Hi I will post this on the board but I don't have much luck there. My daughter and son in law want to buy a new TV. The one they are looking at is"


This Sony 40" LCD TV includes an HD tuner to bring the highest quality video into your house, and is large enough to experience sporting events as though you were there yourself. Despite the display size, it is still just a few inches thick, so you can easily place it anywhere.

It seems to be this one

http://www.nextag.com/SONY-KLV40U100M-40-inch-502577200/prices-html

It is an older model, i.e. not on the Sony website. They want to know (and think I'm an expert in finding stuff out!) if the new generation of this TV is much better and worth the $1000 more it will cost them. Thanks for any help you can give me. jo

I'm a little confused about which model you are looking at, and I'm no TV expert, so please take this as very casual advice.

The TV in your link does not include a tuner. I'm not sure how big a deal that is for you, probably not. HDTV's can have two types of HD tuners one for "over the air" broadcasts (ASTC or something like that), and one for cable (QAM). A QAM tuner doesn't get you much if your cable signal is encrypted, and you'll almost certainly end up using an external tuner from your cable or satellite company. The ASTC tuner would be useful if you have a rooftop antenna to help receive over the air hdtv, and you live in a city where there are several hd stations. (The TV would also have a NSTC tuner for standard definition broadcasts.)

But anyway, I think you are asking if you should spend the money to get one of the newer 1080p models instead of the more common 1080i models. I don't have enough experience with 1080p sets to really say myself. Some articles I've read indicate its probably not worth it for a 40" TV, articles like this one:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6661274-1.html?tag=ms

I'd be inclined to spend less now, and save the extra $1000 toward a bigger better 1080p set in a couple years when hi def really gets sorted out and there are more hd stations from my cable provider (about 15 now). I'm cheap, though. I recently bought a 50" Plasma 1080i set.

On the other hand, Consumer Reports really gushed over Sony's ~$2500 Bravia KDL-40XBR2 40" 1080p LCD TV. CNET loved it also. Sounds like its just awesome. If thats the 1080p model they are considering, it sure sounds like they'd love it. Hopefully they can find a way to view both before buying.

Thanks - I'm doing a lot of research and think I've come to the conclusion that this older model is just fine for them at this point. They don't want to do the research and don't understand this stuff. (Two Ivy League kids - not sure why I could possibly understand. The bottom line is they just want someone to tell them what to buy!) Thanks for the response. jo