GearBits

Let's see. What brand is your current TV?

Personally, I've never thought Sony is as cool as many people make them out to be. Picking Sony is too easy; they want to be thought of as high-end, but they're not. What they are is at the high end of the consumer grade equipment; if you want real high-end stuff, e.g. in audio equipment, you have to go to specialty brands. In any case, I don't think Sony is invulnerable, but to take the crown Samsung will have to master not only the geek-factor of cramming every feature they can think of into their products (which they already do well), but the marketing-factor of convincing the average consumer that what they make is cool. For me, as a geek, I would not hesitate to buy Samsung over Sony based on features.

Sony does have the high-end audio products, but most of them are not marketed to average consumers but to audiophiles. Some of their CD players such as Sony ES SCD-XA9000ES ($3000) are extremely high fidelity. However, most of high-end audio brands are produced by relatively small companies that most consumers would not aware of and they carry hefty price tag (typically at least several thousand $$$ for a component all the way up to $80 to $100,000 for a pair of speakers

I would buy and have bought Samsung! I find their products stand up just as long as Sony products (which I have many of to compare with). One thing Samsung could do to increase quality would be to utilize stronger plastics in their materials (like body of camcorders). Sony has them beat there--heavier cameras by sony, but more durable! I would still buy the Samsung camcorder though!