50-60'' LED HDTV recommendations (1,500 USD)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post21913512

Wrooster

The high end sets like the Sharp elite series definitely do provide a better picture quality. The full-array lit sets tend to provide better blacks and contrast and better screen uniformity. To match plasma PQ, you pretty much have to go with the high end LED. With that said, the lower cost TVs are still pretty good so if a cost is a problem, you should not hesitate with the lower cost sets provided they come from one of the main TV brands. You should definitely check some reviews and do some comparisons though as different sets have different strengths and weaknesses and you will need to determine which weaknesses you are more willing to live with. If shopping from the main TV brands, I wouldn't worry about reliability with the lower cost sets too much. They will be just as reliable if not moreso (more features means more can go wrong) than the high end sets.

Samsung and Sony will have better black levels and contrast generally while LG will have better viewing angles. For 3D, active, in theory, can provide a slightly better picture quality, but in most circumstances, it is very difficult to realize that potential advantage and it seems that more people prefer the convenience and effectiveness of LG's passive 3D. There's a big test of active vs passive here:
http://www.displaymate.com/3D_TV_ShootOut_1.htm

Toshiba and Vizio do passive 3D, Sony's new 2013 model the R550 will offer passive 3D, Panasonic's ET50 from 2012 and the ET60 for 2013 are passive as well.

Samsung has yet to dive into the passive realm, though I would assume/hope that in the near future they as well as Sharp will dive into that category.

Other companies offer passive 3D, although any TV that uses passive 3d will have an LG produced IPS panel as LG Display owns the tech for passive (Vizio, Hisense, Toshiba, Sony, and Panasonic all have contracts to buy passive 3D IPS panels from LG Display). As IPS panels, they will have similar shortcomings to the LG sets, although the implementation may be different with other brands that could provide modest improvements. As of now, Samsung and Sharp have decided not to buy passive LG Display panels and they have yet to introduce any other type of passive 3D technology and I have not seen any announcement that they are officially developing it (and LG Display has so far not licensed the technology out to anyone). In any case, there are no passive 3D sets announced for Samsung and Sharp for the 2013 model year so you will be waiting quite a while to see it, if it ever happens.

I look at multiple review sites to see various opinions. I try not to go by just one source as it is amazing how much bias and personal preferences color reviews even in supposedly professional reviews. At least some of the data is useful, although that also needs some care in considering, given that different testing methodologies can make a significant difference. Among sites I look at are:
hometheater.com
soundandvisionmag.com
cnet.com
televisioninfo.com (look for the archived versions of reviews here as now that they have been bought by a different company they are giving out resummarized versions of reviews that aren't nearly as good)
hdtvtest.co.uk as a European site the model numbers are different so you have to figure out what TV corresponds with model numbers from other countries
digitalversus.com Again a European site that uses different model numbers