Official Sony XBR2 (60" & 70") Owner's Thread - Page 62

Originally Posted by evcook

I have learned some things about using the 70 inch XBR2 as a 1920x1080 display for PC and Blue Ray playback. Hope this helps someone...

* first - the good news: movie playback quality using a PC on the Sony totally rocks! whether you used your MY-HD card to PVR it off the air, need to play plain old DVDs, or pay the $ to buy a BD/HD disk drive - the PC can handle it all and deliver a top end quality result on your XBR2. the bad news is that your current video card/motherboard may not be able to handle it.

* the 3 HDMI inputs only support stereo sound, not 5.1. the optical output is only good for listening to 5.1 that has come into the set through the antennae.
* the 35 foot DVI-to-HDMI cable by works beautifully ($25 on sale)
* all 3 HDMI inputs will work with a 1080p compatible PC video card, although you should have a video card that allows hacking that down to lower resolution to prevent overscan (yes I hate that too, but I would rather see the whole screen than overscan or look through a smaller "window").

* any 1080p video card will give you better DVD playback quality than any HD-DVD player I have seen. if you have a spare PC - use it instead of buying a HD-DVD player. the DVD quality is so good - it is stunningly close to Blue Ray playback.
* only a few AGP video cards support 1080p. even though they may list resolutions as high as 2048x1536, they will not be able to do 1080p on the Sony (typically only 1080i). one that does work is the Nvidea GeForce 7600 GSOC. others with release dates similar to this card will probably work as well.
* it is easy to find PCI-X cards that support 1080p, but they have a problem as well - most do not support "HDCP" - High Definition Copyright Protection - which means that you can't play back Blue Ray or HD disks on your computer. the Nvidea web site has a program you can download so that you can test your system and determine if it supports HDCP.


Currently, I am on a mission to find an AGP card that will support HDCP. I have this query into Nvidea level 2 support. There is a ton of mis-information on the web, and on video card boxes about this (I have returned 3 cards to my local store this week). The key is this - even though the newer graphics CHIPs from Nvidea, Ati, etc support HDCP, the various vendors that use those chips don't put the extra logic on the video card circuit board to allow the chip to work. Hopefully the good folks at Nvidea can tell me what (if any) AGP card does.

Originally Posted by asong26

evcook:

Thank you for the response. But this still does not answer the question of sound. You've mentioned that DVI-HDMI cable works great. Well, there are many cables that work great.

The question still remains: For those of us / and you that do not use an AV receiver to pass the sound through the external speakers, and only use the TV, is there cable that pass DVI + Sound (via stereo input cable) into an HDMI cable which will plug into the TV.

Unless I am mistaken, this is the only way you will get PC 1080P + full sound.

Thanks for the effort. I guess we're all SOL

Originally Posted by asong26

evcook:

Thank you for the response. But this still does not answer the question of sound. You've mentioned that DVI-HDMI cable works great. Well, there are many cables that work great.

The question still remains: For those of us / and you that do not use an AV receiver to pass the sound through the external speakers, and only use the TV, is there cable that pass DVI + Sound (via stereo input cable) into an HDMI cable which will plug into the TV.

Unless I am mistaken, this is the only way you will get PC 1080P + full sound.

Thanks for the effort. I guess we're all SOL

Originally Posted by CriPPleR_HD

Thanks for the compliments on my set up, Plasmabuyer.

At first I was using a Arcam AVR350 but it was not doing my speakers justice. The Arcam clipped badly. I am in the market for a good amp ATM. I had a McIntosh MT6900 on lone and that thing made my speakers come to life. I currently have the McIntosh MHT200 on lone from my dealer but after hearing the 200WPC beast(6900) it is hard to go less then that. I am also getting receiver noise out of the MHT200 something that I did not experience with any other amp/receiver before.

I am going to audition Class'e Bryston and Ayre this weekend and then decide on something next week. Here is a of pick of the amp. I am happy that my center speaker fit in the stand.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...D/P1010209.jpg

Back to the XBR2:

It is unfortunate that SSE is an issue with Micro Displays. It really is not that bad and it beats watching TV on a 34" screen but it would of been nice if they could of worked it out.

I just down loaded the update from Xbox live. The setting for 1080p is there but when I select it I get a black screen.

Originally Posted by the_bull

DVD Freaky,

The 70 (in the box) was to large to get into my viewing area (basement) as well. But the delivery guys took it out of the box and were (amazingly to me) able to get it in without incident. If needed to, I would have taken the speakers off to get it in (only takes 2 minutes).

You should consider letting them take it out of the box and removing the speakers if needed (if the 60 fit in the 70 will this way).

I thought about returning the 70 for the 60 because the 70 seemed too big (but now love it - 3 weeks in), but knew I probably would always regret it. I think you are already regretting going to the 60.

You shouldn't buy this TV with regrets, go for the 70!

good luck!

Originally Posted by the_bull

DVD Freaky,

The 70 (in the box) was to large to get into my viewing area (basement) as well. But the delivery guys took it out of the box and were (amazingly to me) able to get it in without incident. If needed to, I would have taken the speakers off to get it in (only takes 2 minutes).

You should consider letting them take it out of the box and removing the speakers if needed (if the 60 fit in the 70 will this way).

I thought about returning the 70 for the 60 because the 70 seemed too big (but now love it - 3 weeks in), but knew I probably would always regret it. I think you are already regretting going to the 60.

You shouldn't buy this TV with regrets, go for the 70!

good luck!

Originally Posted by heartsurgeon

have you sent dvd material to your hdtv from your computer using dvi-hdmi cable, and if so, how did it work.look

Originally Posted by danielre

I have a quick question on the danger of putting non-home speakers near the TV. My XBR2 will be delivered tomorrow and I wanted to know how close I can put my modified Bose 301 speakers.

Are these TVs sensitive to the magnets from car speakers like older ones did? My woofers in my Bose gave out and I replaced them with car subs. They work great, but I don't want to risk getting them close to the TV.

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

Originally Posted by DVD Freaky

Good idea, but again...the delivery guy said I would have to sign a waiver removing them from all liability if they took the tv out of the box outside my apartment, to move it in. I think that's ridiculous, which is why I declined. Even though I am 95% sure your idea would work, the fact that I would have to sign a waiver with this particular company is what killed that. They said Crutchfield's instructions were to move the box inside my place and then remove from box. Any deviation, they would not adhere to. Strange, cause Circuit City removed the 60 outside my apt. without a care in the world.

I am definitely investigating getting the 70, but it all comes down to financing, ease of exchange with CC, etc.

KT....thanks for posting info about the Palette....will definitely experiment more later.

MMMMM...'LOST' in HD later tonight for the first time....YES!

Originally Posted by jerseydiplomat

use mini- to-stereo audio and audio couplers if you need to extend the cables. one of the HDMI inputs accept audio and your computer should have a mini output for the audio

Originally Posted by DVD Freaky

Oh yeah, would someone mind posting a link to the XBR2 settings/tweaks thread....can't seem to find it.

Originally Posted by umr

I just finished working on a 70" XBR2. This is one awesome display. The processing is exceptional and the colors were wonderful. This display has the lowest video noise level of any RPTV I have seen.

Here are the results.

Originally Posted by maximum360

Thanks for the update.

Originally Posted by docmhale

UMR would you be willing to share the settings you used to achieve this?

Originally Posted by umr

I just finished working on a 70" XBR2. This is one awesome display. The processing is exceptional and the colors were wonderful. This display has the lowest video noise level of any RPTV I have seen.

Here are the results.

Originally Posted by umr

I just finished working on a 70" XBR2. This is one awesome display. The processing is exceptional and the colors were wonderful. This display has the lowest video noise level of any RPTV I have seen.

Here are the results.

Originally Posted by dmass

thanks for the news UMR. Would it be reasonable to assume that the 60 would be of similiar quality

Originally Posted by pwiss

Did you use either of the DRC 2.5 modes? If so, are there optimal settings that we owners should be using?

Originally Posted by umr

I just finished working on a 70" XBR2. This is one awesome display. The processing is exceptional and the colors were wonderful. This display has the lowest video noise level of any RPTV I have seen.

Here are the results.

Originally Posted by strutter

i get an error opening the documents. says the files cant be found.

however, i am so happy to hear your opinion. "awesome, exceptional, wonderful."

sounds like this is the one for me

Originally Posted by umr

Try.

Right click on the file link.

Select "Open In New Window" from menu selection list.

Originally Posted by umr

Try.

Right click on the file link.

Select "Open In New Window" from menu selection list.