Great picture on good video signals. Twin view. Nice text, colors, and stills using webtv. Many inputs.

No direct input selector buttons on the remote. N64 games look somehow pixelated.

Going from an old Sanyo analog tv to this XBR DTV is quite an experience. I got mine yesterday 2/08/01. I have connected this tv with my regular outdoor antenna which receives good analog signals and the picture looks great. I had read the reviews about connecting this tv with good video sources, so I was prepared.
Other good video/audio sources that I have connected this tv with are:
Dish Network satellite with S-video connection.
Sony SVHS VCR with S-video connection.
Sony Playstation 2 with component video connection.
Mitsubishi WebTV Plus with S-video connection.
Aiwa mini stereo system with Dolby-ProLogic, front right/left speakers, front center speaker, right/left sidespeakers, and subwoofer.

Since the PS2 is a dvd player also, I didn't need another dvd player, except if I want a progressive scan dvd player.
Videogames on the PS2 look just incredible with component cables. I connected my older SuperNintendo with an special S-video A/V cable-connector created for the Nintendo64, and the games look really sharp and nice. But the same can not be said about connecting my N64 with this S-video A/V cable.
Zelda 64 looked nice on my analog tv. But on this tv the details on characters, objects and text get somehow too sharp and pixelated. (But just the details like edges of characters and stuff.)

Dish network channels look nice and detailed.

S-VHS tapes on the sony SVHS VCR look good, and good recordings over regular tapes too.

And surfing the internet with my WebTV plus receiver produces really nice looking text and colors on web pages. Better than my old analog tv. It almost feels like looking trough a computer monitor; really detailed text on small print on web pages.

Overall I'm really amazed with this tv. It performs great on many -good- video sources. I recommend this tv especially for videogamers like me who want to enjoy awesome picture in their gaming!

Similar Products Used:

32" Sanyo analog tv.

Picture clarity on quality signals/sources, lots of inputs

Weight, price

I finally got my 36XBR400 delivered 4 days ago. My decision to purchase this TV over other make/models I've kept an eye on was partly based on the credible reviews in this forum. One thing that is very true on this TV is that if the signal of the source is poor, it seems to be magnified by this TV. But if you play DVD, or viewing on a strong cable signal, you will notice that you got your money's worth. When playing DVD using the widescreen mode (for DVDs that have them), you will notice that you can increase picture clarity by turning the "16:9 enhancement" ON but at the expense of slight geometric problem (people seem to be slightly shorter). I've noticed that the resolution during the first couple of days was not as good as now. I think this has something to do with "break-in period". If you are thinking of buying this TV, I strongly recommend that you use Bug's Life as your "test DVD". This DVD seems to "lock in" your high impression of this TV. I also recommend that you use high-end component cables. I've read reviews on Canare component cables but they're not sold in either CC or GG. I settled with an 'open box' Monster 2-meter component cable. I paid $69 instead of the $89 regular price. The most impressive feature on this TV other than the picture clarity is the "twin view" (some people call it "split screen"). This is slightly different from PIP (picture-in-picture). You can watch two channels simultaneously but only listen to the sound of one channel. However, you can switch the sound back and forth at the flip of the little joystick on the remote. While watching the two screens, moving the joystick up or down allows you to zoom in or out one channel. The "FAVORITES" feature allows you to preview up to 8 of your favorite channels without leaving the channel you are watching. The "FREEZE" screen feature is also cool. You can freeze the screen if you want, say, an 800 number while you grab a pen and paper. When you press the FREEZE button, the TV displays two screens: the left is the channel being viewed and the right is the frozen screen. I decided to purchase this TV instead of the big projection screen because my viewing distance is only 8-10 feet. If I buy a projection TV with the screen right in my face, I will be looking directly to the scan lines. With this TV, watching DVD or cable (good signal channels) from 8 feet away, you won't see the scan lines. On a side note, I use Klipsch SS.1 as my surrounds, Dahlquist M905 as my mains, Klipsch SC as center channel, and Velodyne CT100 as subwoofer.

This TV is IMHO has the sharpest picture clarity.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 32"

Picture

weight

I'm impressed the XBR400 is one great TV. After reading the posted reviews here, I decided to go for the plunge and buy it.
Boy! I'm I glad I did. Right out of the box the picture quality was unbelievable...


BTW: If you put this TV on the stand that they sell for this model or any other stand, buy a set of the Teflon magic slider disk, and mount them on the bottom of the
stand... You can find them at your Hardware store.

They come in packs of 4. I used 2 packs total of 8 disk's...
It makes moving the XBR400, weighing in at 235lb. really easy...I can move this beast with one hand.

The price that I listed was for the XBR400, sony stand, and the 5 year warranty...

Similar Products Used:

samsung 27"

Picture clarity (esp on DVD), split screen

Weight, price

Great TV! I use Monster component cables for the DVD hook up. The joystick on the remote is awesome.

Similar Products Used:

Other Sony TVs

Awesome Picture with appropriate signal

Blobs

I bought my TV back in September. I agree with all the comments below regarding poor picture with poor signals... but I noticed pixilation with my old 27" Sony while watching Direct TV. Of course a larger screen is going to magnify those imperfections. DVDs (and a handful of Direct TV channels) look awesome on this TV. I plan to invest in an HDTV receiver when more programming is available.

After a couple of weeks, I noticed a blob in the lower left corner of the screen. It’s more noticeable with animated programs. With little ones in the house... Nickelodeon is typically on for a couple hours each evening. I figured this was being caused by magnetic fields produced by my other equipment. I had seen blobs similar to this when people put their speakers too close to their TV. My DVD player was located directly below the blob (less than an inch below the TV). My equipment is in two stacks directly below the TV... its separated from the TV by 1/4" of glass. Its not my speakers, they’re shielded and six feet away. My center channel sits directly on top of the TV, but it is shielded as well.

I didn't worry too much about the blob due to the fact that I was moving in November and was planning to re-shuffle my equipment to space it further from the TV. Since the move I still notice blobs in the lower left and upper left corners from time to time. I finally figured out that I can make them go away if I turn the TV off and then turn it back on. Apparently the degaussing procedure eliminates these blobs (why it doesn’t resolve the issue on the initial power on… I don’t know). The blobs only show up about 30% of the time that I turn the TV on… so it hasn’t been that big a deal to turn the TV off and then back on to eliminate the blobs.

Is this something that everyone else is seeing? Has anyone had their TV serviced because of this? I’ll likely contact Sony before the warranty runs out.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 27" (1990 vintage)

Follow up to previous review. You may recall that I was having trouble with two horizontal lines about 1/4 the way from the top and the bottom of the picture respectively. I have learned that this is a "Sony thing"; I even see them on my computer monitor (a trinitron).

My TV was replaced yesterday and the lines are almost not noticeable at all. That's the good news. The bad news is that now I have an aproximately 4" yellow blob in the lower right corner of the screen. Does not go away with repeated turning off/on of the set (degaussing); the set was not shipped next to a speaker or other magnetic source, nor does it sit next to a speaker in my house. Perhaps the TV's speaker is not shielded or is defectively shielded. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I plan to have the TV replaced again. Hopefully the third time will be a charm. My review reflects the frustrations with this process thusfar.

I have bought this set a 2 days back and found that picture quality is very impressive . I am using this with Dish Network and have couple of questsions

- I have not been able to get the Twin View working with the present wiring . I would appreciate if somebody can let me the wiring with the Ecostart Receiver so that I can use the dual tuners
- remote is also not working with the Ecostart Receiver .

Let me know if any body is using this set with the Dishnetwork and what are their experinces.

A true perfict picture after you play with it for a weal...

You have too play around too ajest the pic.....

I will focus on DOUG and MUTT and too there questions that they privatly sent me, first of all DOUG, no Doug just because you purchuse your sorround in a box at Walmart does not mean it would be compadable with the T.V you obtain at Goodwill, see that 1981 JVC needs an Video input at lest too hook up that muff DVD.
Mutt please understand that ZENITH tv for $248.71 with tax cdn is not considered high end,just because it is sliver does not make it an XBR.Also understand Mutt that Zellers does not carries DVD players thyat have progressive scan or have C.V.I like mine does so you cant hook it up that way...
And on the finnal note gentalmen understand this one thing , if they are selling that receiver at a yard sale for $10.00 cdn and will take $3.00 for it there is something wrong, and DOUG yes your trailer park home will give interference on those rabbit ears of yours....

Outstanding product

Weight

I just received the 450 model and couldn't be happier. The good folks at Tweeter were able to match the price I could have paid using Crutchfield, so I saved few hundred on sales tax. The set is fantastic, easy to use and the picture is amazing. I am using standard cable and do notice some channels are not that great, but I have noticed this on all my tvs (I think the large screen size just makes it worse).

With DVD's, the 450's 3:2 pulldown makes for a very nice picture. My home theater is now complete. Although the set is expensive, I like it much more than the Panasonic version and I believe you get what you pay for. Looking forward to using this set for many years and can't wait to start receiving HDTV.

Similar Products Used:

24" wega

great picture

weak speaker

I have my XBR450 with DirecTV for about a month, the picture quality is very good with channels like Discovery, and is ultra sharp with good DVDs with my ns700p. The sales guy told me for this tv, it is better use RCA vedio output than the s-video output from the DirecTV receiver because s-video input bypass the digital comber, is it true? Also, anyone has luck using the XBR remote with the RCA direcTV receiver? No matter what I did, the enter button just don't work on the receiver, which make the remote useless for the receiver.