Sony KV32FX66 / X30S / TNSU ???

Gwyn · 09-01-2003, 7:51 PM

I understand that the KV32FX66 X30S model is the one with the open stand and the TNSU has the glass panels, right ?

Now I'm confused by this site:
http://www.uk-direct.co.uk/product/KV32FX66
It shows the "KV32FX66" and "KV32FX66X30S", both of which look identical (open shelves) except that the former is 808 quid (plus 100 for the stand) and the latter is 1051 quid.

What gives

ryanos · 09-01-2003, 9:39 PM

x30s is 100% open stand.......... sounds confusing from the webtrader... i would contact them to get clarification before parting with your wonga!

I bought 32fx66x30s from Premierav centre for £930 delivered and they offered the tnsu for the same price

Hope this helps

Gwyn · 09-01-2003, 9:49 PM

Thanks for the reply, I was actually just trying to work out the difference between the models and that site just confused me

I live in Ireland and am having trouble finding any company that will actually send a TV to me over here

Gwyn · 09-01-2003, 10:28 PM

BTW forgot to mention: HomeEntertainment reviewed this TV in the Jan issue 112.

Gave it 4/5 stars with their only real critisism being "There's a suspicion of motion blurring, but nothing too obtrusive". And in the "What's Bad" summary: "For a 100Hz CRT, the motion is suspect with some jerkiness."

Comments anyone?

ryanos · 10-01-2003, 2:07 AM

mmm......... not sure, i have noticed the odd motion 'blur' but i believe this is mainly due to Sky digital transmissions something to do with bitrate and some other technical jargon on normal analogue ( which i hardly ever use it has to be said) no problem at all .........I had the Philips Pixel+ before and boy did that have some motion problems the Sony is much better for my money

Cheers

Gwyn · 10-01-2003, 3:02 PM

Thanks ryanos

RESULT! I found a local dealer here in Ireland with the set on sale for what works out around 975 quid, which seems a middling price compared to what I've seen in the UK mail-order. And it has the open shelves! Showed it to the wife and even she agreed the frame styling was nice looking

I'll feel much more comfortable buying locally so I can return it if there are any probs. The picture didn't look great in the store, but then neither did any of the other 15 TVs running off the same feed

With everything I've read about the various probs that all 100Hz sets seems to exhibit to a greater or lesser extent, I don't think it's worth spending an extra 50% for a supposedly better model when the whole area seems very subjective and set quality is a bit hit and miss....

w3dal · 10-01-2003, 3:22 PM

Hi.

I have not noticed an motion blurring on my FX66. I had mine almost 2 months now and it seems to just get better as it starts to bed in a bit. - Only on about 15 hours a week!!

Infact i have not changed anything to the picture set-up was perfect straight out of the box (bloody big box aswell)

For the price its a great set and watching DVD's through an RGB feed is just amazing...

Take the plunge and enjoy this TV

Goodluck!!

Dal

Gwyn · 10-01-2003, 4:02 PM

Thanks Dal,
OK - I'm ordering my FX66 at lunchtime and it should get delivered tomorrow

One thing - my DVD player doesn't actually have an RGB output

Up to now I've been using a good quality cable that has an S-Video jack at DVD end, and SCART at TV end (using the TV's S-Video scart input).

I'm hoping this will also give me good results

w3dal · 10-01-2003, 4:14 PM

Hi,

Give it a go your soon find out if its good or not.

I ordered a SONY DVD player to match my TV i went for the DVDNS405 unit and its Exellent, just incase you wanna spend another £140.00 quid!!

I had to upgrade my SCART lead too and it was well worth it.

remember SCARTS 1 and 2 are RGB 3 is not!

So put your DVD in 1 then your digibox or Video in 2.

3 can be used for a games console if you have one!!

Post us back what you think when its setup etc etc

Dal

Gwyn · 10-01-2003, 4:25 PM

According to Sony's specs, AV 1 and 2 are RGB capable Scarts, whereas AV3 is an S-Video capable Scart (while the front/side AV4 has a 4-pin S-Video jack input).

So I would guess that using S-Video on AV3 should be better for DVD than regular Scart on AV 1 or 2 (certainly is the case with my current TV).

My DVD player is a Panasonic all-in-one system (with Dolby decoder, amp and surround speakers) so is not quite so cheaply replaced

RichB14 · 10-01-2003, 4:56 PM

Like dal i had blurring on football but now it has totally gone fantastic tv (yes huge box)

w3dal · 10-01-2003, 5:05 PM

Hi,

That seems to be the best solution for your set-up at the end of the day you can play around with the Tv and see what suits you!!

The remote finder is also an excellent feature you would not believe how often i loose my remote a press of a button on the TV and the remote bleeps from wherever i have left it which is usually behind my bed!!!

Dal

Gwyn · 13-01-2003, 4:34 PM

OK, got the KV32FX66 delivered on the weekend with the open stand (which looks nice after the 2 hour effort to assemble

) Picture looks great, but my poor TV reception doesn't do it justice. DVD via S-video is fantastic though

On a downside - I think I have the wrong remote control as mine (labelled RM-932) does not have the PIP buttons

As well as those being absent next to the AV selector button, it looks different to the picture in the manual. Instead of the media selector (TV/VCR/DVD) being at the top, it's down by the volume control in a round shape.

The seal was broken on the bag it came in (and the batteries already in), so it looks like it was taken out for use and mixed up with another.

Also, the TV had channels already tuned in, so it looks like it's been used - this may be because in Ireland, sets need a special tuner installed as some channels are in the VHF range, so maybe the tuning is tested when that gets set up.

w3dal · 13-01-2003, 5:23 PM

Hi,

It seems you do have the wrong remote, you should have your DVD/VCR/TV selector at the top of the remote, with the PIP functions on the first bank of buttons.

If you turned your TV on and it was already tuned in then i would say yes someone has already plugged it in, maybe to test before sending it to you. In the Config setup you can choose where the country settings are, and there is a setting for Ireland is that selected on your set???

I know what you mean about the cabinet it does take a long time, im moving next month and im not looking forward to shifting this lump of a TV.

If you have found that the TV is performing well then i would suggest that you ask them to just send out a new remote not replace the set as you may find that the replacement has some of these SONY Traits!!! ie lould buzzing etc etc and you might of wished that you had kept the original one!!!

Cheers

Dal

Gwyn · 13-01-2003, 5:33 PM

I got it delivered from a local shop, so all I should need to do is take the remote back to swap it. I'm happy enough with the set - no obvious digital processing artifacts, although I could detect a bit of motion blur on a fast pan during a football game. Hard to tell how bad it was since our signal reception is poor....

Unfortunately, the set does have the loud buzz out the back

Has it been established for sure what the exact cause is and if it is fixable, or is it just luck of the draw that some Sony sets are worse than others?

Boy is the set heavy - 65kg I think

The wife only just managed the task of helping me get it onto the stand

w3dal · 13-01-2003, 5:42 PM

Hi,

In that case then a quick swap of the remote and your sorted!!

Mine is very quiet now, it got better as the TV got older.

I can live with the slight buzzing sound as i know if i made a fuss and they sent me another one it would be worse one way of the other.

I guess i was just lucky, although i did get a poorly photocopied manual, did anyone else get one of these???

Dal :o

Gwyn · 15-01-2003, 3:11 PM

I got the remote control switched for the correct one, and all is now hunkey-dorey!

BTW - does anyone know if it's possible to assign single-button AV input switching on the remote?

I don't actually have any RF channels tuned in since all my terrestrial channels come from an aerial analogue NTL signal via a decoder. So all I have is the decoder in AV2 and the DVD player in AV3, but every time I switch on the TV I have to select AV2. This is not a nig deal except when I have to switch back from the DVD to normal TV, I have the press the button 4 times

I want to assign AV selection to a number button on the remote, but can't work out a way to do it in the menu setup.

dolph · 15-01-2003, 5:15 PM

I thought this tv allowed you to assign the av inputs to a normal channel number?

Gwyn · 15-01-2003, 5:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by andrewdolphin
I thought this tv allowed you to assign the av inputs to a normal channel number?

Great!

Please someone tell me how!!!

Apologies if I'm being stupid not being able to work it out myself, but any help would be appreciated....

ryanos · 16-01-2003, 2:01 AM

Dal.

I got one a photocopied manual i'm led to believe that this indicates the set to be an import......what consequence that has i'm not sure as my set is great it might be you just get a black and white manual!!

Gwyn
As for the av channel number assigning i've tried to do it but to no avail it definetley is not mentioned in the photocopied manual but I can hardly read it anyway so who know's ........good if it can be done tho'

w3dal · 16-01-2003, 1:31 PM

Hey Ryanos,

Mine is in black and white but it is a good copy one. Import or not i still have a Pukka one and thats all i care about!!!

It does have a UK plua though not one of those adaptor plugs someone was on about!!!! - what about yours???

Dal

Gwyn · 16-01-2003, 2:20 PM

Mine is a pukka one as far as I can tell - it has a proper moulded on plug and an original manual, although in itself it is a pretty unimpressive excuse for a manual

In Ireland, all TVs have to have a special tuner to cover the channels outside the usual UHF range, so they all probably come from Sony UK, get opened up and have the special tuner fitted. This explains why mine had obviously been opened and had the 2 VHF channels already tuned in (probably for testing).

So Andrew (or anyone) pleeeease explain how to assign AV inputs to a channel on the remote. I tried again last night and can't see how it's possible

dolph · 16-01-2003, 2:24 PM

I may have been a bit hasty - thought I'd seen this function on this telly (well I'm looking to buy the KV28FX66) - probably need an actual owner to confirm or deny (although looks like I'm wrong

)

Gwyn · 16-01-2003, 2:59 PM

It's strange because it seems to be possible to do it on similar Sony models. e.g. This page on the KV32 Tweak site describes how to do it on the older FX60 (and supposedly FX65) models, so I'd be surprised (and annoyed

) if it was a feature dropped on a later model.....

yetiuk · 16-01-2003, 3:51 PM

Unfortunately I don't think it is possible to assign AV channels to a channel number. I also have no arial in the back, just 3 scarts connected,( cable, dvd, ps2). My old Sony 29" (about 6 years old) could do this, so I am a little bit mad this once can't

. Anyway, that is my only complaint. I am happy with my TV.

ryanos · 17-01-2003, 2:37 AM

My plug seems be of the Uk variety but to be honest i can't remember paying to much detial to it and you can forget me moving this b*stard heavy tv any more times than i have already( about 2000 times it feels like trying to get the right angle etc)!!

It works and is great and I can read my manual perfectly I was just taking the p*ss a bit

17-01-2003, 1:50 PM

I've gone from an FX60 to a 66 and i'm hacked off that the ability to assign AV inputs to a channel number has gone - they've 'simplified' the menus for no good reason that I can see and this is one thing that's gone.

Some other stuff has changed as well - the phono outs are now volume controlled which i think is also a step backwards. If connecting your TV to an AV amp you'd use the amp volume control and want a fixed high level and probably to switch off the TV speakers at all times. However, the tv speakers switch back on after switching the TV to standby. connecting to an amp and using both internal and external speakers you need to run very high amp volume to get the balance right which means you deafen your neighbours if you forget to turn it back down before switching to another input.

Gwyn · 17-01-2003, 3:01 PM

Let me get this right b33k34:

If I get a NICAM broadcast of a movie which includes Dolby Pro Logic and want to route the TV sound through my separate Surround Amp and speakers, then I can't just minimise the TV volume, because this also reduces the volume out of the rear phono jacks.

Is that what you're saying? So Sony's intended method of doing this is for me to keep the TV volume at a suitable level for the rear phono output signal, and to instead go into the menu and switch off the TV speakers?

Except that Sony screwed up by not retaining the menu speaker-off setting when you switch off the TV

I'm also really annoyed that they've definitely removed the AV assignment to a channel button

ryanos · 17-01-2003, 3:25 PM

This is definetley the case with the speakers ...........very strange but extremely annoying

yetiuk · 17-01-2003, 5:11 PM

Well I have scart1 into the back of my amp, and the levels are constant on this output. I regularly turn on my amp and turn the TV sound down, and all is fine.

Will have a check on the phono outputs over the weekend. It seems a bit pointless if you need to have the volume up and then turn off the speakers to use them

17-01-2003, 1:50 PM	#27
b33k34 Guest Posts: n/a	assigning AV inputs I've gone from an FX60 to a 66 and i'm hacked off that the ability to assign AV inputs to a channel number has gone - they've 'simplified' the menus for no good reason that I can see and this is one thing that's gone. Some other stuff has changed as well - the phono outs are now volume controlled which i think is also a step backwards. If connecting your TV to an AV amp you'd use the amp volume control and want a fixed high level and probably to switch off the TV speakers at all times. However, the tv speakers switch back on after switching the TV to standby. connecting to an amp and using both internal and external speakers you need to run very high amp volume to get the balance right which means you deafen your neighbours if you forget to turn it back down before switching to another input.
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