Sony BRAVIA KDL-40S2010 40" LCD TV

I purchased the Bravia from Sears the day after Thanksgiving. It had the best picture quality of all the LCD and Plasma sets that where on display. I live in a rural area where "digital" cable is not available. I inquired of the salesman and was told that my Direct TV signal would work just fine as it is a "digital" quality signal.

Well, it turns out that this is not the case. The standard Direct TV signal will not produce an acceptable picture on this television. The picture quality is far below that of my old regular television. I contacted Sony Support and was told the there would be "degraded image quality" unless a High Definition signal is provided. This seemingly small detail was not pointed out in any of Sony's advertising or literature. It appears they do not want their perspective customers to be aware of this. I then contacted Sears service, and when the repairman arrived he informed me that I needed to upgrade my Direct TV to a HD package and that would provide a good picture on those channels. He also stated that there "may be" a slight improvement in the standard channels, but he wasn't sure. Guess I'm back to the old television and out the 15% restocking fee (it's in the fine print of the sales receipt, but not pointed out by the salesperson or posted in the store). Expensive lesson learned. Be sure your signal source will work with this television and ask "what if?" before you buy. Finally, be sure to get it in writing.