DLPs for video games. I don't have DLP myself (eye problems with such sets) so I don't know for sure. Certainly there are other things besides the DLP chip itself that could cause issues: quality of the scaler and compression on the input come immediately to mind.

Someone once calculated that a DLP TV refreshed at the PC video card equivalant of 180hz. That's really fast. Ultimately I would think that color wheel speed would be more of limiting factor than the DLP itself.

so how do I make sure the TV isnt all broken and stuff like that, before they make me sign ****...

Like do I make them wait till I open up the packaging, put it where I want, plug it in and check it?

Hi everyone!Can a happy 70 XBR2 owner chime in and tell us if the set is noisy(fan) and if you can use a XBR2 for gaming or watching photos for instance without the screen being marked(on my plasma screen, i can t watch TV because the TV station logo will remain "marked" on the screen even after 15 minutes of viewing only...of course it always disappears after a while but it s still very annoying)

Attached are some pictures of my Dell Precision M65 laptop hooked up to the 70XBR2. The graphics adapter is an "NVIDIA Quatro FX 350M".

I'm a computer programmer. I've been using dual displays at the highest possible resolutions for a long time. I have always been very disappointed with both TV on a PC (TiVo please), and TV's as a monitor which I've always seen as being completely unusable.

Well, I was blown away with Windows on this TV. I can easily read the NYT's web page from 14 feet away. Ok, it's not as crisp as the LCDs sitting 20 inches from my nose, but it's damn good. And I don't need my reading glasses!

The surprising thing was that I couldn't entirely fill the XBR2's display nor get higher than 1280x1024 on it. Here's what I did and found.

The maximum "standalone" resolution of the Dell M65 widescreen laptop is 1680x1050.

I cabled the 70XBR2 from its PC Input (a standard 15 pin VGA connector) to the VGA port on the back of the laptop. I then booted to 1680x1050 resolution, with the external VGA monitor port disabled, to make sure that resolution was set.

As soon as I enabled the external monitor (either by itself or in dual monitor mode) the resolution would drop to 1280x1024 on the laptop (if it was still enabled), and a beautiful but only 1280x1024 (sic) screen would be displayed on the Sony.

When I unplugged the XBR2 from the VGA port the laptop would immediately revert to the original 1680x1050 resolution!!!

I monkeyed around with various settings, rebooting, etc. for about 30-40 minutes. Whenever the XBR2 was connected 1280x1024 ("True Color 32 bit, 60 Hertz") was the maximum resolution/mode available. When it was disconnected the laptop was back to 1680x1050. Windows recognized the external monitor as a "Sony TV". The XBR2 always saw the resolution as 1280x1024 (it displays it on the setup menus).

The XBR2 has a different set of setup menus when you have selected the PC Input (Video 9). None of these settings effect resolution. There are 3 "Wide Modes" available: Normal, Full1, and Full2. NONE of these entirely FILL the XBR2's screen (there are black bars all around). You'll see these modes displayed in the lower left corner of the full screen shots (which are coming in a post right behind this one). In these shots also note the "aspect ratio" of the photograph on the laptop's 1280x1024 screen vs. the same photograph in the 3 display modes on the XBR2.

I am surprised that I couldn't set the external monitor's (the XBR2) resolution higher than 1280x1024. Because the laptop would automatically revert to a higher resolution when the VGA cable was pulled I suspect that it is the XBR2 which has the limitation. BUT, I'm NOT sure. It could be a limitation of this particular laptop's external port (or this graphics adapter on it).

I'm very interested in seeing what others find. I'm definitely in the market for a very long VGA cable so I can hook up my desktop. Cablestogo has 35' and 50' ones but they seem a little pricey.

(Ah! 3 pictures per posting, eh? I'll post the full screen shots showing the different modes in a moment.)

The full screen shots showing the different wide modes available for the PC input at 1280x1024 resolution. See my earlier post for more info.

Jbug,
Can you confirm the base dimensions for the XBR2?
I am still hoping!!!!!! And a bit in denial.

And now that I've passed the 5 posts threshold here's the unmangled URL of the manual for the new Sony 60XBR2 AND 70XBR2 stand. One stand for both sets, SURS51U.

There are drawings with ALL the measurements on page 6 (including the cutout).

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/surs51u.pdf

I have also attached 3 pictures of it. Note in the picture with a TV that is a 60XBR2. There is no picture I can find of the 70. Sony has the same picture displayed for both the 60 and 70 sets.

Note, its rear corners are square, nor angled like earlier models.

I don't think the delivery guys will wait around while you open it up and check it out. I am dealing with this same issue with my 60" XBR2 that is supposed to be delivered in two days. The BAX global shipping tracker shows two "shipping exceptions". I was able to find out that one was for improper packaging for shipping (from Sony) and the other was for damage to the shipping carton. When it arrives I will have to decide on the spot whether to reject the shipment. Alternatively, according to Sony, if I accept the shipment, I have thirty days to send the set back with a return authorization for a full refund. After 30 days, it is a warranty fix. Hope this helps.

I just got back from looking at another 60XBR2 at ABC. I tested a B&W DVD of the Three Stooges via component Video 5. I was surprised at how good it looked. Quite sharp and looked excellent in B&W. I did not have to play around with the color at all. There was no evidence of anything like you described. You may want to try a different DVD player.

This is intended to be only a clue, but not the whole answer.

The resolution that the Sony is displaying fits a 35 mm photo almost exactly ..and this is close to the shape of a standard old style PC monitor. Such a photo will not be extra wide and would not fill your widescreen computer screen with out stretching it.

Now, your widescreen monitor on the other hand is set up and capable of displaying a photo with more pixels in the H direction. So if you used Photoshop and expanded the photo (increase the pixel count for the width to 1680 and chose to retain the width/hight ratio, the Vert count would exceed the display height and therefore the top and bottom of the photo would be cut off.

My IMac with widescreen display does just this. So it looks like Sony in it's wisdom has apparently decided it will mimic the older non widescreen PC monitors , and will not display images wider than the formats expected with the older PC format of 1280 x 1024.

Disclaimer. The above is intended to stimulate some conceptual thinking about what's going on here. The actual pixel counts for the Sony and your PC may be different than those above.

Hope this may help.

KT

Yes, that's correct. Not sure why they changed it so much, cause everything else looks about the same. One thing I noticed is that the back panel is now flat down to the pedestal which looks like it provides a little more space inside the cabinet.

How far from the set can you go back until you can't read these words.
I can read these word on my 20.1" LCD wide screen 5' to 6' away.

Can someone post a pic of the 60xbr2 in the new stand...with a closeup of the base. My local shipper delayed me until tomorrow and I am going nuts!!!!!

Thanks for the confirmation. Wouldn't you know it, Boltz sells a wider version of my stand with recessed bolts. I can buy the top portion which would enable my original stand to accomodate the 60xbr2 for the price of $250! For just the top part! Why can't I just buy the recessed bolts for my perfectly fine stand?!
Sorry. Anyway, I went to the local sony style store today to check this set out in person and they did not have a display model yet. I was surprised. I bought my old 36xbr400 crt years ago sight unseen and have been happy ever since, but I would just like to see this beast in person...

Here is another couple of possible explanations:

1. The Sony manual on page 77 state the resolution choices at the highest levels include 1280/1024 and 1920x1080.
It does not state it can support 1680x 1050.

2. The highest resolution input of 1920/1080 requires the H sync =67.5kHz and V=68 Hz.
Perhaps your Dell is not set to output these sync frequencies and so the XBR2 will not accept your Hi Res signal.

KT