I had this in early 2002 ...the picture quality was hands down above and beyond any of the early flat panel displays at the time. I by-passed larger flat screen hdtv's at the time because the XBR960 was just soooooo amazing at the time.
Sony KD-34XBR960. I also had the bigger 36 inch as well that was equally impressive...the reason i also bought the 36 inch is that in widescreen mode it was a bit larger in viewing screen vs the 960. I had the bigger 36 inch in the main living room and the widescreen XBR960 in my gaming room. I still have the 36 inch upstairs in the guest bedroom i have setup for relatives,friends,etc that stay over for a weekend or what ever. Infact i was just up there watching some HD content and man...that 36 inch still has a PQ that rivals my 55' inch Panasonic Plasma. I plan on going OLED in a few years once the tech matures and the price is feasible.
Oh by the way..back in 2002 i had my PC connected to the 36inchXBR in the living room...everyone that came over were amazed at the idea of using a computer connected to my HDTV like that....some even said it was a silly idea lol...now all of them all has had me come and build them computers to connect to their HDTV's. I was one of the very early adapaters of using a PC in the living room on the main TV set. It was pretty uncommon back then...now days its simply the ultimate home theater setup in having a PC connected to the living room HDTV.