Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Why not?

No Problem. PM on the way.

Craig,

The 60" XBR2 WILL have the dumbo ears. The 70" will NOT have them. Hmmmm - 70 inches may not have been on your radar screen. A wall of TV might be something to consider! As with auido, one cannot have too much TV!

So, you're saying size matters?

To a point. If it doens't fit in the ... room ... then what good is it to anyone?

60 inches with dumbo ears won't fit.

I'm really surprised the XBRs will have the "dumbo ears." I thought, with all the complaints about them, and with the 2000 series not having them, Sony had learned it's lesson. Puzzling.

The 70" XBR actually does also have the dumbo ears, however, they are detachable. From what I've heard, the XBR kept the ears because that line is supposed to represent the best in video AND audio, so they need to bigger speakers. Honestly though, are there really that many people spending that much on a TV that don't have a separate speaker system anyway?

Well I finally got to see the Sony A2000, while there I also was able to look at the 56" Samsung HL-S5688. Both were very good looking. Both were being fed via HD-DVD through a switcher and finally component into the sets. It was a close call, but I may have to give the nod to the Samsung. At least with that particular setup. The sony tended to "smear" color a bit. Particularly warm skin tones. Both sets looked quite good in the blacks. Neither looked particularly milky. There was also a scene of lots of snow covered mountains. It was a good test of full white levels, and again both handled those bright whites very, very well. Nothing looked too hot.

I'll be going back again and they said they could hook the HD-DVD player up directly to the sets so I could see them both being fed a 1080p signal directly via HDMI. I also want to see how they both handle a standard 480p DVD, as that's what I'll be most concerned with for awhile to come.

Lastly...what's the word on this? If the HL-S5688 looks as good as it did, I'd really like to see one of these.

I saw the LED version of the Sammy. I prefer the DLP. I didn't think the picture was as good, it lists at $4000, and it is new technology for TV's, so I'd tend to stay away for a year because of that anyway.

Has anyone had any experience with dbuys.com, ibuydigital.com, or butterflyphoto.com? Or is it worth paying the extra $350 or so and going with someone better known like onecall.com? (This is all assuming I can't grab a deal through a friend)

I've already purchased the component video cable from Blue Jeans...I've got to get the TV now! LOL! (yeah...I know, HDMI is the best connection, but for now my Denon 2900 will have to do.)

Assuming our new HD cable box has HDMI, I'll order another cable then.