[This followup was posted to sci.electronics.repair and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

In article ,
says...
I've been looking into an HDTV, and read a lot about the Sony XRB
series.

I went to a local dealer, and checked out an XRB tube unit, the
KD-34XRB960 to be specific. None of the other types, i.e., plasma,
DLP or LCD had a picture even close to the XRB tube unit (XRB means
'extended bit rate', from what I've read).

This set has been out for some time, so I was wondering if anyone in
the group has any practical data on these sets, as far as quality,
reliability, etc?

Thanks for any thoughts ....

First, it's XBR, not XRB. I think the original XBR stood for 'eXtended
Bass Response', as the first model simply had an internal subwoofer or
better speakers/amp added to a normal TV.

Check out www.agoraquest.com for Sony info.

Be EXTREMELY careful when shopping in stores. Out-of-the-box, most all
TV's have a picture that is too bright (white and light grays all
white), too blue, too contrasty (blacks and dark grays all black).
Further, both the source material can be suspect, and other people could
have messed around with the settings. Many higher-end Sony's have a
'pro' picture setting which is fairly close to NTSC ideal. Setting the
picture to WARM or Standard also helps.

I have the previous model XBR910. Widely known service menu tweaks can
let you adjust the TV exactly the way you want.

--
If there is a no_junk in my address, please REMOVE it before replying!
All junk mail senders will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law!!
http://home.att.net/~andyross