Pros & cons in the Sony & Sammy flat panel LCD's  

Try seeing that 60U panel in a room with southern exposure around 11AM with the sun streaming in or with lights in the room in the evening - perhaps he lives in an Apt with little windows but if you have a larger home with tall windows that sun will wash out a PDP. (Former 500U owner)

Leave the lights out - block out the sun during daylight - and play all those break in rules that comes with it and the LCD has none and you have a great PDP. The 60U is a good panel for the right viewing conditions and a bright sunny room turns it into a nothing experience for daytime viewing of NCAA/NFL Football, and Movies. You can save money with the PDP that it's main attraction for now or if your used to a direct view panel you may not notice all those reflections that an LCD has ZERO. (BASEMENT)

Current KDL46S2000 owner/former Panny Plasma owner (TH42PX500U).

Pros: Great picture in HD and SD. Perfect for HD gaming. Decent DVD playback. No reflections. No "break in" period. No burn in.

Cons: PQ not as good as plasma (but amost as good). Could have used another HDMI hook-up. Clunky remote.

I can't comment on the Sammy but as for the Sony... I just returned that exact set because the motion blur on moving video was the worst I had ever seen. Chalk this one up to being a Sony fanboy and I purchased it site unseen to play games and watch movies on. I returned it for a 42 inch Panasonic 60u plasma and delt with the breakin. Now I play video games and watch movies blur free. I have had no trouble with IR or burn in. When I went to Hi Fi buys over the weekend I viewed several 40 plus inch LCD panels and the best display I saw was an LG right beside the plasma I purchased. To me it was so close in terms of PQ I would rather have had the LG. Price was the closing deal though. The plasma was dirt cheap.

I purchased the Samsung LN-S4051D last Saturday and so far love it. I'm still waiting on my HD Comcast box. DVD's look great on it and in store they had a 360 into it and that picture it what sold me on it!

It was probable the 42" LCD from LG. Don't know the model number.

I just purchased a Sony 40S2000. I compared it to the Samsung 4092 and the JVC 40X887.

I thought the picture on the Sony was slightly more life-like than the Samsung and I thought the SD content looked a little bit better.

For me, it ultimately came down to price because I could tell very little difference between the sets (Samsung & Sony). The JVC looked just as good but the only model they had on display was the 32" version and I was uncomfortable buying one sight unseen.

I believe the Sony is going to be replaced with a new model in September while the JVC and Samsung panels new. This is probably the main reason for the price difference. I was open to paying more for the Samsung or JVC or even the XBR but after comparing all of them I just couldn't justify the paying difference.

As far as inputs go all three had advantages and disadvantages. The Samsung had 2 HDMI, and 2 RF but only 1 component. The Sony had only 1 HDMI and 1 RF but had 2 Component. The JVC had only 1 RF but 2 Component and 2 HDMI.

If I could have taken all three home, calibrated them myself, and used them for a week; I might have selected the Samsung or JVC over the Sony but based on a couple of hours at various stores I thought the Sony was the best overall value.

Now that I have the Sony, I'm happy with it. The picture quality for HD and XBox 360 is outstanding, DVDs are very good, and the SD content varies with the channel.

I do have one stuck sub-pixel; when displaying a completely black pattern I can see one tiny point of green. I can only detect it when standing very close to the set so I didn't feel like it was worth returning. I could just as easily get another set with more stuck/dead pixels.

The only other problem I have is with the HDMI input. If I connect the Comcast DVR via HDMI and switch from HD content (720p/1080i) to SD content or vice versa the picture disappears. It seems to be some kind of sync problem and is probably due to the Comcast box and not the TV.

I ultimately plan on using the HDMI for an HD-DVR or Blu-ray player so I had planned on connecting the Comcast box via component anyway.

After about 3 weeks with the set, I'm still happy with it and don't regret the purchase.

Here's a link to the Sony Press Release:
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_ro...ase/22416.html

And a link to a thread on this forum about the new Sony sets:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=683533

It looks like they are 1080p sets and they also have a 2nd HDMI input.

At least on the model I purchased, the MSRP is about $1000 more than the MSRP on the current generation Sony set.