Finally found MY television!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Absolute highest picture quality! No degree of separation 3-dimensionally, no glare, no ghosting!

Cons: Smaller and more expensive than plasmas.

The Bottom Line: 
I highly recommend it over any plasma or even any LCD! It's the perfect size for any living room - ditch that huge glaring TV for a high quality masterpiece.

Author's Review
I spent months going in and out of electronic stores looking for the ideal TV. I narrowed down my decision by process of elimination and some other factors.

1. Plasma plagued with glare. Plasmas looked great, they're flat-panel, huge, BUT - I can't stand the glass. Plasma's have to have a glass shield because they exhibit the picture using gas. My dad has a plasma in his place and the glare is just unbareable during the day. Some of the top line plasma's are glare reducing, but I noticed that because the glass is there, there will always be a degree of separation between you and the picture prohibiting that seamless 3 dimensional feel.

2. Projection LCD - way too big, way too heavy. This TV is for my new condo and which doesn't have a wide living room space with the addition of the couches and coffee table. I also didn't want to have 3 guys with weight lifting belts have to carry it in especially if I'm going to probably be moving within the next 4 years.

3. Flat Panel LCD - Advantage, they have the best picture quality bar none. The screen is matte so there isn't any glare. The 3-dimensional feel is seamless where the HD picture totally makes you feel like there is no degree of separation between you and the screen.
Disadvantage: size and price. Okay, here's the deal, a 26" was too small for a living room TV and the 32" was $1000 more expensive. Compared to the Plasmas that start at 37" I was a little dissatisfied.

The Decision:
I wasn't sure if the last time I walked into Abt (mega chicago electronic store) that it would be the last (well for a TV that is). I saw this Sony 32" plasma and it was on sale for $700 cheaper then the already reduced price open box. I literally looked at every TV that day comparing the pros and cons. I concluded that this had the best picture out of ALL the LCDs - Panasonic, Phillips, JVC, and the expensive $5K Sony KDL one that floats in the glass. There was absolutely NO GHOSTING on this one and the salesman said this was Sony's latest and best model yet. I spend another good 45-minutes looking at every TV and concluded that this had in fact the best picture in the whole store. It made the plasmas look really outdated.

I then questioned as to whether this TV is big enough. So I walked around again and was a bit discouraged at the size of the plasmas. Well, I came back and figured that for my condo this would be a good size. I told the sales guy that it probably looks smaller here because of sheer amount and the size of the plasmas flat-panels. In the end I said, well quality over size is the balance and I went home with it.

Brought the TV home - so light I was able to carry it myself without much effort. Then I realized, "hey this TV is a pretty good size!" It was in fact true that a TV in a huge warehouse of TVs is going to look smaller and you're probably going to think you need something bigger than you actually want. So I was totally happy with the size - it's perfect!

I hooked up my DVD player in 2-minutes, popped in a DVD, and was amazed at the vibrant colors and the brilliance. Every intricate detail comes through and I really started to appreciate the quality. My dad bought a Sony 32" Plasma earlier this year and DVDs never looked this good on his TV, I'll tell you that!

Lastly, the sound is great on it's own for TV watching, but if you're like me you'll want the 5.1 surround sound, subwoofer sha-bang, for that home theater feel.