Sony Bravia KDL-55HX853

I put quite a bit of research into the whole LED TV thing - it's especially important with such a large screen where standard def picture can look awful.

I looked at 3 different brands - Samsung, LG and Sony. I was put off by a bad experience with LG, however compared all three. The Sony has an excellent picture quality and specification. The screen is also gorilla glass, which is great - clean it without fear of damage.

Standard Def picture is as expected, not great.. but HD is lovely. It needs a lot of tweaking from the factory presets.. which is where I'd probably mark it down.. The menu system and configuration is awful and clunky in comparison to the Samsung and the LG. I have 3 other LGs and they're all easy. I wasnt keen on the overly unnatural picture of the Samsung though.

On reflection, the seemingly endless menus and options in the picture settings are a good thing - you really can fine tune it. But on the other hand you really have to look hard to see any difference on some settings.

It will record direct to a USB HDD which is pretty much standard and a great feature - but access to the recordings is again through a menu - no quick access, which is a shame so I've stuck with the usual PVR for recordings.

I've noticed a couple of times a bit of bleed on the whites where there is a strong white against a darker background however, I'm not sure if that was the nature of the broadcast - so something to look out for if you're in the shop.

Comes with a great speaker stand, but I've wall mounted. The sound quality actually isnt too bad at all - in fact rather good from something that is so thin, however we do tend to use an external bose cinemate II for films (which is excellent despite what some say of bose).

Works nicely with Zeebox and other DLNA apps however I've hooked it to an Apple TV which i think gives a better experience.

As a TV it's great - as a Smart TV it could be improved by a more intuitive menu system.. honestly, have a go in the shop and compare, the Sony really isn't shining in this area.

Buy in confidence from John Lewis - they will price match if you can find a better price within 8 miles of the store and offer a 5 year warranty as standard.

Would I buy the Sony again? Well - i got lucky and got it for just over £1300 so yes i would however would spend a bit more time in front of the Samsung to make absolutely sure!!!