About a month ago I bought my very first LCD-TV (Vizio 37") from Costco for $1000.
My old TV is a 27" Sony Wega CRT screen, so I don't have any other LCD-TVs to compare it to.
I have Dish (no HD) hooked up to it and can get my local HD channels. I must say I'm very impressed with the HD local channels. Watching the nature shows on PBS is quite a treat.
Now I haven't really tried to tweak the Vizio too much, so maybe my main issue with the "banding" (example, looking at a sky shot and not seeing a smooth sky but bands of blue) could be eliminated.
I have to admit, I would have prefered to get a Sony, as I like their products, but I figured the price point is quite good for a "beginning" LCD-TV user such as myself.
The TV itself is very nice. One thing I didn't like was that the only S-Video port is on the side, so if anything is plugged in there you have cords hanging out the side of the TV.
Otherwise I had plenty of other ports to plug in my VCR, DVD, and Satelite into.
The remote isn't that great from an "ergo" standpoint. I don't care for the buttons, but that's not such an issue as Dish is the most watched thing on the TV.
That's all I can think of. Feel free to ask more questions about it.