TubeNet

The main thing I have noticed and considered is the location in which the tv will be placed. A plasma tv looks great from any angle, whereas an LCD tv has a glass screen and will reflect light and cause an annoying glare. We bought a 42" Phillips LCD and have had no problem, but I wish we had opted for the plasma instead.

TMB

I've heard that over time the gas will eventually leak out of a plasma TV. Personally, I've yet to see a big difference in picture quality between plasma and LCD, so all things considered, I'd go for the LCD. However, until it croaks, I'll stick with my 27" CRT.

I love my Philips plasma but a comment by one of our large venue AV production company managers has me thinking LCD - his comment was "plasmas look their best the day you unbox them and turn them on - they will never look that good again"

He's got well over 50 in his rental inventory... I figure he should know. He's gradually moving to all LCD as the larger units drop in price.

We have a 50" plasma in our company 'display' that runs at 10 hours a day every day - it had to be replaced in three years because the colors flattened out and we had burn in issues.

On the flip side - I still like the plasma I already own better than most of the LCDs available today. The new Sharp Aquos units art starting to look pretty good and the higher end Sony and Panasonic (not the ones at wal-mart) look pretty nice.

Either way - you can make them look a lot better by hooking up a DVD player, finding a THX certified disc (like 'The Incredibles') and run the THX calibration utility in the extras menu. It will help you set the brightness, contrast and color correctly. Most displays are set from the factory with the brightness full on and the color optimized for a room with flourescent lights (like a store).

Good luck!

Ricko

I've read that Plasma TVs lose some of their brightness over time as do the CRT types. LCDs do not. It's also a bit cheaper to operate an LCD TV.

Here are a couple of links that might help you decide:

Buying Guide

How Long Does a Plasma TV Last for

recently purchased a DLP at 1080p. Holy Smokes it looks good. DLP looks better than LCD and is the cheapest. You just can't hang it from a wall. I didn't want to hang it from a wall.

Plasma is not what I want. Limited lifespan and altitude restrictions. No thanks. Oh and their price. Double no thanks.

cktuba wrote:<snip> But, if you look at DLP, I think you need to make sure to get the LED engine, so you don't have to replace those expensive bulbs.

Yep, my brother has a DLP (not LED engine). His bulb burned out 2 weeks after his 1-year warranty expired. Cost him $150 for a new bulb and he installed himself. I read somewhere that an extended warranty for the DLP model is one of the few extended warranties that pays for itself.

I don't have that much knowledge here, but...

...don't most DLP screens have the same angle problems as LCDs and older rear-projection TVs?? I am a fan of plasma, personally, because they're more affordable than LCD, and the black levels are much better than an LCD ("how much more black could it be....none, none more black...).

Im new to FRONT projectors, and I LOVE it (its a DLP).


I spent about $850 or so for everything, and I have a 720p high def 82" screen (could easily throw a 110" if I wanted). Had I wanted to spend more (about $2300) I could have gone for a 1080p model. But honestly, I was afraid of front projectors, mainly because you cannot find a store to view them SET UP AND TURNED ON....


Anyway, I am very happy with it, and will be upgrading to a higher rez and contrast ratio projector in a few years!

Here's a pic of my wife with our 82" Stewie:

<a><img src="http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a87/De ... Medium.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>