I AM UNABLE TO EDIT MY STAR RATING OR I WOULD DOWNGRADE IT TO TWO, MAYBE THREE STARS!!!
I bought this for my bedroom last week and am pretty happy with it. I have a 40" XBR2 in the family room and this model's picture is surprisingly comparable. I bought it through Amazon for MUCH less than BB or Sears. I do have a couple issues that prevent me from giving it five stars: first, it takes quite a long time for the picture to appear when you turn it on and switching inputs takes even longer than my XBR2. The other peave I have is setting the sleep timer; on most TV's there's a dedicated 'Sleep' button on the remote. On the S5100 you have to hit the 'Tools' button on the remote, select 'Clock/Timers', select your sleep time, then press the 'Menu' button to clear the on-screen menu. Wow! All-in-all, neither of those are that big of a deal, but the next issue is the one that's provoking me to call Sony Customer Service. There is a significant amount of noise in the TV's audio output -- especially at low volume. It sounds like the signal is over-modulated, but at higher volume levels it's not as noticable. I haven't tried a set of external speakers to see if the noise is still there, but I have tried component, composite, and HDMI inputs all with the same results. Perhaps I'll update this review with the results of my call to Sony.
UPDATE 5/1: I called Sony about the audio issue; they wanted to send out a technician. I opted to have J&R swap out the TV but the same exact problem exists on the replacement. I guess I'm going to take Sony up on their offer to send someone out. I can't tolerate this problem considering it is our bedroom TV and is often used at low volume levels.
UPDATE 5/19: I just finished packing up the unit to return to J&R, who have been great BTW! The Sony tech acknowledged the problem and said that Sony tech support would probably tell him to replace the digital audio board, but unless the board has been redesigned he didn't think it would resolve the problem. Sony Customer Service refused to help in any way; I asked for a refurbished XBR6 (last year's only 32" 1080p model) to replace this unit, and they said no. I asked for a discount on a new XBR9, and they said no. As the owner of several Sony products, including a 40" XBR2 and a 36" Wega, I am really quite surprised by Sony's unwillingness to help resolve this issue. My brand loyalty has been shaken, and I will think twice before I buy another Sony product. BTW, I'm looking at the Panasonic and Samsung 1080 32" models as a replacement.
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