lpdcan28 Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 i am going to get a sony 34 inch widescreen, but i am confused about the two models of 34 inche tvs sony offers. the one model is the xbr model and is about 500 bucks more. what is the diffence in 34 inch models? what does the xbr offer that the other one does not? do the xbr's have a built in hd tuner? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRadical Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 I am also considering one of these tvs for my next home theater. I believe the new XBR 910 model has some new technology called Super Fine Pitch. Sound & Vision has a review of this new model on their web site soundandvisionmag.com. The reason I'm interested in this tv is that it is a CRT type tv. This technology is tried and true and the price is within my budget. The units are very heavy though. The XBR tips the scale at around 200 lbs. I think it gives the best overall picture quality compared to other technologies. The plasmas look nice and have larger viewing screens but they are too expensive for my budget and they also have burn in problems. The LCDs look ok but the viewing angle isnt' as good as a CRT or plasma. Sunlight entering your room can also be a problem. I live in Florida so that is always an issue with me. The 34 inch widescreens from Sony alway look good in the stores but they are kind of small looking next to the giant plasmas and LCDs. I wish they could make them just a little bigger. I believe the XBR 910 is going to replace the HS 510 so we may be able to find some good closeout deals on this model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 both are nice tv's, the XBR (e X tra B ucks R equired ) is and has been sony's best video product. if it is within your budget, get the xbr! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 I have the 34" xbr without the built-in HD tuner. It is HD ready though. I highly recommend it. Beautiful picture. You really don't need to spend the extra grand on the tuner right now IMO. Wait until 2007 and buy an external tuner when broadcast signals change. You'll know exactly what you need at that point and it will no doubt be cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damonrpayne Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Why not get a 36", it will letterbox DVDs and you'll end up with about the same size picutre as the 34" widescreen, with regular TV and video games benefitting from the larger screen. The Wega truly has the best picture out there IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 ---------------- On 9/30/2003 2:01:29 PM damonrpayne wrote: Why not get a 36", it will letterbox DVDs and you'll end up with about the same size picutre as the 34" widescreen, with regular TV and video games benefitting from the larger screen. The Wega truly has the best picture out there IMHO. ---------------- If you can handle that much letterboxing on dvds, go for it. I like the 16:9 better. I don't watch that much tv and don't play games. Mine is mostly for movies. The 36" shows a lot of black on a widescreen movie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 i have the 36"4x3 xbr and while i don't find the horizontal black bars distracting, it actually takes about a 40" 4x3 set to display a 34" 16:9 picture, and 2.35:1 ratio movies are REALLY small on 4x3 sets with REALLY BIG black horizontal bands. i think the key is to see if 'widezoom' is o.k. by you as a way of displaying 4x3 on the 16:9 sony. if not, get a lcd-based sony and display 4x3 in 'normal' 4x3 mode, with lcd, burn-in isn't a concern like crt/plasma. i use 'normal' on my sony lcd projector for most 4x3 stuff, but use 'widezoom' sometimes as well(the s.o. gets bothered by widezoom- i thought I was the a/v 'perfectionist' ) avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRadical Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 I didn't think burn in was much of a problem with CRT TVs. What are the different modes of watching 4X3 TV shows on the widescreen and how do they look? This is important to me since our viewing is about 50/50 TV/movies. I'm also watching several TV shows on DVD now that are in 4X3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIbor Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 HI I have a owned a sony not the model you refer to but similiar. I made the switch to toshiba and I think it is a better tv. I think you are paying alot for the Sony...like Bose My 2 cents. I am sure the Sony model will make a good choice regardless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easylistener Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 Get the sony the best pictures of all of the direct views. The 36 4:3 will give you a 31" picture in full wide screen. That is cornor to cornor. The new xbr 34 widescreen has a fine pitch crt in it and is far better than the non xbr. If you watch manly dvd's in widescreen then get the widescreen but if you are watching a lot of normal tv then get the 4:3. That will be the standard for serval years and you will want a differnt tv by than and then you can get the widscreen. Both sets will burn so becarful. If you have a widescreen and you are watching a 4:3 you will have bars on the side. Most of them have zoom modes but I don't like the modes because they stretch the screen. RPTV will burn to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 ---------------- On 9/30/2003 7:28:01 PM TIbor wrote: HI I have a owned a sony not the model you refer to but similiar. I made the switch to toshiba and I think it is a better tv. I think you are paying alot for the Sony...like Bose My 2 cents. I am sure the Sony model will make a good choice regardless! ---------------- I think that's BS. IMHO of course. I did many side by side comparisons to all similiar models including the toshiba and none had as good a picture as the sony xbr. Looking very closely at the background, the sony just had way more detail. Things on the screen that were fuzzy with the others, the sony was sharp. That was last year though. Maybe this year's toshiba is improved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRadical Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Can someone explain to me the difference between tube tvs and CRT tvs. Is there a difference? I thought that the traditional tv was a CRT type. But now I'm confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 tube tv ARE crt's. the widezoom mode is the easiest to live with when you want a full-screen display of 4x3 material. lcd doesn't have burn-in problems. maybe check out the new 42" 16:9 grand vvega-awesome lcd rptv w/about a 16"depth! the new xbr 34" widetube is AWESOME, especially in high definition!! avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeRadical Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 How long does it take for burn it to occur on the crt tv and what does it look like? I currently have a Sony 27" Trinitron that I watch widescreen movies on all the time. Do the black bars cause burn in? What about CNBC with the stock ticker? I haven't noticed any problems with my picture after several hours of movie watching so what is the big deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted October 2, 2003 Share Posted October 2, 2003 where the picture is NOT displayed(ie where the black bars are)those phosphors aren't being used, so when you display a full screen picture, the top and bottom of the picture will be brighter than the rest. also tickers,'life meters' on video games,bright static station logos,etc. will appear as a shaded version of themselves when the picture is changed. avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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