Review: Sony KDS-R60XBR1 HDTV
Sony’s SXRD technology has been receiving rave reviews. There’s the expensive Qualia front projectors, and now there’s also their two rear-projectors. (And soon they’ll have an relatively affordable front projector.) The $5000 KDS-R60XBR1 is a rear-projection HDTV that uses 3 SXRD chips to provide 1080p resolution without a colour wheel. And ultimate AV has a review.
Sony claims a decent 5000:1 contrast ratio for this projector, and it uses a 120W Ultra High Pressure lamp with an 8000 hour lifespan. This set also has a dynamic iris, a new feature that’s been cropping up in a lot of products recently. Basically, the iris opens more or less depending on how much light is on the screen. This increases the contrast ratio.
The set is well connected, with 2 HDMI inputs, 3 Firewire/iLink inputs, and 2 component video inputs (among others). However, it does not accept 1080p on any input. Isn’t Sony the same company that’ll be selling the PS3, with its 1080p outputs, just next year?
Is this set good?
This set “wowed” observers at this past fall’s CEDIA Expo, and for good reason. So let’s start with the big picture: though not perfect, overall, this is easily the best RPTV video display I’ve seen yet. On HD material, 1920×1080p resolution—especially the 1920 spec—brings a level of clarity and detail that is literally eye-popping, not to mention mouth-watering and hypnotizing (on top notch source material).
Yup, it is. Not only that, but the reviewer (Michael Fremer) thinks that this set will force purveyors of DLP projectors to move to 3-chip designs:
I don’t mean to be doctrinaire: I’ve seen the TI system and it looks pretty good, but SXRD will force the DLP camp to switch to three-chip, full resolution light engines, while matching Sony’s aggressive pricing for these sets. That puts Sony in the driver’s seat, which is where they want to be.
Not only that, but Mr. Fremer thinks that this set produces black levels and contrast ratios to rival CRT. That is quite a compliment.
There are a couple problems with the set, however. A little bit of granularity, grain, and video noise. The biggest problem, though, is the price. $5000 is not cheap.
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November 28th, 2005 at 3:08 pm
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December 6th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
I agree with the comments on the SONY GRAND WEGA 60′ SXRD RPTV. I bought mine at Best Buy for $3,500 before taxes and have had it for a month and the picture in high def 1080i is stunning. The blacks, contrast, brightness and details are in my opinion at par with my earlier HDTV. That is saying a lot since my previous set was a SONY Direct view CRT High Def 34′ widescreen 16:9 set with full 1080i output. I loved this set and owned it for 6 years being one of the early adopters of HDTV and thought that I would never be able to match the performance from the CRT HDTV from an RPTV but this SXRD SONY tv has matched my high standards !!! Bravo!
December 7th, 2005 at 8:55 am
Are you trying to make us jealous?
September 5th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
I love my RPTV and recently the lamp blew out on it. I bought a new one from an online site I found called [url]http://www.laptopsforless.com/rptvlamp[/url] and it works great. Has anyone else purchased replacement lamps for their RPTV before? Is it OK to do through an online company?