57U

The following post appears to have been "lost in the transition". I posted it around August 1 and I'm reposting it today.

First the disclaimer - I own an Hitachi as you can see from my signature, and I'm not trying to slag Sony. I have simply been seeing a number of "issues" come up repeatedly in various forums and I just wanted to list them here. Perhaps there are more issues with Sonys because there are a lot of them out there. Please feel free to add your own issues to this list so that the potential buyers of Sony product can be educated consumers. Also these issues may not affect all Sonys, especially the newer product.

1. I have read repeatedly that Sony does not do a good job of upconverting 480i signals (standard definition TV, or non PS DVD players)

2. When an S-video cable is connected from an STB to a Sony, there are picture quality issues. (stairstepping, large pixels, black lines, etc)

3. When viewing component video input from an STB, the standard definition channels are "letterboxed" and "sidebarred" on the set. (small picture, centre of the screen) This third point has been edited. This problem was with a 4:3 set and I don't consider 4:3 sets to be "real" HDTV as they simply do what they can with HDTV signals. This criticism is therefore unfair, but should be noted by those considering 4:3 sets.

4. S-video input cannot be "scaled or stretched" on some sets.

5. There is no 720P input. (not a big issue, but why is it not available since one of the major broadcasters uses it (ABC))?

I will come back and edit this post as I learn more.

2002.09.06 - I have just learned that some Sony Wega TVs have a feature that is important to some. They allow any two inputs to be used in the PIP/POP feature. You'll need to check if the particular model under consideration does this, if it's of interest, however, a number of other sets do not do this. The other brands always have the internal tuner as one of the "PIP inputs".

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57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.

HokieD

I wanted to comment on my experience with my 16:9 Sony KP-57HW40.

Sony does not do a good job of upconverting 480i signals (standard definition TV, or non PS DVD players) - When an S-video cable is connected from an STB to a Sony, there are picture quality issues.

I used coax for cable (see below for why I no longer use it) and S-Video for satellite. All I can say is that both look like total crap. I don't see any issues at all with DVD movies (480i) played through S-Video. They look awesome and I'm pretty picky about image quality!

An OTA HD decoder should not be used with S-Video... I use component video and hook that to the designated comp-vid hookup on the back of the tv. This will ensure that the HD signal comes in at the highest resolution. S-Video should only be used if you don't need an HD signal.

When viewing component video input from an STB, the standard definition channels are "letterboxed" and "sidebarred" on the set.

Yeah, this is a 4:3 problem. Keep in mind that OTA broadcasters will stick the sidebars on 4:3 images to make the image appear as a 16:9 format even though it's not filmed that way. It's a little trick that CBS is known to do. I think it's stupid because it prevents me from setting wide zoom on my tv. The tv is tricked into thinking a legitimte 16:9 image is coming in. This is not a SOny issue, this is a broadcast issue!

S-video input cannot be "scaled or stretched" on some sets.

This is never the case on my tv except for what I mentioned above. OTA digital television broadcasters trick the tv into thinking a 16:9 image is coming in, thereby eliminating the ability to wide zoom. S-video on a DVD that is widescreen can even be stretched, but why would you? For DVD, the tv should be set to FULL mode unless you happened to buy a 4:3 formatted DVD - early ones like Ace Ventura - Pet Detective (no WS).

There is no 720P input.

Why would you want one? You don't need it. A Sony tv includes a single HD input and that's all you need to get 480p, 720p, 960p, or 1080i. Sony can do any of those resolutions depending on the source - no special input needed. My STB has a selector if I want to send only 720 to the tv, but it does no harm leaving it at the maximum setting. The STB will automatically send 720p to the tv for the couple broadcasts that ABC shows in HD.

Ok, here's a problem that I found with my Sony...

Not sure if this is a SONY television issue or a cable issue. I had to get rid of my cable connection because whenever I plugged up the coax to the antenna on the back of the tv I got some interference. I had the entire system set up: cable, satellite, DVD, etc. and suddenly I noticed this black bar that scrolled up the screen. Watching DVD's with lots of black (ie. Matrix or The Professional) it was VERY annoying to see a black bar scrolling up the set.

Another oddity was that when I watched cable and had RCA cables hooked from the tv to the receiver for sound I got an annoying hum sound. I immediately blamed my Yamaha receiver since all S-Video goes through the receiver before getting to the tv and the sound was really bad on cable. All digital audio channels were fine though. As soon as I disconnected the coax from the tv, the interference was completely gone! What the hell was that? A grounding issue?

DirecTV started offering local channels almost immediately after this, so I got rid of cable! I don't have cable going thru my tv now and my picture/sound is clean now... Weird, huh?

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DirecTV HR20 HD DVR Receiver (Still laggy, lost some features I had with E86)
16:9 Sony KP-57HW40
Yamaha RX-V520
Boston Acoustics System 8000
Sony DVPNC655PB DVD Changer
ProntoNeo
XBOX 360 ( Elder Scrolls: Oblivion)

Other Experiences:
DirecTV H20 HD Receiver (Laggy, Couldn't Wait to Dump It)
Hughes E86 Platinum Receiver (More User Friendly than H20)
Scientific Atlantic Explorer 3100HD (Time Warner Digi-Cable)
Samsung SIR-T150 OTA Decoder (Excellent OTA Decoder)

57U

Hokie, Thanks for the post and comments. Regarding the above, I was talking about SD, not HD. HD cannot be stretched as you stated correctly, but SD can, and I've read that a number of Sony sets had problems stretching S-Video SD signals...

__________________
57U - Toronto, Rogers Cable, SA8300HD, 500GB HDD & Hitachi 61UWX10B HDTV, Yamaha RX-V1 A/V Receiver, Martin Logan Speakers. Photos --> 57U's HT

SA8300HD, 250GB HDD & KDL40W3000 (Upstairs)

Please don't PM me with questions that can (and should) be asked in the forum, thanks. Personal Question? Fire away.