Given Phillips reputation this doesn't seem nearly as good as the Sharp 40" on sale yesterday (though perhaps buying from 6ave.com is considerably more risky than buying from dell?)

you would end up relying on the manufacturer's warranty.

What's wrong with Philips' reputation? My housemate bought the 32" model in Costco for $600, I think the quality is great especially the 120 Hz and NOT using TN panel.

#3, I don't know anything in particular other than that there used to be a lot of Philips refurbs on the market before. There were sold as refubs, but the point is why would they have so many refurbs in the first place? However, this does look like a nice set and the one you describe sounds nice too, and that was a while ago.