Get a Sony forget the stupid asumptions. Even if they do partner with a big manufaturing company (which I doubt they do for their televisions) it must be made with Sony parts and to Sony's specs. A lot of electronics and appliances are made all at one factory but the companies use different quality parts. That's why there's a price difference and a difference in quaity. Sometimes it may be just different features in which those features are what make the product much nicer than the similar generic one. I think in the case of TV's Sony would never let someone put their name on a TV set. And LCD's do outlast CRT TV's. They're on top of the Blu-Ray HD home theatre business which includes TV's. You pay for what you get.
Do a search on the net. TPV Technology and Wistron are the two major LCD TV OEM/ODM partners for Sony. Sony TVs don't even use Sony made lcd panels...