Sony Grand WEGA KF-42WE610 42 in. HDTV-Ready LCD TV

I brought home this set at CC on 1/5. On 1/9, after about 5 hours of use (no kidding), set failed to turn on. Green light flashed for about 20 seconds, then red light began flashing. That's bad. It means bulb won't light. I have since discovered that my experience is not unique and that these sets have a serious bulb problem. See other reviews on this site and on other sites. CC salesman told me yesterday that the reason these tvs have been so backordered and hard to get is because Sony is trying to correct the bulb issue. CC is offering me a deal on the Panasonic PT50LC13, but when I was in CC yesterday I saw the Sony on display beside the Panny, the Hitachi 50V500, and the Samsung DLP, and the Sony had the better picture by far. Therefore, I've decided to rescind the transaction for now, and repurchase the Sony when they've worked out the bugs, which may not be until the next generation model, however, who knows? The other negative on the Hitachi and Panasonic I should mention is that the matching stands for those models can accommodate only one component on each shelf. The glass shelves on the Hitachi are cut so sharply at the back to render them useless, and the small oval glass shelves on the Panasonic stand are similarly useless. What are the manufacturers thinking here? They totally sacrifice functionality for looks. The Sony stand, while expensive, is at least reasonably functional and sets the tv at the ideal vertical viewing angle which is an important factor with these lcd rear projection sets. On the plus side, for the few hours the Sony worked, I watched Finding Nemo on dvd and saw what high def looks like, and the picture was awesome. That's why I'm willing to wait for Sony to fix the bulb problem.