Official Sony XBR2 (60" & 70") Owner's Thread - Page 212

Hi All-

Well, after following this forum for about a year, having been stationed overseas, I went ahead and bought the 60 inch XBR2.

It was delivered yesterday. By the way, bought it at my local tweeters that matched the Internet pricing from Sears. So i thought it was a good deal.

Anyway, the set is huge as compared to my old Sammy 50 inch that I had sold before I left.

The 1080p programs look fantastic (off of a Toshiba HD DVD).

Fiddling with the settings for now and will have a professional calibration in late July.

So far--the set looks great.

Just one question though.

Any thoughts on where to place the center front speaker---more to the question, is it possible to use the Sony TV speakers as a center speaker and do I really want to do it?

Thanks for all the posts along the way.

Larry

I'm sorry, but most of that just isn't true. I know you're just making a point, but it's a little over the top. What percentage of Sony owners have had to return their TV 3 times? I bet it's less than 0.1%. And do you really need to understand electronics or have a professional calibrator to tune the TV? No, of course not. A $30 Avid or DVE disk works great.

Remember, these forums are full of people (like myself) that want perfection or are having trouble with their TVs. We don't represent the norm.

I wanted to do the same, but found that the TV speakers can't accept an external input from your receiver. Also, the tonal quality of the TV speakers are probably different than your main speakers, so sounds moving across the audio stage wil fluctuate. Lastly, some folks have mounted their center speaker on the top of the TV, but there's great concern in this forum that the weight of the speaker will warp the TV. I simply had to find a stand tall enough to put the speaker below the TV. It's a little too far from the screen, but I don't notice any issues.

Just thought I'd try and repost since no one responded. Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

You just have to get over internet overload. It happens for EVERY product. When we were looking for a new front-load washing machine & refrigerator you'd think there was not a single well-made product available from either category. The stories were horrific. For every bad experience you read about online, there are hundreds or thousands of satisfied owners who never make a post to any forum or review site.

As for calibration... there are NO decent video displays available that won't benefit from calibration. Even Runco equipment that comes with calibration features not available on other displays STILL benefit from an ISF calibration. Nobody has to enter the service menu. Just like nobody has to tweak the tuning of their brand new car if they are not inclined to do so. But for those who DO want to tweak their brand new car, tools and information are available. Same thing for the XBR2s. The ISF calibrator will use the service menu, you don't need to touch it.

Have you PRICED a 60" 1920x1080 Plasma? They are in a whole different pricing plane and lower res (cheaper) plasmas look, well, lower res. The heat that comes off a big plasma screen can be a problem for some people also. Then there's the issue of image quality... the only plasma screen I've ever seen that I would allow in my home are the brand new Pioneer Elite models - but the prices are way out there. There is no $3000 plasma, LCD flat panel, or DLP set that comes close to the image quality you get from a 60" XBR2.

Now... if you don't CARE about image quality being as good as it can possibly be, why are you even thinking about spending $3000 on a video display? And if the best quality image quality is important to you, then you MUST already know from reading Widescreen Review, Home Theater, and other thorough magazine reviews of video displays that getting the most out of any given video display is going to require calibration and you need to budget for that when purchasing a display... otherwise just do your best with the adjustments and enjoy your results without getting the display calibrated.

Here is why calibration improves image quality... we have an LCD flat panel in our study. It's the first LCD flat panel we've owned. It is an "alternate" place to watch TV in our house and doesn't have a DVD player or anything else connected to it. I spent 5 months tweaking all the settings trying to get images I was happy with and NEVER got there. Not even close. I just couldn't come up with the right combination of settings no matter what I did. So I connected a DVD player temporarily and used a test/setup-disc (Avia in this case) and in less than 15 minutes I had a fabulous picture on that display for the first time in 5 months. The test disc gave me patterns and test images that FINALLY let me understand what the various controls were doing on this set (not exactly the same things as controls on a CRT display). That allowed me to finally get all the settings optimized to work together producing a great picture. But that's only the beginning. A calibrator with the right equipment can go to the next level to produce images that are even MORE amazing by using more complex adjustments not available in the user menus. Calibration is not an XBR2 issue, it's just something you do when you are into high quality video images regardless of the video display you are using. Anybody with a plasma display who has not had their plasma set calibrated is not seeing the best images the plasma display can produce... period. Doesn't matter what they say in an online forum. Calibration produces better images for every type of display.

I have XBR2 and Sony HT system. I placed my Center speaker on top of the TV since center speaker is magnetically shielded. But I believe most of the Main (right and left) speakers and subwoofer don't come with the magnetic shield, so how close from the TV can I place these speakers to avoid future issues with the TV?

Someone please help..

can you see the spot at normal viewing distance, because on one of the tvs i had, had something simular, it was a very small green dot that also had a small flicker to it but you could only see it on dark scenes and only when you were very close to the screen,( 1 to 2 ft) i would think it could be a stuck pixel or some dust on the green panel, in contrast some of the black dots i had were viewable at over 12ft

I dont think RPTV's require shielding.

The need for magnetic shielding is related to CRT based sets because they use an electron beam to create the image. Microchip technology (DLP, LCoS(SXRD), and LCD) is not effected by magnetic fields.

The weight of your center channel speaker might cause problems, but if it's not heavy then you should be OK.

Why did you need a reply in less than eight minutes?

The spots are about 4-6 inches wide and can be viewed from a good distance. When I change the iris setting, the spot blurrs and gets wider and gets sharper and smaller conversly.

I was looking for answer to my previous post:: Hi, Anyone else having trouble with the picture/text blurring or getting fuzzy when things are moving or camera is panning.. Is there any specific setting that can improve this issue? Thanks in advance.

Thanks htwaits and DeanSheen.

I didn't read what you quoted carefully.

You're welcome.

the only thing i could think of is maybe there is a cob web or something attached to the iris that is in the light path but just a guess

As others have alluded to, the very nature of reviews and consumer forums dictates that you will hear far more from a vocal minority than the silent majority. Many people come here *because* they have problems and are looking for a solution. Those with no problems aren't coming here to report no problems, but are instead sitting and enjoying the picture.

I've had my 70XBR2 for a bit less then a week. After dialing in the settings on the 1st page of the tweaks thread, I've been reveling in an absolutely gorgeous immersive picture.

I can only imagine what the set will look like after umr comes by in July...

Thanks for the reply. I have to go home to meet an insurance adjuster and will call service for the TV while I'm waiting. Will report what happens.

I always thought that the blurring on camera motion was due to compression, and therefore there is nothing you can do about it.

Any idea how an adventuresome owner would be able to do this. I remember a calibrator who frequents this thread alluded to the fact this could be done, but offered no other information. My overscan is > 5% and even the ABC HD logo in the lower right hand corners gets chopped off a bit.

This is covered under my warranty, I have a service guy coming out Monday to fix my overscan.
I do have an extended warranty but it is still under factory warranty right now.

Would it help if I turn Noise Reduction and Edge Enhancement OFF.
Any input on 2:3 Pulldown and DRC clarity can effect motion? I never notice blurrness on my XBR1.

Quick question:

My husband and I purchased a 70" XBR2 about a week and a half ago and right out of the box with no tweaking the picture was amazing. Well, over the weekend, we made the mistake of letting a few friends start watching one of our new Blu-ray movies (A Scanner Darkly) before we went to bed. When we woke up the next morning we found the TV still on and the picture sitting on the Blu-ray menu screen for the movie (a VERY colorful animated non-moving picture). We estimated that it had been sitting on the picture for approximately 7 hours so we immediately tried to test for any signs of burn-in. After looking at plain white, red, and blue displays on the screen we didn't think we could distinctly see anything that appeared to us as burnt in images but my husband swears that the picture doesn't seem as sharp or clear, specifically in the background of things while watching TV (specifically he was watching basketball on TNTHD and thought he noticed a haziness to the picture that he didn't while watching the game a week ago). Is this even possible or is my husband just overly paranoid? And if it is possible, what is the best way to test the image quality and assure that it is as perfect as it was a week ago? After spending $5,000 on a TV, something that guarantees that our friends didn't accidentally ruin it in the first week would be a life saver.

Thanks in advance for any help.

SXRDs are not subject to image burn, so you won't have a problem there. Could your friends have played with the brightness/contrast settings?

I doubt they did but I'll have to check. Are SXRDs not subject to image retention either?

i have noticed during the first 100hrs of use things change slightly i guess its the bulb and other parts stabilizing

You shouldn't worry about it. Although any LCD-based technology (and LCD-like displays such as the SXRD LCoS such as that used in this TV) can temporarily show the effect of an image held on screen for a long time, (an effect known as Temporary Image Retention) it goes away quickly once the TV is turned off or you change the channel to display something else.

It's very likely that any change in sharpness you're perceiving is just imagination at work. Unless something happens to misalign the optical engine (like a sharp or heavy blow to the TV) it should retain its sharp focus indefinitely.

If you're still in need of convincing, use the HD Digital Video Essentials disc and look at some of the HD test patterns. (This disc would play in an HD-DVD player, not a Blu-Ray player, and I don't know of a Blu-Ray version of the HD DVE disc -- but now that you can get an HD-DVD player for $299 at Best Buy, it's a crime not to have one.)

FWIW, I've had my 60" XBR2 for about three months now, and I haven't noticed any issues when switching back and forth between letter boxed, pillar boxed, or full screen images that would lead me to think "burn-in." Any temporary image retention you see from the seven-hour still image should be gone for good half an hour or so after changing the channel or turning the TV off.

No, potential image burn in is limited to CRT and plasma technologies, because they rely on lighting up a phosphor. LCD, DLP, LCoS(SXRD) don't.

Actually, SED may also potentially have burn in, but we may never know...

Back to being serious, it could be your bulb stablizing - sounds like its pretty new, and the extra 8 hours overnight may have done that. If so, some tweaks to brightness/picture and/or Iris may tune back in the details.

Another, completely different possibility is simply that the recent basketball game was not filmed/transmitted as well as the previous games. Not all HD broadcasts are equally well done, and nothing like HD to show off when a camera man has his camera a little out of focus.

eric

If I were you I'd put the TV on a cabinet with enough room above or beneath the center of the display for a decent-sized center channel. The speakers on the XBR2 are "okay" but nothing to write home about. The drivers are just too small to get decent response in the frequency range you will expect from a center channel.

I have a Salamander Synergy 20" cabinet under my 60" XBR2 holding a Vandersteen VCC-1 center speaker. It sounds amazing--far more natural than the Sony's built-in speakers.

Someone please HELP!!!!!!!!!!!! This is what PGR 3 looks like ever since about Fall of last year. The first pic clearly shows the jaggies, which show up in every game but are most obvious in this example. The second pic is of what it USED to look like before the issue. It looks smooth in this second image because it's switched to "Photo mode" and I snapped a picture in there. This issue started when I received my system back from repair for an unrelated issue. When I got it back I was forced to do an update and ever since it's looked like crap. Have received multiple replacements from Microsoft and they finally swapped it out for a brand new one. I'm so disgusted. I also get jaggies on my PS3 but to a much lesser extent.. it's actually playbable because it's not that bad. My tv is a Sony KDSR60XBR2. Any ideas why I'm having this issue?

Try it and see. Let us know if it does.

This has probably been answered already, but I don't think I'll find it in the 200+ pages of this thread. What in your opinion is the best do it yourself calibration discs for the XBR2? Avia, DVE, or some other disc?

I know nothing compares to a professional ISF calibration, but I am currently broke , and am desperate to get the set as close to perfect as I can for now. I have used the tweaks thread, but I think a callibration disc would help even more.

Thanks in advance for all who reply