A local store has one of these big boys in stock and a friend asked me if he should get one. It's impressive at 40" and a perfectly flat screen.
I went down to check it out and on first sight I thought the picture, over the air NTSC, looked awful. The worst of all the XBRs in the area. Fortunately I was left completely alone with the very nice and simple remote. There were more adjustments to be made than I have ever seen on a TV. After only two or three minutes I came up what I though was a perfect picture which easily exceeded the other smaller XBRs. Why don't these dealers calibrate these sets properly? I didn't see HDTV or DVD display, but imagine that it is wonderful.
The question though is, should anyone spend $3,500 on this set. While it does anamorphic and is HDTV ready and has no visible scan lines, it's still 4:3. My friend, he really does exist, hates the black area on anamorphic DVDs on a 4:3 set, yet he seems to prefer them to black lines on the side of a 4:3 picture showing on a wide screen TV.
I am in real quandry as to recommend this set. You can get a lot for $3,500 these days. If you believe digital and wide screen is not going to happen for 5+ years then I guess this is the ultimate TV.
Any thoughts?
I went down to check it out and on first sight I thought the picture, over the air NTSC, looked awful. The worst of all the XBRs in the area. Fortunately I was left completely alone with the very nice and simple remote. There were more adjustments to be made than I have ever seen on a TV. After only two or three minutes I came up what I though was a perfect picture which easily exceeded the other smaller XBRs. Why don't these dealers calibrate these sets properly? I didn't see HDTV or DVD display, but imagine that it is wonderful.
The question though is, should anyone spend $3,500 on this set. While it does anamorphic and is HDTV ready and has no visible scan lines, it's still 4:3. My friend, he really does exist, hates the black area on anamorphic DVDs on a 4:3 set, yet he seems to prefer them to black lines on the side of a 4:3 picture showing on a wide screen TV.
I am in real quandry as to recommend this set. You can get a lot for $3,500 these days. If you believe digital and wide screen is not going to happen for 5+ years then I guess this is the ultimate TV.
Any thoughts?