Yeah I think Ive almost decided on the Panny(they both make buzzing noises but its slightly more noticable on the panny so not as big a deal as I once thought) the out of the box picture quality is apparently one of the best around but theres not many custom options/controls(personally Id rather not have to... as I wont be able to stop messing with them with every film/game lol). The backlight is adjustable on Sony and not on the Panny but personally I cant see why youd want to mess around with that or turn off the 100Hz option(it seems the Panny is set up to work as intended out of the box and the Sony is much more configurable to set up as you like).
I think what clinched it was the 100hz motion blur reduction, everyone who has it notices an improvement and this set has one of the best solutions, along with better quality from SD sources it makes it better for Gaming and Sports and as a PC monitor IMO.
Both are top quality sets though, you cant go wrong with either, so it depends on what you will be using it for.(just make sure you get a good price on whichever you go for... I think I'll have to wait a while and see if the panny comes down in price or atleast untill I can afford it, now Ive decided though, something else will come along and confuse things further naturally

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Edit: Timrich - Im quite a beginner as Im looking for my first but Ive been looking at the same sets(quality 26" set for my room as a TV and Monitor), I think the Sports comment was to do with the fast action where the motion blur redution and 100Hz refresh would help alot(same with gaming, you get bluring and sometimes ghosting on fast action scenes on alot of LCDs apparently).