I need some advise on buying LED TV. I've narrowed down my search on panasonic viera th-l42e30d and sony kdl-40ex520. I'm unable decide which one to purchase. Kindly help !

Sony is a more established LCD panel manufacturer than Panasonic. Panasonic tends to focus a lot more attention on their Plasma manufacturing. But that's not really a deciding factor for all. To help you further, I'll need some more information.

What made you narrow your choices down to these two models? Are there specific features that you are looking for? Were they recommendations? Have you seen either of them on a sales floor or in a home?

What made you decide to go to LED-LCD? What types of programming will you be watching? What will be connected to the TV? Are you planning to wall mount it?

Is this your first HDTV purchase? Do you already have HD sources?

I agree with your point that sony is a more established brand than panasonic but panasonic is the only brand whose lcd/led/plasma panels are made by panasonic in japan. On the other hand sony is buying panels from third party ( sharp and some other taiwain manufacturer). Ive seen demo of samsung/ lg / sony / philips / panasonic in the sales showroom all together. Panasonic was the best amongst them. The picture quality was awesome (better than all). Panasonic has IPS alpha panel which no other manufacturer have. This is my first HDTV and I have around 12 HD channels to watch in my country. Other channels will be launching within an year. I specifically saw SD channels on all led tv's which I saw. The SD quality was best on panasonic. HD on panasonic and sony was comparable. Also Panasonic USB play supports flv and mkv formats whereas sony supports only basic mpeg4 and other few formats. I'll be wall mounting the TV in my lobby.
But as you say sony is a big brand name. So I'm confused between these two. Samsung and lg picture quality is not up to the mark.their viewing angle is also limited. The picture becomes hazy when viewed from a side.

Samsung acquires LCD panel manufacturing JV share from Sony - ElectroIQ

The above article is about Sony and Samsung panels. ;) As far as "3rd party" panels go, I would probably say Samsung is one of the best "3rd parties".

If you need something that can understand the MKV container and other uncommon containers/codecs, you can always purchase a Roku box. Granted this is something that would add to the price, whereas the Panasonic may come with the feature built-in.

FYI: IPS alpha, from what I can tell, is no different than regular IPS except that it supposedly has improved viewing angles. Sounds like marketing stuff. Keep in mind that the Sony uses an S-IPS panel, which is actually better in picture quality than the IPS panels. It's possible that the Panasonic uses an improved S-IPS panel in their set as well. I'm more familiar with the North American models.

It doesn't sound like you will be doing any gaming on either of the sets. So I would really break it down to personal preference. Since you seem to like the Panasonic most, then that is what you should go with.

Keep in mind that when you look at TVs, usually you want to look at how well they emulate black levels (without over doing it). It helps to compare them to a plasma. And you also want to look for color accuracy, and not how vivid the set is.

Most TVs on the sales floors are set to look the brightest they possibly can, and in just about any normal viewing environment, this will burn your eyes out of your skull.

So basically, I think you'll be happy with either set. But if you think the picture looks better on the Panasonic, and it has the ability to play your desired formats without purchasing some extra component, then I would go with the Panasonic.

Hey thanks for the info.. I never knew sony uses S-IPS panels. As far as I found out from various sources that sony and Samsung use some kind of improved VA panels. As I told you the picture settings brightness and contrast etc were same on both panasonic and Samsung sets when I saw the demo (I checked them myself). Samsung is a big no-no for me. I agree that sony picture quality is excellent,but in 2009 sony recalled some 1.6 million LCD sets for repair as the panels had some defects (I guess you are aware of this). I just want to be sure that this thing will not happen again. I trust and I guess everybody trusts the brand SONY. Im not worried about the video formats sony can play as I already have a media player for that, so that's not the issue.. The only issue is picture quality. If you get to see both sony and panasonic live demo, then please do let me know the better one. I don't want to go with the hypothetical experience. Guess real is always better.

The thing to keep in mind is that user settings may be different. Samsung's backlight setting of 15 may not be comparable to Sony's backlight setting of 15. Heck, my Samsung doesn't even go to 20 for the backlight setting, whereas the new ones do. Presets aren't even comparable. A Samsung's Standard may look completely different than anyone else's.

Also, if I do go into the store to take a look at the Panasonic LED-LCD, the model we have here in the States might be a little different than the one you have in Singapore [?] (I'm guessing that's where you are based on the models).

The Sony recall only affected sets in Japan, and if I recall correctly was only a few select 40" series of LCDs. I think it was some component in the backlight that caused the top of the plastic housing to melt a little.

Thanks for all the replies.. I've made up my mind and finally going for Sony 40" Led. Thanks once again.