Sony Unveils Bravia Z5500 Full HD LCD Comments

Finally, Sony stops making crappy glossy plastic, like Samsung dose.

It certainly looks like Sony have made more of an effort with the bezel. I agree with Ahlan, enough of crappy glossy plastic, already! Trying to convine She Who Is To Be Feared to agree to a flastcreen TV of suitable size was hard enough, but it also has to pass the 'Looks right' test and that's proving more difficult. Philips has come closest but still no cigar. How about some more brushed aluminium? A decent white bezel?

Looks way over priced. I wouldn't buy an LCD for that much money unless it had LED back-lighting.

@ripsnorter A white bezel would be terrible. The contrast between the bezel and the 2.35:1 black bars would be very distracting.

@Ripsnorter
Yea, 'er in doors does, shall we say, "influence" more than may be desirable LOL.

But like you, I am fed up with the 'lets follow ever-one else - shiny piano black is the new black'. Once the cheaper end of the market adopts the latest design, it makes the better players products seem cheap by association. Good design means effort! We need some originality here, as Phillip's try to demonstrate.

@jopey & Chocoa
I think you could be right but we would still have liked the option of auditioning a Pioneer Kuro with a white bezel just so as to be sure. We looked, very briefly, at a Sony, which was doing its best to imitate a picture frame but we both disliked it. I suppose we should have decorated our home differently to begin with!

For outstanding design and an amazing picture, the top end Sharps are incredible, but they have price tags that are out of sight. However they do show that some thought and imagination can work wonders. I know, it's the picture that counts in the end, but the thing has to stand in plain sight the whole time (Custom installation etc. being well out of our budget) and as a piece of furniture the vast majority of flat screens leave a lot to be desired.