Summary: NOTE - this is my first product review
Selection
I wanted an LCD 46" that fit a specific space (45" wide, 31" tall); obviously, also wanted a great picture, and preferred to get cableCard capability (this set was replacing a Sony KV34KBR910 - a tube HDTV which I'm moving, together with the cable box, to another room). I don't feel I had to compromise at all - the JVC (40" model, but same electronics) was rated first by Consumer Reports, it's the right size, has cableCard capability, and was an excellent value (less than $2,600 delivered, from Beach Camera through pricegrabber).
Purchase & Installation
I'll review the merchant separately - suffice it to say that it went surprisingly well.
At delivery, the shipping company opened the box, and left it in my family room. I'm pretty good with cabling, and had no trouble attaching coax, DVD, VCR and cable box (the optical cable to my amp was a bit more difficult).
BUT ... the menus were complicated and difficult to use, and the manual -- while written reasonably well -- lacks sufficient depth to address questions or issues.
Functionality
I've used the TV in two configurations: originally, with a cable box, and later with the cable card. With a cable box, the TV is essentially just a monitor, displaying pictures from other sources; you change stations with the cable box. That means you don't use the TV's HDTV tuner (which of course you're paying for), and you can't use the TV's tuning user functionality (such as PIP or Index). Actually, I ended up trying a hybrid approach: using the box to tune premium stations, and then running coax from the cable company directly into the analog and digital inputs for the TV. My suggestion: don't bother - the functionality of the TV tuner is almost useless in this configuration (you can't use PIP or Index for digital stations, and - what's more - the digital numbering system makes no sense whatsoever).
Later, the cable company installed a cableCard and I got rid of the cable box - which is how I now plan to use the TV. THe upside: all the digital stations work, and the numbering system makes sense. You can setup favorites, and program scanning (i.e., which stations to skip when flipping channels). That said, you still don't get much tuning functionality (e.g., there is no PIP or index function for digital stations - I guess a bit shocking, given digital is exactly why you buy a TV like this).
Overall Quality
You buy this TV because you want fantastic picture quality - and you get that. My first reaction was that the non-HD stations looked poor, but that reflected two things: 1) I neede to make a picture adjustment, and 2) compared to HD, non-HD really does look bad! And I say this having had a 34" HDTV for the last four years (but didn't hotice as much, because of the smaller screen).
For HD, you can't beat this TV: vivid, bright, fast (on the Sony, sometimes the rendering was a bit slow).
On the other hand, don't get the TV if you plan to channel surf a lot. When you switch channels (in the digital lineup), it takes about 4-5 seconds to tune the new station. And, as I mentioned earlier, you can't use PIP or Index to watch multiple stations.
Conclusion: It is a very high quality TV, and I would definitely buy it again.
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