OK, here is my outlook on this thread.
The team at WHF are experts in their fields, knowledgable, skilled and probably lots more superlatives but I see no logic in any conspiarcey theory. It sounds to me they have studied several top end TV's and then published the findings. This is from the team as a whole and it is their opinion that Sony's offering is a 5 star and the Pana is a 4 star.
Their expert opinions and they are more than entitled to it. I fully admire the team and any of the findings/reviews, but I always choose my hardware using my own senses, a method that always proves to be a winner.
Then however, having seen the Pana in action, in my opinion it is very much a worthy 5 star winner. It is a fabulous TV, irrespective of price, size, plasma/lcd, 3d/2d etc. I have not seen the Sony so cannot comment, but I have no doubts it will be a stunning TV.
I own Pana's TH-42PZ80B and I love its image, I have seen some fabulous TV's including the VT20, but have yet to see anything that would tempt me to empty my wallet.
IN MY OPINION (sorry for shouting Andrew, but I am sure you will know what I'm getting at) the best TV on the market is LG's LG-47LE8900. I have absolutely no interest in 3D, the market is incredibly limited and will be for a few more years, so for now I'll stick with what I have got.