Price Paid: $2200.00
Purchase at: Audio/Video City
Strengths
Superb picture with DVD using component video w/3:2 pulldown.
Weakness
Heavy! Picture needs some geometry tweaking and waiting for service manual. Also, digital cable sucks on some channels. Find that my 32" Wega has better sound w/built in speakers.
Comments/Review
It was a choice between this, the 34XBR2, or the 40XBR. I went with this one. As many of you know, this TV has such clarity, if the signal going in is not good (ie, cable signal), the results are clearly seen. Notice some slightly bending lines (pincushioning) at the lower edges which I will correct soon. Lots of Sonys are like this. Used the Avia and calibrated the pix so it looks much better. Factory settings was not that far off. Recommend turning off VSM altogether. A little disappointed in the cheap sound system this XBR model has too. My 32" Wega is a step below the XBR and it has better sound than this! Overall, if you want the best image (for DVD), this is it. You cannot turn off the DRC and I believe if you had that option, the cable may look better. In fact, my cable image looks better on the 32" Wega.
That is why it did not get 5 stars. If you are looking for the best DVD image, go for it. If you have the money to spend, go for the 34XBR2. The size of the image is a tad larger (about an inch) and you will have the built-in HD tuner as well. The 40XBR is one HUGE set and you are practically forced to pay almost 500 dollars for the sony stand!
