This has been a big year for HD. The first generation of HD DVD players have arrived (with Blu-ray fast on its heels), more channels are offering HD content than ever before and televisions capable of displaying all that content at its eye-searing maximum resolution are finally available.

While HDTV displays have typically only supported images up to 1366 x 768 pixels (sometimes referred to as 720p or 1080i), new sets, like Sony’s recently-released 40-inch KDL-40V2500 Bravia LCD, can go up to 1920 x 1080 pixels (also known as 1080p), the HDTV standard’s maximum resolution. At The Geek Beat we refer to this resolution as “True HD,” because this is how the HDTV standard was meant to be viewed.

Sony puts the KDL-40V2500 at the low end of its new line of True HD displays, but there is nothing low-end about this LCD’s picture or features. In fact, with the exception of a few cosmetic and minor interface differences, the display technology in Sony’s basic Bravia line is identical to the pricier Bravia XBR displays. And if anything retailing for $2,999.99 can be considered a good deal, it would have to be the KDL-40V2500.

True HD. In order for a television to be considered True HD, it needs more than just 1080p resolution; it also needs at least one port capable of delivering a 1080p signal, preferably an HDMI port (which combines both digital video and audio signals into a single cable.) That’s not as simple as it sounds: Many TVs shipped in the last year came with HDMI ports based on a pre-True HD version of HDMI standard, so even if the TV could go to 1080p resolution, the ports on it couldn’t.

When shopping for a TV, it’s important to check that a display has both 1080p resolution and 1080p HDMI ports; the KDL-40V2500 offers both. It’s also nice if the TV has a DVI port, a digital video-only interface common to many computers that can carry a video signal in excess of 1080p. The KDL-40V2500 does not have a DVI port (neither do any of Sony’s other True HD displays), a limitation that’s easily remedied with a DVI-to-HDMI converter cable.

Eye Candy. Another thing buyers will need to consider before sinking their cash into a True HD display is will it really look that much better than cheaper, lower-resolution HDTVs?

The difference in price between a 720p and 1080p display can be significant: Sony’s 40-inch Bravia S-Series LCD, which is a 720p display, retails for $500 less than its True HD sibling. Of course, the brightness and contrast of that display are also lower, so the difference in quality isn’t just a matter of resolution.

When viewing HD content on a True HD display, how much better that content looks will depend as much on the quality of the source video as it does on the display itself. With HD television programming, a lot of which is transferred from film, the visible difference may be negligible. When viewing a digital source, like those available on many HD DVDs, the difference can be immense.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a 40-inch 1080p display has more pixels per inch than a 40-inch 720p display. Even if nothing else is different, the result of a denser array of pixels is going to be greater contrast, focus and, most likely, color density. This is certainly true of the KDL-40V2500, which was so much brighter, sharper and had so much more color saturation than our 37-inch Sharp AQUOS reference LCD, it’s made us wonder whether our reference display needs replacing.

The Sony Advantage. While there are many advantages in just being a True HD display; there are also advantages that come from being a Sony True HD display.

Since prosumer-grade LCD televisions first came to market several years ago, Sony has been one of an elite group of vendors that have consistently delivered the best possible picture the technology of the time was capable of. In fact, for most of that time, Sony LCDs have consistently been the best money could buy.

Sony’s LCDs have also typically been the most expensive money could buy. The KDL-40V2500 is no exception to that tradition: The Sharp 42-inch True HD LC-42D62U LCD TV, for example, has a street price around $1,900; the KDL-40V2500’s street price is closer to $2,600.

But while the Sharp LCD is good quality display at a competitive price, the KDL-40V2500 is going to be hard for anyone, at any price, to beat: Sony’s new Bravia Engine Pro delivers amazingly rich, sharp color; the screen has an incredible 7000:1 contrast ratio; and Sony’s new WCG-CCFL backlight, which is tuned to the display’s color filters, delivers the richest, most saturated color (and the blackest blacks) we’ve ever seen on an LCD.

As mentioned earlier, Sony put their best technology in their lowest-end True HD display, which leaves the only reason to buy “up” to an XBR LCD is if you absolutely, positively want that floating glass display with the interchangeable color frames. For us, we’ll happily save $500 plus and go with the KDL-40V2500’s ordinary black chassis and the extraordinary LCD it frames.

Geek-o-Meter: The Sony KDL-40V2500 is an absolutely breathtaking LCD television that offers the best value of Sony’s new line of True HD displays. The 40-inch display delivers the sharpest, most color-rich images we’ve ever seen on an LCD, a plus that is only slightly tarnished by the still-hefty $2,999 retail price tag. It gets a 9 on the Geek-o-Meter.