Sony 40"XBR9 - yes or no?

ErVikingo · 12-17-2009, 10:26 AM

Ideas; opinions?

Hugh R · 12-17-2009, 10:39 AM

IMHO, can't go wrong with any Sony product. However, having said that, I get my Sony stuff at 40% off from my counterpart at Sony Pictures.

equality72521 · 12-17-2009, 10:41 AM

Sony XBR is very nice.

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

My parents have that. I don't think they use all the high tech connectivity benefits, but it is a nice TV.

Hugh, can we get Pelican deals on TVs through you/your friend, too?

ErVikingo · 12-17-2009, 10:54 AM

Great thanks! buying now.......

Uverse being installed on Wednesday (wish me luck)

ErVikingo · 12-17-2009, 11:23 AM

FYI, on special at Crutchfields with a BluRay player and a basic surround system.

m21sniper · 12-17-2009, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh R

IMHO, can't go wrong with any Sony product. However, having said that, I get my Sony stuff at 40% off from my counterpart at Sony Pictures.

My sony widescreen projection went tits up in under 5 years and cost $600.00 to fix....

Honestly IMO you are paying a massive premium for the name SONY when you buy one of their products. A premium that IME, is certainly not worth the extra expense.

I bought a Vizio, which size for size, is about 1/2 the price.

HardDrive · 12-17-2009, 03:19 PM

We have a 52" Sony, about 2 years olds. It is the model down from the XBR, but very similar.

We recently got HD, and it looks fantastic. But I can't same I am entirely thrilled with the software. It just seems overly clunky.

My parents have a Samsung, also with HD, and it look as good or better than ours.

gprsh924 · 12-17-2009, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m21sniper

My sony widescreen projection went tits up in under 5 years and cost $600.00 to fix....

Honestly IMO you are paying a massive premium for the name SONY when you buy one of their products. A premium that IME, is certainly not worth the extra expense.

I bought a Vizio, which size for size, is about 1/2 the price.

I disagree slightly. I did some very exhaustive research when I bought my 32" LCD last year and ended up getting what was pretty much universally rated as the best 720 32 on the market, a Samsung. It was just under $600, while at the time the cheapest 32 inchers were going for $430-$450. However, the picture was simply better with the Samsung. Also, spec for spec, it well out classed the lower end competition. I found that when comparing spec for spec, the TV's seemed to be within $50 of each other.

I noticed the same thing at Thanksgiving when I was looking at tv's with my friend for his parents. They were looking at 46" 1080P LCD's and there was a couple hundred dollar range in that market. The ones that were cheap were only 60hz, 2 hdmi inputs, 10K-25K dynamic contrast etc. The expensive ones had 120hz refresh rate, 3-4 hdmi inputs and up to 50K dynamic contrast ratios. I will give you that spec for spec, a Vizio I saw was $150 cheaper than the comparable Samsung/Sony and I really couldn't tell the difference in picture.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I just bought the same one and the HD picture is great! The prices have dropped a great deal in the last couple of months and IMHO, they are a great deal now.

gassy · 12-18-2009, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErVikingo

Great thanks! buying now.......

Uverse being installed on Wednesday (wish me luck)

I just had Uverse installed on Monday. (Took the guy about 5 hours.) So far I love it. It's my first experience with HD (Philips) and I can't stop watching nature shows...

Neilk · 12-18-2009, 06:37 AM

I want uverse just to reduce my monthly expenses, but in my neighborhood, we can only watch one HD channel at the same time. No way. If the uverse boxes would allow you to record OTA (over the air) HD signals, then I could probably live with that, but no way am I going to limit myself to one HD channel. BFD that you can record up to 4 channels at once if they are in standard def.

ErVikingo · 12-18-2009, 07:04 AM

Full blown Uverse here. 2 HD at same time, max 4 channels at a time total.

I might get an OTA antenna and record to my TiVOs

m21sniper · 12-18-2009, 08:10 AM

I HATE these new digital over the air antennas. I finally broke down and have the satellite guy coming today, i just cannot take the CONSTANT disruptions to signal i get here. IMO, digital TV is the worst invention ever. :-/

YMMV depending on geography.

Hugh R · 12-18-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah930

Hugh, can we get Pelican deals on TVs through you/your friend, too?

Sorry, no.

Halm · 12-18-2009, 09:03 AM

Out of the box, no HD TV is ready to perform at its best. No matter what brand or type TV you get, make sure you go over to AVS Forum (AVS Forum) and search for the correct settings. It will make a world of difference.

JavaBrewer · JavaBrewer's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

I'm starting to think that buying high end consumer electronics is a fools game as much of it appears to be engineered for a 3-5 year life - just like the lower end stuff. My buddy sprung for a top line Sony LCD TV and now just over a year and out of warranty it has a 1/4" line top/bottom of dead pixels. He's really angry for not springing for the extended warranty. He could have bought a Costco special for 1/2 of what he paid for the "superior" Sony unit. Oh well...

From another thread.