Good value for $$$
Good value for money, considering Samsung brand. Design is sleek and the TV was perfect for my family's needs. Would have been nice to have 1080i/p with it, but 720p wasn't a dealbreaker (obviously). Overall I am very satisfied with this purchase.

i'm speechless!!!!!!!!
Prior to my purchase of the TV, I was just like everyone else skeptical about clicking the "Purchase" button. I took a chance on it and I can honestly say I'm VERY VERY pleased!!! I'ma bit of a picky person when it comes to electronic; I like what I like and how I like it..point blank! Overall the picture quality is outstanding!! The delivery was on point! The setup was EEEZZZ! I purchased the this TV that was labeled, "GOOD" for 612.99(A HELLUVA DEAL!!!) I assume it had been returned or it was refurbished but from the looks of it, this SUCKER looks brand spanking NEW!!!! In short, this TV is a freaking steal! You cant go wrong with this purchase!

IT HAS GREAT PICTURE : NEEDS A DARK ROOM
THE PICTURE QUALITY IS TERRIFIC WITH GREAT COLORS. THE SOUND IS FINE, I DO NOT USE A SURROUND SYSTEM...NOW FOR THE ISSUES....

THE SCREEN IS VERY REFLECTIVE, LIKE A BIG MIRROR. IT WORKS BEST IN A DARKER ROOM WITH OUT LAMPS OR BRIGHT LIGHT SOURCES TO REFLECT FROM THE SCREEN.

SETUP WAS OK NO BIG ISSUES

THE REMOTE HAS SMALL BUTTONS AND SMALL PRINT. NOT GOOD FOR OLDER PEOPLE, BIGGER BUTTONS WOULD BE BETTER

LIMITED CONNECTIONS FOR OLDER VIDEO AUDIO EQUIPMENT. NO S VIDEO CONNECTION OR AUDIO OUT ( RED / WHITE RCA PLUG TYPE ) CONNECTIONS...HARDER TO USE WITH OLDER PLAYERS

3 HDMI CONNECTIONS, BUT I DON'T NEED OR USE HDMI, I NEED MORE COMPONENT STYLE FOR MY VCR OR DVD PLAYER...NO BLUE RAY FOR ME

DELIVERY WAS LOUSY, 3 DAYS LATE AND NOT UP TO DATE DELIVERY DETAILS ON THE WEBSITE AVAILABLE. I HAD TO CALL THEM TO FIND OUT. THEY DID NOT SETUP THE TV OR REMOVE THE CARDBOARD EITHER

Amazing value, great quality....couldn't be happier with this purchase!
I purchased this television one month ago, and my family could not be happier with it. The picture quality is incredible, the delivery service was courteous and efficient, and for 0, it is a true bargain. I looked at this same TV model at Best Buy, and opted to save on sales tax and shipping fees by purchasing from Amazon.com, and I am so glad I did.

This Television is 1080p!
After a ton of researching i finally decided to get this television. I was hesitant as pretty much everyone is to go for a 720p set. After watching digital cable on the set I noticed that many channels would come in in 1080i, so I said "I guess it outputs 1080i as well". I finally connected both my Xbox 360 and my PS3 up to it and they both came in at 720p but when I went to the settings and set them to max resolution they both went to 1080p. I then put a blu ray in my PS3 and sure enough 1920x1080 resolution came up and man it looked beautiful. I contacted Samsung customer support today and sure enough they said that the site and box are typos and the actual specs of the tv are 1080p. I have no idea with so many reviews of this television circulating around the internet no one else has discovered this. So I guess what I am saying is if you are having trouble deciding between this and a 1080p set look no further this is a 1080p set and well worth the 0.00

GREAT TV
AWESOME TV----GREAT PICTURE!!
ALSO..5 STARS---TO COMPANY THAT WE
ORDERED FROM!! GREAT DELIVERY!!

Initial Impression on the Unit
After researching on the techinical spec, I choose this product based on the factors below 1. engineering design (4 colors) 2. advance technology (LCD backlite) 3. reviews from Amazon.com 4. price to performance ratio.

The product was delived by a very courteous carrier and help moved into my family room. It worked for 15 seconds then the video has gone blank and locked in a diagonostic mode.
From the very fine prints of the manual, I found the service number to call for help. The represensentative on the line responded very fast and was very courteous and helpful. The on-site service technician came within a week and fixed the faulty board. I gave the factory qulity 3-star for poor quality control. I gave the field service 5-star fro fast and courteous on-site service. The on-site service warranty is 15-months. Very good.

The picture quality is good and 7 inputs connections. But the audio output only has 2 options. 1. Simply stereo output with 1/8" pin, very flimsy and not practical. 2. Optical output that may not work with old amplifier. I am using blueray player to provide the sounds input.

The screen is very thin (less than 2") and looks very efficient. Built-in speakers are decent but nothing to brag about.

I use antenna to receive broadcast signal, the channels recognized are less than a 28" Sumsang TV that I have. A slight disappointment.

The picture quality is very good compared to other HDTV.

Overall, I rated this TV a 4-star.

Great TV
I have had the Sharp 60 led model for about a month and my opinion is 'Wow". I decided to replace a 50" Panasonic plasma which had a great picture but I wanted something larger and really liked the led models. My initial selection was between Samsung and Sony but when I saw the Sharp picture, I just knew it was the right one. I used to consider Sharp a second tier TV but no longer.....beats the Panasonic plasma. The picture is famtastic and the audio is not bad but I use a separate sound system. I do think that the addition of yellow to the typical RGB pixels does add to the picture. Am very pleased with no complaints so far. Great TV for the price.

WOW ! You Gotta see this one
I have now installed three LCD TV's in my house, and the 60" Sharp Aquos blows them away. This 60" is sharper than my 37" which was hard to believe. The colors are vibrant, just like they advertise. I had shopped for months looking for the right tv, and one day I saw the Sharp 60 inch amid a wall of 55 inchers, and it stood out so much better than the other brands, I bought it on the spot.
Before that I was waiting to see where the 3D sets were going, but after a couple of 3D demostrations, I said that's not for me. My eyes hurt after looking through those heavy awkward glasses. 3D is cute but not enough for the extra cost. I highly recommend this set. It has lots of pros, and no cons

A Diamond in the Rough!
PROS: Size (60"), 1.5 inches thick, Picture quality, Panel, Price, Value, Aquos Support, LED, Aquos Net
CONS: Screen uniformity (inherent in most edge lit LED models)
This Sharp LED television is an awesome set. This set has the Quattron technology which adds the color yellow to the RGB spectrum. I have noticed that the colors are sharper and more vibrant. Purists will tell you there is no advantage to adding an additional color to the RGB spectum. All I know is I can clearly see the advantages in overall skin tone color, background colors, and I even noticed more intense eye colors on actors! Something I never noticed before on my plasma or standard LCD. I previously owned the Samsung 55C7000 set, but was turned off by its screen uniformity issues and "flashlighting". This set does exhibit some screen uniformity issues, but none to the degree of the new Samsung edge lit model I previously owned.
I found these calibration settings on the 'net' and they really help dial in the Sharp's colors. I will share them here:
Backlight -2
Contrast +25
Brightness +1
Color +1
Tint -2
Sharpness 0
CMS Hue Keep at 0
CMS Saturation Keep at 0
CMS Value Keep at 0
Color Temp Low
R Gain (LO)+8
G Gain (LO)0
B Gain (LO)+25
R Gain (HI) +9
G Gain (HI)0
B Gain (HI) +17
Gamma -1
These settings are a great, and a little tweaking to your liking will have you viewing your Sharp in a whole new way!

BY THE WAY: The picture AMAZON is using to identify this set is incorrect. It looks exactly like the picture of the Sharp LC-60LE820UN on Amazon's page.

Gorgeous picture. Perfect size.
Excellent television, picture quality is unsurpassed. Very large, perfect size for a living room. We don't use the built-in speakers, so I cannot comment on them. Don't bother using the included remote, spend a little extra money on a Logitech Harmony.

Was Good While It Lasted
Although the LN2A650 is discontinued, there are newer generations of Samsung TV's that still get pretty good ratings. I have no reason to believe that their design and/or build quality is worth your time, money, and piece of mind. Don't be fooled like I was...

I have not owned any other Samsung products and was reluctant to purchase a Samsung TV to begin with, but it came highly rated from reputable consumer and electronics evaluators (i.e. CR, CNET, etc) for picture quality, adjustability, and the like. On October 21, 2008, I was excited to finally be getting rid of my 10 year old 32" tube and decided to go for the then-well regarded LN52A650. I enjoyed it thoroughly with my 7.1 surround sound system, HD cable channels, PS3 games, and Blu-ray discs. Then on May 27, 2010, it began rapidly cycling on/off for no apparent reason.

A little online research reveals that this has not been an isolated problem. After the TV began cycling on/off, I tried various fixes as directed by Samsung (all to no avail): upgraded the firmware, unplugged it for 30 seconds, removed it from the surge protector and plugged directly into wall outlet, etc. They offered to cover the cost of the replacement of the capacitor, but would not cover anything else. (As a side note, the capacitor was not an issue with my TV in particular, but had been an issue with other Samsung TV's.)

Samsung tech support, customer service, and repair people were all very friendly, but that does not make up for the fact that the TV was out of warranty and they weren't inclined to do anything about it. The earliest appointment was two weeks out and the window was an utterly inconvenient seven hours. I took a day off from work, paid for the repair guy to spend no more than 15 minutes with the TV, before I was informed that it needed the LCD panel replaced because of the backlight overloading. The panel with labor would cost nearly a grand and it would take at least a week for the part to ship from California. He emphasized that this LCD replacement panel is "popular" and might be on back order. Even if I were to do the repair there is no guarantee that I wouldn't have the same problem again.

It is sad that the reliability with these TV's has been so bad. The repair guy acknowledged that they do give him a fair amount of job security. He also noted that most people choose to buy a new TV rather than have it fixed. It is even more disappointing that Samsung doesn't stand behind their products more -- there is clearly an issue with many of their TV's (almost seems like they're following the old Toyota play book).

I guess if I had less faith in Samsung from the start, I'd have gotten an extended warranty. I just thought they had better credibility after having done all of my research before the big purchase. Now all I'm left with is a ,000 paperweight and the solace of knowing that as the "go-to guy" for all things electronics with my family and friends that I can effectively prevent a few others from purchasing Samsung products in the future.

Amazing unit...I can't believe its only B001413DF8k
Went in with my roommate to get this TV about 2 years ago. At the time it was going for 00, but we bought it from Circuit City for 00 before the stores closed. I mounted this puppy on the wall of our apartment and never once had an issue with it. The controller that comes with the unit is crappy, but we used a universal one so that didn't matter. I did a good amount of shopping around and no set came close to consideration compared to this one.

I can tell you right now, this is a steal at just B001413DF8k. The gimmicky sellpoints are so mundane now. There has hardly been any noteworthy advances in the television industry in the past two years. Especially to warrant considering a new model upwards of k when you would be hard-pressed to notice any clarity difference or quality improvement over this set. 240-hz is just a selling point and hardly makes any difference. And the notion that 3D is going to take over soon is ridiculous. Common consumers were just forced to upgrade their tube TVs to flat panels over the past 5 years. Whoever believes that they would be willing to shell out more big bucks for a 3D-compatible TV is kidding themselves. 3D isn't even on the horizon at the moment.

Anyone looking for a large flat panel with a beautiful picture, great contrast, and reliable construction...do yourself a favor and pick this baby up. Your wallet will thank you.

Another Samsung Casualty
We bought LN52A650A 52" Samsung LCD TV for Christmas in December of 2008. We have never purchased a Samsung product and were surprised that Consumer Reports rated this TV as number !. We researched this product endlessly and saw little to no negative reviews. We bought the TV from Amazon, had great delivery and set up service and loved the tv until now (which is 16 months later). In February 2010, just after it's warrenty period ended, (during Superbowl!!) we had an episode of the TV turning itself on and off once or twice. We thought it was the DVR. IT stopped and we didn't think too much of it. For the past 3 days (now April, 2010) we can barely keep the TV on because it is constantly powering off and on and, of course, it's now hocky play off time. We had to connect our 3 year old 19" REFURBISHED Magnavox LCD that we use in our kitchen to our living room cable. It has been one of the most reliable tv's we have ever had. Thank you, PHILIPS. So much for high end!

We called Samsung who has set up a repair technician to call us back and will post results after we deal with them. We went on this website tonight to research whether or not anyone else had this problem and are appalled at how many customers have had the same issue and their lack of success dealing with Samsung! Bottom line, DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT. No TV that costs as much as we paid for it should have these problems.

52 inch
This has been a great bedroom tv so far with no problems (had it for over a year)

Great TV with lots of cool features
I bought this TV for a gaming race car setup and wall mounted it. I connected the TV to my Playstation 3 using an HDMI cable for 1080p gaming. I also connected a surround sound system so can't say anything about the tv's built in speakers (most reviews say there not very good though).

The picture quality is amazing, especially after I calibrated it. GO TO [...] AND GET THE CALIBRATION SETTINGS FOR THIS TV ([...]).

Although I have no need for most of the cool features of this tv, definitely an added bonus. I found this tv to be a great balance of price and value.

great buy
Hi there! After long research I picked this TV and am absolutely happy about it. Viewing experience is amazing, and sound is great - you don't even need home theater (unless you really want). Main reason i picked this TV is because the screen is matte. Shiny screen of Samsung LEDs was killing my eyes. I haven't connected this TV to internet yet, but i am sure it'll be nice and simple.

Sony KDL-52EX700 Review from LCD TV Buying Guide
The Sony KDL-52EX700 has its own private display in some prominent retail stores. It's got the thin good looks Sony is counting on to impress with its great brightness on the showroom floor. In this review we delve deeply into the inner beauty of the TV as well to evaluate whether the internal processing and output match the aesthetics. The EX700 series ranks right in the middle of the pack in Sony's 2010 lineup in terms of feature offerings and price.

HD Picture Quality: Image edges from HD content were crisp, clean and detailed. The LED backlight and intense black level seem to help images in 3 dimensional effect. Shadow detail is excellent with HD content as well. Regardless what content is displayed there is quick degradation of black levels and contrast from side viewing angles starting at 15 degrees. Color information was rich but no overpowering with HD content. I enjoyed the picture very much from front and center and was unable to pick up the processing problems the TV displayed in HQV testing.

Black Level/Contrast/Contrast Ratio: Black levels were stout and measured .026 to .029 on the IRE scale giving the TV a high post calibration contrast ratio of 1570:1. The black levels carried through to scenes from both HD and 480i content. As mentioned below, side angle viewing will diminish contrast appearance.

Dark Shadow Detail: Fantastic shadow detail is a winning characteristic of the EX700. The TV showed tremendous definition in dark areas of suits, clothing, and in all dimly lit scenes.

Color Rendition/Color Accuracy: Color rendition is a strength of this Sony display. Colors pop off of deep black levels without being oversaturated.

LED Back Light: With a static gray screen displayed there was obvious horizontal light banding from the edge lit LED back lights. The irregularities in back lighting revealed themselves from time to time when viewing content as well.

Motion Lag: There was some jerkiness and judder effect in scenes panning side to side even with the 120Hz rate Motionflow feature on standard setting.

HQV Processor Testing: After watching a few brief video content highlights we thought the processor was going to pass our tests without a hitch. Turns out the brightness and nice color rendition of the picture fooled us. Overall, the EX700 performed poorly in video processor testing. I guess they saved the best stuff for their higher end TVs such as the HX900. Obvious jaggies, moire', shimmy effects, judder, and dithering were apparent on many tests - all signs of a struggling processing engine. The one exceptional performance was in the video resolution loss test. Interestingly though Sony has named the video chip sets for this TV the new Bravia Engine 3, we decided that the video processor in the EX700 must at least be the same as the XBR9, since the testing was identical with weaknesses and strengths in exactly the same areas.

Calibration: The EX700 series has a strict governor on brightness. This prevents the average user from hurting their picture quality by poorly calibrating their TV. The EX700 calibrated fairly easily to D6500K. Gamma tracking was excellent and one of the best tested.

Calibration Settings
Picture Mode: Custom
Backlight: 4
Picture: 96
Brightness: 52
Color: 49
Hue: G4
Color Temp Warm: 2
Sharpness: MIN
MotionFlow: Standard
Cinemotion: OFF

Advanced Settings
Gamma: 0

White Balance
R-Gain: 0
G-Gain: -16
B-Gain: -7
R-Bias: -6
G-Bias: 0
B-Bias: -4

Features: As mentioned above use the Motionflow feature on Standard but do not use the Cinemotion feature in conjunction unless you want to add lots of jerkiness and a nasty background effect to the picture.

120Hz Rate Feature Evaluation: Overall this feature is viable on the EX700 series. While this feature detracts from the picture quality with most TVs in the market, it enhances PQ in the EX700. The feature does not introduce unwelcome video background noise as with most others. We recommend the Standard setting. Extra points to Sony for coming up with a Hz rate feature that actually improves the picture even during film. There was still judder occurrence, but the feature reduced it.

Aesthetic Considerations: The EX700 is a nice looking TV with the super thin 2.25" depth and an included side to side swivel table stand. The 2" wide gloss black bezel framing the screen could be thinner to suit my tastes. There is a classy looking charcoal gray strip on the bottom of the TV.

Audio Output: Sound output from the 10W X 10W speakers was weak with many sources. The audio output often had a hollow, tinny non-quality with which we were not impressed. There was an absence of virtual surround effect. ClearVoice is a Sony Bravia feature we have recommended in the past and is included on this TV. It enhances voice sound level somewhat effectively.

See the full review at LCD TV Buying Guide

A Versatile Performer With Only Minor Drawbacks
I chose this television as an exchange for a defective Sony rear projection unit, the KDS-50A2000. This was an LCoS (or in Sony parlance, SXRD) set from 2006 that, until its malfunction, provided a wonderful 1080p image with good contrast, great color, and nice detail. So I am comparing the 52EX700 to my former set.

That said, what are the criteria for a great TV? In my opinion, the criteria can be broken into 5 areas, weighted equally:

1. Black & White. How dark is the baseline black level of the set? How bright is the brightest white? What is the contrast ratio? How well do the two interact on normal viewing material?

2. Color. How accurate is the color? Is it vibrant but not cartoonish? How adjustable is it?

3. Processing. How well does the television handle fast motion? Is there a lot of video noise? Are detrimental picture "enhancements" defeatable? Is there a sharpness setting that reveals maximum detail without edge halos or other artifacts? Are there jagged edges or moire effects on challenging material?

4. Build Quality. Is the screen reflective or matte? Does the screen have uniform lighting? What sort of viewing angle does the set have? Is the cabinet sturdy? Is the remote ergonomic? How much power does the TV consume? How much heat does it generate? Is the unit reliable overall?

5. Feature Set. How many and what kinds of connections does the set have? Does the TV have internet connectivity? How comprehensive is the user menu? Is there Picture in Picture? What other sorts of convenience features are present?

I will rate this set on a ten point scale in each of the 5 categories. There are two categories specifically in picture quality, which means that the picture is the most heavily weighted feature. A perfect set (whatever that is) would rate a 50. An average store-brand cheapie set from a big box retailer would probably rate in the 30s.


**********

Black & White = 9

The 52EX700 is capable of displaying a very dark black. Blacks which are too bright can wash out an image, making it seem grayish and foggy. This is most definitely NOT the case with the EX700. Blacks are darker than my previous 2006 model television, and at least as dark as the best LCD sets from last year. Some professional reviewers (such as CNET) have said it is not as dark as some of the current competition. Frankly, I have a hard time seeing how. In daylight, the black areas of the screen are completely black. In a darkened room, if you're watching a black screen, sure, a tiny bit of light is evident. But who besides a professional TV reviewer sits in a darkened room watching a black screen? To the human eye, on any real program material, the blacks are effectively at zero light output. On the other end of the spectrum, this set gets very bright, once you turn off the "ambient sensor" and take full control of the backlight. At half backlight, the set is quite bright. At full, it's as eye-searing as a rear projection model with a bright lamp. Blacks remain inky and deep at any backlight setting, but of course are deeper the lower you go. This set also was able to display lots of detail in shadows, that is, "near black" areas of an image. The gamma control allowed lots of tweaking of this quality. It didn't "crush" blacks at all. Any way you slice it, this set was more than bright enough to watch during the day, and it was more than dark enough for the black level not to be an issue at night. The contrast ratio is quite high, and the image has a lot of "pop."

Color = 9

Colors are vibrant but not cartoonish. It was easy to get them dialed in to a pleasing, natural looking palette by changing the "temperature" to its warmest setting. White Balance controls afford more chances to tweak the color. Sometimes, the darkest areas of broadcast HD seemed to tint a little green or blue, but this was likely the source, since this flaw was not evident in Blu-Ray material.

Processing = 8

Overall, processing was good. I never noticed even one instance of motion blur, whether I was watching sports, drama, or action-packed Blu-Ray movies. There is no video lag, regardless of picture settings, which is very important for video gaming (some sets make you turn off all processing in order to eliminate lag, which can lead to a diminished picture). Detail can be very strong even at lower "Sharpness" settings (mainly, sharpness puts artificial enhancements around the edges of objects on the screen, so the lower the better). This picture is a bit noisier in dark areas than my SXRD set close up, but this noise is invisible at normal viewing distances. I noticed a few jagged edges in nearly horizontal lines on Blu-Rays (grates and fences can be torture tests for digital televisions). This is a 120hz television, affording the opportunity for Sony's "Motion Flow" setting, which interpolates frames to smooth out "juddering" on video (60hz) and film (24hz) sources, giving everything a very non-juddering smooth kind of motion. This was OK on TV programs, but was distracting on movies (which are filmed at 24fps). I generally left it off. 120hz is an even multiple of 24, however, and this set is able to decode 24fps video (such as Blu-Ray) with no artificial frame interpolation (i.e. frames created by the TV that aren't actually in the image source) or processing. This leads to an extremely stable and sharp picture on movies without any additional and artificial "enhancement" such as Motion Flow. In the end, 60 vs. 120 vs. 240hz processing isn't nearly as important as black level and color. Most 60hz sets look fine regardless of source, and many would say that frame interpolation modes lead to unnatural-looking images. 480p DVD looks fine. 480i broadcast standard definition performance is not going to win any awards, but it is perfectly acceptable. Just remember, garbage in=garbage out. You can only polish a turd so much, as they say. Speaking of OTA, the on-board HD tuner is very strong - it pulls in channels very stably even at 60-70% signal.

Build Quality = 7

The cabinet is understated and stylish, with a thin "metallized" gray strip below a shiny black bezel. The set is impressively thin, but not so thin that jacks are laid out in a less easy-to-access sideways orientation. I wish the input jacks had been closer to the center of the rear, but they are laid out nicely. The included stand swivels, and keeps the television stable. The screen is a matte finish (thank goodness), and does a decent job of attenuating reflections from the room. The LED edge-lighting does lead to a small bit of "flash light effect" near the edges of the screen, but it is not really noticeable on normal material, and it is not as bad as competing edge-lit sets. The "Achilles Heel" of this set is viewing angle - the image washes out a fair amount more than 45 degrees to either side of center (90 degrees total), and more than 30 degrees vertically (60 degrees total). This is, however, pretty common for LCD sets. It is neither the best or worst in this regard. There are still plenty of great seats for this set in an average living room. The remote control is average - it could have used a few more shortcut buttons, and the D-pad could have been made more ergonomic (it's a little shallow).

Feature Set = 10

Until "Google TV" equipped sets come out next year, the EX700 is tops in terms of internet features. Netflix, Amazon VOD, and Youtube streaming are the stars, and they all work well. Picture Quality on these is decent to very good, but set-top devices perform better, since the TV seems more sensitive to connection speed. Entering your login info for these services lets you access their respective queues, right on the TV. A plethora of other, smaller internet features offers podcasts, videos, music, and other things. The haphazard organization of these is not ideal, however, and typing in search queries with the remote is cumbersome. Also extremely impressive is the implementation of TV Guide for over-the-air HD signals. The TV downloaded listings based on Zip Code, and only displayed a schedule for channels I had selected as "Shown." The user menu is modeled after the XMB menu of the PS3 - both a blessing and a curse, because so much information is contained in it, one can easily get lost. A "Favorites" button lets you bookmark favored inputs, channels, or internet features. The VGA PC input works perfectly, and the image is automatically scaled to fit the screen perfectly, with no overscan or loss of fidelity with text. Power saving is another big feather in this set's cap - the LED light source is already very efficient, generating almost no heat and using about half of what a normal CCFL LCD set does, but you can also shave power use further with the "Eco settings," and the "Presence Sensor," which turns off the screen (but keeps the audio on) when you leave the room. The only feature that really fails to impress is Picture-in-Picture, as it is limited to PCs (which must always be the main screen, and there is no swapping), broadcast TV, and component input devices (like older DVD players). It is by no means the full-featured and flexible PIP that sets used to have, and is only marginally useful.

A note on 3-D: This set is not 3-D ready. I, however, am of the opinion that 3-D in the home is a flash in the pan, and will always be, until consumers are not required to buy 0 glasses for each family member in order to view it. Also, there is currently no media to play on such a set. Therefore, I will not dock points for lacking this "feature."

*******

All told, this set rates a 43 on my scale of 50. While this might sound like it's low or disappointing, it isn't. My dad has a Samsung UN55B8000, a very comparable edge-lit LED set, which performs similarly, but offers fewer features. I would rate that set 9/9/8/8/7, for a total of 41. The Vizio VF550VXT, from 2009, rates 7/8/8/7/7 for a 38 (it crushed blacks and didn't have a particularly good black level). My 50A2000, a rear projection SXRD set, would rate 9/10/9/5/6, for a 39 (the 5 is for its unreliability and the irritation of replacing lamps). The Insignia set I helped my grandmother purchase for her kitchen would rate 7/6/6/8/6 for a 33. I imagine the absolute premium LCD television today (which I haven't seen) wouldn't go much above 46 or 47. So anything over 40 is very likely a solid all-around performer with good features.

Thus, I rate this a 5-star set on Amazon's scale, especially given its price point in the current marketplace. You're getting a large, efficient LED edge-lit set with top-flight internet features and very good picture performance for under k. I am thrilled with the performance this set offers and consider it an upgrade in nearly every way over my previous 2006-model set (with the exception of viewing angles). It should be on the short list of anyone searching for a high-quality, full-featured set that can handle both home theater and HD cable/broadcast television chores. It may not be at the top of the roost this year, but for the money it is probably as good as anything out there.

Given the CNET review of this set, I was not expecting to like it as much as I did, and I was prepared for some compromises. Well, I guess pleasant surprises come in slim packages. This is an uncompromisingly good television with only a few minor flaws, most of which are endemic to LCD televisions. Its greatest strengths are its robust online offerings and its extremely punchy contrast ratio.

Great TV
Just a quick review after I upgraded from my old LCD Projection 50" 1080i TV to this new Sony LED model 3 weeks ago. Just for the fun of it; before I switched them out I left them side by side just to do some comparisons (I just put a new lamp in my old TV so it was at it brightest in years). When I switched to TV mode on both using my HDTV AT&T UVerse 1080i cable, the comparison was interesting. Overall the Sony LED TV had a sharper and brighter image but there were a few channels where I just didn't see a difference. This I blame on the cable being 1080i and possible some channels using inferior HD Cameras??? Then I played a DVD on each TV and the Sony defiantly had the brighter sharper image. Lastly I threw in a Blue Ray, and this is where this new Sony LED TV blew away my old TV. My first words were "Wow that looks great". I also just downloaded a 1080p movie and got the same "Wow" result while watching it.

I did tell myself that if I didn't notice a large enough difference I would be returning this TV and waiting another year for newer models (Since I just bought a new lamp for my old TV). Well after 3 weeks my old TV is now sitting in the basement waiting for someone to watch it, and I think it's going to be a long time. So, overall after 3 weeks I am extremely happy with this Sony TV.

Anything I didn't like? Just 2 minor things: there are 4 HDMI cable connections but only 2 in back - the other 2 are on the side. It's not a big deal but if you have your Cable box, Blue Ray Player and your Video Game Console all hooked up with HDMI cables; one of those cables is going to be sticking out of the side of your TV at all time - you can bend the cable back so it's not sticking out that much. But, as a person who wants all his cables hidden - this is a little annoying. The second and very minor; the stand is little blah, not a big deal but I would think they could come up with something better on their 2010 models since the rest of this TV looks so great.

Update #1:I saw someone asked about how many Watts this TV used. So I brought home my Watt Meter from work and did some testing. This new LED TV used 75 Watts on average when on. I also hooked up my old LCD Projection TV and it used around 195 when on. Pretty big difference.

Update #2: After 2 months of watching things like the Stanley Cup, World Cup Soccer plus a few other movies at different places; I have to say this TV has the best picture of the lot. Especially when compared to older models from a few years ago. But, once again some channels just don't look as good as others. The World Cup soccer games looked incredible, a friend even asked if this was a new 3D TV he thought the picture was so good. Then watching Shrek on TNT HD looked subpar when compared to the lowly DVD version I own (probably considerably worse then the Blue-ray version). Guess the point is make sure your HD Signal is good if you want the best HD picture on this TV, you can really see the difference between a bad HD channel and a good HD channel.