Sony KDF-E42A10 42-Inch LCD Rear Projection Television
My first HDTV and I love it.
I had considered the Samsung 4667 46\\" DLP HDTV and was all set to buy it when the Sony 42A10 showed up. I was at the store and I had a chance to compare the picture quality of both. I am one of the population who is susceptible to the rainbow effect of DLP's as I found out when looking at the Samsung. The 42A10 is part of the newest generation of LCD rear projection tv's from Sony and the picture quality shows it...the colors are bright and crisp. The improvement in picture quality is noticeable in comparison even to last year's Sony models. I bought the Sin City DVD specifically to flex the 42A10's muscles with my progressive scan dvd player...I was not disappointed and my friend who borrowed the dvd to play in his Sony 50A10 concurred with such adjectives as 'amazing.'    The only downside is sometimes during rapid image movement there is noticeable pixelation (artifacts) but I am confident this is due to the Adelphia HDTV Motorola set top cable box which is something I am stuck with rather than chosen. I also wish there were 2 HDMI i/o slots (having only 1 slot is not unique just to the Sony models) instead of one as I am using the sole port for an HDMI-to-DVI cable to my HD cablebox which prevents me from using an HDMI-to-HDMI tv to dvd player connection. LG will supposedly be introducing 2 HDMI slots in their next gen models and LG uses a newer generation of Texas Instruments' DLP technology over Samsung from what I have learned. Stay with HDMI or component cables...the composite, s-video and coaxial cables result in a noticeable reduction in picture quality. On a separate note, the footlong remote control not only looks ungainly but is really useless for cable viewing unless you use the CableCard technology...probably a sly way of convincing people to pay $300 for the glitzy bells and whistles Sony universal remote.    Regardless, in my visit to the store to do some direct in-person comparisons I could honestly not find a brighter clearer picture among rear projection HDTV's than the new Sony's. The Sony's are second only to true LCD and Plasma tv's which have their price and screen burn-in issues but the quality of the Sony's have closed the gap.     I haven't watched so much PBS (which is broadcast separately in a 24hr HD channel) since my childhood watching Sesame Street. I have a hard time going back to watch regular digital cable channels because now they just look like garbage especially in the normal 4:3 aspect ratio. I love my tv...when driving home from work, I wonder what's going to be on for me to gaze at while I kick my heels up...when was the last time you felt that on your way home from a long day at work? Get a Sony LCD rear projection and find out what you're missing in HDTV.