Let's compare the Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9 against the Vizio VF550XVT. We'll look at price, color accuracy, motion and connectivity.

PRICE

Depending on your situation this might be the most important or the least important aspect. We found the Vizio at Amazon.com priced as low as $1799.00. The Amazon price for the Sony is currently $2009.00

The price on the Sony has come down over the past several months and is now within $210 of the Vizio at Amazon.

COLOR ACCURACY

The Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR9 and the Vizio VF550XVT had similar color performance, both doing relatively well in our testing. The color temperature for both were very solid while the Bravia had a slight edge in color accuracy, and the Vizio a slight edge in color gamut.

MOTION

We found that it was a pretty even match between the two in displaying motion. The Sony has a 240Hz refresh rate while the Vizio runs at 120Hz.

The Sony did a better job at preserving detail in the moving objects which translates into a much clearer rendition of objects in motion.

CONNECTIVITY

The Sony is the better connected display by a significant margin. although the Vizio has more HDMI ports, the Sony has USB and ethernet ports that the Vizio does not. Both of these open up a number of possibilities that the Vizio can't handle, such as viewing photos, videos and other media from both USB devices and the Internet.

This was a key factor in determining which would provide the most entertainment value.

ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER

CONVENIENCE

When first taken out of the box and set up, the Vizio took a lot of calibrating to get the picture, particularly the color, right. The Bravia was spot on right out of the box and ready to watch immediately.

RELIABILITY

In a recent survey, PC World asked 16,000 readers to rate their HDTVs and published their results. Sony was the hands down winner earning the highest ratings in seven of nine categories. They rated LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Vizio to compare. The Sony Bravia was hands down number one.

Those who know agree that while other brands will probably continue to have reliability problems, Sony will remain the problem-free leader. Many consumers agree with Bob Mariotti who says, "Buy the best you can afford, and most times it'll pay for itself in satisfaction."

Phil Harris of Washougal, Washington, had a different experience, He brought home a 42 inch Visio set from Costco, the TV had issues from day one. "The colors went out, and there were white spots all over the screen," says Harris, a retired engineer. Vizio sent techs, who "changed a bunch of components, but that didn't work."

BOTTOM LINE

You can save about two hundred dollars with the Vizio but like with a lot of things, you get what you pay for. Sony quality and reliability are legendary.