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Have your friend run through the settings. I missed something when I first got my LCD. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why it looked so much better in the store. Then a friend got a Vizio that was about 2/3 the cost of mine and the picture was amazing, and again making me wonder why mine looked so lousy in comparison. I flipped to the menu on mine and changed a single setting and the change was dramatic. Sharp Aquos 52" (almost 2 years old). I think the setting was changing the picture to cinema from where I had it set. In the past, I had tinkered with all the obvious settings (color, contrast, etc...), but they just didn't work.

TV displays are set by default to look good in a large, fairly brightly lit store. If you're going to invest in a good TV, spend the $30 or so to get a "test pattern" DVD that you can use to tune the settings to match the room it is in.

Forgot to mention the one I use: “Sound & Vision Home Theater Tune-Up” — it’s from 2001, but the basic advice on the DVD is still sound and the most important parts are the audio and video test patterns and the instructions on how to use them.

There are probably similar titles for BluRay with tunings specific for HD setups, of course.