I was really wanting a 16:9 set but found the $$$ premium too steep to justify a 34" 16:9 set at $3,500 vs the Sony 4:3 XBR400 at $2,200. The Sony is not a true HD picture but the screen IS almost a wide as the 16:9 34" and a bonus is that I get the next 10 years worth of regular TV in a big size. (The pace of HDTV is so slow it's almost a certainty that the HDTV broadcasters time deadline will be pushed back at least 5 years...) so then in the ten years from now I can get that 16:9 TV and I will be happy to junk the Sony that, by then, will have served me well for 10 years. And the damn cable broadcasters and digital senders generally don't pass a signal worthy of the true HDTV screen anyway!!! But I do have to say the 16:9 is a GREAT looking design.