Given the wildly varying conditions of the show floor—and the frankly crappy source video, lighting and background LG picked for its demo TV—we can't really judge which TV actually has the best picture quality right now, but the facts do tell us something:
• Samsung and LG both use local dimming on their 55 inchers, while Sony's 52-inch TV is edge-lit
• Sony and LG have expensive built-in wireless HDMI for 1080p streaming from a paired media box
• Sony and Samung have the best "other" features, like great streaming video services
• Samsung's the cheapest, at $4500 for its 55-inch set, probably because it lacks wireless
• Sony's is the most expensive, even though it's the smallest, and lacks full-array LED backlighting, like its champion precursor, the XBR8
In person, the XBR10 is gorgeous, really pulling off the floating TV look, and the Samsung 8500 sets are slick and slim. LG's 55LHX is comparatively drab and physically more clunky, as you can see in our Sizemod o:
Red = 55" LG; Purple = 52" Sony; Yellow = 55" Samsung
All in all, there's no clear winner, and there are lots and lots of trade-offs. If you really want to blow five grand on a TV, you're going to have a tough decision for now, at least until we get 'em side by side. [More CEDIA '09 coverage]
