Sony KDS-R60XBR2 60-Inch SXRD 1080p XBR Rear Projection HDTV | 
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| Brand: Sony
Category: CE
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 26802
Color: Silver/Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Display Size: 60
Shipping Weight (lbs): 112.4
Dimensions (in): 20.6 x 67 x 40.6
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: KDS-R60XBR2
Model: KDS-R60XBR2
UPC: 027242697805
EAN: 0027242697805
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| Features:
| • | Full HD(1920 x 1080) Picture Resolution with SXRD Panel | | • | 3 SXRD Panels(R/G/B), over 2 Million Pixels Each | | • | Contrast Ratio up to 10000:1 with Advanced Iris | | • | 1080p Input, HDMI x3 (1080p) & Front Component (1080p) | | • | Full Digital Signal Processing with WEGA Engine HD. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Bigger, brighter and better than ever, the KDS-R60XBR2 redefines the high-definition 1080p experience with stunning detail and clarity.SXRD??? television meets the XBR?? heritage.Since 1984, Sony has awarded the XBR?? designation to televisions with our highest performance, most advanced features and most sophisticated styling. Over the years, the XBR Series has convinced even the most skeptical magazine reviewers, won over the most jaded industry professionals, and dazzled the most discriminating owners. The exalted position comes as no surprise. For decades, Sony has led not only in television, but also in professional video. For example, broadcast professionals depend on Sony monitors for critical evaluation of TV picture focus, contrast, exposure and color. Unsurpassed in the world, this expertise has always been reflected in the engineering of XBR television. Today's SXRD??? Grand WEGA??? televisions carry this proud tradition forward. If you want the inside story on what distinguishes an XBR television, you've come to the right place. Here we'll take a look at how SXRD XBR televisions deliver a High Definition experience above and beyond the ordinary.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Best Rear Projection Television October 27, 2006
146 out of 150 found this review helpful
I originally had a Rear Projection Panasonic LCD 50" television. I had this TV for around 3 years, and was extremely happy with it, but decided I wanted a larger television and something capable of 1080p and that had HDMI inputs. When I first obtained the Panasonic television I didn't notice any ghosting or rainbow effects, but within a year of watching TV I noticed many of it's flaws, which was another factor that made me decide to upgrade. So began my search of the "perfect TV" as of this writing (middle October 2006). Starting at the beginning of October I started reading any and every review I could find on televisions, Plasma, LCD, RPLCD, RPDLP, LCoS, and their variants. I didn't want/need a front projector, so that eliminated those sources of entertainment.
First I wanted to compare brightness, as my television is in my living room and in a fairly bright area during the day, but most of the light comes from behind the TV, and not directly on it's face. The Panasonic held up well to the years of use, and the brightness was decent, but I preferred something a bit brighter. I also preferred something a bit smaller in depth, but this wasn't a key factor I wanted. Here are the key factors I wanted in a television:
1. 60" - I have been used to a 50" and wanted something just a bit larger. I sit the ideal distance for a 60" 7-10 feet from the TV, so this would be the best size.
2. 720/1080p - I preferred to get a TV with 1080p support since that is where the HD content is heading, and I wanted to be able to handle all new video inputs. This was absolute, but preferred it. If the best TV came down to 720p then I would still get that TV.
3. HDMI - My Panasonic didn't have HDMI, and I wanted the new TV to handle at least two HDMI inputs.
4. Built in HD Decoder for both Over the Air and Cable HD - I currently have Sat, but don't get HD with it, and I can get 6 HD channels over the air, and wanted a TV capable of decoding those signals.
5. Decent computer connection - I have a HTPC, and many people connect a PC with a DVI -> HDMI connection and don't realize that the computer usually generates overscan, causing the picture generated by the computer to be roughly 8-10% over the display of the TV. Most newer video cards and updated drivers can help adjust the picture to fit better, and some cards work better than others, but my ATI card does has the ability to adjust and it works very well with HD televisions and the simple adjustments found the in the computer drivers.
5. Price - I really wanted to stay below $4000, but was willing to spend $5000, namely because I was getting $1500 back for my old TV, and that helped with the "upgrade" cost. I of course would spend less, but this helped me dump the most expensive TVs, but also allowed me to pick almost every TV they had at the popular stores.
So other than that I wasn't picky, but wanted a good looking picture for both SD and HD, thus began the search. Now in looking I quickly eliminated MANY televisions from reviews, namely ones I was able to see the rainbow effect in person. I went to all the stores I could (Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, HH Gregg, etc) to compare the pictures and not to determine a model, but to eliminate as many as I could and get a manageable list of televisions to narrow down a selection. The list eliminated almost every RP DLP televisions, except for one of the Samsung models, which I didn't notice the rainbow effect, but did notice the "screen door" on it. I kept a couple of the DLP models on the list to compare and at least read reviews so I then went to LCD televisions, and of course the shortcoming here was the size. Currently 46" was the largest with 50"ish coming soon from Sharp, but still it was around the same size at the one I currently had, and a 60" was what I wanted, but again took the top best looking models of LCD. Next Plasma, now the drawback here is the fact that 1080p isn't widely in the specifications of many of the TVs. In fact I only found one by Pioneer, one of their Pro models with 1080p, but cost was a major factor in not really wanting that TV, but again wrote down the models that looked best to me, and eliminated the ones that didn't look as good.
Now in the process of picking the TV, I asked many of the stores to make sure they had the same connection going to the TV, and I took my favorite DVD's with me to the stores (and it was like pulling teeth to get them to connect a DVD player to the TVs and almost ALL the stores, but I eventually got the manager to approve it and help me at most of the stores, since I was willing to spend up to $5000). This helped as MANY of the TVs looked different when hooking up the DVD player to the TV than it did with the signal they had going to the TV.
So, on to the reviews, I searched and searched and compared MANY of last years models reviews with this years models and reviews. I found none on the KDS-R60XBR2, but MANY on the XBR1. I was lucky that an HH Gregg had a XBR1 and XBR2 on the floor, and they were next to each other. Comparing the two I did notice that the XBR2 had a better picture, a bit brighter, and decent colors. I also took in to account that the XBR1 was probably there a bit longer than the XBR2, and that the bulb probably was a bit dimmer compared to the newer bulb of the XBR2, but did notice that the picture overall looked better.
Now everything I read online gives WONDERFUL marks for the XBR1, and many "choice" awards from the various magazines and online sights. So my next step was to compare the XBR2 with all the other models (Plasma, LCD, etc) that I could to determine the best picture. Now this is all in the eyes of the beholder, but the HD picture on the XBR2 was MUCH better than on DLP models, but a few did come close, but in my mind the XBR2 edged them out. Next I compared Plasma to it. The Plasma's did look a bit better, with a bright picture, but comparing the dark areas of the pictures; I could see the increased contrast ratio of the XBR2, and the better quality of the image over the brightness, so I moved this up the list. Next on to the LCD televisions. This was a hard decision. Size was smaller, and pictures were amazing on the LCD, bright, crisp and easy to see. The contrast compared well, and many of the LCD TVs had a better picture overall and great blacks, but I also took in to account the size of the screen. The 46" screen shows the 1080p image at a smaller size than the 60", so the pixels are overall smaller in size (same amount of pixels), and so the pixels were larger on the 60" model. I stepped back to my viewing distance and compared, and the 60" model seemed to have more detail.
The more I read about this is simple. Once you move to a certain distance from the TV, you start to loose some of the detail. This is why if you sit far enough back from a TV 1080p and 720p don't really look much different. Now when comparing a TV 46" and 60" you have to look at your distance. Since I sit around 8 feet on average (depending on the chair), a 60" model with 1080p would give me that detail bonus over a 720p, as well as the size difference between a 46" and 60".
So after comparing EVERYTHING, reviews online, product samples at stores, and just plain seeing too many TVs with my own eyes, I narrowed it down to the XBR2.
So I guess enough about my 3 week process, now the TV. It arrived, and especially with Sony's $500 price reduction it makes the price $3799, instead of the $4299, so price matching made it even better. I put it in the old location and turned it on, and was presented with the setup menu, and completed it without a problem and was presented with snow, as I didn't have any sources connected. Next I connected my HD over the air antenna (30 miles from the HD sources) and this was done with a DB4 model antenna. I then connected to my TV, and did the auto setup, and I received 13 channels digitally, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, and sub channels for each (namely 6 PBS channels). The pictures were AMAZING. Just as good as in the store.
The XBR2 no longer has a memory card slot, but no big deal, as I have a Home Theater PC and can view all the pictures I want on the TV with it. The color was a bit off from the factory and the image was "bright", especially on the red side. I took my DVD adjustment disc and tweaked on the colors for about an hour and with the wonderful MANY adjustments this TV has I got the "best" color for me and my viewing experience. The color reproduction was great, especially after I tweaked it. I pulled the red in a lot, but it was still on the "bright" side, but very acceptable.
I have a XBOX 360 and the HD content with it is amazing as well, extremely clear and no screen door or rainbow effects. The TV is a bit large in size, but it still fits very well on the same table I used for my 50". The Twin View (PiP) works well, BUT you can only have one HD content on the screen, so you can pick ANY HD signal to display on the left, and SD signal on the right. You switch audio just by pressing left or right and a green box surrounds that picture and lets the audio go to the audio output. Now since I have my receiver, I do the audio switching with it, but it works very well with audio inputs going to it from the TV. The other nice thing about Twin View is the fact you can re-size an input. You just select that input and then press up or down, and it resizes both inputs opposite of each other.
Inputs are abundant, with 3 full 1080p HDMI inputs. This is unique as most other TVs have only 1080i HDMI inputs, and then upscale to 1080p. Now I know of no available devices that output in 1080p, as they decode from 1080p to 1080i and then the TV upscales to 1080p, this detail isn't noticeable, but I wanted to have the ability for 1080p when HD DVD and Blu-Ray was available with 1080p outputs to have that little bit of greater detail.
The audio output includes both analog (composite/Red&White) and Optical. The optical is great for HD output and the sound output is great. Although I don't use the speakers on the side of the TV, I do test them out before disabling them and sound was good for speakers attached to a TV. The "reproduction" 3D sound was decent, but no match for a surround system. The main problem is the 60" doesn't allow the speakers to be removed, so you have to put up with a wider TV than what you would with no speakers on the side, or with speakers on the bottom. "Sony Style" as they call it, doesn't make this look bad, but it makes the TV larger than as a whole than it would without them, or if they were removable.
Now the Sony A2000 TV is built on the same engine, but this is a better model, and I have done side by side comparison of the models. The A2000 has the speakers under the screen, so that is nice, but the A2000 doesn't have Twin View (PiP), which is one reason I went with the more expensive model, and the picture was noticeably better.
The XBR2 is a bit heavier in weight than most at around 115 pounds, but it's still lighter than most CRT TV's. The tuners on the back of the TV are nice, as they can have cable AND over the air signals brought in with two cables, so you can pull in over the air HD and still have cable connected and pull in signals from it. It has a CableCard input, so when/if the FCC mandate continues; you can still get the CableCard from your cable company and not have a setup box.
The remote is decent and the layout is easy to use, and took me around 2 days to get used to before I could hit many of the buttons without looking.
Changing channels on HD is fast, and is actually faster than most televisions I tested, and switching between SD and HD is faster than most, and if you have seen the delay many of the TVs have, you will be thankful for the speed in which this changes. It's not like watching SD on your old CRT, but it's fast when comparing it to other HD TVs.
The design, it just looks good. It has a polished black bezel around the screen and the TV just looks nice sitting there. Many TVs just look ugly, but this looks nice.
As far as drawbacks, as with all HD TVs, SD signals aren't as nice as they are on your CRT TV, but they with the special chip that Sony has in the TV, the SD signal on the XBR2 looks better than on my old 50" Panasonic and I don't mind watching SD on it, but HD looks amazing.
Personally if you are looking for a TV that produces great images, and has all the features that you could want in this generation TV. The only drawback many people will have is that it's not a "flat" TV, where an LCD or Plasma would work for them, this TV has one of the best pictures out of the MANY that I compared and researched.
Comparison of the Sony KDS-R60XBR2 and Sony KDS-60A2000 January 1, 2007
47 out of 51 found this review helpful
This review covers the Sony KDS-R60XBR2 and Sony KDS-60A2000.
I first heard rumors about Sony's new XBR2 and A2000 product lines in spring 2006, when considering the replacement of a 25 year old RCA 25" console TV. I decided to delay the purchase of a new TV until the Sony KDS-R60XBR2 was available locally, so that I could see first-hand how the TV compared to other models. In that time frame I looked at several different TV models with great interest, but always found one or two limitations that kept the TV from being ideal. The greatest limitations of the TVs were limited viewing angle and either no support to display 1080p or an inability to feed a 1080p signal to the TV.
Two months ago I had the opportunity to see a Sony KDS-60A2000 up close in a local store, and compared its picture with those of LCD, plasma, and DLP sets. From just about any angle, the KDS-60A2000 picture was brighter and easier to view than any other TV on display. Some of the other TVs suffered from screen door effect (I never understood why this was objectionable until I compared the picture to that displayed on the KDS-60A2000), slow screen refreshes, and "blocky" or blurry pictures. None of these problems were present in the KDS-60A2000 picture. Failing to find a KDS-R60XBR2 to compare, I visited another local store that advertised the KDS-R60XBR2 on their website. The KDS-R60XBR2 was in stock at the second store, even though it was currently unavailable for sale as of that time on Amazon. It only took one look at the picture quality of the KDS-R60XBR2, playing back a movie from a DVD, to be convinced that the TV was perfect, and that it would squeeze through the entry door with about 1/16" to spare.
On December 24, 2006 I placed an order with Amazon for a Sony KDS-60A2000, which was to be given as a late Christmas present to my parents. Much to my surprise, the TV arrived at one of the Eagle shipping company's hubs on December 29, which is located about 70 miles from its final destination, but by the shipping company's schedule, the TV would not have been delivered until January 2 (January 2 was still a week earlier than expected). Eagle permitted me to pick up the TV at their hub and take it to its final destination.
How do the KDS-R60XBR2 and the KDS-60A2000 compare?
Both TVs offer the same exceptional picture quality, and clearly highlight the need to transition to high definition digital broadcasts. The KDS-R60XBR2 was tested with over-the-air analog and digital broadcasts, as well as with a seven year old Sony DVD player. The KDS-60A2000 was tested with over-the-air analog and digital broadcasts, standard definition cable, and a new Sony DVD player. Both TVs display exceptional quality high definition 1080i and 720p as well as 480i digital broadcasts, even when the analog versions of those channels showed excessive ghosting to the point that the analog version was impossible to view (this was primarily a problem with analog stations located within 30 miles, and was a problem on the older TVs as well). The Sony DVD players were connected using component cables (three for video, two for sound). Even on fast action scenes, the picture quality was very good, although the lower resolution of the DVD playback, compared to the over the air 1080i and 720p digital signals, was very obvious. This may have to do with the sharpness of the picture, compared to other TVs that provide a slightly blurry image which covers up the limitations of the lower resolutions. Standard definition cable playback on the KDS-60A2000 looked OK, but not impressive - the same can be said for over-the-air analog broadcasts on both TVs. As far as I can tell, the picture quality of the two TVs is identical, and even the same image customization features are available on both TVs.
Differences: The KDS-R60XBR2 ships with a remote that has a brushed aluminum finish, while the remote for the other TV is a matte gray color. The remote for the KDS-R60XBR2 includes one additional button (twin view) and has another button labeled "TV Guide", while the corresponding button on the other remote is labeled "Guide" - theses differences hint at important differences in the two TVs. The twin view button allows an analog TV signal to appear in a window at the right of the screen, with either a digital or analog picture to appear in a window at the left of the screen - the size of the windows can be scaled larger or smaller. Twin view is not an option on the KDS-60A2000. Pressing the "TV Guide" button on the remote for the KDS-R60XBR2 displays a listing of scheduled programming for specifically defined TV channels for several days, as well as a small window that shows the picture for the current TV channel. The TV Guide can be used to search for specific program titles or program descriptions, and then set reminders on the TV to optionally display a message on the TV, tune it to the correct channel and/or turn on the TV just prior to the start of the show. Descriptions of each show appear in the TV Guide as a program is selected - this can make it slow to navigate through the TV Guide, as the TV tends to pause when long program descriptions appear on screen. Pressing the "Guide" button on the KDS-60A2000 does not display the same TV Guide screen as seen on the other TV. Instead a simple listing of all channel numbers is provided, along with a means of selecting alternate audio broadcasts; a long description of the current program and time remaining appears on screen when a channel is selected on the KDS-60A2000, while the other TV just shows the program title and time remaining.
The input capabilities of the two TVs differ slightly as well. The KDS-R60XBR2 offers one additional input. The front HDMI input on the KDS-R60XBR2 supports 1080p, while the same front input on the KDS-60A2000 supports 1080i. The VGA style video connector (used for computer connections) on the KDS-R60XBR2 supports up to 1280x1024 at 75Hz or 1920x1080 at 60Hz, while the KDS-60A2000 is limited to maximum video resolutions roughly equivalent to 720p. With the speakers at the side, the KDS-R60XBR2 appears to provide a more distinct stereo separation between left and right channels, than does the speaker configuration on the KDS-60A2000, which places the speakers below the picture. The speaker configuration on the KDS-R60XBR2 also gives the possibly unintentional illusion that the picture size is larger. The KDS-R60XBR2 includes a free replacement bulb, while the other TV does not. A cable card slot is present on the KDS-R60XBR2, while no such slot is available on the other TV.
Both TVs offer several highly desirable features, some of which are disabled by default. Automatic control of volume levels when switching from one channel to the next is very helpful. Both TVs can simulate surround sound, to some extent, using just the two stereo speakers. The menu system is easy to navigate, although it would be nice to have a button on the remote to quickly switch between antenna and cable input (two separate jacks are provided on the back, one for cable, and one for over-the-air broadcasts).
Not everything is perfect. It seems to take 30 to 60 seconds for the TV to turn on. Switching between the digital and analog tuners seems slow, when using the channel up/down button on the remote. The number of cascading menus needed to navigate to the digital channel discovery section (and diagnostics) seems excessive. Digital channels are sometimes discovered on their physical channel, rather than their mapped channel - this seems to be dependent on the direction of the antenna when the digital channel is discovered. For example, the digital versions of channel 8, which should appear on 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 were discovered on 7.3, 7.4, and 7.5 and could not be discovered on their correctly mapped channels without completely re-running the analog and digital channel discovery process. If a digital channel is incorrectly added, there is no way to add specific channels, for example 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3, to the channel up/down selector on the remote. The software controlling the TV Guide on the KDS-R60XBR2 still needs a bit of work. The search feature sometimes fails to locate shows by partial program title - it might find a program on one PBS station, but miss the same show title on two or three other PBS stations. Long delays may be experienced when navigating through the program listings. Not all station call letters that can be received are included in the available call letters list, and there is no way to manually enter a station's call letters; manually specifying a different station's call letters assignment for a channel just as a place holder in TV Guide causes those call letters to incorrectly appear at the top right of the screen when the channel is tuned in using the remote, over-riding the correct call letters that had appeared on screen. Digital channels that could not be discovered on the correctly mapped channels can be added to TV Guide in the correctly mapped location.
Even with the minor imperfections, I am very impressed with both TVs. The KDS-60A2000 is perfect for people who just wish to watch TV, while the KDS-R60XBR2 throws in several extras to expand the potential TV experience.
Best DLP HDTV by far. Way better than expected!! January 4, 2007
49 out of 56 found this review helpful
I just purchased the Sony KDS-R60XBR2.
I'm extremely pleased and want to share my observations along with a few tough lessons with other buyers.
I had several criteria and did months of research and shopping.
When all was said and done, here's what it came down to:
1) no hotspot issue, which was critical for a rear screen TV (see below)
2) excellent picture quality from a variety of viewing angles,
3) large enough screen size(s) available.
4) plenty of inputs, I knew I would need at least 3 HDMI for the future
5) 3 separate DLP chips for each of the red-green-blue colors.
From watching demos in stores and talking with other users,
other manufacturers that use a color wheel would not be acceptable.
6) True 1080p display and input capability.
7) looked good enough that it wouldn't overwhelm the living room.
Now that I have it, the only words that come to mind are:
"This is way, WAY better than I ever expected."
and "Maybe I should have bought the 70 inch model..."
Several factors led me to purchase the Sony.
-- Larger display for standard TV signals:
I wanted a large TV, big enough so that a standard TV signal would be at least as big if not larger than my current 36" regular (NTSC) TV.
In case you're wondering, one of the trade-offs with the new widescreen TVs is that standard TV has to fit into the middle of the bigger screen. So even if the screen is 46", you might find that the image for regular TV signals is about the same or possibly smaller even though the screen size is technically bigger.
With that in mind, and several trips to stores with a measuring tape, I determined that I needed at least 55" for a widescreen to show standard TV signals larger than my current 36" TV. Something around 60-70" would be best.
-- NO HOT SPOT!
The other ABSOLUTELY key factor in choosing the Sony over every other manufacturer deals with the never discussed "hotspot" on the screens, a consistent and huge problem which appears in all other rear projection TVs I've seen.
Even the salespersons I spoke to admit it's not solved by anyone but Sony.
I don't know why this is such a TABOO subject because it's so obvious and annoying.
If you're not familiar with the "hotspot" (which some people also call "lensing"), go find a rear projection TV and walk up close, say about 3 feet away. Then move your head up and down 1-2 feet, and you will see a very discernible bright band that moves along with your head. You might look like a bird moving your head up and down several feet, but as soon as you try this you will be instantly educated on this problem.
Since this is dealing with brightness, try this out with a TV with a bright scene. It's not going to show up on a dark shot. I found bright TV commercials and similar brightly lit scenes to be the best test material. I also found some store personnel who purposely ran "dark" movies so the hotspot issue wasn't so visible.
Fortunately, the further you are away from the screen, the less obvious this problem becomes, but it's still unacceptable from all the other manufacturers.
Every other rear screen projection TV that I saw had this problem, and it was a "deal killer" for me. I would never purchase a TV that had this kind of "hotspot" because it's like looking into a car headlight every time you watch the TV.
On the other hand, the Sony had essentially done away with the hotspot.
After getting back about five feet, only the Sony models had the hotspot disappear.
Plus, the side-to-side picture quality also was the best compared to all other manufacturers, meaning people could sit at a variety of positions and still have a good, bright picture.
I don't know why the other companies can't figure this out, but Sony has them beat hands down. If you don't want a Sony, you're only option to avoid the "hotspot" issue is to get a true flat screen like a plasma, LED, etc. or else you will have this headlight in your face as long as you own the TV.
-- Other Lesson and Info:
A couple of important points and lessons I learned are that nothing
I saw in any stores has anything to do with the actual picture I see
now that it's in my house.
As far as I can tell, all the stores are in cahoots with companies like DirecTV, which has terrible signal quality. Everywhere I went, the images shown in stores were abysmal and completely misleading. Plus the store lighting and glare on the screens makes comparisons impossible.
-- Don't use the factory video settings, especially DRC!
The second most important factor is to make sure the TV has the correct video settings.
For reasons I'll never understand, none of the manufacturers ship their TVs with any TV settings even remotely close to "right". I've helped several neighbors and family members, and this has been a consistent problem regardless of who makes the TV.
In fact, there's a whole industry of people who come to your house for $300+ just to set the TV to the correct settings!
Unfortunately, Sony is no exception. My new Sony had 3 key controls set to the absolute
worst possible settings on delivery. Once I turned them off, the picture quality literally doubled or quadrupled in resolution and other factors.
In case you're wondering, the biggest problem is the DRC setting, or as Sony inappropriately calls it "Digital Reality Creation".
What a piece of junk. They should just make the TV without this circuit since it's completely useless and actually degrades the signal. By the way, Home Theater Magazine had an article which also confirmed this should be "off" among other settings.
Assuming you purchase a Sony, set every video input to "custom".
Turn DRC completely OFF. Set your color to "warm 2", Gamma should be something like "medium" or "low"; and sharpness should be set to zero.
Just about all the controls that are supposed to fix problems like "noise reduction" should be set to "low" or completely "off". Don't ask me what the Sony engineers are thinking, but every time I turned these controls to higher settings, the picture either didn't change much, or more often got noticeably worse.
-- Separate video input memory, a great feature!
One of the great things about the Sony is that every video input has its own separate "video settings memory". This is a huge plus when getting signals off the air, from satellite, DVD, and a variety of other sources since you will want to have them set up differently.
It's really important to read the manual's information on the settings to get your TV to look its best.
If you are unfamiliar with these controls, find a friend who can help you puzzle this out and get one of the good calibration DVDs. There are a LOT of controls on the Sony, and you will need to change almost all the factory defaults to get the best picture. When in doubt, set them to off or low.
One of the nice things is that as you change the controls, the TV instantly updates the picture so you can see what the control is doing. Fortunately most of the basic controls like picture, brightness, color, are actually set to pretty reasonable settings and I found little need to adjust them.
One area where Sony could improve would be for direct access to video inputs. Maybe I'm missing something since the set is new for me, but but with 9 possible video inputs it does take time to cycle through them to get to the one you want. The Sony does have a nice feature where you can set unused inputs to "skip". Maybe there's a way that I can directly go from "video 1" to "video 5", but I haven't seen it yet. This is a minor nuisance, and they do have the ability to name each input with a variety of sensible names like "DVD" and "satellite" et cetera. So this is a mix of good and so-so features.
-- Viewing distance:
One other note: I've seen various charts and advice saying that for a certain size TV you need to sit a certain distance away. Basically, by sitting far away you can't see flaws and problems that are otherwise apparent when sitting closer, which when you think about it isn't exactly high praise.
Now that I have the TV in my house, I've found these guidelines to be inaccurate and overly cautious, at least for the Sony I purchased.
With the Sony, the picture quality is so good and clear that I can easily sit closer than recommended, or I could have purchased a larger set and not have any viewing problems. However, because other sets have the hotspot and other issues this only applies to the Sony.
-- Import delivery information!
I had a really important problem with shipping and damage. I almost got stuck with a completely destroyed TV set. Here's the story:
My original purchase was delivered in November. The delivery guys were helpful and everything seemed okay. After they took the TV out of the box and put it in my living room, they took the cardboard away and there were only two 8x11 yellow sheets of paper taped to the TV screen with information about extended warranties and lamp replacement. The delivery guys were in their truck about to drive away when I removed one of the yellow sheets of paper.
Guess what? A gigantic hole had been punched completely through the screen and tore through the projection screen behind it; all covered up behind the paper taped to the screen!
I literally ran out my door and caught them as they started to drive away.
Fortunately, they were nice guys, and returned to the house. They were just as astounded as I was, and they never doubted me because they had seen the paper taped over the area of the hole themselves.
They called their dispatch and described the problem, and fortunately they took the set back with them and I got a temporary refund until a new set arrived.
As the delivery men pointed out, something very strange was going on. There was absolutely no damage to the TV box, and the piece of paper over the gaping hole itself had not one single crinkle or twist, while the glass and screen behind was completely destroyed.
Plus, what are the chances that this piece of paper would be taped exactly over the hole, just by sheer coincidence on a giant 60" screen?
I don't know if this was something from Sony, something suspicious along the way from the factory, or what; but I sure learned a lesson, which was absolutely and thoroughly check the TV before letting the delivery guys go.
If I wasn't a fast runner, I'd be stuck with a completely destroyed TV and held accountable for the hole in the screen.
Fortunately, when the second TV showed up it was in perfect condition, so in the end everything is okay.
I'm delighted with the TV, and the damaged delivery is a bad memory.
-- Get a good upscaling DVD player, shop carefully.
One other issue of interest is that the TV's ability to accept external high-definition signals. I've tested a few "upscaling" DVD players (sometimes called up-res players), and they produce far superior pictures compared to the TV's own internal process.
I'm currently using the Oppo brand DVD player I got from Amazon.
It has some of the best upscaling circuitry, and at $220 it's one of the biggest bargains in TV/electronics I've seen. The picture from this DVD player (running standard DVDs) is so close to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray you wouldn't believe it.
I do have a couple of minor complaints about the Oppo, but in terms of picture quality on my Sony it's almost beyond belief (good!).
Some up converting DVD players are obviously better than others, so be sure to shop carefully because it makes a huge difference on how the DVD appears on your TV.
I'm tremendously satisfied with the Sony TV and heartily recommend it to anyone.
Great TV, Great Value February 23, 2007
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
I bought this TV from Amazon about one month ago and have used it for watching a variety of programming (both HD and SD) and gaming.
I did a fairly substantial amount of research on HDTVs and basically learned that, until OLED or SED become commercial, there's not a "perfect" solution. Each technology has its own inherent advantages and disadvantages, and each company has its own ideas about implementation of those technologies and differentiating features.
To my eye, I found that this TV had the best overall "picture quality" of any that I examined - although picture quality is a subjective measure, and different people are put-off by different components. I'm annoyed by the muddiness of DLPs (introduced by wobulation - not sure if there's a "true" 1080 / non-wobulated DLP out there - TI didn't feature one on their website, as far as I could find, although technology evolves), the visible pixels on plasma, which I see at even reasonable viewing distances, and the various LCD issues. This TV has vivid colors that need to be toned down from the stock settings, excellent contrast, superior sharpness, and pixels that aren't easily visible (you can see them from 2 - 3" away but that's a little close for normal viewing).
However, there are trade-offs: some DLPs allegedly can reproduce "reference standard" color, as can some plasma, and both plasma and LCD have a far more elegant form factor. I found the JVC SXRD-equivalent (HD-ILA) to be inferior to my eye, appearing not as sharp displaying the same material, although whether inherent in the display or due to poorer video processing from inferior source material I don't know. There is a minor "silk-screen" effect, inherent in all rear-projectors, but it doesn't bother me - I prefer it to the grid on plasma, for example.
I have found the Sony video processing to be excellent - of course, the quality of the source material is exposed because the TV can't "make up" missing information - but so far, I haven't found an upconverting DVD player to be necessary (might be nice, of course). SD and some DVD material on TVs with inferior video processing looks REALLY bad, so this is something that's worth evaluating carefully. If you are using a standard-def console for gaming, game mode is necessary - there is a lag from the processing that is noticeable, despite what CNET said.
The feature set is rich, with many inputs, all of which are easy to access. Each input carries its own settings, too, so you can optimize one for cable, one for gaming, one for DVD, one for HDDVD/BluRay etc. The VGA input seems to work fine with my video card, but your mileage here may vary. I've read different reports. The only issue with the inputs is a lack of random access; you have to cycle through, and there are 9 of them.
If you can tolerate 20" of depth (about the same as a 27" old-school CRT) - and if extreme-angle viewing, particularly vertical, isn't an issue, I would recommend this unit without reservation. One other caveat is that, because this is a rear-projector, there is a warm-up cycle - it doesn't just flick on, it takes a few seconds to turn on and a few minutes to warm up. I've heard that the guys who optimize these things wait at least 30 minutes for the set to warm before jimmying with the settings, but I've found it viewable after 2 or 3 minutes.
Oh yeah - the Amazon ordering process was easy, and the price was right. Stay away from big-box retail unless they're running a special; specialty retail might have some value in terms of educated sales force etc., but big-box is both useless and expensive.
cdg
Amazing Picture ! October 24, 2006
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
I disagree with the review below , I was waiting for this TV since it was announced and bought it as soon as it went on sale , The picture is amazing , had 10 friends over for Monday night football , all agreed it was the best HD picture they have seen , Xbox 360 looks stunning , Reg digi cable looks Ok .. But we all know how that goes ... 3 HDMI full 108P inputs, PC input, TV looks sexy , side speakers not used but do not look bad at all. This has to be the finest HDTV out today with non of the drawbacks of DLP or LCD .. It is very bright out of the box, so please use a calibrating DVD to get the perfect picture , comes with a Spare Bulb for free also .. I cant wait to swatch Blu Ray and HD-DVDs on this thing
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