Bought this TV after about 3 months of research. Watched all the TVs in Best Buy, Circuit City, Frys, etc., for hours. Could not get past the picture quality of this TV as compared to other models on the wall. And sound quality was by far the best among the TVs I looked at - important if you don't plan to use a home theater system. Stand and look at this TV in the store and compare it to the other TVs and you'll see what I mean. Picture quality seemed more natural and less grainy than other brands on the wall.
Before buying I breifly considered some 120 HZ models, including the Samsung 650 and the new Sony, all at around $500 more than this model. As for 120 Hz, I just couldn't tell a difference on broadcast HD/TV, and while the difference on movies was obvious, the effect seemed unnatural. Made films look more like live TV - interesting to watch, but just not a true movie experience in my opinion. I'm not knocking 120 Hz, just didn't feel like it was for me.
Connected this TV to a Sony progressive scan DVD using component connections and got incredible picture quality. I guess BlueRay via HDMI would be better, but honestly I can't imagine how. Still on analog cable at the moment with only a handful of digital HD channels available - all of which look fantastic. Converting to Verizon FIOS next week and looking forward to even better picture quality.
As for setup, I went from the box to watching TV in under 10 minutes. No alteration of the default picture settings was required in my opinion. I do recommend using the "standard" picture mode. "Vivid" is cool at first, but hard on the eyes after a while. And you will probably want to boost the bass a little on the audio. Standard definition channels, as viewed on any HD TV, will vary in quality. I found most standard def channels to look pretty good, and I think Sony does the best job overall of cleaning up the picture.
Remote is simple and easy to use, and I've found the on-screen menus to be reasonably intuitive. For me it had plenty of inputs: 3 HDMI, 2 component, 2 composite, and a PC. Also has a single audio out which can be used to connect to an A/V receiver or (I presume) a home theater system if you have one.
The only two cons I have found for this TV are: 1) after you power it on, it takes about 7-10 seconds before the picture comes on -- but my old Sony did this too so it wasn't a big deal to me. And 2) you can't scroll through channels quickly, you have to move one at a time. Not sure if this is unique to Sony or if all TVs do this. But if you're using a cable or satallite box, then this won't matter to you anyway.
Bottom line -- great picture quality, decent sound, affordable price, easy to setup and use, no complicated fine tuning required, and a brand name that won't embarrass you when your friends come over. Go see one in the store and then trust your eyes, you won't be disappointed.
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