Sony W4100 & Z4100

Hello all,
I am new to this forum.
My wife and I are in need for advice or suggestions.
We for the past couple of days have been television shopping,bestbu,hh gregg and amazon.
The w4100 and z4100 are they the same television with one having a few more buttons than the other?
When we talked to the store guys they want to make the sale and leave us more confused when we leave the store than when we first walked in. Our neighbor gave us this site and said we would get the best advice as to buying a television.
This will replace a 15 y.o. tube set. We will use this tv for watching sports and hd programing.

I will close and say thanks for any advice.

Driver (Keith)

Welcome to the forum! :hithere:

Please read this sticky for the info we need to give you the most informed advice possibly:

http://www.highdefforum.com/flat-panel-tvs/83609-important-post-new-members-read-who-looking-help-here.html

After figuring out the answers to those questions, post them here and we can give you the best advice.

this will help you compare models and Crutchfield is a very good online retailer..I particularly like thier pesonal reviews of the products they sell, click "hands on research" at thier site......welcome to tha' Forum...

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_15840W4100/Sony-KDL-40W4100.html?search=Sony+w4100&tp=161&tab=features_and_specs

I'm sorry PFC5 for not including more information.
after reading the post you suggested here goes:
we are replacing a 25" sanyo set that has problems.
I guess we will be setting roughly 10 to 12 feet from television.
Lighting in the room has a dimmer switch so we can adjust light as desired. After getting the television we will subscribe to dishnetwork for our hd programing. A upscaling dvd will be purchased at a later time .
As mentioned in my post we are looking at the Sony W4100 and Z4100 sets, more than likely a 40 inch set.(maybe 42)
PFC5 I hope this helps out a little.

thanks.

The Z4100 is slightly smaller and 1" thinner its remote can control other components such as a DVR, and is lighted, the Z also has a USB port and the W doesnot the Z also has 10 bit video processing and I assume the W only has 8 bit....for $100.00 more the z seems to be the best value....

I'm sorry PFC5 for not including more information.
after reading the post you suggested here goes:
we are replacing a 25" sanyo set that has problems.
I guess we will be setting roughly 10 to 12 feet from television.
Lighting in the room has a dimmer switch so we can adjust light as desired. After getting the television we will subscribe to dishnetwork for our hd programing. A upscaling dvd will be purchased at a later time .
As mentioned in my post we are looking at the Sony W4100 and Z4100 sets, more than likely a 40 inch set.(maybe 42)
PFC5 I hope this helps out a little.
thanks.

From that distance you might want to consider a larger screen. If the room has good light blocking blinds you might want to consider a plasma which will allow a bigger size at similar price point. Like this at $1,298.00:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P46S1-46-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001UAD100/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238904558&sr=8-1

or this at $1,419.77:

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-VIERA-TC-P50S1-50-Inch-Plasma/dp/B001U3YJTY/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1238904558&sr=8-5

Here is a chart for what size screen you should have for various viewing distances and what resolution you can actually see:

http://www.carltonbale.com/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/

You can click on the chart to see it larger, but read the link also to get a better understanding of why size resolution and viewing distance all matter and need to be considered.

Hope this helps!