[Tigerriot]

Finally, after all this talk and speculation, I found an actual 60" XS955 at of all places Best Buy yesterday. They had it all set up with a high def feed showing their usual promo stuff.



First off, I love the physical look of the set. It doesn't quite have the regal look of the XBR but it's on par with that set ovearall. The remote was the same as all the others. The screen was very similar to the WE610 and WE655 in that it was nice and unreflective, unlike the very reflective XBR model. This will probably be very welcome news to those who were worried about this.


As for the performance I have to say I came away slightly dissapointed. First off the color blue on the set all screwy. Everything that was suppose to be blue was green. Not just sort of green but truly a pastel green. I checked out the settings in the user menu and everything was fine so I can't explain it but I sure hope they're not all like that or people are going to be foreced into getting an ISF calibration done immediately.


I'm guessing it was an isolated problem but we'll all find out soon enough. As for the true performance I can honestly say that the set appeared to perform similarly to Sony's other LCD Projection sets. The XS955 may have handled things a touch more smoothly as it seemed like you could view the set up close a little better than the other LCD Projections on the market. Meaning that if you stood 4 feet away things had a pretty smooth appearance to them unlike most LCD Projetions that will look pixelated up close. Detail also seemed quite good. A wee bit better than previous sets. However, in the end the set just seemed to look a lot like Sony's other LCD Projection sets. Basically there wasn't any great performance breakthrough that many of us were hoping for. I think there is no doubt the XS model is an upgrade from the WE and WF models but it's just not huge.



So, in the end I believe I would still give the overall performance nod to the XBR950 when it comes to LCD Projection performance. The XS offers a great alternative though and the price is fantastic. Best Buy has the 60" XS model priced near the retail price of the 55" model!

 

[Kid Red]

That was BB. I went and they had 20 TV hooked up in a row, with all of them hooked up to a row of jacks. The last 5 sets all had no red. The guy explained when they wired all the jacks, they installers missed the red. Everythin was behind their big shelves so I guess it will be a while til it gets fixed. So to hear you story about green being blue, sounds like their connections are reversed on the jacks.

 

[Tigerriot]

Well, the odd thing was the XS955 was the only set on the wall with the blue color problem. The DLP right next to it was showing blue perfectly.

 

[mklaessy]

Maybe they switched the blue and green component cables when they hooked it up. Since it was probably fresh out of the box yesterday before you saw it, they might not have noticed/figured out the problem.

 

[jjdenver]

I saw the 60" XS last night right next to a 55" WF655 at Circuit City. Their display area is pretty bright, and they were running some sort of feed showing body builders. It was difficult to see any difference between the PQ of the XS and the WF with that feed under those conditions - they both looked good but both also looked like they needed some adjustments to improve the darker areas on the screen.


With only a $300-$400 difference in price between the XS and the WF, I would think that PQ differences are going to be subtle. I personally prefer the simpler styling of the WF but the XS does look pretty cool, and it has those extra UM tweaks and the 2nd HDMI port, and those differences alone may be worth the extra $$$.

 

[Razor(Blades)]

Not to mention the stand is effing sweet. Anyone get an idea what the market price is for the stand? I'm definately going to pick up this TV as soon as it becomes available. I've been told that all of the retail stores start their christmas time price protection now or soon.. price gaurenteed until jan 31st is pretty sick.

 

[TheMostToyzWins]

Picked up a new KDF-60XS955 last night. So far I'm very impressed. Need to spend some time tweaking, but overall I'd highly recommend it.


BTW, no color problems, OOTB picture quality was better than expected.