The Official Sony 2007 KDS-(XX)A2020 [NO PRICE TALK] SXRD Owner's Thread - Page 2

LOL that's pretty funny. I have that playing in the background right now on my little 37" Vizio(via PS3 and BR). I returned my 67" sammy to costco today and got my money back because the lamp burned out after 3 months. Now I'm surfin these forums looking for a suitable replacement. Maybe a KDS-R60XBR2? We'll see, still looking.

Hey, I'm pretty new here and wanted to say hi to all.

I was looking at a 60 inch for my basement media room. I was looking at the new Sony 60a2020 and the new Samsung S6176s. Sounds like you folks are really happy with the Sony. My local dealer is recommending the Sony also. Have you folks looked at the Samsung compared to the Sony?

it's saturday morning here on the east coast and we are about to go to a dealer to look at the sonys, and i'd like to hear some opinions. here's some background. besides several crts sets, we have as our "daily, or rather, evening ride" a 37" olevia LCD. great picture!!! we've had it over a year. it sits in a corner of a long narrow room facing a large leather sofa about 9 feet away. we have cablevision dvr. but now we want a much bigger screen. i had pondered the 47" vizio at costco, but that set has been riddled with problems. i was intereted in the 47" phillips, but costco only sold it online. and now costco has dropped its "bring it back anytime" policy, which was the only reason worth shopping there for big ticket items, to three months. my feeling is sets like the sony 2020 and 2000 offer far more picture for the buck. long-winded huh? i was first interested in the mitsu, but reading its thread here suggests various problems faced by owners and a generally older technology. what i also liked about the mitsu AND the sony are the "same as cashfinancing deals" now in effect -- mitsu 12 months, sony EIGHTEEN!!! niiiice. in the 2000 series is the 50", which might be better for our tv room, inferior in any way to the 55, which i hope will work in the room size. it's a very cool room and we dont want to have a tv dominating the space. in the best case scenario, what do you think is thre lowest price i should pay for either the 50 2000/2020, or the 55 2000/2020. the dealer i'm going to is a friend of a friend and he's expecting us today. one other thing....we are not gamers, dont care about blu ray etc etc...we get all of our entertainment from the many stations we're paying $139 a month for. UGH! so do i really need a 1080p set, which i understand doesn't give decent SD...and a number of the stations we watch are in SD. Is there a sony set in the category we want that might give us a BETTER sd picture but also offer HD? any help most appreciated to all of these ponderous questions!!!!

finally picked up my new 55a2020 last night from bestbuy. i'm very happy with this perchase to say the least. stayed up until 3 am this morning flipping channels and playing resistance on the ps3. the pictures great, especially the HD stuff. i haven't done too much SD viewing yet so i'll keep you guys updated on that but so far so good. i'll probably start messing with the settings a little bit. wasn't there a settings thread for the a2000's? since the sets are identical you would think what works for those guys should be a pretty good starting point for us a2020 owners right?

Has anyone compared this TV to the Mitsubishi 57732 or 57731?
I am trying to decide between the 55a2020.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Well I went to BB this morning since I have a 12% off rewards coupon. Thanks to Video_Newbie I was armed with the SKU # in case they still had trouble finding it in their system. I thought I'd leave with a 55A2020 on order. They did find the SKU in the system and could order it but they would not let me use the coupon. The set was "On Sale" for $30.00 less than their retail price so they said the coupon could not be used. BB sucks.......

I don't want to get into posting prices but I thought the retail price on these was the price on Sony's site and Crutchfield's site. BB & CC has them for $200.00 more than these sites. Of course BB has that great $30.00 off sale going.

Anyway I'll check around some more and see what I can find out. 1 call has a great price on their site as of last night but I'm really spooked about buying something this big online.

Jim

Motoman: Try going to smaller local stores, I got mine pretty cheap at a local store but unfortunatly there only in Michigan, Ohio and indiana.

waldo_dodo: Please don't spread fud, From what I hear the green blob issue was blown way out of proportion and the A2000 SXRD line was reworked so I would not worry about the even newer A2020 line having any of these issues. Just so everyone knows, There was a troll over in the SXRD green blob thread that kept creating accounts bashing the SXRD and recommending the Mits set so take it with a grain of salt.

Someone erase that stuff above.

for anyone with a wii on either an a2000 or a2020, are you getting it fullscreen? i've got about 1/2" of black on each side except for the top. i've got the screen size set a full and had to center it to -3. it doesn't give me the option to adjust the picture up and down. i haven't hooked up the 360 yet so i'm not sure what's going on. the ps3 worked out fine. been playing resistance and motorstorm w/ no problems. any suggestions? thanks

By setting the screen size to full im assuming you mean on the tv itself, You know there is a setting in the Nintendo Wii to set your screen to widescreen as well right? I think I remember having to set my old hdtv to stretch mode in order to get the Wii to display widescreen even with it set to widescreen but I could be wrong. I no longer have a Nintendo Wii so I can't try it myself sorry.

How many of you A2020 owners looked at the XBR2 when you were purchasing and what were your impressions of PQ for both units? I'm struggling between both versions of the 60" sets and I'm unsure if I should pay the $800 difference. I know where my wife sits on this discussion, but I don't want to have any buyer remorse 9 months down the road. I have Direct TV so the cablecard options isn't needed and I rarely use PiP if ever.

Thanks for your thoughts. Kevin

Biggest down side to the 60" XBR2 for me was the side speakers. It just makes the set to wide for my setup.

Jim

Newbie here...are dead pixels a potential issue with LCOS HDTVs such as the A2020 or is that only a problem with LCDs? TIA

My only reservation on the Rear Projections are fan noise issues. Anyone with these sets, can you state what your feelings are on fan noise coming from these sets? I was first eyeing the XBR LCD's but their insane prices and Cloud and Flashlight issues have turned me off and I am coming back to my first choice of the SXRD sets. I'm set on the PQ and Look of the new black 60a2020 but the last little thing to the equation is possible fan noise as I have a very quiet TV room.

Any thoughts on this as it's impossible to test this in a loud AV store.

Thanks for your help,

JP

My 50A2020 is very quiet, Sounds kinda like a house heat register releasing a low amount of air. I half to be right next to the tv to hear anything (mostly in the back of the tv) I would say there is no way you would hear it even with watching tv at very low volume levels. Good choice on choosing an SXRD over a Bravia, Ive been threw the clouding nightmare and its not fun.

I was suprised to see "assembled in the u.s.a" on the back of this tv when I checked I was expecting to see made in mexico like the Bravia 40V2500 set I had. Hopefully it's not just cause there newer models.

Thanks guys for the quick responses on the Fan noise issue. I think this set's my decision in stone on the 60A2020 now. Now, if I can just get my hands on one of those Best Buy 12% off coupon when I get ready to purchase.

Was thinking about the 60 XBR2 because it uses a more powerful bulb but this would no doubt cause more heat and probably have a louder fan on it and god knows those speaker elephant ears it has that's non-removable is one of the most stupid designs. I mean they realized that on the 70" why didn't they make the 60" the same way. I really like the sleek look of the new black 2020's though and the black color really finished selling me on this set.

Thanks again, JP

I was at CC yesterday. I have been researching TV's for a while and have decided that my first choice is the 60A2000/2020. I was able to directly compare the 60 in XBR2 screen with the 60 in 2000 sitting right next to it using a 1080i demonstration from Sony. Without making any changes in the settings for both displays, I would say that the XBR2 set was a bit more vibrant. The images just popped a bit more - it was realy excellent. The 2000 was also very good but just a tad less vibrant. I guess you get what you pay for. I don't like the side speakers on the XBR2 but the picture quality difference (albeit small) made me think about it. I will probably still settle on the 2020 (CC did not yest have any in stock at this suburban Chicago store). Hope that helps.

My 55A2020 is ordered and on the way. I got it fron CC using a AAA 10% off coupon available on AAA's site. No other local stores had any A2020's or were willing to deal or order one. Since CC was very good about the return on my 50A2000 I decided to give them my business again. I may of been able to shave a few dollars by waiting but I need a set and didn't want to wait.

I'll post my impressions comparing it to my returned 50A2000 when I get it.

Later,

Jim

Thanks for the feedback. I've seen the two side by side and agree with your assessment. I'm a bit concerned about reliability with the A2020 series (dreaded green blob, etc) and might lean towards spending the extra $'s for the xbr2. Although, I don't know if I'm willing to deal with the speakers on the 60" xbr2 which means I might have to wait until June to see what's in store at the end of the year with the upcoming xbr3 and A3000. Thanks for your input though.

I bought the 55A2000 and have nothing but superlatives to say about the set. I am a long time XBR customer and would have bought the XBR2 without even giving the 2000 a thought but.... those "damn ears" eliminate the XBR as a consideration.

My experience over the past couple of decades has shown XBR to be a significant cut above the standard offerings when it comes to reliability and stability. However, I really can't identify technical specifics between the two today other than the XBR2 has a revised light engine. I'm certain Sony didn't do this just to increase brightness since the 2000 is way more than sufficient in this respect. One can only conclude there's more to the 180 watt lamp system than meets the eye.

Anyway, until Sony Marketing changes their perverse strategy on permanent side speakers the XBR series is just a fond memory for us.

Jim,
Thanks for the tip on the 10% off on the CC coupon. It doesn't expire until the end of the year which is great. Unfortunately the XBR series are excluded from this savings.

Kevin

No problem Kevin. Hope you can use it. The XBR2 was my original choice for my set and had one ordered till we did a little more measuring and got to see one in person. The "Dumbo" ears just knocked it out of consideration. Then we thought get the 60A2000 but decided to down size the screen a little and finally decided on a 55A2020. If you have a Fry's near you they have the 60" XBR2 for a really great price right now.

Good luck.

Jim

Jim thanks again and I appreciate the Fry's tip. They do have an excellent price unfortunately I'm not near by, but I might try to get one of my local retailers here in New England to price match. I'll let you know how things turn out as I continue to mull over my decision (so tough to determine to buy now or wait to potentially include next year's models in my decision.)

Kevin

Interesting to hear this from a long time xbr customer and definitely insightful commentary. I hear the speakers will be gone in the next model iteration, but I'm unsure if I really want to wait until the end of the year and there might not be enough difference inside (components) to justify any additional price increase.

A2000 vs the A2020? I just purchased the A2000 55" Sony SXRD 1080P.... Would the 55" A2020 Sony SXRD 1080p be heads ans shoulders better than the A2000? I am still withing my 30 day return period with Best Buy..

Thanks

^^^^ So far it looks like the only difference is the cabinet. If you have a good A2000 with no problems and are happy with it I would keep it.

Just my .02

Jim