[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Eric H

My Sony XBR built in Dec 89 had a Notch Filter, also a Comb filter if I recall.

the Notch Filter was very effective and I left it on most always.
It would remove the sawtooth from the edge of diagonal lines very effectively without compromising sharpness.

the thing I didn't like was the SRS Sound, it was supposed to expand the sound, but mostly it made it sound like it was coming from the bottom of a barrel, I was never sure if it was the Circuit doing that or the Broadcasters not implementing Stereo properly.

My 19" Insignia flat TV has the 3Dy/c comb filter, which works quite well. This is the first TV I've ever owned that has a comb filter, and it makes all the difference in the world in the picture.

As to SRS sound, my flat screen also has it, with two 3" speakers mounted at the base of the cabinet under the display, which fires the sound directly downward -- in my case, to the top of the utility cart on which the TV sits. Haven't noticed any difference in sound quality in the year-plus I've had the TV, although I sometimes must set the volume to near maximum to get sound loud enough to hear (I sit about ten feet away from the set). This is a flaw in the design of the television, which can only be compensated for by the use of a sound bar or amplified speakers.

The reason your set sounds as you say it sounds, however, may well be due to the surround-sound system itself or it could be that, as you mentioned, the TV stations themselves are at fault for substandard quality of the stereo signal. Many local TV stations these days do not pay as much attention to sound quality as they should (giving much more attention to the picture), though I think they very well ought to see that the stereo sound as well is as good as they can get it; after all, many flat screens are used with 5.1 (or more) channel sound systems. The owners of these fancy (to say nothing of expensive) multi-channel audio systems have a right to expect excellent audio quality, but the sound output is only as good as the quality of the sound carrier of the transmitted signal. Your Sony XBR is an excellent TV set (it should be, for the amount of money these sets sell for), so you have every right on earth to expect top-notch picture and sound quality. However, as I said, if the audio carrier of the TV signal is of poor quality, the best audio system in the world won't make up for it. The other thing I just thought of is the input signal source to the TV. If you have cable, it could be that the cable system is processing the stereo audio carrier once, then it is processed once again by the stereo decoder system in your TV, and yet again by a 5.1-channel surround sound system, if you have one. Too much audio processing can and all too often does ruin what may have started out to be (when it left the TV station) a decent stereo sound signal.