Strengths: picture clarity, 2 hdmi inputs, light weight

Weaknesses: sounds crappy from the in built speakers, no PIP - I don't care about PIP anyways, no 1080p... well hometheatremag says there's no diff between them in movies, mayb NFL will show some diff, lets C

Summary: So I drive over to circuit city after I see the sale price online along with my 10% off AAA coupon and stole it for $998 out the door without tax in delaware three weeks ago. While I was at circuit city, I was comparing this and the samsung which were side by side. The samsung was definitely nicer but cost about $500 more I think. I then asked the employee at circuit city why the sony was not so nice as the samsung and he said its due to the settings, and i asked him to change them to match, but he said, he should not do that????????? guess its circuit city manager's trick to sell the higher priced samsung. oh well... but then my budget was $1000 and supposedly the change in settings should make them similar. Also, sonystyle website lists the price for extended warranty (5 yr) at $99.99 for projection tv purchases for upto $999. sweeeeeeeet...... With all new technologies being pumped into tv's these days, its a lot better to get one, so I jumped at the sony. I've no idea if samsung can match that price on the extended warranty. also, i had been reading the reviews for the sony/samsung over a few weeks and it seems both seem to have issues after a year or two. so, i figured i can just spend the $998+$99 bux now than regret later. I also thought about LCD/Plasma, but the reasons I didn't opt for them was:Plasma: price is 2 or 3 times that of projection for the same size, Screen Glare irritating, power consumption is more than twice that of LCD projection, use and throw kind of after the screen goes dead in a few years.LCD: really the overall best choice because of extremely long life, specs usually say 60,000 hours+), i think but price is 2 or 3 times that of projection for the size...Projection tv: projection bulb dies every 1-3 yrs depending on your use, I watch tv few hours/day, so it should last me a while. when it goes, i buy a new bulb and behold, i've a new tv.... niceeeeeeeeeeee :))))searching for a tv stand was a nightmare as everyone wanted atleast $200+ for a decent looking tv stand. I then found a nice stand for $60 at unclaimed freight which is really nice looking. Its glass stand though on a shiny black metal frame. the specs say, it can withstand upto 150lbs and this tv is less than 1/2 of that, so I figured it should be fine. All well so far. The huge box fit exactly inside the new 4runner and was actually laid flat by the circuit city employees. after getting home, i noticed the sides of the box say not to lay it down flat but stand the box on its bottom. luckily its been working great over the past few weeks. the picture quality is simply amazing from hdtv broadcasts from discovery channel and universal studios. i never watch such channels before, but ever since i got this tv i've been watching only those two channels. they are also broadcast in 5.1 dolby audio and you get the live experience with that. i've a standard onkyo 5.1 decoder and its a great match to the set. i hooked it up to a dvd player and the performance was great. then i hooked it up to ps3 via hdmi and the picture clarity of the dvd's was mind blowing. you really really have to compare a bluray dvd and a regular dvd side by side. if you can't tell the difference, i suggest you get your eyes checked. overall its an excellent buy for the money.

Strengths: Picture is amazing and I haven't ordered the HD cablr box from my cable provider (don't know that I will!) Lightweight. Easy to hook up and use. Very classy appearance.

Weaknesses: Can't think of a one!

Summary: The optical digital sound is terrific when played through a receiver with optical digital audio input. The inputs are flexible enough to allow me to hook up a dvd player, a dvd recorder, a vhs vcr and a beta vcr. Very simple to switch from one to the other.

Strengths: Picture Quality, Price point for TV and extended warranty from Sony

Weaknesses: Menu/remote could be betterSound could be better, but using your own sound system is a workaround

Summary: - QAM tuner is good- Picture Quality for HD is excellent- Picture Quality for SD is also watchable, sometimes very good- Sony extended warranty available at a reasonable price from Sony directlyNote that after buying an HDTV, most people usually wish that they had purchased a larger one. If your budget is limited, this is a great choice.

Strengths: Overall Picture Quality, Great Features

Weaknesses: No picture in picture

Summary: I have owned this TV for 4 weeks and it has not disappointed me. It looks great with HD antenna channels, DVDs, and even regular analog cable looks decent. For the money this is one of the best 55" LCD/DLP TVs out there. The only feature I would add is picture in picture (PIP).

Strengths: Good all around picture, Able to obtain all major networks in HD via an antenna, Good value for the money with the Sony Product name

Weaknesses: No Picture in Picture, Long start up time (approx. 30 seconds), potential to replace expensive bulbs

Summary: I bought this TV at Best Buy just over a week ago. Although it initially appears you can get a better price online, I encourage you to see if the Best Buy near you will drop their price to be competitive with those online. My price with rebates (and 3 months free HD cable) and tax was $1475 and I obtained 18 months interest free. When you figure in the value of the interest free loan, the TV price was just under $1400. As for the TV, the picture even with an analog cable signal is pretty good (I will update this review once my HD cable is installed next week). I can also receive about 20 channels via an amplified antenna on the open air for free - ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox all look great. On DVDs this TV really shines. I have viewed numerous plasma and DLP projection HD sets and this one clearly met my needs best at the best value. My only lingering concern is having to replace the $200+ bulb every 6,000-10,000 hours. (Probably every 2-5 years depending on your usage.) I have been informed you can get more life out of the bulbs if you keep the brightness level off the higher setting levels.

Strengths: Good picture for the price

Weaknesses: black level, orange peel effect

Summary: This is a great TV for the price. It looks amazing with in HD. Good for DVDs. And as good as you could hope for on standard def. The only minor complaints I have are that the blacks are not quite black. And it has a slight "orange peel" effect towards the center of the screen in bright scenes. That is, you can see a slight texture in the screen that resembles an orange peel. Is it 100% perfect? No. But I'll take 95% for the price.

Strengths: the whole tv

Weaknesses: absolutely none

Summary: This is an awesome experience. Did alot of research and waited for the price to drop in my range and it did. Pulled the trigger and now its in my living room. Larger than life display with a crystal clear picture. Cannot, and I repeat CANNOT go wrong with this TV. Get one while you can.

Strengths: Great for DVD , Movies

Weaknesses: No PIP

Summary: A great TV for a person with alot of space. Great picture without 10.80p and a good DVD will make you enjoy the TV even more. Would purchase again.

Strengths: Picture Quality, Amazing Sound from built-in speaker and many video inputs HDMI and composite.

Weaknesses: It is only 720p in resolution. I hope it is 1080i or 1080p.

Summary: Great picture even without HD service. my old TV is a 32 inch Sony Wega CRT. And that TV is great. so I decided to go with Sony again but a lot larger,not disappointed at all. great picture and sound. I connected it to my Sony home theater system and was amazed. very easy to set up and use. this TV has everything you could possibly want. for the price you cant find a better TV. Sony has a loyal customer for life.....

Strengths: Amazing picture quality, plenty of inputs including 2 HDMI, decent sound from built in speakers

Weaknesses: No picture-in-picture (PIP) if you care about that

Summary: This is my first "big screen" TV. After reading numerous reviews and researching the different technologies (LCD, DLP, Plasma) I decided to purchase this Sony based on the excellent reviews of past models and the value for the large 55 inch screen. This is a rear project LCD which is approximately 17" deep. A flat panel TV is of course much thinner if you can afford to pay the price premium. The depth of the TV was not an issue for me. Overall I'm pleased with size, especially the thin bezel around the actual screen. I am extremely impressed with the quality of the image on this TV. Having a small living room I was concerned about being too close to TV and the "screen door" effect. Well I worried for nothing. Despite its 55" size the image still looks great even as close as 5 feet. I have never noticed the screen door effect on this TV. If your seating is 7+ feet from the TV you will be very pleased with the image. As expected the factory settings for the picture were not to my liking. It was too bright and flesh tones were too red. That was easily corrected using the on-screen controls. I have viewed regular analog cable, DVD (480p) and 480i, 720p and 1080i HDTV broadcasts. Analog cable isn't as bad as I was expecting. The large size of the TV does amplify the imperfections in regular cable but its not that bad. DVDs look excellent. 720p and 1080i broadcasts are simply amazing on this TV. I receive a 1080i channel over the air broadcast by the local public TV channel and the picture is so rich so lifelike that you would swear you were looking out a window. For the record this is a 720p TV which means it has a 1280x720 native resolution although it will display a 1080i signal. The various formats can be confusing. Some research can be very helpful in this area. It is not 1080p which has a 1920x1080 native resolution. I did compare it to 1080p TVs and frankly I couldn't see much difference in the quality of the image. Certainly not enough to justify the price premium you will pay for a 1080p model. I was looking for a large TV with a quality picture at a reasonable cost and that's exactly what this TV delivers.The speakers are hidden under the screen instead of on the sides reducing the width of the TV. They produce more than adequate sound. I happen to have a 5.1 home theater receiver so I have the TV speakers disabled (option in the on-screen menu). When disabled the TV volume output can be fixed or variable. Functionally the TV has plenty of inputs ranging from composite to component video to HDMI. There are also side inputs for connecting console game systems or camcorders. One nice feature is you can rename the inputs from a set of choices. For example you could rename the side input to 'Game' instead of video1. There are plenty of settings in the on-screen menus for those who like to tinker. You can also hide inputs you aren't using so they do not appear in the sequence as you press the TV input button on the remote. I'm giving this TV 5 stars because frankly I can't think of much negative to say about it. Even after 5 weeks of ownership I am still very pleased with this TV. Sony did an excellent job on this one.