The Official Sony 2007 KDS-(XX)A2020 [NO PRICE TALK] SXRD Owner's Thread - Page 62

Today I was in Costco and there was an NFL game playing on all the LCD sets but not on the rear projections or the plasmas. All the LCD pqs were about a 3 on a scale of 1 - 10. In my opinion, the pq on all of them was just awful. It was obvious that the game was NOT being televised in HD. My question is --- would the non HD pq likely be this bad on rear projection sets such as the Sony? I am about to go HDTV for the first time and had pretty much decided on a Sony A2020 but if I am going to have a picture that poor on non HD games, I will forget it until the technology gets better. I would appreciate any opinions on this from you folks who have some experience.

It depends on your expectations, of course, but IMHO the SD picture quality on the 2020's is excellent. I DO watch all SD programming in the correct aspect ratio, as I don't like stretched pictures ... but even in stretch mode it's not bad. I've watched several football games and golfing events with the tuner set to jump back-and-forth between the SD and HD channels for the same event ... and except for the aspect ratio switch a casual viewer wouldn't even know the difference [obviously the HD picture looks better, but the SD picture still looks very good]. In fact, with the stretch mode I've had some friends "wow" at the quality of the picture -- even though it was an SD broadcast

I have a quick question for all you experts...

Just got my 60a2020 a couple of weeks ago and I am having a great time so far. In hanging around these forums though, I once in a while stumble into one of the "war zone" threads where supporters of different formats flame each others HDTVs. Jeez, it gets as bad as the gaming sites sometimes!

Anyway, on some of the threads I notice that the RPTV "haters" tend to throw around a lot of stuff about cleaning the inside of the set...that dust/grease/whatever builds up inside on mirrors or something, and they have to be cleaned or they look like crap. This seems to be one of the main advantages of flat panels in their minds. However, I have never seen anyone talk about that here, so I was wondering if that was true or not?

Gahh, I hate this. I come to this place looking for opinions and get excited over a potential purchase, only to get to the end of every thread and see it filled with nothing but complaints about the set that earlier in the thread was getting praise left and right.

My question here is, is the 55a2020 worth a buy? Or should I just wait for the a3000 to come out? Also, is color reproduction and push a big issue with the a2020? I've read a LOT of stellar opinions on this set, so to see all these issues really confuses me.

I've been toying with the notion of LCD, but i'm just not set on the state of technology right now, and seeing as how rear projection technology has been around forever and has had time to perfect itself, i'm starting to lean towards projection models. I was planning on getting a DLP until I read about the rainbow effect that happens with the color wheel, and even though Samsung has the LED models now, I am not sure how the PQ is on that new tech.

What's the deal on this set?

People come to these forums usually for two reason:
To research a new purchase or if they have an issue with a new tv

Odds are most threads will have a lot of negative feedback
This does not represent a real percentage of problems

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I did a little reading around, and it looks like I might go with an a3000 unless I see a REALLY good deal on an a2020 (which might happen once the a3k sees more market penetration).

There are fantastic deals on the A2020s out there right now. Go look around at the usual discounters. You might be surprised (pleasantly).

Let me tell you something about these forums... It appears as though the more you read, the more knowledge you will gain: Both good and bad!

Like an earlier poster said, most of the TV forums will start out very positive, then take a turn for the worst. And while the posts start to turn, the average buyer is reading the post thinking they are getting ready to make the best purchase on a set, only to find out by "reading all of these forums" that their new set is full of problems. Most of which, the new buyer does not have a clue about until he reads about it on "these" forums!

I think that you should make your decision based on your budget and your TV desires and then do your best to enjoy your set. Then visit the forum every blue moon to get advice on tweaking you new visual wonder. If you come here looking for a problem, then you WILL find a problem.

It's sort of like what audiophiles go through. They are so busy evaluating their equipment that they can't enjoy the music!

My 60A2020 will never be the perfect set. Why? Because I like to read these damn forums too much! But these forums have not stopped me from enjoying my set. If I look really hard, I am sure that I could see purple blacks, SSE, or the green blob on any set. Especially if I click my heels three times and chant! But right now, my set doesn't have a problem, and I ain't looking for one either.

My advice would be to buy the set, then tweak it to YOUR satisfaction, and then enjoy! Good luck!

The best bet is to pick up a calibration disk like Avia or DVE and adjust your color with that. Trying to adjust things by what you see on regular programming is impossible because you don't know exactly what colors they should be.

Hi, I own a 60A2020 for over a month now and I am still in wow with this TV. I know the Sony warranty covers the lamp for the first year, but I would like to have a spare on hand, just in case. I see you can buy just the lamp, minus the housing for around $125 plus shipping on Ebay and some other sites I have found. They claim it is an original OEM "Sony" product and not an after market. My question is, has anyone here had any experience with just buying the lamp, without the housing and is it pretty easy to mount in the original housing?
Thanks for any help, Larry

I think replacing just the lamp without the housing is similar to refilling ink cartridges for inkjet printers ==> easy as long as you're careful and follow the instructions.

The problem I have with buying one well in advance, however, is that you have no way of confirming that the new lamp is okay ==> it most likely is; but you'll not know for potentially several years ... and at that point if it's not, you'll have no recourse except to just buy another one.

Considering it's only a 2-3 day process to get a new lamp over the internet; and even quicker if you buy one locally (at a probably higher cost); I'd just wait until you actually NEED one before purchasing. In most cases, the lamp doesn't go "poof" anyway ... it will be notably less bright and you'll get a warning message from the TV about it needing a replacement. THAT is the time to buy a new lamp and have it available. And if it happens to fail instantly ("poof"), then you'll just be without that TV for a couple of days

I have tried calibrating with DVE but I will give it another try or try Avia. I'm waiting for Avia 2 to come out. Thanks.

Thanks for all the great advice guys!

I have a question about the 2020: Is this a 10-bit panel or an 8-bit panel, and does it have the fast motion chip in it or is it only 60Hz?

Yeah, I'm waiting for Avia 2 too. I have both already but a Blu-Ray version of Avia should be nice.

Can you get the colors right with DVE? I can get pretty close to where blue and red are spot on and green is only a hair off. The result is pretty impressive.

I can get the colors pretty good too with DVE. At least I think I can. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. It just seems that cable stations seem to vary widely and I guess that's part of my frustration. I'm a huge Phillies fan and watch a lot of games on Comcast Sportsnet. I find that the red in their uniforms is often too pink and have to readjust the hue to correct it.

Does the KDS 60A2000 and KDS 60A2020 suffer from the "green glob" effect I've read about in other threads?

How do video games look on this set? I just got a 360 elite and I need something to play it on. Thanks.

Dave

i play ps3 on mine and it is beautiful, wouldn't trade it for anything

Sweet! I likes me some video games!

Got any pics?

Do HDDVDs look good on this set too?

I'm also wonderig about the green blob on the a2020s too.

Thanks all!

My 1st post on here ..... I believe!!

I researched for over a month before taking my 1st plunge into a HD set and i had it narrowed down to the SXRD sony or a samsung and with a side by side comparison ....... the 50A2020 won hands down. In fact the 50A2020 looked even better than the A3000 right next to it. I saw alot of glittery whites in the A3000 but not on the A2020. By the way .... isnt the 3LCD on the A3000 and older technology than the SXRD?? I believe the E2000 had the 3 LCD too?

And with no color wheel to worry about or bow from the new sammys .... it was an easy choice ,,, even know it took me a month to make the decision ..... lol.

Ive been extremely happy with the set and PQ is amazing with HD programming trough comcast and on my xbox elite.

Football has never looked so good!!!

But tonight i ran into a problem when i came home from work and turned the set on.

The TV starts to come on and goes right back out and im getting the red power led blinking 9 times and not sure what that means.

It seems like the fan is shutting off right as the picture starts to come on.

Ive tried just unplugging for a bit but get the same thing.

If no one here has any advice .... i guess im calling sony support.

This set is only 3 weeks old too!!!

I havent even taken out an extended warranty yet!!

Best Buys extended warranty was like $350 and i believe i can get the same warranty right from sony for about half that correct?? I also believe i have 60 days from date of purchase to get the extended warranty too correct?

Anyone else run into the 9 blink red power led??

No, the A2000, A2020 and A3000 are all SXRDs. The E3000 is a LCD with 1080 x1920 resolution.


My advice is to call BB and have them exchange the set, rather than go through the hassle of having a repair. 9 blinks means that there is a problem with the temp sensing circuitry.

Thanks for the reply .........

Maybe it was the E3000 i was looking at.

Im wondering if should return the set in exchange for the A3000?

Im sure there will be a price difference but i had a hard time finding the A2020 as they seem to be discontinuing this model so they may not have anymore.

Im going to do some research on the A3000 but if anyone has any insights on this model over the A2020 ....... i would appreciate the feedback.

The A3000 does have some nice improvements over the A2020 ==> most notably 1080p input on VGA & component; and support for 24fps inputs. However, the slimmer cabinet has resulted in what seems to be a less perfect geometry than the A2020 sets --> read the A3000 forum before making your decision.

Well, that's odd. If your colors are accurate on the test pattern then they should be accurate when watching a regular station. What about when watching a regular DVD? If that's good, then maybe there's something wrong with your cable box or Comcast's signal. Try to eliminate possibilities.

Also, remember that the TV's adjustments are per input, so whatever you set up with the calibration DVD you need to copy the resulting settings to the input you have the cable box attached to.

Actually I realized that I have the original Video Essentials, not Digital Video Essentials. I'm not sure if that makes a difference. DVDs look good. I've been playing with the settings this week and I've got it looking better. I use warm 1. I still have to push the hue a little toward green, 3 or 4 clicks. I have green gain at -7 and green bias at -6. It seems to have helped with the greenish tint in blonde hair. There's still room for improvement. I'm still waiting on Avia 2 which I'm hoping will be out soon. Then I should have a better idea about the settings. I transfered the settings to other inputs. However, I have an older Sony DVD player without HDMI so maybe that's a factor in the settings. I have Comcast cable with a Motorola DCT3412 cable box and it is connected with an HDMI cable.

Well i talked to sony last night and they say its a data error which could be a circuit board (like i didnt know that) ... lol.

Talked to best Buy today to see what my options are and no stores have the 50A2020 in stock anymore so all they can do is either fix the set i have now or give me a full refund. I was hoping they would give me a discount to upgrade to the A3000 but they wouldnt budge. Not sure if i want to pay the extra $500 for the A3000 especially after hearing about the geometry problems with that set. Thats one reason i didnt go with the samsung ..... due to the bad bowing problems with the slimmer bezels.

Circuit city has the 55A2020 in stock for only $200 more than i paid for the 50 so i may just take the 50 back to best buy and purchase the 55 form circuit city.

What to do .... what to do!!!

After waiting almost 2 months researching which set i wanted ....... I thought all my decision making was over ...... lol.

What are the advantages of AVia 2 over DVE or others?

Since I have not yet purchased an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, I am assuming a SD DVD calibration will not be very beneficial.

If you have seen some of my posts, I have some whacky reds here and there. I do notice it mostly during sports events. Here is a link to some example pics. http://www.flickr.com/photos/92174490@N00/
I am just hoping its a source or calibration issue and not a defect in the set. Well I guess I have until late July (when my warranty expires) to buy a hi-def DVD and run the calibrations... Thanks, D

Yes, calibrating with an analog input is not going to translate to the digital input. See if you can find a local station with your cable box that shows the old-fashioned color test pattern when they are off the air and record it. Then calibrate the cable box input with that.

You would certainly benefit from a good upscaling DVD player with an HDMI output, or a Blu-Ray player. The big thing for me about Avia 2 is the Blu-Ray version.

Using a standard def DVD is perfectly fine for calibrating colors, brightness, contrast, and alignment. You can also improve sharpness and see good and bad effects of some of the video processing options on the TV. So yes, it is very beneficial.