Sony XBR worth $200 more then HS series? (1 Viewer)

[Dwight Amato]

I am looking at getting a 34" CRT TV for my living room. I have decided to go with the Sony, of which there are two sets, the 34HS510 and the 34XBR910. I was set to go with the HS because it really is good enough for me, but I found a deal that will put the XBR at $200 more.

You see, I need a stand for the set, so the matching Sony stand would work perfectly. There is a deal going on right now that the XBR comes with the matching stand, where the HS does not. If you add in the cost of the stand, the price difference is now only $200.

For the $200 I get a full 2 year warranty vs the 1 year / 90 days, as well as the extra features of the XBR. I saw them both in the same store today (not side by side), and the XBR did seem to have smoother picture, but it was not as bright (something I have read about online). Neither set was calibrated and I didn't even have access to the user controls.

Which ever set I get I will put through the full VE/Avia treatment, as well as service menu items if appropriate. It seems like the XBR should be worth it for the warranty alone, yet I'm afraid of the brightness issues, as well as I do like the case of the HS series more. It will be used for 50% SDTV, 30% HDTV and and 20% DVD. Thanks!

 

[Mark:F]

Dwight,
I just had the 910 delivered yesterday. Here's some answers plus questions too-
-it's hooked up to digital cable, hdtv coming in a few days.The cable picture is excellent.Local channels that bleed into the cable,evident on a new 24" Wega in another room,do not show up on the 910! Stretching 4:3 material using the wide zoom setting is very good.
-I had to "calibrate" the 910 using the controls on the TV...the menu function on the remote didn't work...this may be because I'm using the 910 as a monitor, with only Svideo in from my receiver and video in from the VCR....a guy's coming over from the store to check it out and to tell me what cabling improvements I should make. It ain't easy "calibrating" while sitting right in front of the TV but I only needed to reduce sharpness a little and fix flesh color and it came out great. No brightness issues, no bad corners, nothing. I also used Avia, was fine until I got to adjusting the video settings and I couldn't move the arrows...wierd, it all worked fine on the audio part...do you think it's a bad disc?
-I played Tribute To Brian Wilson DVD, 1.78:1...absolutely brilliant with a non-progressive player and the Svideo into the TV! As was suggested previously in this forum, a progressive player might not show visible improvement with this TV, it's that good.
To sum up, I'd go for the 910...I got 3 more years p&s warranty for $140 which I don't think was discounted. You may want to look around for the 910 priced at maybe $2200 without the stand then check out equipment for sale in this forum for a 910 stand...some people got the stand for free locally but don't need it hint hint.