Sony KDL-46W4100 TV Rocks, other issues aside.

Well it's been nearly one week since having this TV in-home and here are my first impressions:

1) Do not expect that Amazon customer service will be a quick way to resolve issues with your order. I spent the better part of 8 hours on the phone in relation to this order because of a bunch of weird circumstances. I finally got everything straightened out, but there were quite a few MAJOR frustrations. D
2) Amazon ordering issues aside, CEVA did a fantastic job with the delivery. They were on time, the delivery person carried the huge box into my house, unboxed it, set it up and tested that everything was working properly. He even took off his shoes when he got in the front door! A+
3) Set-up was a breeze. Before it arrived, I had already acquired all the external hook-ups (HD cable box, Blu-Ray player) and HDMI cables needed, so all CEVA had to do was plug in the power and a couple HDMI cables and we were set. Note on HDMI cables- do NOT overpay for Monster or some other brand. I got three 6 foot HDMI 1.3 Cables from monoprice.com for $15, including shipping. A-
4) The TV itself is gorgeous. Picture quality from the HD cable and from the Blu-ray player look almost three dimensional. Some of the features of the TV are gimmicky in my opinion, such as the TV Guide feature, and I do NOT like the look of the MotionFlow... it seems like everyone is gliding around, at least on High. Standard is tolerable, but at this point, I prefer it Off. A-
5) There's obviously a learning curve associated with all new electronics, but I found the set-up options to be quite intuitive. After playing around for a few hours, I was confident in making adjustments and changing inputs, etc. B+

Now for a note that is intended for anyone who's considering this TV as their first HDTV, as I was:

Expect to have to get some new peripheral gear. You probably know you'll at least need an HD Cable box or antenna, perhaps a Blu-ray player, and HDMI cables to get the best picture this TV is capable of, but what you might not realize is the potential dilemma in audio quality. For years I've had good quality red/white audio cables running out of both my cable box and DVD player and into an old stereo receiver with just two floor-standing speakers hooked up and never once had an issue with the sound. However, when trying to use this configuration with the new HDTV and HD Cable Box/Blu-ray player, I immediately noticed a problem with the synchronization of the video and audio. There was a delay between what I saw and heard that was entirely unacceptable. I feared the TV had problems, but after researching up on it, I found that the issue was caused by the fact that I had a digital video output to the TV (HDMI) and an analog audio output to the receiver (Red/White) that were not matching each other. I went to BB and talked to one of the Home Theater experts there and he confirmed this problem. So in addition to getting the new TV, Blu-Ray player and HD Cable box, I had to buy a new receiver capable of handling a digital audio signal, be it HDMI or Optical Digital Audio (I went with the later, since I wanted to maintain my video inputs directly into the TV). Obviously, if you have newer equipment or just use the TV for audio, you won't have this issue, but it was very frustrating for me.

Overall, I'm EXTREMELY happy with the TV now that everything is properly set-up and I can't wait to enjoy it for years to come!