Outstanding TV. The Best tube TV around.

The XBR is an outstanding TV. The 36 inch is fantastic. It is the best tube around and the best TV I have ever owned.

A few questions:

BUT...if it is the highest end Sony tube TV then why doesnt it have gold plated rca inputs?
Also why is the owners manual for 12 year olds (where is the technical service manual)?
What about the wireless headphones that used to come with XBRs?

Is it just me or is Sony cutting costs on the XBR?

And also does 1080i high scan mean that the XBR can display 1080i with a HDTV signal box? I was told that the XBR is only good up to 700-800i. Any thoughts?

Trust me I dont think any other models I researched are quite as good, the Sony is the best tube TV around, it just seems they are not differentiating the XBR vs. their other WEGA tv's as they did in the past.

Outstanding TV. The Best tube TV around.

The XBR is an outstanding TV. The 36 inch is fantastic. It is the best tube around and the best TV I have ever owned.

A few questions:

BUT...if it is the highest end Sony tube TV then why doesnt it have gold plated rca inputs?
Also why is the owners manual for 12 year olds (where is the technical service manual)?
What about the wireless headphones that used to come with XBRs?

Is it just me or is Sony cutting costs on the XBR and making it just another Wega with some extras on it?

And also does 1080i high scan mean that the XBR can display 1080i with a HDTV signal box? I was told that the XBR is only good up to 700-800i. Any thoughts?

Trust me I dont think any other models I researched are quite as good, the Sony is the best tube TV around, it just seems they are not differentiating the XBR vs. their other WEGA tv's as they did in the past.

Just wanted to add a note to my previous message. I think it's a good idea to buy this from a local retailer cause this would be a big pain in the butt to exchange/return/repair cause of its size and weight. I also bought the extended warranty in-home service for the same reasons. I know it can be bought cheaper by mail-order but you're taking a big chance on a new model if it turns out to be a lemon.

Picture quality, cool extra features

Price, weight

Just got this yesterday so this review is very preliminary. Awesome picture especially with DVD but what makes this really different is the Twin View multi-image driver. You can watch 2 programs side-by-side with the ability to zoom in one picture. Also the favorite channel preview allows you to preview up to 8 channels without leaving the current channel. I haven't noticed the black banding problem with the XBR250 but I haven't really been looking for it yet cause I've been playing with these other features. Yes it is expensive (2400 at Good Guys) but I figure if you really want a good HT system and don't like projection sets then this is the best set out there. Spend the extra money on it, to me, picture quality is the most important feature when watching movies. Oh and you'll need at least 2 guys to move this thing. It supposedly is even heavier than the XBR250. I'll post another review in a few weeks after I've had enough time to play around with this toy. I have to give it 4 stars for value cause it is expensive but it sure is an awesome set.

16x9 enhancemode, HDTV ready picture tube tv

Let me start by saying that I haven't purchase this tv yet, but I will in the next 30 days or so (actually, once my credit card cycle rolls over). I saw it at j&r for $2149.95. Apparently Sony is having a problem deciding on the price for this baby because last week their website listed the tv for 2199.99 msrp and this week it back up to its original msrp of 2699.99.

As noted below, the picture quality is crystal clear with no scan lines when playing DVD's. However, the stores' cable feed was very grainy.

For my money, its an attractive buy. Once, I get the tv, I'll write a more full review. I just wanted to alert others to the j&r price. Be ware, though, J&R's customer service sucks.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic Flat screen

16:9 enhanced mode, resolution, color, separate memories for
each viewing mode.

weight, set is ugly, set is wider than it needs to be.

While waiting for a TW40X81 (over two months) I took a serious look at our viewing habits and determined we watch a lot more 4:3 than I would like to admit. When we watch movies I get widescreen versions and only buy "enhanced for 16:9" movies. As a result, I started to worry that we were candidates for phosphor burn on the TW40X81 and I am pretty picky about stuff I have to look at every day.

So, when I heard about the 16:9 mode on the Sony, I checked it out and ordered it sight unseen and got off the Toshiba list. Too bad Toshiba, next time make sure you can deliver.

The set is deep (you need about 26" from the front face to the back) and heavy (230+ lbs). It is about 6" wider than it needs to be (for those of us that just need it as a monitor) because the speakers are on either side of the screen.

In 16:9 mode "Shakespear in love" was about a 32" diagonal image (with a 13" height). Substantially smaller than the TW40X81 but this was the down side from my decision.

There are 4 picture modes that each have their own memory for settings. Vivid, standard, Movie and Pro(fessional monitor). The settings from the factory are pretty good. Contrast was not set to max etc. In fact my first attempt with VE to set up the modes resulted in a picture that was not as nice as the factory setting. Looks like the geometry is off on the left side. I thought it was tilt (which can be adjusted in user mode) but the left side image is taller than the right side by a little bit. I hope a future ISF calibration with take care of that.

Lots fo inputs including 2 component, both of which can trigger the 16:9 enhanced mode so you can have a DVD and an external HDTV box. You have to toggle through the inputs to get to any particular on (there are about 8 inputs) but you can logically remove unused inputs from the toggle sequence. In addition, hitting a channel number puts you into a predictable input tht you can toggle from consistently so you should be able to program a macro for this on a Pronto.

I had pretty good cable but I am a little disappointed in the way it looks on the Sony. A little soft or out of focus.
But DVD with component is great. 16:9 enhanced is even better. Don't know what a progressive scan input would look like (I have a Toshiba 2109).

This set is kind of ... How can I put this... "Imposing".
(Read UGLY). People don't know what to say when they walk into the room. Trying to find a cabinet that looks good and is big enough is going to be interesting.

In general, I am pretty happy with my purchase, I still don't feel like I have the "BIG Screen" think going but given my room size, it is better than what I had. I think movies are more involving on this set (read rationalizing spending over two grand and it isn't perfect). So it is on to researching a pre-amp/processor that will turn my Linn system into a home theater without destroying my 2 channel audio enjoyment.

I want to thank all the people that put comments on this site. I used it extensively to make my decision and having real life experience as a reference has been great. This, my first review, is my way of returning the favor. Thanks and good luck.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 26", Toshiba TW40X81

Digital Reality Creation, Vertical Compression, HD Ready, Best CRT Picture I've seen

Factory calibrations & settings are fairly skewed.

I just got this TV yesterday, so please consider all my review opinions very preliminary. I bought this TV to replace the 36XBR250 that I've had for about a year.

Photos of the Sony KV-36XBR400

Full shot from the front

A shot from the side

Close-up Shot

Shot of the front access panel

Full shot of TV on XBR250 Stand

My Setup Info

Broadcast images are coming through a normal cable connection (Cox Cable), DVD’s are played through a Toshiba SD3109 with Canare component cables, & I also played some Dreamcast games on it through the S-video connection. Power is distributed through a Monster Power Reference Power Center HTS1000. I haven't had the TV calibrated yet, nor have I run through Video Essentials with it yet. I tweaked the settings very quickly by myself. My ISF tech said to let the TV break-in for about 2-3 weeks first before having him come calibrate it. He said that way anything that was gonna break or go wrong with it will have by that time.

Side note on Canare Cables

For those of you who've been wondering about the Canare cables that many people have been raving here about, my opinion is that they are definitely a little better than the Monster cables I was previously running. But it's not a night and day difference like some people seem to be saying. To me the Canare cables gave maybe a 20%-30% increase in picture detail & colors were a little bit better. The more detailed picture is most obvious when I watched "Blade" and there's a scene where they're speaking a vampire language, and on film subtitles come up. I'm not talking about the subtitles that you can turn on & off with your DVD, I'm talking about subtitles that are on the actual film. With the Canare cables, the subtitles were sharper, clearer, and better delineated. The clincher here is that the Canare cables cost the same as the Monster Cables, around $69.99 for a meter. So there's no reason for anyone not to buy the Canare cables. Unless you already have the Monster Cables, in which case, if you're only willing to spend another $70 on cable if it makes a profound difference, you'd probably not want to get them.

Here's a photo of the cables: http://www.geocities.com/sprasnc/xbr400/canare.jpg

Design Differences & Build Quality

The first thing you, and hopefully the movers will notice is that this TV comes in a larger box than the XBR250. This made for quite an ordeal for my movers. The TV just barely fit up the stairs, and it is extremely heavy, I think 230 pounds or something. Design wise, the first thing I noticed is that the coloring is a hint more silver than the XBR250. On the photos above where you can see the TV and the stand, you'll notice the stand color seems just a bit darker than the TV. That's because the stand was the XBR250 stand. And yes the XBR400 seems to fit just right on this previous generation stand. Other than the slight color difference, the side speaker grilles are a very fine mesh now, they almost look like cloth. Also, the front access panel now goes across a much larger section of the bottom, and flips open with a much smoother, quality feel. There are no longer any buttons at the top of the TV, power and all other button are housed at the bottom part. This does give the TV a cleaner, tidier look. The overall look is just a little more smoothed out, while as the previous XBR was all about very cut, straight edges. I'm not sure which style I like better, suffice it to say both look very nice & the differences are rather minimal.

Video Quality

First off, most of my video comparison on going to be between this new set and the previous XBR250. No I didn't do a side by side, but I have owned the XBR250 (ISF calibrated) for over a year and am very aware of it's performance.

I'm pretty sure the first question on everyone's mind is, does the DRC feature make a difference. The answer is of course, yes. But for me, the improvement in picture quality was not as much as I'd expected. The picture, to me, doesn't look 4X denser. Recall the picture quality improvement that vertical compression does for anamorphic DVD's. Now imagine that image quality, vertically compressed again. That to me approximates the picture improvement with DRC when displaying an anamorphic DVD. So no it doesn't seem 4X as detailed, but there is a significant increase in picture quality. But now take into account that the XBR250 delivered what many agree was the best CRT picture to be offered. Now to improve upon that picture quality another 33% or so, is truly stunning. A similar analogy exists in the performance automobile world. When you increase a 150hp car to 250hp, the performance gains seem huge. But once you've already modified your car so thoroughly, that say, it's running 600hp, increasing the output to 700hp doesn't create the same kind of gains that it did when the car was only running 150hp. When you're at the cutting-edge, significant performance gains are much harder to realize. So it's astounding that Sony was able to improve upon the already impeccable picture of the XBR250. With the XBR400, scan lines are all but eliminated, you can watch the TV from 2 feet away without noticing the pixels. Only when you're about 6 inches away will you actually really see the pixels that make up the image. The image is truly quite close to that of HDTV. I can't wait to get a progressive scan DVD player & see how much more that will improve the image.

Now with DVD playback we were looking for improvements in something the XBR250 was already superior at. Now what about when we move away from vertically compressed images? Here, is where the biggest improvements jumped out at me. Full screen, non-anamorphic DVD’s now play with the smoothness of the vertically compressed images of the XBR250. TV images, formerly often plagued by obvious scan lines, are now significantly smoother, and scan lines don't show up at all.

New Features

I'm not going to go into too much detail for this section. Talk to a Good Guys sales person or look up XBR400 for more line by line listings of the new features. What I will mention though is that finally Velocity Modulation can be turned off in the video settings menu. You can choose "High, Med, Low, or OFF". Now I kinda have my doubts as to whether or not the "OFF" setting truly turn VM completely off. The reason being, when I disconnected VM in my XBR250, the subtitle edges on DVD's got visibly smoother. On the XBR400, with VM off, the subtitle edges are still rather jagged. May be someone can look further into this to verify whether or not it truly turns it completely off. Also worthy of noting is that the picture modes have been changed a little. "Sports" mode is gone, the new modes are "Vivid" "Standard" "Movie" & "Pro". The description for "Pro" setting is a bit vague, it went something like "For a professional display like image." It didn't seem much different from "Standard" to me. "Movie" mode still gives you a softer film like image, and "Vivid" is initially set WAY too high on picture & brightness, it was blinding. Trinitone settings are the same, but just relabeled. You can choose "Cool" "Neutral" or "Warm". Which is like the previous model's Trinitone "High" "Med" or "NTSC Std". NTSC Std is way off, very very yellow. But that was the same for my XBR250, once the ISF tech calibrated it though, it was perfect. I did notice that black levels don't seem to be as deep on the XBR250, the blacks are closer to a very dark gray than true black. When I lowered the brightness & contrast down enough to make the blacks really black, the image was too dim, and this was in a completely dark room. But it's a fairly unnoticeable difference, hopefully when I get the TV calibrated this issue can be resolved. DRC has two settings "Interlaced" and "Progressive" it doesn't go into anymore in depth explanation than that Interlaced is for moving images & Progressive is for still images. I don't know if you should set it to "Progressive" if you use a progressive scan DVD player, as even a progressive scan DVD player has "moving" images. Maybe someone can clear this up too. The PIP feature is much improved, you can see two pictures side by side, and you can progressively shrink or enlarge one side, very smooth. When you select "Favorite" channels it no longer overlays the channels and previews of them over your current channel. Instead it shrinks your current channel view a little, shifts it to the left, then uses the space on the right to display favorites info & preview.

Remote

The remote looks identical to the XBR250's. It can be a bit disconcerting for XBR250 owners because although the button layout looks identical, some buttons have been switched around. I was pressing incorrect buttons for quite a while. Remote is still glow in the dark, not backlit.

Audio

No wireless headphones come with this TV, not that I ever used them anyways. Other than that I can't comment on the sound, I turned the speakers to "Off", set audio out to "Fixed" and run everything through my 5.1 system.

Overall
My overall opinion would be, for XBR250 owners, the XBR400 may not blow your current TV out of the water, but it is without a doubt, the finest CRT image I've ever laid my eyes on. And if you just have to have the best out there, this TV is IT. For people who don't already own an XBR Wega, and want to step up to the best, this is also your TV. The only people I wouldn't recommend this TV to are obviously, people who don't care that much about picture quality, people who don't want to spend too much money, or people who care more about picture size than quality. In that case, you can buy a 60" projection TV for less than this TV. I hope this review helps some of you prospective buyers.

Similar Products Used:

Sony KV-36XBR250

Picture clarity, generous inputs/outputs, 16:9 DVD anamorphic squeeze feature.

Long term service (Sony discontinues service after 5 years regardless). You may want to get the ext. warranty, but it never did me any good on my 1991 model. Never needed it when it was in force.

Havent purchased it yet, but will get it within 3 months. Will follow up once purchased. Botom line from all my research thus far- BUY IT! Dont even think about it. This is hands down the best non-hdtv set out there, and as you know, can do HDTV with an external tuner. Its a no-brainer. Even the price isnt enough to offset what you get in return. No scan lines? What else do you want!? DVDs will drop your jaw with clarity and color richness. Be sure to get a DVD player with component outputs.

Regarding the speakers- the unit only pumps out 15 watts, so theres no surprise as to the sound quality. I would think many would just use the units' speakers as a center channel speaker with a feed from an A/V receiver. Turn off any 3-d or stereo sound enhancements on the TV to make the vocal track sound clearer, if you go this route. This seems to be a good compromise. But, dedicated center channel speakers (if quality) will sound even better.

Off the subject, My father purchased a Cerwin-Vega center channel spkr and it is by far one of the clearest and most dynamic I've ever heard. Also, look at Yamaha A/V receivers- they have a wonderful rich and warm sound. A lesser wattage Yamaha sounds better that a higher-wattage Sony or Pioneer, because Yamaha uses more discrete power components. That combo, with great main speakers (you just have to go to a petting zoo and listen to each speaker, its worth the time, dont buy a brand on name alone, most often a mix of brands sounds better overall). I personally like Infinty studio reference series for great stereo imaging and bright, crips highs. They may sound too harsh or tinny for some, and the bass may not be as warm as with others, but a subwoofer will offset that, and the truer stereo imaging works very well with movies and surround effects.

Dont forget to feed the XBR satellite and DVD inputs, using good cables (look for a true 75ohm cable). Yes, the better cables do make a noticeable difference. Conventional cable TV and VCRs will look terrible, only because the output of cable and VCRs are less resolution and signal strength. AS with many higher end components, the XBR will magnify flaws in the source signal (think of listening to a CD of an old original analog source, say a Led Zeppelin recording- any amplifier hum, resonant fragments from a bass humming through a snare drum, etc. will be apparent in the original recording). Cable even looks bad on my old 27". Its not the TV, but the source signal.

Lastly, look for a good stand to house the unit, before you get the TV, one that has room for your A/V components, and is made of solid wood or better, because this beast will sag any cheapo stands right away because of weight. And, remember to keep your speakers as far away from the TV as possible to avoid magnetic field distortion in the picture. (a picture tube that size generate one hell of a magnetic field, and non-shielded speakers will/may cause a picture color distortion, its an engineering fact, not a flaw).

I only dropped my overall rating to 4 because of price. But, as stated, I still feel it a good value if you can afford it.

Dont forget to consider getting a ISF video tech to calibrate the unit. Projection tv owners are familiar with this- its just the nature of the beast, you need calibration for the best possible picture, as it leaves the factory with midline settings that may not be best for each individual unit. Spend the money on a tech rather than an extended warranty. You wont be disappointed. I wouldnt fool with the service mode settings unless you have guidance!

I'm not an expert, but all this is pretty much common sense. You have to take it all with a grain of salt. Hope this helps.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 27" Trinitron (1991 model, complete with weak solder joints, a common problem in that era) Have had to replace tuner and audio IC chip. Trinitron tube has been flawless.

Resolution, complete lack of any visible scanning lines, rich color, large number of inputs

No, I won't say weight (I expected that from this site) but I will say depth. It sticks halfway into my living room!(almost)

O.K., I guess that I get to be the first to address how this baby does with a progressive input. Unfortunately, I don't really have anything amazing to report. I'll talk about that more later on.

First off, as another review has already mentioned, this thing is deep! I pushed it and it's matching stand all the way up against my back wall in my living room and it seems as if it's sticking way out into the center of the room! I don't have a big living room, so maybe I would do better with the 32" model instead. I bought the 36" one because I expected to see the real benefits when viewing DVD's in progressive 16:9. With the 4:3 36", I figured that a 16:9 view would be just about right. I must admit that I wasn't disappointed.

Since I'm new to the whole DVD scene, my opinions may not be of the high caliber that others have on this site. I do know what I am looking at when I see something, however, so I'll try to put it in layman's terms.

I hooked up my Toshiba SD5109 (brand new, too) up to the Sony with Monster's component video cables. I bought two sets so I can switch between progressive and interlaced just so I could see the difference between the two. I popped in The Matrix to see what the fuss was about, and switched back and forth between the two inputs. Well, it seems as if a 480i signal is automatically line doubled to 960i and a 480p signal is left alone. So, I was amazed at how good the picture looked in interlaced mode, but wasn't floored like I thought I would be when I switched over to progressive. But, I did think that the colors were a bit more vivid in progressive mode. That may be a DVD player issue, though. On another note, I have a set of the much-hyped Canare component cables on the way, and I'll review them on this site as soon as I can.

A few concerns of mine that I had before buying were dealing with the picture tube and the many quality problems that the earlier models had with the picture. I'm happy to say that my Sony doesn't have any "dark corners," lines, or bars associated with the previous models. None of the sets in any of the showrooms that I visited had them, either. The picture was rotated a small bit when I first turned on my set, but a quick adjustment to +3 set it level. My only complaint now is that there is a (very)slight bow to any horizontal lines near the bottom of the screen. This is most noticeable when playing 16:9 DVDs. The bottom border will look just a tiny bit (and I mean tiny)like it's curved a little. I'm not upset, though. I am usually so amazed by the picture that I don't really notice. Go to your local dealer and see for yourself. I went to every dealer in town, and the picture on this TV beat the pants off any other TV in the stores hands down. That includes the previous XBR model as well (XBR250) and any of the non-enhanced standard WEGA sets. Just look for horizontal scan lines. I dare you. They're not there.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the TV so far. I shopped around online but decided to go with a local retailer because of the other Sony WEGA reviews on this site and their many problems with quality control. I also paid a little more for an extended warranty for the same reason.

All in all, I'm very excited about my new home theater. This TV was the final purchase and I must say that I'm glad that I picked this television. Combined with the rest of my system, watching movies on DVD is absolutely great. If anything should happen that will change my opinion, you'll be the first to know!

System:
Monitor: Sony 36"XBR400
DVD Player: Toshiba SD5109
Receiver: Denon AVR-3300
Speakers: Klipsch KM4 fronts, KMC Center, KSW 1.1 rears, KSW-12 Sub
Oh, yeah, and a Philips Pronto.

Similar Products Used:

Only weaker, inferior televisions.

DVD (esp. anamorphic widescreen), amazing color/contrast, zoom PIP, plenty of inputs, incredible still digitals (i.e. when connecting a megapixel digital camera)

Analog sources and AT&T "digital" leave a bit to be desired--> viewing distance from TV is crucial (see below). Pre-set picture settings (i.e. vivid, movie,pro,etc.) are a little too extreme.

I am by no means an expert viewer, but this is my take...

Overall, the TV is great! The first thing you may notice if you have digital cable or dss is that the menus appear 3D! On the other hand, graphics in regular programming (i.e. VH1 pop up video or names of newscasters,etc.) will probably appear a bit blurry -- clearly a source quality problem.


Its taken me a few days to get used to the pixellation inherent to the DRC feature. This issue is all but eliminated as you move your viewing further from the set. I would say that 15' is probably optimum for viewing non-digital sources - the colors and sharpness look great from that distance.

The anamorphic dvd's are amazing, but some of the 4:3's show pixellation when viewing too closely (<8 feet or so). If you have a smaller room you may consider getting the 32" set because the smaller the picture, the higher quality it seems to appear with DRC. To test this concept, check out the picture quality changes while adjusting the PIP zoom from a small box to a large box. I guess as with anything in digital format (or conventional tv for that matter), perceived resolution quality changes drastically as the image is made larger.

I don't know enough about progressive scan DVD players, so I'm wondering how much (if at all) it would improve the quality of the picure on the xbr400. If anyone has any idea or wants to talk about the tv, let me know -- maybe we can share some tips.

Max

Similar Products Used:

none