I purchased the XBR 36 Vega set in October. The picture it produces is stunning. Everyone who has seen it claims it looks better than any TV they have ever seen. However (there is always a however these days), the picture had a jitter on the right edge for several seconds and then corrected. The width of the picture shrunk momentarily (high voltage problem?) and then would play for hours OK. The dealer called to ask how I liked the set: good but something is wrong, but this is one of those things a technician would never find or see while he was here. I said I wanted him to make a record of the problem, and I would play it until it failed. It took three months, but the shrinking happened more and more often. Finally, the picture would collapse and the screen went dark after 5 minutes. Service call, man came, never even opened the back, said there was a loose part on the yoke, took it away, and returned 1 week later with the problem fixed. For this kind of money, you expect more from the TV. While the color, clarity, and overall look is quite remarkable, there ARE flaws. Remember, a great many people are satisfied with watching any picture. But this kind of set in this price range is pandering to customers who want the best picture from a tube set. I expected better from the hoopla Sony created over the Vega. The convergence on this set is quite good, even toward the edges, but the horizontal geometry is off at both top and bottom. With something like CNN with information posted at the bottom of the screen, or financial news with a moving band of stock prices at the bottom, it comes down hill about 3 inches, goes straight across, then rides uphill about 3 inches. The top does the reverse, slopes down, then straight, then up and off the screen. Letterbox movies are annoying since the black lines above and below the film curve up and down at the outer edges. Vertical lines are not really straight either, but there are internal on-screen adjustment that can be made with the remote to make them better, as I watched the service man try. But there do not seem to be any adjustments for the curving horizontal lines. Does any one out there know how to straighten the horizontal lines?
Another problem is that in the absence of a picture (fade to black and back again) the screen is not really black, but very dark blue. As long as any bright object is on screen, black looks black because your eye can't detect the difference, but with no input, the screen is not dark, or slightly gray, but dark blue. Why is this? After reading the earlier reviews in this site, I am not about to waste money on adjustments that don't work, or incompetent technicians (where do they find these guys?) nor argue with SONY which is losing it's reputation for quality not only in TV, but also with bad product in the ES line. Read the review on the EAD Pre amp. Lately too many companies with former great reputations are stumbling in the marketplace: MacIntosh, Krell, Theta Casablanca, Meridian 586 DVD player - all repaired, recalled, or selling for half price if not replaced by "improved" models.

You can't trust anyone to provide quality and stand behind their product. Advice: choose a good dealer, rather than the product. They will stand behind you and exchange the product or make it right, or take it back. This is much wiser than shopping for price, especially when the price goes above $1,000.

Other complaints: I had a SONY 32 XBR 100, great set, no problems. The separate box that went in the equipment rack was easy to get at to change cables, add new input sources, and the set had 5 video inputs and set it's own clock. With heavy sets like this 32 and above, you can't be moving them around to get at the back like before. So why do the new Vega sets not have the component size box? All inputs are on the back and there are less of them, only one S-video, no automatic clock set. How much does the clock set chip cost that keeps the time from any PBS station - a buck? And most sets in this league are going to be used with outboard sound equipment, so why not a model without built in speakers that would result in a narrower cabinet, and get rid of the truly awful "Tru Surround". My much older Sony in another room has direct buttons on the remote to select any input, while this new one takes multiple presses of one button in round robbin style to get what you want. True, from a menu you can delete unused inputs, but you still have to rotate through TV, DVD, DSS, V 1, which is irritating. So while this would have been a reasonably great set for $1,200, it's not a good enought set at $2300. Shame on Sony. The people who write the Vega brochures should meet the repair and adjustment people.

I bought a 36XBR in early December, 1998. The picture is truly stunning. If you watch the XBR for awhile then see any other curved picture tube TV, it will show you just how amazing the picture is. I have not had any problems with TV. I have noticed the the picture tube is a little high in the left-hand corner with the right-hand corner a little lower. I am guessing it might be an 1/8 of an inch. I am very picky about sound and picture. I am very sorry to hear there was a bad batch of XBR's but I am very statisfied. The XBR is connected to a Denon 2700 AVR, Sony DP-300 DVD, Sony VCR, Sony CD player and Boston Acoustics Micro Reference 9000T. DVD picture and sound are awesome.

Sorry to those of you who are having problems with your 36XBR200. Initially I had a time setting the unit up, but after getting throughly aquainted with the product manual and menu functions, I was able to gleen a great operating picture. DVD (component driven) picture was astounding! Great clarity and detail. The best I have ever seen. Detail of CG was apparent on most DVD's. Color very accurate, and pincushion distortion minimum. Geometry? What geometry. Unless you have an alignment signal, this means very little. Signals from cable, DSS, antennae are all not valid sources for signal quality. Please keep in mind that there will be some distortion in the extreme regions of the screen due to deflection. (Unless you are really hypercritical, you won't be able to notice from 6 feet away.) Horizontal and vertical registration is good. Most signals from cable sources are so marginal that I put little stock in their quality. Audio reproduction has good spatial alignment and positioning. Excellent sound for when you don't want to power up for 5.1 reproduction and are just viewing normal programming. So if those of you that are dissatisfied with your purchase, you should insist on returning your set to the place of purchase for a full refund. Don't live with your mistake. I wouldn't. (P.S. The 36XBR200 does have a degauss cycle at the beginning of each power on cycle...make sure yours are functioning.)

My set was built in March of 1999 and it suffers from annoying geometric distortion on the lower part of the picture. Additionally, there is shading in two corners whenever the picture has a light colored background. Sony has replaced the yoke and the picture tube, with no real improvement. Sony has offered to replace the set, but they won't let the store I bought it from return it to them so I can get my money back. (Like I'd want to deal with this headache all over again.) Finally the store is offering to let me trade it for a different model. You can be sure that it won't be a Sony.

I purchased the Sony KV-36XBR200 in March 99. This set has lived up to all of the expectations I had for it. After reading the many problems this set seems to be experiencing, I can only concur with one, the slight geometric distortion viewed with any horizontal lines or print in the bottom 3 or 4 inches of the screen. I find this easy to ignore and almost fully correctable with the tilt control. In all fairness to Sony, the engineering of this set is excellent and the geometric distortion is a product of the state of design for a large screen direct view. Everything in consumer products is a compromise based on state-of-the-art engineering versus cost. Just look at home audio, I see no perfection even though prices are high. I think a TV of this quality is a much better value than a $10,000 amp (little more design problems here). I am curious to why the consumers with all the complaints purchased the set in the first place.Surely the store demo was viewed. If it was good enough for an individual to purchase the set and the one you bought is a flop, go back and get the demo.

I think I've finally gotten the retailer to take back that defective piece of s***. The wavy lines at the bottom of the screen are what Sony considers state-of-the-art. Yeah right. If Sony would use a fraction of the effort it spends on making excuses for the 36XBR200 and try to remedy the problem with the picture distortion, this could be a nice tv.

I'm getting rid of my 36XBR200. As my friend, who happens to be an ISF certified tech, observed while calibrating it, a tv costing half as much as the 36XBR200 would be unacceptable with the levels of shading and distortion present on my set.
In other words, only a much cheaper tv will look better than the 36XBR200 after being properly calibrated. Based on its performance, the 36XBR200 is for people who wish to overpay for substandard performance.

I would strongly recommend against this set. Superior performance can be obtained for half the price.

I have a few friends who have bought this set based on brief showroom observations and every one of them has experienced problems with picture distortion. I don't have the desire to have the picture tube in my set replaced, as has been offered. Friends who have taken Sony up on this offer have experienced continuing problems with picture quality. I just want rid of my set.

Zero stars for quality and zero stars for performance, but the least I can give is one star, so:

After reading the reviews and calling sony. I was informed that the problem was corrected in the new model. The KV-36XRB200 has been discontinued.
The new model is the KV-36XRB250 which will be released in July or August. So anybody else thinking about this model hold off.

I would like to thank EVERYONE for their reviews, good or bad. I plan on Purchasing this product in the months ahead, and I consider all the info Very Important, myself just getting into the home theater scene. Please feel free to Email me with Updates, Problems(better TV's)Etc...Maybe I'll be able to reject a bad TV, or know if it's a good one, before I bring it home.
Thanks again
Wally

From what I read on this site I was a little apprehensive about purchasing the Sony flatscreen. When I first saw it at Circuit City several months ago I was very impressed with the set. However, the "Hall of Shame" made me nervous. I was all set to purchase another model but I could not get over how stunning the picture on the Sony KV36XBR200 was compared to all the other sets. After much looking I decided to purchase a flatscreen Sony KV-32FV1 because the 36 inch was too large for my needs (the viewing distance is 9 feet away) and I didn't need the better sound system of the XBR. (I have it connected to the Sony STR-DA50ES receiver to give me a more powerful sound.)
From where I sit this TV is the nicest set I have ever owned. In a side by side comparison at my home using all the same hookups, my RCA ProScan didn't hold a candle to the Sony as far as picture and sound. I had a dinner party and all the guys were remarking about the great picture and all their wives were saying that they could not buy one. I bet a few of the guys win out on this one. When combined with the Sony STR-DA50ES receiver and the Polk 7300 speakers everyone was remarking how it was like a movie theater.

I have looked very carefully for the distortions mentioned and have not found any of the KV-32FV1. Perhaps it is just related to the XBR but I doubt it since this is the same technology. I put this review here because I think the XBR is getting a bad rap. When combined with a paid per view DSS or DVD movie, the higher resolution movies (500 dpi verses VCR 200 dpi) are breathtaking. The VCR movies are great as well. My only regret is that Sony didn't have a cheaper HDTV model.