Sony SXRD: A2000/A2020 series (& XBR) Sorry, threads merged by mistake

[Cyclism]

Tech:

The link I provided wasn't supposed to help, it was meant to inform. Perhaps your Sony is just not good at displaying SD images, or can't display SD images to your liking.

Have you properly calibrated your set? Read this thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17713

If and when you feed it an HD source, as you have already noted, the picture quality is stunning. Most people who have watched HD say that it is almost impossible to revert back to watching SD.

If you're not happy with your new HDTV, return it. That is the best reason to ever return anything.

[COTU]

Originally Posted by TechLover

Cyclism,
Thanks for the welcome and the reply. I looked at the links, but they didn't help much. My big issue is the compression artifacts from normal Standard Definition TV. If I can't get this cleaned up, I'm taking the TV back because I just can't stand it.

I'm just wondering if:
1) there's something wrong with my specific set
2) there's some settings I can change to get rid of the artifacts
3) this is an issue with all HDTV sets on standard def (can't imagine this is the case).

I have an older panasonic 52" digital TV. It exhibits none of these problems. So I'm guessing that there's some serious upscaling issues. But I'm guessing.

You don't tell us your location, cable service provider (if any), analog or digital STB, how you're cabled to the TV, etc. etc.

Regardless of the above, if you aren't planning on getting HD sources soon, take the set back, and buy it all when you're ready.

[BCScott]

I wouldn't think twice...I'd buy it!

[TechLover]

Played with it a lot more last night. Here's my setup:

Sony 60" XBR2
Panasonic DVD progressive scan - attached in via component
DirecTV DVR (rebranded Tivo box) attached via S-Video
Broken, bent-up bunny ears (don't laugh - read below)

It's unfortunate that my Tivo box doesn't have HDMI. S-Vid is as good as I could get.

First, I got the DVD player setup so it understands that I have a wide-format TV. That really helped. It's still 480i, but at 16:9. Great picture if not just a touch grainy - expected at 60".

Then I bought a $45 s-video cable to try to help with the DirecTV setup. It didn't help. I don't understand at all why my DVD player (even though it is progressive scan) looks infinitely better than my Tivo when they are both pumping out 480i. Can anyone explain that??? I still have the nasty artifacts - especially noticible when you have white text on a darker background. Has a ton of garbage pixels around it.

Now for the interesting part - I live in Boise Idaho. Big place, but not necessarily the technology mecha of the world. I connected my bunny ears to the set via the RF connector. I set the TV to auto-scan for local channels (to get the Fiesta bowl on Fox). Low-and-behold, it started stating that it found many digital channels. Upon checking, I'm getting about five 1080i and two 720p channels. I was mesmerized. This is why I bought the TV. And my wife - from Oklahoma - was extatic that she'll be watching her team on 720p.

If anyone cares to comment, what the lady at circuit city told me was this:
if you buy a 1080p set, you are going to get a really bad 480i broadcast picture unless you buy an upconverter. I'm an engineer and I see several holes in this story, but maybe I just don't have the whole picture. Anyone care to comment? Would pumping my 480i from my Tivo through an upconverter get rid of all the decompression artifacts I'm seeing???

PLEASE COMMENT - I still need to decide whether or not to take this set back. I'm totally in love with the 720p and 1080i images, so I'm thinking of just living with it - but would sure love to figure out a way of making my day-to-day viewing (which is about 90% 480i over the DirecTV channels) nicer.

Thanks!!!

[hugh]

techlover,

It sounds like you've tried everything. S-Video is going to give you about the best signal for your DVR.

My experience is that some sets do a good job with SD (standard definition) signals and some don't.

IF SD is 90% of your tv viewing and you're unhappy then my advice is to take the set back and find one that is acceptable to you.

Most of us around here just refuse to watch SD anymore regardless of the set!

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

DVD image ... 348,000 pixels ... roughly.
CAble/Sat SD material ... 230,000 pixels ... roughly.

Both are 480i ...

Lots of things are 480i, but not all are the same. VHS is 480i too ... so is laserdisc ...

Only the infusion of 1 trillion dollars (or more) will fix your problem. New satellites ... new equipment for all the TV stations out there ... new cable pipelines in the ground with more bandwidth ... etc.


Regards

[daz-man]

How do you like the 60" would you go for the 70"?

[300sflyer]

So far so good.

Would I go for the 70"? Not likely. You need a BIG room for that TV, and not to mention a big wallet! The 60" is enough for me in both instances.

[PVR4Me]

I don't have a Tivo, let alone your model, but they do have a setting that trades off the number of hours that can be recorded v. the quality of the recording. If you are recording at the lowest quality, that might explain the artifacts on display.

Tivo Quality settings

Craig

[SonyWE610Owner]

Originally Posted by Michael TLV

Only the infusion of 1 trillion dollars (or more) will fix your problem. New satellites ... new equipment for all the TV stations out there ... new cable pipelines in the ground with more bandwidth ... etc.


Regards

That's too funny (but partly true). Cheers!

[duber]

I have a KDS-R60XBR2 a month old.

I called the same technician that replaced the optical block for KDS-R60XBR1 of my girlfriend 5 months ago.

He will replace my optical block because I have a big purple spot surrounding by green color at the mid right area of the screen plus redish color on top and bottom of the screen.

Sony consider that problem to be normal up to half an hour.
The effect is still visible after an hour on grey screen.
And even after 5 hours if you pay attention you can see it a little bit.

Me I bougth a 5 years waranty for $375.00 + tax at the Brick.

[300sflyer]

Duber,

If the issues you described are with the XBR2 that is just 1 month old, I dont have a warm feeling about mine. Can you post a picture of it?

Thanks

[duber]

Yes, the problem I don't know how to insert an image in a thread. When I do INSERT IMAGE it's asking me a URL !!!!

[300sflyer]

You need to upload your pics to a site like photobucket. Then you copy and paste the URL to the thread.

http://photobucket.com/

[duber]

Thank you I will do it tonight or tomorow.