First post - Buying a 60" panel, need some help

Hello all,

Spent most of yesterday searching thru the Forum here to get help and opinions on this very subject. I know it's broad, but anything you can lend would be great. I currently have a 7 year old Panasonic LCD 1080i panel tv. It has served my family great. Its now going to the play room and I want to step up to a 60" in the Family Room.


Went to Best Buy, Costco and Great Indoors this past weekend. Holy cow has the TV market changed since I last bought. So many decisions and choices. So every salesman I talked to is pushing the LED sets, so I assume that's what I'll be getting, unless you guys here talk me out of it. I do like the idea of it being lighter and using less energy. Then there's the 120 vs 240 hz thing. I'm sure I'll be fine with 120. Here's the big question though... which mfr to get? LG, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Vizio. And there's a quite a $ difference between them. Here on the Forum there are tons of threads on each one. More than I could read in a day. I'm leaning towards the Sony Bravia line as I have friends that have that and the xbr series and love it. But to my untrained eye, all of them look GREAT in the stores and there can be up to a $500 swing in the price.


The set will see mostly HDTV and Xbox360 duty (both via HDMI). I do watch some sports, but it not in the cards right now to sit down for long periods of time to watch football with 4 and 6 yr old kiddos running around the house So, can anybody here help a brother out?


Let me add a few more things per the Sticky I just read in this sub Forum header.
Seating Distance - approx 14 Ft (60" TV is the biggest I can get into the built-in space)
Budget - Any of the TV's listed above and at those stores are in my budget. I will not be buying another TV for a long time, so I'm not going to buy the wrong one to save 20%.
Room lighting - This set will go in our family room. Lots of windows, but they have coverings on them. It won't be as dark as a home theatre though.




Thanks!