My New Sony SAT-HD200

[StarvingForHDTV]

Hmm...  Where do I start?  Well it came from:
 http://www.electronicexpress.com/product?prod_id=4070

$699.00 + $15.00 Fedex shipping  It came double boxed, no damage apparent.  The box and everything in it looked brand new.  No evidence of it being returned or previously used.

Easy setup.  I hooked it up via component and RGB/VGA.  The only other connection I used is an optical digital audio cable.  This is nice in my opinion.  I know when I used the TWC digital set top box, I had to make analog audio connections as well.  This box converts any analog audio to digital and spits it out via the optical cable.

I also hooked up my Radio Shack double bow tie with rabbit ears attached.  I did the channel scan and it picked out our local CBS,PBS, and Fox digital stations.  The picture and sound had frequent dropouts and pixelation.  I decided that perhaps the signal would be better with just the double bow tie.  I hooked it up that way, and it was true.  No more dropouts or pixelation.  I could make it dropout by walking between the antenna and where it was pointing, but sitting and watching TV the signal held fine.

I watched some HDNET via the CBS digital feed.  Some sort of Gymnastics event.  It looked pretty good.  Later on a different HDNET show came on which was focusing on an art gallery etc.  This was stunning!!!  I realized that I was not receiving NBC digital, but remembered from this board that they don't broadcast before 5PM.  I did a quick channel scan and NBC appeared.

All four digital stations came in good.  No drop outs with the double bow tie alone.  The double bow tie sits on top of my TV pointed towards the South.  I may try and move the double bow tie outdoors or into my attic to avoid the "walking in front of it" dropout possibility.

Picture quality.  I watched NBC "ED" and the definition was nice, but the picture was a bit grainy.  I think this had to do with it being shot on film or something.  After that I watched FOX (Faux) "Fastlane" in "Widescreen Enhanced".  I must say that the picture was definitely softer than a 1080i signal, but a vast improvement to analog.  I would much rather have 1080i from Fox, but their "widescreen enhanced" is acceptable and watchable in my opinion.  After that I watched CBS "Presidio Med" this was very very nice.  I don't know why it was less grainy than "ED" on NBC, but it was.  I thought maybe NBC had a worse feed or something.  Later on I watched NBC "The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno" at that point I realized NBC's feed is just as good as CBS's when they spit out non-grainy content.  A very nice picture.

Sound quality was very good.  A large improvement to analog sound quality.  I still would rather have Dolby Digital 5.1, but the regular Dolby Digital decodes as Pro Logic, and sounds adequate.  Much better than analog sound.

Aspect ratios.  I set the Sony to spit out 1080i all of the time for the most part.  On non-16:9 material I had it do the "Panorama" mode.  This is some sort of progressive stretch or something.  Very nice I thought.  You would use this to watch channel 18 or 24 analog etc.  On the digital stations, when they weren't broadcasting HD signals, the 1080i worked fine for Fox and PBS.  Those two stations stretch the image to 16:9 for me.  When watching NBC or CBS non-HD digital signals, they send out the signal as 4:3 with built in sidebars.  This is easy to deal with also.  I just push the format button on the Sony's remote and tell it to spit out the signal as 480p instead of 1080i.  At that point the picture is cropped and fills the screen perfectly.  Very nice.  I just wonder why two stations send out the 4:3 with sidebars and the other two do a stretch.  Makes no sense.

RGB vs. Component video hookup.  Both looked great on HD material.  When I use the RGB though, I lose the ability to adjust Color, Tint, or Sharpness.  I can however adjust Black or White levels.  In addition I can change Color Temperature, but I don't know which one to use really.  Warmest,Warmer,Normal,Cooler,Coolest are my options.  I might have to play around a bit.  Since there is no noticeable difference in picture quality (to me) between RGB or Component, I use Component for now so I have the Color,Tint,Sharpness controls available to me.  Sharpness does not seem to do anything, the picture stays sharp on HD material no matter what the setting, and is less sharp on SD material, no matter what the setting.

This Sharpness was bugging me during Jay Leno.  When there were shots far away from the center of the screen, with a sharp contrast line (like white shirt sleeve or collar) on a dark background, I would get these weird 3D like things coming off of the sharp edge.  Except of course I didn't have 3D glasses LOL.  I thought maybe it was ringing so I turned down the Sharpness.  This did not help.  Then I remembered something in my TV's owner's manual.  It's called Convergence.  

There is a single point (Center) convergence, and then a multi-point convergence (other areas of the screen).  I have to admit I had never done this before to my TV.  I guess this had never bothered me while watching analog TV signals in the past.  There was never enough definition to create the issue I suppose.  I never noticed it with progressive DVD either, that is strange.

Well anyway the Center convergence was pretty good.  On the multi-point, this TV was WAY out of whack.  It took me literally over an hour to fix the problems all over the screen.  Part of that is a learning curve, but really it's a pretty involved operation.  By the time I was finished Leno was off the air, so I didn't get to see the problem fixed for his show.  It did really help out my viewing though.  If anyone has that adjustment on their TV and hasn't used it, I recommend doing so.

What else is there?  Oh yeah, regular stations like 18 or 24 or any TWC stations are hard to watch now.  After watching HD material, it's extremely difficult to go back.  I hope we get more HD channels very soon.  Either over the air, or DirecTV or both.  I'm sure I forgot stuff, but this post is long enough.  If anyone has any questions about the box, I am more than happy to answer them.

Oh yeah, my one disappointment.  I was looking forward to using the "Advanced Program Guide" which would show me the schedule for all the OTA shows, but you have to subscribe to DirecTV to get the guide.  Bummer.  Hitting the Display button (not Guide button) just shows whether the show is in HD, or whether the audio is Dolby Digital or PCM.  It also lists the rating for the show, but not the title or description.

Bottom line, I love this box, and it was worth waiting for.  I haven't found any bugs or shortfalls yet.

Starving

[Todd Wiedemann]

Great review. Thanks a lot !

So, are you 'starving' still ??  

Can't ever get 'full' with HD !!  

[Matt Heebner]

Just wanted to comment on the RS DBT antenna part. I too had it on my TV, till a couple of days ago. I ran a line of RG-6 from the attic to my receiver and I hung the DBT from some wire hooked on to a joist. I immediately saw an increase of signal strengths on CBS, NBC, and PBS and I was FINALLY able to get FAUX. CBS was a 88, went to 94, NBC was a 90, went to 96, PBS was 77, now a 85. FAUX was 0, now a 70. ABC also comes in at 95. Moving it to the attic really improved signal strengths. I am continually amazed by the effectiveness of the double bow tie antenna.


Matt

[Gregg Lengling]

Are you still getting Faux with 34 on the air.  I can't receive Faux 33 when WISN 34 is on the air...takes the signal from 75 down to 45 and no longer locks up.

[ugyvel]

Where in Mequon are you?  I'm at Highland Road just east of River Road and have never got any sort of signal for Fox.  I had the RS Bowtie both downstairs and in attic, and now use the old RS standard antenna that I had up on the rafters in the attic.  Get only a little over half way signal on my samsung 150 signal graph on NBC, CBS and PBS (but never have had a reception problem with those).  Maybe I need to do some more fiddling.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Todd,

Yep I'm still 'starving' it will take a while to get my fill of HDTV.

Matt,

That's good news about the RS DBT in the attic.  How do you get the cable to run from the attic to the living room?  I've run cable through the basemant, but that was easy.  I can't figure out how to snake it from the attic and somehow have it pop out through my wall in the right place.  I need a crash course for dummies.

Ugyvel,

I'm about a mile or so North of County Line Rd. and between the Milwaukee River and 76th St. (Wauwatosa Rd.)  All the stations come in fine.  I just did a channel scan and no ABC-DT right now.  They better hurry up...

Starving

[AndrewP]

To run a cable from the attic you need:
1. Select any air outlet location on second floor. Drill a small hole for a cable inside a wall from the attic. Using a "fish" run cable to the outlet opening on the second floor. This part is an esy one.
2. "Fish" cable from the second floor to the air duct in the basement. Then just open some side duct cover and pull out the cable.
It took me 2-3 hours to accuratly mesuare and locate possitins.
Andrew

[StarvingForHDTV]

I don't have forced air heat or central air conditioning, so no air ducts.  I do have a closet that is behind part of the wall I use for my TV in my living room.  I could drill a hole from my living room wall to the back of the closet.  Send the cable through there.  Then run the cable up the back corner wall of the closet and drill through the closet ceiling into the attic.  Run the cable along the floor of the attic to the chimney then up to the ceiling of the attic.  At that point I could run the cable along the ceiling of the attic to wherever my best antenna site is.  I did some testing and put the antenna next to a South window, and signal strength improved greatly from the top of my TV position.  It looks promising for the attic install.

Update on the new Sony with ABC-DT and Fox-DT.  No problems when they are both on the air.  I think this was mentioned at the AVS forum that it had good abilities in these scenarios.  I can confirm that now.  I guess the new generation of tuners must have better abilities in adjacent channel tuning or something.  By the way, thankfully ABC-DT is broadcasting in Dolby Digital 5.1

I had also made an error in my review.  I stated that PBS-DT was stretching their non-HD images.  This is not true.  I was viewing them in Panorama mode.  It turns out that when PBS is doing non-HD they send it out as 480i, therefore the Sony stretches for me.  CBS-DT does that on their 1.2 and 1.3 channels as well.  Fox is the only one sending out 16:9 pre-stretched.  In my opinion the upconverter at Fox is very low quality.  Fox is definitely best referred to as Faux.  What a joke of a station.

The multi-point convergence adjustment made a huge difference in my HD viewing last night.  Totally remarkable.  I watched part of the PBS loop and it was stunning.  I also watched Outdoor Wisconsin and it had beautiful images.  Except when their station had technical difficulties.  I love video based HD and am not as satisfied with film based HD.  There is a large difference in quality, in my opinion.  Leno looked great too, no weird 3D effects after the convergence.

That's it for now.  I'm glad ABC-DT made it on the air.  Hopefully WB, UPN, and PAX will make it for November 1st.

Starving (not quite as hungry these days)

[StarvingForHDTV]

Ooops forgot to mention a couple of things.  I tried to get the box to make an error last night.  I flipped through my channels as fast as I could for quite some time.  Apparently for some Sony's, this causes a reboot.  I couldn't get it to happen.  Then I left it on my weakest signal station (CBS-DT) for a few hours, as some at the AVS forum said this could cause a reboot.  Nothing happening there either.  I guess my box is bug free.  Unless it's the fact that I'm not hooked up to DirecTV?  Either way I'm satisfied.  I only have a 15 day return window, so I thought I would try and find a bug right away.  Thankfully I couldn't find one.

The national commercials during Leno looked very good.  NBC must have an excellent upconverter at their headquarters.  When they got to local commercials, the quality dropped considerably.  Has anyone else noticed that?  Kind of nice watching a nice upconvert.

Starving

[Gregg Lengling]

One little trick for homes with Hydronic heating. If you have a chimney you can use the chase for the chimney to drop the coax from the attic to the basement and then run it along the floor joists and come up behind the set.


------------------
Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Matt Heebner]

I just ran my RG-6 outside the attic window, down the back of the house tucked into a siding "edge" that runs from the ground to the roof. I have it entering at a basement window, and along the floor joists to my multiswitch. I try not to drill any more holes in the walls and floors than absolutely necessary. I try and use cold air returns when possible, although I did cut out a 6"x6" section of floor between the walls, and expanded an abandoned electrical box to include coax connection boxes, and speaker banana connections, and telephone connections behind my equipment rack. Everything pretty much gets routed to that area. My satellite's multi-swtich is mounted to a basement  floor joist right below my in-wall AV boxes. So far so good.
If there is a little advice I could pass on to anyone planning on putting in a in-wall system AV boxes, and doing their own AV wiring.....plan for the future!!!  Defintely use overkill for wiring. It is so much easier to run a ton of wires once than a few every year or so. Four runs of 12ga. speaker wire, 3-4 runs of RG-6, a telephone line, and even a run of CAT-5 cable, and anything else you can think of that might be in the near and far future. Even if you only use one or two of these items initially, I've learned (and cursed myself in the process) that the future is always full of surprises!

Matt

[StarvingForHDTV]

Thanks to all for the antenna cable running advice.  I went through the closet and up to the attic that way.  It worked out great.  An update on the RS Double Bow Tie in the attic with the new Sony:

CBS now very strong signal strength.  NBC super strong, almost off the charts.  PBS very strong.  Faux fairly strong.  All of the chances for dropouts or pixelation are now behind me as far as I can tell.  Even the analog WB and UPN come in better now.  I tried again to get the Sony to have an error, but still haven't had any success.  I guess I got one without bugs.

Obviously I love it.  I'm glad I waited for the newer generation tuner technology after reading about some of the older boxes having trouble with adjacent channel tuning.

I definitely recommend this STB.

Starving  

[This message has been edited by StarvingForHDTV (edited 10-22-2002).]