Anamorphic compression feature.

Side mounted speakers made me have to get a new entertainment center.

Having owned the 200 series Wega I will start out by saying that the 250 is much better due to the vertical compression feature. I do like the pip function of the 200 (which I still own) better though. I have my XBR250 hooked up to a sony 7700 DVD player via the Canare component video cables that I purchased from Custom A/V in Texas (830-625-6745). These cables are fantastic! I already had a set of the Monster M-1000 that I was using for my XBR 200 so I was able to do a direct comparison. The Canare's live up to all the positive reviews they are recieving and then some. I had an ISF tech come out to my house that was equally impressed with the Canare cables. After calibration my set looks PERFECT! I mean the picture is incredible, far exceeding the factory picture that it had before. I aslo took the advice of Mike at CAVC and had the ISF tech disable the velocity scan modulation circuit in the Tv and that made a big improvement in picture quality. THANK YOU! Mike. I honestly don't see why alot of people are giving this set questionable reviews. I havent seen a better picture than the one I have in my livingroom anywhere. Advice, buy this set, buy the Canare cables, and get it calibrated by an ISF technician and you will not be sorry. AWESOME!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 200 series Wega

great picture, great audio, almost hdtv when used with a dvd player

heavy....but have you seen how heavy the hdtv tubes are? I don't hear anyone crying about the picture on those tv's

Bottom line is that this tv is the best television ever. I have read other reviews about this tv concerning price. IF YOU CANT AFFORD THE BEST THEN DON'T BUY IT! Stop complaining about the price and appreciate the picture that the tv offers. As far as Sony service is concerned...They suck. But name a big company in which service was good. If you opened up your cheap wallets and invested in those extended warranties I dont think you folks would need to go go through sony's service. All you wouls need to do is call the store from where you bought it and they give you great service. "BUT THE TV IS TOO HEAVY". Look, do you folks plan on carrying this tv around everywhere you go? No! Take a look at those hdtv tubes. They are way heavy...but have you seen the great picture. I saw an idiot return the xbr for the toshiba cn36x81. A high def tv? Not quite. He's an idiot! And he needs to buy the $2000 converter box along with it. "BUT THE SPEAKERS ARE TOO BIG AND DOESN'T FIT". THen DON'T BUY IT!!!!! These are the same ones complaining about the price. Bottom line is the following: Its the best analong tv on the market, Its Price is less than the xbr200, and will challenge any tv in the market. Nuff said

Picture quality, flat screen.

A little heavy, but who cares?

The picture on this tv is incredible!! I spent about 2 months researching this before I bought it. I also used it for a year and a half before I posted this review. I went to every electronics retailer in town and looked at Proscan's, Mitsu's, Panasonic's, Toshiba's everything. I even had the tv's moved around so I could look at them side by side. Nothing even came close to the XBR except HDTV which is admittedly better, slightly. I haven't experienced ONE problem at all! Just make sure you've got a coupla good strong backs to put it in place. It weighs 236lbs!

Similar Products Used:

Other Sony's and a Panasonic

Lots of inputs. Decent remote.

Doesn't live up to Sony's claims regarding picture integrity.

Bad news first: I returned my first set for replacement within one week of purchase. My second set is not much better. I too, am experiencing a dark vertical band on the left side of the screen along with some geometry problems (out-of-focus in the corners and wavy picture when panning left-right-left; watch the scroll at the bottom of the weather channel - if it looks like it comes toward you, then away, then back toward you, you you have a geometry problem). Vertical and Horizontal lines that should be straight bend toward the center of the screen at the ends and in the middle - almost a bow (as in bow & arrow) effect. The picture is also not as sharp as it should be. Small, white text is almost illegible its so blurry (and I have my contrast and brightness set properly and SVM is turned off). With SVM on, white letters have a dark lining and are still illegible. This combination of problems makes watching sports a dizzying and excruciating experience.

My dealer is not yet willing to replace my set with yet another so I just called Sony's help line to report my problems. They said they had not gotten any other reports of any similar problems - UNBELIEVABLE!

I wish I'd found this site BEFORE I bought the damn thing! I found online instructions for service menu alterations @ http://www.cyberspace.org/~awh/. They seem to be pretty thorough. I'm going to try adjusting the set myself tonight after dark.

The good news: Resolution is superb. Color is excellent. And, I have to admit, I like the headphones for the simple reason you can change your source to PIP and watch and listen to two completely different channels.

Judging from the number of posts reporting these same issues, Sony has a definate quality control issue. Sony has an obligation to deliver the product they promised to deliver. I, for one, would support any organized class-action restitution. I give the TV 4 stars for color rendition and 0 stars for geometry and black-banding issues.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Sharp, RCA

vertical compresion,selectable inputs

black and white bars,geometry problems,Sony's service

I also bought and fell in love with this set. Noticed black and white bars, and notified dealer. Delivered second set; and had the same problem (even worse). Returned sets to dealer and got my money back after showing the problem to them on their showroom model. I showed the problem to SONY sales representative and SONY head of sales. They chose not to see the problem. Was later contacted by SONY rep. throught a dealer and told it was an "allowable variance in picture tube quality." (Bullchit) If I wanted to get away from the problem, I needed to upgrade to the PRO-MODEL ($4,000-$8,000) for a 32".
I have gone to seven different dealers to check for the problem. Every single set has the problem. Needless to say, the dealers are very surprised when I show them the problem on their floor models. Even though EVERYONE sees the problem, SONY says this is the first we have heard of this problem. I have also heard of a tuner problem that after watching for a while the picture starts to darken.
I encourage everyone to contact SONY and complain about this non-exsistant problem.
I am patiently waiting for SONY to take care of this problem or the 300 series to be released.
Has anybody heard about the new xbr300's and when they will be out? I have heard in three months. Other than that, I love the tv. The vertical compression and features.
Guess I will have to check out the Panasonic everyone is talking about.

I got this tv about 2 mos ago and I remain very happy with my purchase. The picture and color are 2nd to none on an NTSC set. The vertical compression makes anamorphic material look stunning. To see this tv in all it's glory, get it properly calibrated, and use component cables, not S-video. I purchased some Canare component video cables, and was blown away by the improvements they made over the monster m-1000 component cables I was using. I got these cables due to the great review they got down below. Thanks Mike! By the way, I purchased them from Custom Audio/Video Connection for $70. Their ph # is (830)625-6745. Do yourself a favor, and junk the monsters and try these puppies, you won't be dissapointed.

Just one really, the price. Sony, lose the internal speakers and lower the price a bit.

This Is a great tv. I'd buy another in a second....um that is if my wife would let me. 5-stars for pic quality, 4-stars for price.

Similar Products Used:

The sources i'm feeding into this unit are: Toshiba M-784 Vhs VCR (awesome unit), pioneer elite dv-05 DVD player, and sony DSS.

Largest direct view TV available, flat screen

Very heavy, limited function remote

Picture quality: very good (noticed some distortion with _Avia Guide to Home Theater_ DVD). Clever remote, but lacks many functions of last year model: side-by-side, extra large PiP, channel surfing.
Near optimal defaults for most video settings.

Features I didn't care for:
- cordless headphones
- built in speakers

At $1650 (+$210 shipping), I still think it's overpriced.

Similar Products Used:

27" Zenith

Its flat and good looking with good tv speakers.

There's a static dots around the edge of some pictures

I like this tv but after reading alot of post from hear and viewing my newly setup HT system, I 've notice that there are static dots around the edge of the pictures. I'm not sure this is due to alot of wires and cables from the entire HT system running behind my TV but its very iterating and tireing to look at. This was very clear when watching the words scroll up during the credit scene from a dvd. I don't know if anyone else noticed this problem. I did noticed this when I first view the picture in FRYs Elec but thought that it was due to poor cable reception. I did not notice this picture problem from the store where I purchased the TV. Well, for the review, the color is good. Also, I did notice that viewing a peoples face when they are rapidly moving causes some geometry problem like the nose was sharply triangular when character face was view from a side angle. I don't if I'm being too picky but my older sony 27'' triton TV did not have these problem. For the picture quality I would give 3 star. For the TV sound I would give 5 star. And everything else about the TV 5 star.
Since the picture quality is the most important for the TV, I would have to rate 3 star. If the static spot is caused by my setup, it would be definately 5 star.

Great picture from perfect source.

Bad picture from not perfect source.

Please can anyone tell me how to turn off Velocity Scan Modulation?
I could not find it using service codes.
I know that I can use "Video Label" menu renaming Video input as "WEB", but alone with the VSM there is a substantial loss of brightness, which in turn I cannot correct without loosing overall quality of the picture.
Thank you.

Awesome Picture Quality, Easy to use remote, Flat Screen

Weight - Who Cares?

This product is an excellent HD ready Piece. The sound is good and progressive scan capability makes DVD's look awesome. With two HD/DVD inputs the TV has enough inputs to satisfy my needs.The only problem I have seen is a white bar that seems to apprear randomly. Can anyone tell me how to fix it? The remote is easy to use even though the cover is hard to open. Also the mute button is way out of place in the upper left hand corner. Your best bet is to look at one for yourself and try it out. It's all about personal preference. This TV is not a nessecity to all people only if you are looking for an HD ready set. To use all the features of this television I needed to purchase another $800 satelite and $300 DVD player but it was definitely worth it.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, JVC