Can anyone provide some feedback which is a better of the 2 sets? I look at them both at circuit city and best buy, and they both seem pretty impressive. The Samsung seem to be a little brighter and color more pop, where the sony seem to be more natural. In addition, Samsung has a HL-T6189S model, which in a nut shell is about the same as the 6187 except it is HDMI 1.3 versus 1.1. How critical is it to have a set that is HDMI 1.3?

dwc

Can anyone provide some feedback which is a better of the 2 sets? I look at them both at circuit city and best buy, and they both seem pretty impressive. The Samsung seem to be a little brighter and color more pop, where the sony seem to be more natural. In addition, Samsung has a HL-T6189S model, which in a nut shell is about the same as the 6187 except it is HDMI 1.3 versus 1.1. How critical is it to have a set that is HDMI 1.3? dwc

I have the Samsung HL-T6187S and am very happy with it. Extremely sharp picture with the right source material (My only HD source currently is DishNetwork, but regular DVD's look a little better too.) Note that it has a "movie mode" (as well as a "Standard" mode) that makes the colors more natural. They probably had the DNI mode on in the store and it makes it much brighter and unnatural looking.

I have no regrets about the Sammy.

Neither is "better" -- they are both excellent. It just comes down to personal preference. The Samsung definitely has more accurate colors (the major weakness of the Sony LCOS sets).