Ok, so people who know me know I'm a bit of a tech junkie, yet I never got into Star Trek (we'll save that for another post). Lately I've had my eye on the Sony Bravia 40" LCD HDTV (model KDL-40v2500). It so happens that I'm the guy in my circle of friends who everyone asks "Should I buy LCD or DLP or Plasma?" or "Which digital camera should I buy?" I think you get the idea.

My latest project was for one of my best friends who just bought his own place. He's got a hankering to buy a new TV but unfortunately he has no clue as to what's the difference between resolution, contrast ratio or brightness. All he knows is that he wants a flat screen, which I think is typical for most people who have been intrigued by the onslaught of flat screen televisions to hit the market place. The good news is prices have come way down, the technology is much improved and more HD content is becoming available.

I won't bore you with all the pros and cons of HDTV itself but I can tell you the latest line of Sony Bravia LCD TV's is one of the best. This 1080p set has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 which is the highest resolution available on any HDTV. Next is the contrast ratio, which represents the widest possible ratio between black and white contrast levels. This means your blacks will actually look black. Take a look at one of those cheapo LCD's and you wont see much black, just darker shades of gray. You want to look for the highest possible ratio you can and don't always be fooled by the "dynamic contrast ratio". You want to try and find the real contrast ratio, which in this case is a 1300:1 contrast ratio.

So how much is this going to cost me you ask? Well if you go directly to Sony at the Sony Style Store they are going to want you to shell out $2499. At the time of this post one of the best deals I found was at J&R Computer and Music. They are asking $1999. That is a great savings and you can use that money towards your SONY SU-WL51 Wall Mounting Bracket which doesn't come cheap, approximately $391 at J&R Computer and Music. Of course you can always spend more or less on any TV depending on which options are more important to you. In my opinion, this Sony Bravia 40" HDTV (model KDL-40v2500) delivers exceptional performance for the price.