Sony Bravia KDL-40EX500

Pros: Superb sharpness and color quality at 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolution--looks especially good with video from Blu-ray player and TiVo HD XL DVR through HDMI connections.

Cons: Adjustments can be a tad hard to understand. Does take about 40 seconds for the CCFL backlighting to come up to full brightness at startup. Sound quality from built-in speakers not that great (I suggest good external speakers).

Summary: Despite the cons I mentioned, I still highly recommend this Sony model because its picture quality once the set "warms up" is flat-out superb--I especially like the excellent color clarity and just flat-out amazing sharpness at 720p and 1080i resolution from ATSC TV broadcasts and of course 1080p resolution from a Blu-ray player. It should be noted that I was able to get the "high-def video" effect some people see from Blu-ray movies by turning on the "MotionFlow" adjustment on this set to maximum; fortunately, this can be avoided by running "MotionFlow" in low mode or just turning it off.

Sure, it doesn't have the "Internet widgets" that you get with some TV's, but then, most good Blu-ray players and a device like the TiVo Premiere DVR already have excellent Internet connectivity on their own, so this feature is not missed on the KDL-40EX500.

In short, if you want a set that does nothing but offer excellent picture quality, it's very hard to beat this model.