Home audio & video: JAYMZBO,....

thank you

for the b-day wishes.

I am loving the xbr970. It is ironic. I seemed to find all the time in the world to research the world of HDTV and what not. But now that I finally bought the sony, I've all of sudden got really busy and have not had as much time to play with my new toy.

I have calibrated the tv once using the original Avia disc. I don't think I did it right though and as lame it might sound, I am really not understanding what is supposed to be one of the more easy calibration discs out there. Also, there is supposed to be a Avia II calibration disc released next month that is more current (Avia I was made in 1996/97) and more geared towards HD content and has more test patterns. Unfortunatley, I think there is a disc (at about $50 each) for every type of input, i.e. blu ray, hddvd, etc. And if I am having this much probelm with the 1st, I should expect the same with the second.

So, I think I'll try to calibrate again with Avia I maybe later tonight. I really want to avoid hiring an ISF calibrator and maybe spend close to the same amount that I paid for the tv!!! But it might be a good idea given the difficulty I seem to be having.

Did you calibrate by eye? How did that go for you?

On other note, I am having lots of fun with new(ish) sony. Ps3 games and BR movies look great. I am rediscovering my sd dvds with my oppo dv-970. I finally got around to hooking up my xbox last night and it looked great as well. SD cable looks better than I thought it would. I want to research getting a HD antenna. I live out in the boondocks so to speak about 20 miles from the nearest metro city. So I am not sure (because I have not gotten off my butt and researched) if that is too far away to get a good HD signal.

I'll let you know what I decide to do about calibration. And please feel free to drop me line with any questions/suggestions/etc.

James

not completely sure

In case of the ps3, there is no upscaling for sdvds (as of current). I have read that other stand alone br players do better job with sd dvds and then some don't. I have not tried any sd dvds on the ps3 because I knew that it would not upscale. So I bought an oppo dv-970 and have both it and ps3 running through a sima 3x1 HDMI switcher. Was not my first choice. I'd rather had it hooked up directly to the tv. But my sony only has 1 HDMI input. It all seems to work well. So in my case, my only real option for watching upconverted SD dvds was to buy a seperate dvd player. I was fortunate to have that option. Sounds like to me you've have tried everything as far as settings, cables, etc. If you have the $$, maybe consider a new dvd player for your sd dvds as I did. There may be BR players out there now or in future that will be able to upconvert sd dvds, but if you already know that yours won't, I can't think of any other option. Buying a new BR player is out of the question. In case of the PS3 there may be a future firmware update that may enable it to do this function. But I did not want to wait around for this.

Sorry, I don't know if that helps much...James

(NT) Impetuous Stewee. You dumped that good Denon 2910 too fast.

I found your thread on HD antennas

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=60&threadID=239463&start=0

Now does this mean you can't just buy an already-made antenna instead? Or do you have to make one?

James

thanks, I will do that

Actually I would prefer not to have to build antenna. I was not sure if it would be necessary because I live fair distance away from metro area and there's lots of tree near house. So I was thinking a ready-made antenna might not fit the bill. I'm still exploring this subject. I will check that website again (I looked at it breifly but was distracted)

Thanks again


James

I think I let this thread get off topic

My apologies.

This started as a question to me from Hyghwayman about calibration and the sony kd34xbr970. Sorry about that Hyghwayman. Hope to hear from you soon as I need help/advice on how to calibrate.

James