Audio Video News

Although front projectors usually get the nod from home theater elitists, rear projection sets are one of the most popular display solutions. Integrating the light source and the screen in a single unit seems to make the most sense for most home theater fans.

But until recently, if you wished to receive over-the-air digital television signals, you had to buy an outboard decoder. Sony has taken integration to the next logical level with the Sony KDP-65XBR2, a 65"-diagonal widescreen rear-projection television set with an all-format ATSC decoder built in. That's one less box to clutter up your living room.

The $6499 KDP-65XBR2 packs a lot of technology---including processing circuitry to improve the look of both film-originated and video-originated material. Movie fans who prefer resolution as high as current technology allows will appreciate the KDP-65XBR2's "Hi-Scan 1080I" inputs that preserve HD material in its native format without any down conversion. A 10-bit 3-D digital comb filter eliminates grain and motion artifacts. Wideband video amplifiers combined with a proprietary wideband "velocity modulation" scanning system insure maximum image detail with minimum noise, as do Sony's high definition "microfocus" cathode ray tubes, whose output is precisely focused through a multi-element lens system.

It's not simply the electronics and optics that have been perfected. The screen itself has been engineered for high performance with HD video. A double-thick anti-reflective coat on the high-contrast, dual-component protective screen lets you seen only what you want to see. So does the "Twin View" picture-in-picture feature that allows the display of simultaneous HD and SD images.

Connectivity is further enhanced by the presence of two "i.Link" (IEEE 1394) interfaces, two component video inputs, and a Dolby Digital optical output. The KDP-65XBR2 is also no sonic slouch, with built-in center channel speaker, Dolby® Pro Logic® decoder, Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder, surround speaker outputs, a 20-watt subwoofer output, and an inboard multichannel amplifier with 100 watts total output power.

User refinements include "Speed Surf" channel selection and auto/manual widescreen mode selection. An illuminated joystick "remote commander" makes setup and use an armchair operation. The KDP-65XBR2 is available now through most Sony video dealers.