That's what I was wondering KevinW, I thought I read that same article or similar about this subject.
I notice in stores that many set with lower ratios have better contrasts then their 'better ratio" competitors.
And on a personal note, we have a little 37inch Vizio we got for the kids play area/movie room etc. PQ is pretty darn good and overall image (contrast, blacks, grays etc) can easily hold it's own. but if Sony wants to play the prestige game, there are plenty out there who will buy into it.
I love the Sony term "Semi non-HD TV". It's HD, kind of, but it isn't SD. I voted for it, before I voted against it.