I've been reading these forums for awhile now and still am quite intimidated by the amount of information that is out there. Because of that, I'm having an extremely hard time choosing a television.

I bought a 47" Magnavox 1080p LCD from Walmart on a black friday sale. I guess you get what you pay for. The panel had an unacceptable amount of lamp bleed in the corners and I just took it back yesterday. When watching a 2.35:1 movie in letterbox, all I could see was a yellowish gray color in the corners.

Sooo, I came home and did a little budget re-figuring and think I'm ready to spend a little bit more to get more of a television.

I've narrowed it down to three televisions:

42" Panasonic Viera 1080p Plasma - Because of the uniformity and black levels, I REALLY didn't like the lamp bleed on the LCD. I can't afford the 50" and 42" may be a little small for me, only drawback I can think of.

46" Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD - Hoping the lamp bleed and black levels are significantly better on a more expensive LCD...

50" Sony SXRD (50A3000) - because everyone says this is the best picture. I don't care about flat panel, but all the adjustments and everyone talking about calibration kinda scares me...


Any opinions would be greatly valued. Thanks in advance!

I guess it would be beneficial to y'all to have some more info.

- Not necessarily a really bright room
- Lots of gaming, but still mostly TV, not worried about burn-in
- Viewing angle isn't an issue as the room is fairly narrow
- Under $2000 if making other recommendations
- Black levels and picture uniformity are a big concern of mine
- Weight is not an issue, although I'll never own another projection cabinet TV

I would vote for the Panny myself.

You will need to properly adjust any display out of the box using something as simple as a THX DVD or more advanced like Avia. It's not difficult and is the best way to get a good picture. Copying and pasting someone else's settings is pointless.