KV34XBR 800 vs KP46wt510? (2 Viewers)

[Richard-Tien]

Hi everyone, I've been spending the past week or so researching TV's fairly heavily. Our old but reliable 27 inch Sony Trinitron is calling it quits and we need to replace it.

My room in which my entertainment system resides is 10x11.5 feet, very small. I do 75% DVD watching, 25% TV. My wife watches TV 75% and 25% DVD. We want widescreen too.

My other issue includes center channel placement. I have a B&W HTM2 that currently is perched atop my old set, such that the tweeter is 52inches in the air. I'm trying to get the speaker more to ear level (35-39inches) so that I can enjoy a better SACD experience (music is 80% of my time in the entertainment room).

My issues:

1) PQ needs to be at a very good for all sources. It seems that the XBR wins out here.

2) Viewing height. If I go with the XBR, most likely it will be pretty high in the air (bottom will be at 36 inches high) so as to accomodate a center channel beneath it on a TV stand (salamander - although weight limits are set at 200 lbs!). If I go with the 46wt, I will have the height set at about 40 inches at the top. I probably would add the stand which is another 10 inches.

3) Center channel position. This is very important to me. I listen to a lot fo SACD's and MCh music is growing on me. That said, having the tweeter at anywhere but ear level is a poor solution at best. Thus it would seem that the XBR wins out since I can put the center channel on a TV stand. The other option would be to put the center channel on its own dedicated speaker stand that would fire it upwards toward the listener. This would work with the 46wt only, as having a center speaker stand in front of a TV stand looks, well, silly.

4) Viewing distance. Right now, the viewing distance is 7 feet. That is as far as I can get from the TV as again, I have a very small room.

I'm leaning towards teh XBR, but the extra screen width would be nice. Any comments would be wonderful! My last option is just to wait for further discounts or for newer models.
Thanks in advance!

 

[dan fritzen]

Your post definitely shows you leaning toward the 34XBR800. I have this set and love it, but I didn't want a RP that needs convergence and any other maintenaince.

Sony has a press release that they will have a new XBR 34" and 30" widescreen TV very soon with improved scan lines. I will add the link once I find it again.

 

[Richard-Tien]

Well after some research on the AVS forums, I am starting to come to teh conclusion that the new kp46wt510 might be the set to buy. There just seems to be a lot of issues with the Sony 34inch WS cRT's. The kp46 on the other hand has gotten very good reviews, with not much in the way of problems.

My questions is how much maintenance will this set require? And how much will that cost? And how much is ISF calibration? Will it break my warranty?

Thanks

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

RPTV maintenance ... convergence once every couple of months ... takes about 5 minutes. Once you get good at it.

Full professional calibration costs $400 to $550. If you do most of the work yourself, and just "rent" the equipment at the end ... it costs $275.

If you "rent" the equipment for a direct view tube ... it costs $225.

Rent= hiring ISF person to do only the grayscale on the TV.

Regards

 

[SeanA]

There just seems to be a lot of issues with the Sony 34inch WS cRT's.

Richard,

What kind of issues ? I have the Sony 34" XBR800, and I don't remember seeing any glaring issues with the set. As a matter of fact, it was rated highly by CNet. Like Dan, I too was looking at RPTV's but the big problem for me was the lower light output and the light reflections off the anti-glare screens.

 

[Joey]

Sony has a press release that they will have a new XBR 34" and 30" widescreen TV very soon with improved scan lines. I will add the link once I find it again.

Actually, I think Sony has them on their site already (but no price and ordering info yet). They've given the screens a black ring perimeter like all their other XBRs. (I'm sure that's now the only difference. LOL)

 

[Jack Briggs]

We all know the advantages and disadvantages of certain technologies. I am also in a mode of indecision, pondering which compromises I need to make to achieve maximum satisfaction for the buck. In certain environments certain technologies make sense. Then, too, people with environments that favor one or more technologies over others might prefer the opposite for other reasons.

As long as an accurate-enough picture is possible, and you're satisfied with the results, either one of those models is a fine performer.

 

[Richard-Tien]

Thanks for the replies. Most of the issues were having to do with the geometry - and most of this research was done in the avs forums. Otherwise, I 've heard good things about the set.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I have the 34” XBR Richard and it is a fine set. There is a bit more overscan that I would prefer; but of course I can have that fixed with a visit from my friendly ISF person.

 

[SeanA]

There is a bit more overscan that I would prefer

Hey Lew,

What is "overscan", and how do you recognize it ? I've still got lots to learn here !!!

 

[Lew Crippen]

Overscan is where all of the data input to the display is not shown on the display. For example, NTSC has 525 lines of information. As the display is generated on a CRT the gun moves the electron beam back and forth across the screen in lines—or you might say that it ‘scans’ back and forth. As it turns out some of these scan lines never make it to your display—and you don’t want them to, as a few have non-display information.

This is called ‘overscan’, so named because the scan goes beyond the actual display.

Now the amount of overscan is the question. Many displays (this varies from model to model and within models from set to set) will overscan more than 5%--perhaps as much as 10%.

This is correctable—in fact one of the things that ISF calibrations correct is to bring the overscan down to about 3%.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Oops, sorry Sean, I just noticed that you had a two-part question.

A large amount of overscan is almost immediately recognizable—you just have a feeling that you are missing a part of the picture—the display seems to ‘crop’ the picture.

If you have a 16:9 widescreen set, you can tell if you have almost no overscan by looking at a 1.85:1 movie. Because 16:9 works out to 1.78:1, a 16:9 display with no (or almost no) overscan will have thin black bars at the top and bottom when showing a 1.85:1 film.

Many people are happy to have enough overscan to not show these black bars.

You can also tell by using a disk like AVIA or Video Essentials.

 

[SeanA]

Thanks Lew !!!

You've piqued my curiousity now. I am going to check this out with a 1.85:1 DVD. I guess I should go back to my AVIA disc too and check out the section that addresses overscan... I think I must have skipped over it on my basic calibration.