Sony Bravia KDL-40S2000 40-Inch Flat Panel LCD HDTV
40 inch HDTV LCD for under $2,000! excellent picture!!
We bought this set directly from the J&R store in downtown Manhattan for $1,799 plus sales tax.  We wanted to be able to return it to the store in case we had problems.  If you buy from Amazon, it might be difficult to return/exchange.  Amazon might even make you pay the hundred dollars or so to ship back to them so we felt it's much safer to buy directly from the store.  J&R happens to have the lowest price for this television currently at $1,799.  Bestbuy and CircuitCity are charging much more so try to stay away from them.  Costco has it for $1,999 as of 9/1/06 and dropping steadily. (Update, as of 10/10/06 Costco has this for $1,899 under a slightly different model number but same TV).      This television has an excellent HDTV picture while watching High Definition news stations, espn, HBO and the other HD stations currently being broadcast at this time by Cablevision (or Comcast, Time Warner).  Hopefully in a few years all stations will convert to High Definition programming.        Some have complained about the picture quality of 'regular programming' stations.  It is true the regular, non HD stations are not as good but they are still watchable.  Again, if more channels convert to HDTV, then this will not be a problem so the TV is still good.         One recommendation for the best quality picture when using this LCD is to go with the HDMI/DVI digital Video cable from your cable provider's box to the HDMI input on the TV.  This television also has 'Component' (Green, Blue, Red cable) Video connections as an alternative but first try to utilize the HDMI connection from your cable box to TV.   You can use a 'Component' cable from your DVD player to this TV which is what we're doing.     I give this TV only 4 stars because it has, like so many other Tv's, only one HDMI connection.  I would have liked to use another HDMI connection on a high definition DVD player currently about to be released but I cannot because this TV does not have more than one HDMI connection.  I would have even used a third HDMI connection for the new Sony playstation 3 coming out.  The TV does have TWO component Video connections which I will use for my DVD player and gaming system but again the HDMI connections are digital connections and would have been better, especially for the High Definition Blu-Ray DVD players which ONLY use HDMI.    Note the highest resolution this TV handles is a 720P/1080I resolution.  This is mainstream and true of all HDTV's currently being sold in stores, BUT, the new resolution of 1080P (progressive) just came out and will soon be mainstream among all LCD HDTV's.  Is the 1080P resolution worth paying the extra money for??  NO, because currently no High Definition stations are being broadcasted in 1080P, only 720P (ABC, Fox) or 1080I (espn, TNT, etc.).  And the only way to experience 1080P resolution on a DVD player is to go out and buy a Blu-Ray DVD player which currently costs $1,000.      In conclusion, these sets are dropping in price fast and the manufacturers currently consider these sets 'wasted space' in their warehouse.  With the 1080P LCD's taking over, they want these 'old' lcd's out of their site.  They will keep dropping the price until they are gone.  Keep in mind that SONY is the leader in televisions.  Every other manufacturer has no clue about how to build a quality set.  Go to the store and compare all brands, the SONY Tv's ALWAYS have the better picture.  This is no accident folks, the Japanese are actually good for something else besides their cars and sushi.  Enjoy!