Sony XBR what ever it may be (crt, lcd, lcd proj) is always a great product. One thing about there LCD line is that they share a manufactering plant in Korea with Samsung and possibly Sharp now. There XBR's are always the most visualy appealing to the eye based on cabinet design. One thing to keep in mind is that when you view a TV in a store they are pre-set out of the box to be super bright and almost always have visually appealing sources playing on them. It's when you tune them to the real world that you get the real verdict. For instance I bought a Sharp 46 2 months ago out of the box it was absolutely terrible for everyday viewing. Brightness cranked way up and contrast and backlight were also cranked up. This is a 1080p panel and with some adjusting I got what I felt was a true picture. Now I compared to Sony XBR and Samusng and both were very competive. XBR was about $800 more though and I couldn't justify the difference in price. The cabinet was gorgeous though and that was worth a few hundred to me. With the new 120hz LCD displayes motion blur is almost non-existent so they are really putting the pressure on Plasma. Those 3 brands are all worth taking a look at as long as you can see them for what there worth in the real world.
P.S. Sony Esp. XBR is notorious for clouding, Sharp has been known for banding issues and Samsung has the infamous blocking problem (pixelation).