Sony Bravia 26" or HP IQ526 better for a home theater?

I live in a little, little Manhattan apartment with my boyfriend, and am trying to jerry-rig up a true home theatre (display controls and quality speakers in the kitchen, closet that pes for a bedroom, and living room from a central harddrive, etc.) I tried out the HP IQ526 today (refurbished is $850), and fell in love with it, and was a little sad to leave it behind at the store. I'm trying to look ahead, though, for both versatility if we move to a bigger house-type place, and resale value, if we decide to join a commune. I also really like the 26" Sony Bravia ($400), but in order to make it a nice convenient setup like the HP, I'd have to spend almost an addition $450 to get a decent media drive, HDMI cable, etc. I already have an external drive for all my movies/music, so space isn't an issue for either option. I definitely like the Bravia visuals better. I'm taking into consideration, though, that the HP was no slouch for visuals- definitely the best 1080 quality I've seen on a 23" monitor, no ghosting, and really good vertical viewing, and that I'm going to lose some of the Bravia quality by going through a media drive. And the Trekkie in me wants a touch screen... really, really a lot. Thoughts? Comments? Experiences?