Sony KV-34XBR960 vs. Tosh 34HFX84. Mid-price DVD player suggestions.

[Slice]

Hi all. This is my first post – sorry if long, but I’m a detail sort of guy.

After researching HDTV’s for a while, I'm leaning towards the Sony. Selling points for me: reputation for PQ relative to the micro-displays, dark screen-surround, 2-year parts/labor in-home warranty, and integrated HD tuner, as well as many good expert & owner reviews.

1. The Sony's image seemed a bit darker than the Tosh (and other sets) in the store. “Finding Nemo” was playing on a prerecorded loop, not a DVD signal. I especially noticed it in shadow scenes where grass was waving in the water. The color & detail on shadowy areas of that grass seemed more evident on the Tosh (I didn’t check the menu settings on this, but its image brightness was about the same as other nearby sets).

I checked the Sony menu settings, which were set to VIVID with everything else set to flat levels. I ran through the different modes (standard, movie, etc), but the image just got darker as I went.

So, back to Vivid and adjusted the brightness to ~ 80% which helped. When I mentioned this to the salesperson, he said it was because the Sony was the last set in their feed line - is he yanking my chain?

Will running a relatively high brightness harm the set (I know high contrast is bad)

Maybe this is something I won’t notice after it’s in my house?

2. DVD player? I want both good video and audio reproduction (not quite an audiophile, but not tone deaf either). After reading many posts on this site, Internet reviews & comments, and the DVD shootout on Secrets, I may be more confused than ever.

Who knows how long the HD-DVD 2-format war will take, so I think I will go with a mid-price player ala Denon’s 1910 or similar. My player budget would max out ~ $400. Suggestions of a short list to check out?

3. HDMI vs. component for a direct-view HDTV? I realize that this has been done to death, but I’m still not clear about whether I’ll notice a difference on my direct-view HDTV as opposed to a micro-display. Opinions seem is that a progressive Faroudja signal would be just as good. What do you all think?


Happy New Year and thanks!

[eric gill]

hdmi is a true digital connect of course its better this means less change in the signal path. thats why everyone loved the faroudja d.a.c becouse even though u were going to lose quality in the digtal to analoge conversoin it would be alot less with the faroudja chip . the denon dvd player is sweet so is the piodv45a. and no the guy in the store was not lying to u store feeds suck. if ur tv doesnt look three times as good in ur house as it does in the store ur tv is broke ! lol or u dont have it hooked up right. when any clients of mine tell me there tv doesnt look as good as it did in the store my first question is how did u hook it up. and yes the sony is 10 times the tv as the toshiba. and spend the 3 houndred dollers to get it i.s.f calibrated u will wonder why u didnt do it on all ur tvs

[Matt27]

Brightness should'nt harm you set, but the more brightness you add can tend to make the contrast bloom a bit.Also too much brightness would make the picture washed out, and colors would look faded.

The more blacker the brightness level the more clarity is present.

But if you would like to see details in dark areas and still keep the black levels deep and black, then you should probably get a dvd player with a gamma adjustment such as one of the newer Sony models like the 525 or 775 which i have and can be bought for $99 on sale right now, compared to the original price of $130.

Also when your looking for a good player, look for one with a better D/A chipset, most come at 10 bit 54mhz, try and look for one with a higher chipset like 12bit 108mhz D/A chipsets.

These will give better picture quality and better sound.

[Slice]

Thank you for the input. I decided on the Sony, which should be in by the weekend. :hyper:

Since then, I've spoken with several owners who absolutely love the image quality; these included one of the techs at very respected local high-end audio shop. He said he just bought his in order to get one before they stopped making it, because it has the best image of any tv of any type right now; this really gave me piece of mind.

I'm assuming that even though heavy, that I can move it (tv + stand) 'end by end' to/from the wall in order to get at the jack panel. Yes?

I plan to get a calibration disc - which one should I get? DVE or Avia? Best source?

Thanks again!

[Rich]

You gotta love this store: most expensive crt they sell, and they apparently have it getting the worst feed. Of course, maybe the Tosh just had a better picture than the vaunted SONY XBR :) As for the SONY being "10 times better," some of you SONY guys are a little much, IMO.

[Slice]

I decided to go with the Hitachi 42V710 LCD RPTV instead - to me, the PQ looked as good as the Sony from 8-10' away and didn't look so dark. I cancelled the Sony order (still hadn't arrived) and no money changed hands.

Bigger is better, no?? :)

I would have preferred the identical-but-titanium-colored 42V715, but this store doesn't carry it. The silver looks good enough and I'm tired of TV shopping.