New Sony SXRD

Anyone have any opinions on Sony's new line of SXRD sets?

Model number KDS XXA2000 where XX is screen size - 50, 55, or 60.

Cheers.

We have 60" version. Saw it at circuit city and bought at Sears for their warranty, delivery etc. [We live far away from circuit city/best buy etc.]
Great television. It blew out of the water comparisons with DLP, LCD. SXRD technology is "sparkling". Three different "brightness/color" settings. Eight inputs, including composite, S-video, HDMI and PC. We only have one hi-def TV station up here, Public broadcasting. It is absolutely fantastic (and finallt, we have a TV at least as ood...actually better than that of our grown children..haha !!

On non-hi-def it produces a great picture, as well. It has small speakers, which we sometimes use and sometimes feed the audio thru the 990. Mrs. nfaguys needs help with the system, of course, especially the transition from speakers-on using the TV's and speakrs off, using 990/7700 (room system). Video-1 on tv receives output from 990. Satellite receiver goes to video-3, so she doesn't have to "bother" with 990/7700 if she wants it that way. In short: very versatile TV.

Link to article about SXRD technology

Google search page about SXRD

Let us know what you do and how you like it if you get one. Perhaps others will give their input (no pun intender).

I love my 6 month old 50" SXRD despite the ears. The new ones should be even better with 1080P input. Newer models are cheaper too.

This TV has all the right tools to produce a picture far superior to anything avalible on the consumer market. But it is just like Audio in the fact only as good as what you feed it and the person adjusting it.
Glenee

Sorry but I forgot to mention "component" as an input option on the Sony SXRD in my note above. I was not impressed with component. It seemed a bit washed out as compared to even S-video. I took component out of SOny DVD player as a comparison test. Should be better, I think. SO I dunno. Ideas?

the sxrd set is excelent. I also have the 60 inch model. I have the 3lcd before and sold it for the sxrd thats how huge the difference is. To get the most out of the set, you have to use the hdmi inputs. If you have a decent upconverting dvd player, it should have a HDMI or DVI output. Use them. If you do not have one, I strongly sugest you consider that as your next purchase. Two very good units are the oppo with the DVI out OPPO OPDV971H, or if you really are intodvds, the Denon 2910, or 3910.

I have the Denon 2910, and its an excelent Cd player, SACD player and DVD player. The picture quality out of this dvd is close to HD quality. When watching the sxrd image comming from the dvd player, it looks HD.

The tv takes the 1080i that you feed it and converts it to 1080p. thats one of the reason that its as nice as it is.

The denon 2910 and 3910 have something that is really good for some and not so good for others. You can adjust the picture quality in the dvd itself. Actually, if you don't do it, then you will not get the best picture quality out of your setup.
If you have directv, consider upgrading your receiver to an h20 for $99. If you cannot get your local channels in HD, then call them and they will get a waiver for the primetime HD channels.

billyTHEkid wrote:
If you have directv, consider upgrading your receiver to an h20 for $99. If you cannot get your local channels in HD, then call them and they will get a waiver for the primetime HD channels.

You are right about the waiver. We get CBS up here in Northern Maine and the local affiliate says they will begin (sometime) programming also in HD. Don't know when, however. Other off-air networks aren't here, except Public which gives gredat HD on this SXRD set, 60 inch, like yours.

We have and are very pleased with dishnetwork. There aren't enough HD channels yet to make it worth getting, nor are they what we are interested in. We don't even subscribe to Starz,Cinemax HBO etc. We particularly like Turner Classic Movies, History Channel, etc. And the networks: hardly do we even watch CBS. So when dish has more channels in which we are interested we will get HD dish. Eagerly awaiting the Blu-ray players and DVDs. They should look fabulous on SXRD.

Question for billyTHEkid: You stated that it takes 1080i if fed to it and upconverts to 1080p [I was unaware of this]...so in doing that does it fill the screen like a HDTV signal off-air?

Thanks for your input (pun unintended)

exactly, It will fill the screen automatically. It takes your 1080i and converts it to 1080p. It does not accept the 1080p inputs. try seting the tv to vivid. In the vivid mode the tv is almost as clear as I can get it.

also try to sit at least 15 feet from the screen if you can.

billyTHEkid wrote:

In the vivid mode the tv is almost as clear as I can get it.

I have played with all the settings, of course, as soon as I got the TV. Your are correct about VIVID.
It sparkles and knocks the socks off everything else I "auditioned".

The only things I don't like are these, but maybe I haven't found the work-around:

(1) In order to route the TV's sound to the 990 [or whatever] you have to turn off the TV speakers first. Of course if you didn't there might be a lag in sound and some confusion. Not a problem to do, just an annoyance...minor, though.

(2) When you press the button for video it defaults to VIDEO 1 (unless I missed the boat). Would be nice if you could directly access others, rather than scrolling. This is really objectionable. But then, maybe I'm missing the boat.

for your first problem, most electronic equipment today have multiple audio outputs. example: a dvd player has analog, coaxcial digital, spdif fiber optic and 5.1 ch output. You can run the analog left and right to your tv, and spdif digital to you preamp. samething with directv or dishnetwork etc.. that way if you want to use your av system, just bring the tv's volume all the way down.

personally, I use my dvd player as an SACD player, dvd player, Cd player and directly to my tv also. So I use the HDMI connection to my TV that also caries audio, spdif out from the dvd to dvd in, coaxial out to cd in and 5.1 ch to the 7.1 input for SACDs.

For your second problem, the tv has 8 inputs plus the tuner. Turn off all the ones that you are not useing. Set them to skip, That way you will have to press the tv/video button less.

Thanks, billyTHE kid for your suggestions. Regarding #1: I guess I haven't yet figured out how to feed audio out from the TV without turning off its speakers.

Regarding #2: I'll do that. I suppose I haven't fiddled around with the input on/off's yet. The TV is very intuitive, but I need to read a bit more.
....and thanks.

FWIW, I ordered a 50" version of the Sony SXRD set the other day. I'm out of town for a week, so I won't be able to report on the set for a while, but the early reviews are good, and as my wife said "anything will be an improvement over what we've got now." She is actually excited about the new set.

The other new equipment she may begin to wonder where it came from though.

I also ordered the 50in - it has been shipped to me and should be delivered sometime in the next day or so.

Early reviews were good...but now those crazies over on AVSForum are reporting a bunch of issues/shortcomings...I'm kind of getting scared and asking myself why I ordered this thing so early without even seeing it.

Oh well, you live and learn.

ralittle2 wrote:
my wife said "anything will be an improvement over what we've got now

RIGHT-ON

My wife said something like: AT LAST WE HAVE A TELEVISION AT LEAST AS GOOD AS THAT OF OUR CHILDREN!!

I can recall sitting for hours listening intently to different CD players to the minute differences between them. I went with the more expensive one and it broke. I then brought home a fine Denon unit that cost less, and once set up in my house I enjoyed it for many years never once thinking about almost inaudible subtle details.

I'm sure it'll be the same with this TV.

I'm glad to see the progress in display technology. I'm not ready to jump yet because:

There is too little material currently available to justify buying true 1080p at this time. This may change soon, but not quite yet.

Over the next year or so, the brand new technologies will be maturing and become more cost effective.

The new triple-color LED light source DLP looks interesting - no color wheel and the light source seems to be rated at 20,000 hours. A 20,000 hour light source wouldn't have me sweating every hour I'm watching, but then this system uses 'wobulation' to acheive 1080 lines. Let's see what develops.

Actually, from what I understand the new laser DLP systems won't be wobulated. They'll be full 1080, although as it's still only a single chip design, I would expect to see more motion artifacts and what not when compared to SXRD. Oh and you pay $1000 more for the priveledge of buying a newer technology, whereas the new 50" SXRD is $2800 MSRP.

I have to say that based on my research, at the moment for 50" to 60" screens there's nothing that touches the SXRD in performance and price.

For DLP RP with a multiple-LED light source, after a bit more searching, depending on the brand and screen size, I've seen descriptions stating that some models will and some models won't have 'wobulation.' The earlier articles I read only mentioned models with wobulation. Depending on size and brand, the prices seem to be ranging from $2K+ to $4K+. Less $ means a smaller screen with wobulation, more $ means a larger screen without wobulation. Either way, I'm not too concerned right now as I will likely be waiting a good while before moving toward 1080p HD. Sony SXRD may be the way to go if you are buying quite soon.

Perhaps a new topic is in order: "DLP with LED's as a Light Source"

bestbang4thebuck,
i happen to see a live and working LED samsung at 54". it was showing a HD brodcast of a college football game.
in a word: WOW!. Then the source material was switched over to a NASCAR race. I wish i had a cold one. I was ready to watch the entire race and i'm not much of a race fan.

BloggingITguy,
Have you checked out a properly set up HP DLP at 65"? ssaaweeeet. And yes i have seen a sony SXRD.
And the motion artifact will probably disappear.... considering the mirrors dither extreamly fast.

From the stuff i have been hearing/reading - there are some cool things happening in DLP.

A little off-topic.
I get sales bulletins from buy.com.
While I don't need this I thought I'd pass it on to the forum guys:

BUY.COM 50 inch Plasma TV on sale