The Official Sony 2007 KDS-(XX)A2020 [NO PRICE TALK] SXRD Owner's Thread - Page 7

The earlier A2000s, back in the July 06 timeframe, had an erroneous filter setting in the service menu that caused a litttle loss of detail and thus softened the image a bit. It was relatively easily corrected but Sony fixed it in subsequent builds. That could be the "firmware" problem that your "rather reputable local TV dealer" mentioned. You should be just fine if you get a recent build (which is guaranteed if you get an A2020 as it looks like they were all built in Jan/Feb 07 so far).

55E2000 is nice, but not in the same league as the SXRD models. SXRD has a much smoother picture, with better contast, and black levels. The firmware issue on the A2000 was fixed many months ago. Most or all sets built after August should be fine. It is easily fixed even if you get an earlier build. Unless you are dead set on an all black cabinet, get the A2000. It is the same tv as the A-2020. The money you save can go toward sales tax, and an extended warranty.

I have to agree with everyone else on this one, I would (and did) go with 55A2000. You said you wouldnt have any 1080 source material? Do you not have HD service through your provider? Do you not plan on it? How bout OTA? Anyway, what I am getting at is, once you see this set in your home, with a decent HD source, you will be blown away. Seeing these TVs in the store do them NO justice. Bite the bullet, pull the trigger, pony up the extra dough, however you wanna say it, make the purchase and don't look back

As many following this thread know I was having some issues with my new 55A2020. I went to two stores yesterday and comapred floor models to what I have been seeing on mine. Not always the best place to view things like this but I knew what to look at. Basically none of the floor samples had the kind of problems I was seeing on my set. After looking at the 55A2020 at CC and seeing nothing I decided to make the trade.

Well the new set was delivered yesterday and to make a long story short this set has none of the problems I was seeing on the first set. No green donut at startup. No rectangular box reflection (or what ever it was). Even colored black screens. A little lightness in the fade to black between scenes but nothing like the discoloring I saw in the old set. Before they took the old set I was watching the Nascar race on Fox-HD and when the track was shown just right there was a green tint right in the center of the screen to the asphalt. Once the new set was delivered (right in the middle of the race) I set things up and tuned the race back on and no green in the center of the screen like the old set.

Anyway so far so good. I spent some time tweaking and watching shows tonight and spending time watching things I'm use to watching and gettting a better feel for how things look on it. So far it looks like it might be a keeper I hope so and I can just watch stuff and enjoy it.

I'll keep you all updated.

Later,

Jim

Watch it and enjoy it is right! That is one downside to reading these forums is that it CAN make us paranoid and we end up LOOKING for problems. Granted, you obviously had a bad set the first time and I am glad you got a good one now, but have fun and enjoy that's what this is all about

Are you saying that if you purchase from CC, you can tell them you want to exchange for another model without them having to send a service tech to verify any problems, and they will pick up the old and deliver the new one? Is this just for the first 30 days? Do you have to purchase their extended warranty for this?

Thanks.

Shelly

If you purchase from CC you can return certain things within 30 days from date of purchase. If it had been a small problem I would of probably tried the repair route but I didn't feel the problems on my set were correctable on a local level.

My understanding is if you had the original purchase delivered they will deliver a replacement. I will say the local CC was very helpfull and didn't give me any hassles at all. Setup the exchange and credited the difference on the sale price. So far it's been very nice dealing with them. I was a little worried how nice they might be if I had another problem set

Jim

a little more then erroneous wouldnt you say?

Exactly, I no longer look for the green tint problem and now I am really enjoying the tv and the green hasn't bothered me a bit sense I stoped looking for it.

Like one of the posters suggested in the A2000 thread here is something to think about. Last night I was watching news on the local KNBC4 SD station and one shot came up with a girl talking on screen and she looked horrible. Very greenish face the the news girl had green blond hair. I thought oh my gosh here I go again I went in the other room and turned on my 31" Panasonic CRT to the same show and guess what? Green face and hair in that show also. Not as bad but once you blow it up to 55" it probably would show it more. So it may just be source related afterall. I always thought it was strange a HD-DVR recording of Leno can look so clear and perfect but the next show (Lost) can have green tinge to beards or faces.

Something to think about

Jim

Plus, the blond could have been swimming in an overly chlorinated pool

Just kidding, it is my strong belief it IS source related as I have seen this on SXRD, CRT, Plasma, and DLP

...nobody is posting in you. Don't know if anybody cares or from the looks of it if anyone is reading, but I was trying to get something going in the A2000 tweaks thread. What I was curious about was what settings people are using? I thought it might be cool to see and compare (yes I get bored easily) since these are essentialy the same TVs, if any of you A2020 owners want to participate (wouldnt want to discriminate based on color!) come on over

i'm getting my 60" A2020 tomarrow. cant wait!

What do you guys make of this. I got home last night and turned on my replacement 55A2020. Once the picture came on everything looked green. I don't mean a little green tinge but GREEN.. I left it on for over an hour just to see what would happen but it never changed. I finally turned it off and unplugged it and had dinner and did a few other things . Plugged it back in about an hour later and turned it on and the picture looked ok but while watching CSI last night I noticed a green hue to my blacks. You can really notice it on the fade to black between scenes and when you switch to an unused input. My blacks didn't look like this before last night. It doesn't jump out at you in normal viewing but it isn't black black.

I didn't fool around with any settings or check DVE or anything because I was tired last night (and a little digusted) but I'll check more things out over the weekend. Just wanted to see if anybody has seen anything like this happen.

More later........

Jim

Never heard of that one. You should have tried another source like DVD player and seen if the green was equally bad. You getting your tv off the air, or from cable box etc.? Usinig HDMI or component?

Are you using a surge protector? There have been some people who reported weird color issues and sony told them to plug the set directly in the wall. After trying it they claimed it cured the problem

Maybe true..but the funny thing is the Sony extended warranty REQUIRES you to use a UL approved surge protector. The cure is probably more often related to fact that you have 'rebooted' the set by unplugging it, more than anything to do with a surge protector. Seems lots of electronic items go crazy now and then, and cutting power for a bit fixes it.

At first it was from regular SD cable. Then checked my Moxi HD-DVR via component and my HD-DVD and PS3 both via HDMI. All inputs looked the same. TV is hooked directly to the wall outlet.

Jim

I agree, it is weird. This seems to be their go to response to alot of things people have called about, however this was the first situation the people actually claimed to see results. You might be right, that it is the reboot that is actually helping. I wouldnt want to have the set unprotected. I wonder if there are some surge protectors that might do something to the power? Maybe contaminate some how? I wouldn't think, but who knows

I used to have that Moxi box, I had a bunch of problems with it. Got them to switch me to the Moto DCT6412III w/ HDMI and twice the storage capacity.

I think it's step 1 on the tech support checklist for a LOT of electronics products now. Xbox support and my cable company both start out there, and reboots do fix things half the time on those, at least temporarily (which makes them happy, because it gets you off the phone). I don't think they actually intend you to run all the time without a surge protector, they just try to eliminate/blame other equipment first for any problem.

Hey guys, relatively new poster here.

I just got my 55A2020 today and haven't had any discoloration issues or green blobs. I did see a single noticeable green tint to skin tone on CSPAN, but it didn't seem to be prevalent on any other channels so I'm assuming it was the source material. I've noticed the picture seems to be much softer/less sharp than my old 55" Sony Wega LCD projection, but I've heard this is quite normal. Movies and Xbox 360/PS3 appear to move much more more fluidly, but I'm assuming this is due to a higher refresh rate over LCDs. I've also noticed there appears to be a very soft grain/noise that wasn't present in the LCD projection.

Anyway, my actual question is this. The built-in hd-turner pics up all of my local HD channels, but I am unable to get my previous premium channels such as HBO HD, HDNet, etc. etc. I called Charter and they said I would either need a cable card or box to recieve the channels. My previous Sony Wega used a Motorolla cable card and recieved the hd channels fine with amazing picture quality. I see no cable card slot on the A2020 and I was told that a box would be the only way.

It's been suggested that cable cards offer superior picture quality over a set top box, although I purchased the TV with the impression that I wouldn't need either due to the built-in tuner. Is there any possible way I can recieve the channels without a card or box?

ALL suggestions are welcomed on anything I mentioned above. Thanks guys.

I'm pretty sure your out of luck here. The digital tuner only picks up unencrypted channels not the premium ones. The A2020 doesn't have cable card - you need the XBR2 for that. Looks like the cable box is your only real option - picture quality should be fine depending on your carrier.

By the way, the first time I hooked up my A2000, I picked up all the PPV channels for free! Only lasted a few weeks though, then I guess someone wised up at the cable company and flipped some switch to turn it off. Every now and then, I'll still pick up one of the channels for a few hours - enough to usually watch whatever movie is on.

I currently have a perfectly working 2001 Pio 53" RPTV and am considering upgrading to a new SXRD. I have a great price from my local HT installer/authorized Sony dealer for a new A2020 60". My interest is that Sony has finally offered the SXRD in black with no more winged speakers. Finally, I can tolerate the look of these new sets.

Anyway, I've had my current RPTV since mid 2001, so I am coming up on 6 years of faithful service and really have no complaints. I want to move to a display that supports HDMI and I could also move up to 60" from my current 53" display. My current source is an HDTivo via D* and an upsampling Ssung DVDP. Both have HDMI, although I have my doubts if I will see any significant PQ improvement by just moving to HDMI. I am also considering the Oppo 981 if I get the SXRD. Although it seems a few here are not impressed with the 981 as an upgraded DVDP.

So, am I nuts to consider this upgrade to the SXRD with possible minimal benefits, or should I just dive in and make the move? What the heck do I do with my 6 yo RPTV (no room in the house for both). Are there any new/great upcoming features planned for late 2007/08 for the SXRDs that I should wait it out. I'd also need a TV stand for it (mo' money) and find a new location for my huge Rocket Center ch speaker above/below teh SXRD.

... thanks for your comments.

Well, that is also the benefit though. I would hate to have someone tell me there is an issue after a year or so and then have to deal with a repair versus an exchange. I too am paranoid and the enjoyment of a new set does not really set in until a few days pass...as you pop in DVD's like a mad man attempting to find an issue so that you can eathier exchange or enjoy if there are no problems.

I would rather go through the stress of the first few days than deal with something that was always there, but never noticed.

I'm waiting for the A3000. Saw some spec's yesterday and I'm interested in the 55" set that is 15" wide. If you have the room wait for the XBR's due in November. The 60" is 13" wide, and the 70" is 14" wide. That should put the pressure on plasma prices to come down.

You mean 13 inches deep?

Yep. Sorry. I was looking at the current sets from the side yesterday........

what do they offer over the current models. Will they offer black with no winged speakers for the XBRs in Nov?

Im LOVING my 60A2000 .... I was trying to read a bunch about the 2020 models. are they actually the same as the A2000 models?