Great picture,good amount of inputs,tube set..

weight,geometry problems,purity problems...

I would like to start by saying, I have read the past reviews and have to say the blobs that are being described sound like purity problems in the set.Second people always readjusting there color from channel to channel,this is not a problem with set but the cable feeds and/or sat feeds(station to station),they are not calibrated properly to ntsc,hence all the the color changes from chan to chan!
Now,, I have been to hell and back with this set!!!!The first one had a air pocket in the screen which looked like a speck of dirt but one you could never rub out!:( also had banding on each side of the set (purity out of wack)! So got the tube replaced, fine! I have what people are discribing as blobs or at least I think that is what they are trying to discribe(purity). I have these discolorations in certain spots on the screen, I had the tech who replaced the tube set up the purity again and now the geometry is out! bows on the top and about 3/4's the way down and the purity is not quite set right still.. He will return until I am happy with the picture in those regards! I paid $4000 clams for this set and damned if Im going to settle for anything less than a good true picture. I do give the kv-36xbr400 5-stars for picture when it is setup properly, 0-stars for sony selling a TV that comes out of the factory looking like this.When someone pays that amount of money there should be no problems as being discribed from other people and myself. But I do see the potential of the set when it is properly adjusted(hence my tolerence)!!! for what I would call one of the best picture's for the price point on the market.

Similar Products Used:

kp-53hs10 rear projection set,older trinitron 27in set, all sony!

Great picture,good amount of inputs,tube set..

weight,geometry problems,purity problems...

I would like to start by saying, I have read the past reviews and have to say the blobs that are being described sound like purity problems in the set.Second people always readjusting there color from channel to channel,this is not a problem with set but the cable feeds and/or sat feeds(station to station),they are not calibrated properly to ntsc,hence all the the color changes from chan to chan!
Now,, I have been to hell and back with this set!!!!The first one had a air pocket in the screen which looked like a speck of dirt but one you could never rub out!:( also had banding on each side of the set (purity out of wack)! So got the tube replaced, fine! I have what people are discribing as blobs or at least I think that is what they are trying to discribe(purity). I have these discolorations in certain spots on the screen, I had the tech who replaced the tube set up the purity again and now the geometry is out! bows on the top and about 3/4's the way down and the purity is not quite set right still.. He will return until I am happy with the picture in those regards! I paid $4000 clams for this set and damned if Im going to settle for anything less than a good true picture. I do give the kv-36xbr400 5-stars for picture when it is setup properly, 0-stars for sony selling a TV that comes out of the factory looking like this.When someone pays that amount of money there should be no problems as being discribed from other people and myself. But I do see the potential of the set when it is properly adjusted(hence my tolerence)!!! for what I would call one of the best picture's for the price point on the market.

Similar Products Used:

kp-53hs10 rear projection set,older trinitron 27in set, all sony!

Great picture,good amount of inputs,tube set..

weight,geometry problems,purity problems...

I would like to start by saying, I have read the past reviews and have to say the blobs that are being described sound like purity problems in the set.Second people always readjusting there color from channel to channel,this is not a problem with set but the cable feeds and/or sat feeds(station to station),they are not calibrated properly to ntsc,hence all the the color changes from chan to chan!
Now,, I have been to hell and back with this set!!!!The first one had a air pocket in the screen which looked like a speck of dirt but one you could never rub out!:( also had banding on each side of the set (purity out of wack)! So got the tube replaced, fine! I have what people are discribing as blobs or at least I think that is what they are trying to discribe(purity). I have these discolorations in certain spots on the screen, I had the tech who replaced the tube set up the purity again and now the geometry is out! bows on the top and about 3/4's the way down and the purity is not quite set right still.. He will return until I am happy with the picture in those regards! I paid $4000 clams for this set and damned if Im going to settle for anything less than a good true picture. I do give the kv-36xbr400 5-stars for picture when it is setup properly, 0-stars for sony selling a TV that comes out of the factory looking like this.When someone pays that amount of money there should be no problems as being discribed from other people and myself. But I do see the potential of the set when it is properly adjusted(hence my tolerence)!!! for what I would call one of the best picture's for the price point on the market.

Similar Products Used:

kp-53hs10 rear projection set,older trinitron 27in set, all sony!

Excellent picture. Clear view. Twin picture in picture. Nice looking set.

Needed tv delivered in view of the weight....no biggie

Once i took the 36xbr400 out of the box i ordered digital cable. I bought a Sony dvd player and all gold plated cabling. The gold plated cabling made a great difference! This tv is a great set. People have issues with there feed...cable....digital cable...or a dish....The tv will enhance your picture 100% better but channels are the reason for bad quality. I spent about 2 grand in view of some discounts and i feel i got a steal! The tv stand is a very nice addition.....but it lacks space for dvd's. I love the flat the screen.....i bought Video Essentials and it did not make that much of a difference....everyone has there own favorite way of adjusting there set so even if someone says change it to this and this....well its not gonna be what you want......I would give this set an A+ overall and i'm 100% sure i made the right choice!

Picture, Wide Screen Mode

Too Heavy to move far!

Amazing! Crisp Clean Picture. I can't comment on the audio since I have never heard it. I have it as a center piece in a HT. When HDTV is more available, I'll move to a 16:9 format set. But in the meantime, the set is great for a widescreen DVD. Expensive but nothing in the price range can compare.

Picture, Picture, Picture!

It's not widescreen

I had been shopping for a widescreen RPTV for a few weeks and actually had a 55" Mits scheduled for delivery from Sears. Prior to delivery I did a few measurements and determined that the Mits would be just too big for my 12' x 13' living room. Thus I cancelled the Mits and began shopping again. This time I tried Tweeter without really knowing what I wanted other than HD capabilities (which I hoped to use at some point in the future, not now). I looked at the 46" Mits and the 40" Toshiba. Next to those two was the 36" XBR400. I was really looking at the widescreens but I could not help but notice that the Sony had the clearest and most realistic colors (especially over the Mits,I realize that RPTV's must be tweeked). The Sony also looked better than the Tosh but not to as great a degree. To me the Sony screen also looked quite a bit larger than the Toshiba even though the Tosh was a 40" widescreen. Our TV viewing in order is DVD's, analog cable, Hi-8 tapes (daughters high school sports) and PS2 games. We hooked up my Sony Hi-8 player to the Mits and the picture was barely watchable. I left the store without buying anything because I really had intended to buy a widescreen. Over the next few days I started thinking that maybe the Sony might be the best TV to suit our needs. I went back to Tweeter and purchased it for $2,375. They, I am not sure if it is Tweeter or Sony, also have a promotion running where you get the Sony stand thrown in for free (I think it is regularly about $250). I have only had the TV for about a week but I have not been disappointed. The picture is the best I have ever seen in a TV. DVD's and PS2 are fantastic hooked up via component cables. Hi-8 tapes are better than they ever looked on my Toshiba 36" set. I was a little worried that analog cable would look bad but guess what - the majority of the channels look as good or better than my old set ever did. A couple channels are a little grainey looking but big deal. I did have to tone down many of the settings with my Avia disk as they were all set much too high from the factory. For my needs I made the right choice. I would have ideally liked a widescreen but I also don't want to be concerned about burn-in having to do with side-bars or channel logos or video games as my kids are not too careful with TV's. They put it on and then go away and forget about it. I am trying to think of a few negatives to make this a more balanced review but I really cannot think of any. I haven't notice any uneven brightness or splotches or anything else. I won't mention the weight as a negative as I didn't carry it in, I don't plan on moving it and I bought the 5 year service contract.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 36" 4:3 set

buzzing sound whether tv is on or off?

actually, just a question here. i just bought the xbr 400 36 inch sony. Does anyone else have a buzzing sound from the back of the tv, regardless of whether or not the tv is on or off. I really only notice it when it is off and I am walking by it as the volume from whatever I am watching drowns out the buzz otherwise. Thanks.

Acurate and mind blowing anamorphic dvd response.

weight, reliability, only shiws off w/ dvd all other inputs show awful pixilizing

Where to begin this tale...Over a year ago it started with a what I thought was a well researched plan to upgrade to the best of the CRT flat screens. I purchased an XBR 250 36" tv and Sony tv Stand. I noticed immediately that when objects were panned, a fun house mirror effect was present in two areas of the screen. OH. Oh. On to the Internet and learn more about geometry problems..meanwhile......Color smearing from lights or stained glass windows within dvd movies became apparent BUT ONLY THROUGH COMPONENT THE INPUT. All other inputs looked fine.
So I had unusable component inputs and a bad geometry problem. Other Xbr 36" sets exhibited the same problem with the color smear. I took my dvd player cables etc. went back to the dealer and to other dealers. We even switched cables and players. No go. Sony was alerted I got a case # and began a year of call and be put off. They took the set at first and brought it to the local repair center only to be issued a TSB stating that Sony was aware of these problems and had no known fix. So they lugged the set back. Bd Sony! It never should have left my house if they already knew there was no fix!
I put up with it and called every few months to see if there was any progress in those particular arenas of malfunction. Na da.
Finally at the end of my warrantee period I made enough noise to get them to agree to take the set back and get a fresh one. It came down to an Xbr 400 36" for an upgrade charge of $315.00 on top of what I had paid for the xbr 250.
I took it. Seemed kinda right. Ok . Let's get it done.

The delivery company sent my new set twice to a town 80 miles from my address. I took 3 separate days off from work and the cretinous delivery company could only say oops! I took delivery of the set at 9pm at night when a 40' tractor trailer pulled 100 yards from me with a single operator and no freight elevator. We moved it with great difficulty and of course could not get the old set up into the rig.
The XBR 400 36" looks pretty artifacty on the cable and vhs inputs. Perhaps if the line doubler was defeatable? It really shines on dvd. Great color!
Until last night. It just started oozing reds and orange and shut off. I get maybe 15 minutes. A major malfunction. No more black. Orange exists between all input changes and permeates all.
Previously I have had degaussing problems where I would have to turn the set on upwards of 15 times to get this feature to activate. Perhaps all the extra moving jarred something within.
I have had this set for 4 months. My guess is it is under Sony's care. Tommorrow it goes to the service center.
Lets not even talk about my Sony dvd 7000. Same deal couln't be fixed so Sony ugraded me to the 7700. It's now broken in an intermitint way.
I think I shall now purchase Panasonic and Pioneer.
Stay tuned.. I will post more as it comes my way.

Do buy this tv if you want the best in crt dvd oriented performance....for an unknown amount of time. It was very short in my case, but your milage may vary.
Sony does listen, but how much is your time worth?

Similar Products Used:

Xbr 250, generic 27" 5 year old zenith

EXCELLENT DIGITAL REALITY CREATION (DRC) CIRCUITRY: On HDTV, DVD, video game, and even higher-quality analog cable signals, the DRC circuitry created an image that rivaled every 34 16:9 direct view and 36 4:3 set I ve auditioned or owned. This set doesnot appear to use traditional line doubling, used in other sets like the Panasonic Tau and SharpVision sets, which are horrible when used on anything other than HDTV or DVD. Especially on video game material, motion artifacts and that annoying "combing" that shows up a lot of the time on games that are single-field were 100% absent from the titles I played. No matter what I threw at it, it handled it wonderfully. The only time the DRC gets confused is when there is slow-motion scenes on analog cable running the DRC in interlaced mode. When this happens, the picture becomes extremely pixellated . However, I ll take an accurate, pixellated image over one marred by motion artifacts and horizontal comb lines any day of the week. You can switch the DRC between interlaced and progressive , and I found that either had their own applications, and handled all material to my satisfaction, and the image is rock-solid without any noticeable scan lines on high-resolution material. Component and S-Video signals looked just about as good as they would being displayed on a VGA monitor.

+ BEAUTIFUL COLORS: Unlike most 16:9 sets, color reproduction on this 4:3 set was very bright, robust, and extremely vivid. Lots of 16:9 sets seem to "mute" the colors, giving them a washed out appearance, especially on anamorphic DVD playback.

- WEAK BUILT-IN SPEAKERS: Everything you've heard about them is true -- they really are a joke, even by "built-in speaker" standards. The speakers on the XBR-200/250 from years ago were better. Even with the treble and bass cranked, the sound is extremely hollow and unimpressive. At this price, one expects a certain level of quality, and these unfortunately don't fit the bill. Sony probably assumed most consumers would be using a dedicated amp/receiver with this TV, but that's still no excuse to cut corners.

- FLIMSY CABINET: Be careful when stacking a B&W LCR6-S2 or CDM-CNT on this set. Putting one of these speakers on this set will make the cabinet creak and bow like you've never seen before, which is going to anger a lot of consumers since these center channel speakers are pretty darn popular. Again, like the built-in speakers, the build quality of the XBR-200/250 was better and more solid... yet this set seems to weigh more! I had to create a small wedge-shaped cushion to place between the speaker and the rear cabinet section to help counter and absorb the weight of my center channel speaker. Bowing is somewhat minimal, but I question the stability of it all, since the plastic on the cabinet is very thin. Be careful with the input cluster on the back, too... it has a tendancy to bend inwards when you plug cables in. You'd think Sony could invest in plastic that was a few millimeters thicker to enclose this TV in, but I guess not.

- EXTREMELY SENSITIVE TO ITS SURROUNDINGS: I have a solid metal A/V rack that used to sit next to my TV. I noticed a green spot near the bottom right of my set when initially checking it out... I thought it was my speakers, which after moving them around, I learned is wasn't. I thought it might be some type of electromagnetic interference coming from the wires or A/C outlet, but again, no. It wasn't until I moved the A/V rack away from the TV did the spot go away. I took the components off the rack and moved the rack back next to the TV. Guess what? The green spot came back. I've never had a TV (even my old XBR) that was so sensitive to metal like this (maybe it's the cheap external housing?). I also have B&W CDM-1NTs that flank the set, and they're about 2.5-3.0 feet away from the set, and if I move them any closer, I start to see color distortion in the corners. This is the most sensitive TV I've ever owned, so it is a challenge placing all my A/V components in a 10'x10' area.

- COUPLE QUESTIONABLE DESIGN CHANGES: What is it with TV manufactures removing the Standby power button from the actual TV set? The last two sets I've owned have had a single I/O power switch, so if you turn the TV off from the actual TV set, you can't turn the TV back on with the remote. This seems minor, but it's infuriating when you sit down and get comfortable on the couch, only to have to get back up and turn the set on from the TV. My old XBR200 wasn't like this, and even the current non-XBR WEGA sets aren't designed like this, so what gives? I find it to be a major pain in the butt to have to go find the remote to turn off the set if I plan on turning the set on with the remote later. If there's a way to do it some other way, I sure would like to know. Also, what happened to the Closed Captioning feature being part of the Display button's command cycle? I find it ridiculous (and insulting to deaf people) that you have to fumble through their menu system just to turn on closed captioning. I use CC a lot for TV shows and movies with lots of dialogue (such as HBO's excellent series, The Sopranos), and not being able to press the Display button a few times to engage it is a step backwards in TV design, in my opinion.

+ REMOTE IS OLD AND PLAIN: I swear, Sony hasn't changed their remote in any significant way for years, and I think it's time they created a more user-friendly remote. I hate flipping up the plastic cover to access other controls that should be easier t

****/***** VALUE: Since I think this set produces images that rival 16:9 sets that cost approximately $1500 more, I think this set is a tremendous value. Compared to other 36" 4:3 sets, it's obviously much more expensive, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not the best value out there. So, that's why I gave it a Value Rating of 4.

****/***** OVERALL: Picture is the most important thing to me, and this TV delivered what I was expecting and then some. I watch cable, play lots of video games, and watch a lot of DVD movies via Pioneer's DV-37 progressive scan player, so 4:3 was just as important to me as a set's ability to handle anamorphic material. I think with a set like this, you truly get the best of both worlds. However, there were a few things that I mentioned in my review that I didn't like, which is what chips away at my overall impression and feeling about this TV. If those things are addressed for next year's model, I'll surely trade up for that one. Overall, I would recommend this set to anyone looking for a superior set that handles just about everything out there (composite, S-Video, 480p, and 1080i), but aren't ready to take the financial dive into FP, Plasma, or a dedicated 16:9 set, where you have to suffer with a tiny or distorted 4:3 image.

Similar Products Used:

16:9 and 4:3 sets in the 34"-36" range (all direct view CRTs; I can't stand rear-projection), including those offered from Panasonic, Sampo, Philips, Sony, Loewe, Princeton, Toshiba, and SharpVision.

Nice design, sharp picture, with lots of picture control functions

The line doubler is great for DVD’s but on certain sources like my digital cable, it can sometimes display a pixilated appearance.

This is sweet little TV if you enjoy watching movies and don’t want to go overboard on sheer screen mass. The best thing I like about it is the brightness of the display and the clarity in which this TV can put out when it gets the right source signal. I mean it’s like I’m looking through a open window! Compared to other HDTV’s in this size and class the Wega Dominates! Compared to other slightly larger HDTV the Wega still dominates! Compared to Really larger HDTV’s well… that when you appreciate the wide range of viewing angle that the 32 or 36” Wega offers, plus the brightness of the screen. Yep it’s a sweeeeeeeeeeetttt television.

Similar Products Used:

Plain jane televisions, that fall to the might of the XBR!!!