Anyone Here Own a Sony KD34XBR970 HDTV?

First of all, great story on how I got the TV. I had just returned a Vizio HDTV to K-Mart that I had bought with a 20% off coupon around last Thanksgiving. Reason being is because I could not eliminate widescreen bars on the TV, and that was a huge deal to me. I returned it and was told that they were no longer accepting the 20% off coupons. I thought I wouldn't be getting a new TV after that.

Then the day before Thanksgiving, I came across a Rex ad that said they had the Sony XD34XBR970 on sale for $500. I remember seeing those TVs online before and wanting one (they were around $699 or $799 I think) but by the time I had the money, they were nowhere to be found. I called Rex and they said they had 2 in stock, and to be there at 5am instead of 6am like the ad said.

I had no intentions of waiting more than an hour, so I walked about 2 miles to get there and arrived at about 4:30am. I had no idea how many people to expect in line, but somehow I was the first person there. Across the street there was a few hundred people waiting outside Best Buy to buy I don't know what, but I know they had no deals like this Sony TV. I was lucky enough to be the first person in the store and got my TV, and by the time I paid for it and walked out, nobody else had even walked through the door. Considering how much I paid for it and how long I waited, I feel almost like I got a steal.

It's a great TV and I'm very happy with it, however I have had a couple of problems with it. First, I started getting a black horizontal line in the picture that would slowly travel from bottom to the top of the screen. Lucky though the TV had a 2 year in house warranty and the repairman came to fix it and replaced a part and it's been fine since.

But still, I have 3 almost invisible horizontal lines in the picture evenly spaced that can't be noticed most of the time. The repairman said that they're meant to be there to hold up the display, but I don't remember the lines always being there.

And now I'm noticing a thin blue vertical line on the top half of the left side of the screen, but not in HD mode. And when it's in HD mode, I get a thin red horizontal on the top right side of the TV. I swear that the TV wasn't doing this before the repairman came.

When I called Sony about all of these problems, they said it wasn't normal and that it needed repair. I'm just wondering if anyone else here owns this particular model and has experienced any of the same problems? Thanks.

That repairman is full of $hit. Get someone over there to fix it.

That repairman is full of $hit. Get someone over there to fix it.

Perhaps. But the repairman is correct about the 3 almost invisible evenly spaced horizontal lines. They are the "damper" wires found in all Trinitron picture tubes. Their purpose is to prevent the vertical filaments of the Trinitron tube's "aperture grill" from resonating. For the 34" tubes the number used is 3.

Perhaps. But the repairman is correct about the 3 almost invisible evenly spaced horizontal lines. They are the "damper" wires found in all Trinitron picture tubes. Their purpose is to prevent the vertical filaments of the Trinitron tube's "aperture grill" from resonating. For the 34" tubes the number used is 3.

But they should not be readily seen unless you are right upon the set; no more so than the scan lines on all CRTs.

But they should not be readily seen unless you are right upon the set; no more so than the scan lines on all CRTs.

Addendum: I have the 960 (the predecessor set) and these lines are not seen.

I noticed too today with the sunlight shining on my TV, if you look closely, there are all kinds of black specs behind the screen. And what about pixels being burnt out? I got at least 1 or 2 of those on my TV for sure. Would a Calibration DVD fix any of my problems?

Addendum: I have the 960 (the predecessor set) and these lines are not seen.

The XBR960 had Sony's top of the line SuperFinePitch* picture tube which had tighter manufacturing variances than the tubes used in Sony sets that lacked the SFP tube. The damper wires were less likely to be noticeable in the SFP tubes but they were/are there. The XBR970 does not have the SFP tube. TheXBR970 was actually a replacement for the less expensive 34" HS420 (which lacked a digital tuner) and used the same tube as the 34" HS420.


* The 6 Sony models that had SFP tubes were the XBR910 series (30" and 34"), XS955 series (30", 34" and 36") and the XBR960 (34"). The 36" XS955 was a 4:3 set and the others were all 16:9 sets.

I noticed too today with the sunlight shining on my TV, if you look closely, there are all kinds of black specs behind the screen. And what about pixels being burnt out? I got at least 1 or 2 of those on my TV for sure. Would a Calibration DVD fix any of my problems?

You need to have the TV looked at by a qualified service tech. While the visible damper wires are not unusual for a Trintron picture tube, the other problems you describe should not be happening.

The XBR960 had Sony's top of the line SuperFinePitch* picture tube which had tighter manufacturing variances than the tubes used in Sony sets that lacked the SFP tube. The damper wires were less likely to be noticeable in the SFP tubes but they were/are there. The XBR970 does not have the SFP tube. TheXBR970 was actually a replacement for the less expensive 34" HS420 (which lacked a digital tuner) and used the same tube as the 34" HS420.


* The 6 Sony models that had SFP tubes were the XBR910 series (30" and 34"), XS955 series (30", 34" and 36") and the XBR960 (34"). The 36" XS955 was a 4:3 set and the others were all 16:9 sets.
You're exactly right. Thanks to your post I now remember that the 970 was a step down in quality and did not include the SFP tube. Thanks for setting me straight on that issue.

The XBR960 had Sony's top of the line SuperFinePitch* picture tube which had tighter manufacturing variances than the tubes used in Sony sets that lacked the SFP tube...

I STILL get compliments about the picture quality of my 960, even as recently as last week. :banana:

My one and only "complaint", is that I wish it was BIGGER!! :eyecrazy

(can you IMAGINE the overall SIZE of a unit if it had a 60" CRT?!?!?!?!?) :eek: :D

I STILL get compliments about the picture quality of my 960, even as recently as last week. :banana:

My one and only "complaint", is that I wish it was BIGGER!! :eyecrazy

(can you IMAGINE the overall SIZE of a unit if it had a 60" CRT?!?!?!?!?) :eek: :D
Yeah and you would need the Governator to lift it.

I had the money, they were nowhere to be found.Thanks to your post

My 960 shows no lines and the picture is still spectacular!!!