Mine arrived this week and it is beautiful! The monolithic screen design with the Gorilla glass / Opticontrast panel is totally black when the set is off. When it is on, the image is stunning. Pair this with a nice Blu-Ray player and it will knock your socks off. It's bright and clear with great colors and the blackest blacks I've seen on a TV. The MotionFlow 480 makes for extremely smooth motion with no snapshotting that you see in sets with lower frame rates. It's also very light. One person can pick it up with no problem as long as your arms are long enough to reach.
It comes with a nice pillar and plate stand but I think I'm going to move mine to the wall. I'm really tempted to put a nice frame around it. Seriously. Another very nice feature is you can turn off the light behind the Sony logo at the bottom center of the screen. It's visible enough for me as is and I personally don't like all the extra lights that so many sets use to light up their logos. So nice and subdued it is. The set also locates where people are in the room. It has a camera(not sure how I feel about that on an internet-connected TV) and captures full-on images of you as you watch it. It uses this for adjusting the internal speakers, the 3D effect if you are off center, and to determine if nobody is watching to turn the set off to conserve energy. I might just put a bit of black tape over it and turn off the energy conservation so it doesn't always think it is alone and shut down.
This thing also synthesizes 3D from 2D images. You can watch regular TV or DVD's/Blu-Ray, or any of the streaming functions in 3D if you want. It actually does a pretty good job and for the life of me I couldn't tell you how they pull it off. It's basically magic. For true 3D input it is absolutely amazing. You also have the ability to adjust the apparent depth to the 3D effect.
I looked at other 3D sets and the images on the Sony don't pop out into the room like some of the others.(Edit - this is a setting and you can bring images out into the room.) It's almost like you are looking into the 3D scene as opposed to having it come out into the room(on the default settings). I think looking into the 3D scene is a bit more natural though not as startling or stunning as having things look like they are basically in your lap. That has lots of wow factor but seems more gimmicky and less realistic. There are a number of adjustments for the 3D image and it's possible the Sony will push them out into the room too.(It can.)
One other thing about the 3D effect - the Sony uses active glasses to produce 3D. Most others do too but one manufacturer does not - LG. Their 3D uses circularly polarized glasses just like the ones at the theater with the RealD 3D. Those are cheaper, lighter, and you can even turn your head sideways and still see the image perfectly. I liked the Sony's features better than the LG which is why I went Sony. One was that the set with the plain polarized glasses is only 120 Hz while the Sony is 480. On the Sony with active glasses, and again most others, if you lay down where your head is 90 degrees from vertical, the images go dark. It's surprisingly tolerant of head tilt, though, and stays bright until you are just about horizontal. This will also be a function of the glasses and I did not use Sony glasses. I used Xpand Universal X103 3D Glasses Compatible with Active 3D TV's, Black.
Other points - the unit is very well packed but the shipping box is almost as thin(6") as the set itself(1.1"). As far as shock damage if you have this unit shipped, I doubt there will be much of a problem unless the shipper is extremely careless. Something sticking through the box is going to stand a good chance of hitting the screen or the back of the unit though the cardboard box itself has very thick walls. Even the box was is great shape and the TV was perfect.
This unit was definitely worth waiting for. Also, if you buy this from Amazon, you get a 2 week price guarantee.(Note - Amazon can change the guarantees at any time. Be sure to know the conditions and details when you buy yours.) The day before mine was to be delivered, Amazon dropped the price. I just notified Amazon and the refunded the difference. Nice. You also get a 30 day shipping-paid return if you decide you don't like the set. I'll only use that if something fails. This set is worth the price.
Also, I am always leery of buying LCD screen items if returns are going to be a hassle if there are stuck or dead pixels. None of either on my set. I'm exceptionally happy about that! But had there been, Amazon's return policy is better than the local stores' policies. I've got 30 days for something like that to develop(always possible) to make sure I've got a good set. It's hard to beat that.
At least in my case, Amazon shipped using CEVA. I had not heard of them before and was a bit nervous watching the CEVA tracking page. I don't know what they are doing there, but it doesn't seem to have any basis in reality. It showed the TV going around the country in a big circle basically and finally arrived right back where it started. I thought for sure they would blow the promised delivery date. Amazingly, a few hours after tracking showed it arriving back at origin, I got a call from the local shipper to arrange delivery and it actually arrived a day early. Nice. But just a heads-up if you buy one and it ships CEVA. Something is very odd about their tracking page and it is basically worthless IMHO.
I gambled on buying this through Amazon since they aren't local to go see someone in person if it had been necessary and there was the risk of shipping damage. Neither was an issue. Not only did I get price protection(I waited through one price drop but a 2nd one came within days of ordering so price protection is nice), but there was no damage whatsoever and I didn't have to get someone with a truck to help me pick it up at the store. I just helped the delivery guy carry it from his truck to my living room.
The set itself is everything I had thought it would be and more. I had seen other Opticontrast panels before but it is absolutely stunning in my living room. As some apparently say about these sets, it does look more real than real.
5 stars without a doubt. I have no problem recommending this set to anyone.
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