Tractor by net post 02/23/08
Hi folks. I stumble on this thread AFTER I purchased my bedroom TV but have read all the messages and decided to offer my two cents based on my experience. I selected a 40 LCD because it was brighter, lighter in weight, consumed less power, and was not as prone to reflections as similar plasma units.
Consumer Reports Magazine rated the Sony Bravia line as the best and as far as we could tell viewing different models in stores, they appeared to be correct. Online vendors had much lower prices than local stores but Having been burned before, I carefully investigated the outfits with the very lowest prices, and sure enough the two lowest price vendors had many complaints listed on å*µripe sites and the other had 33 complaints registered with the BBB. Three outfits tied for the third lowest price so I picked an Amazon vendor, knowing Amazon check them out pretty carefully.
On February 14th I ordered a Sony Bravia KDL-40V3000 from Electronic Express for $1239.72 shipped and a Peerless ST650P tilting wall mount direct from Amazon. The mount arrived in two days, the TV in five.
So that I could watch TV through the top portion of my bifocals without jamming my chin in my chest, I mounted the centerline of the TV 68 off the floor, tilting it for easy viewing from bed. We have Comcast cable service (Basic Plus) and although I had contemplated having to eventually rent a digital cable box, happily found that a straight cable connection to the TV works fine for our needs. The built-in tuner gives us HDTV from our local channels and the set does a great job of converting the analog channels and making them look really good. We don稚 use on-demand or pay TV, so until some compelling reason arises, we値l save the additional cost of a cable box.
Hope my experiece helps other.
Jack in New Jersey