Which hdtv would you recommend and why?

I have Panasonic Plasma and Sony LCD (XBR). I perfer plasma. Beware, most make several quality levels. I was in a Sony store last week. They display the models side by side. The more you pay, the better the picture.

I have two Vizio's, a 32" LCD and a 50" plasma...very happy with both.

I have an older Vizio 50" (3-4 yrs old) and it is nice but quirky. On occasion it will loose the picture or sound and I will have to turn it off and on again to restore whichever one stopped working. This makes me nervous, I do not recommend Vizio for that reason.

As you can tell by the variety of responses here, there are many good choices. I think the technology has progressed so much, that the choices are huge, and you don't have to spend top dollar to get great performance.

I used to only buy Sony XBR displays, then Panasonic Plasma, then Samsung LCD, now they all look, to me very much alike. With such similar performace, I would check out Consumer Reports and some of the electronics websites to see which companies/models have the best least problems.

Good luck, lots of choices.

Mmike 84 brought out a very good draw back of the Plasma : reflective glass pannel and also a bit of heat generated. So if you have high ambience lights, move on to the LCD/LED.

That's the first question anye salesman should qualify the customer for. LCD/LED flat pannels, especially the LCDs come with the non-reflective screen.

Do not worry too much abt the 600Hz sub-field motion of the Plasma and the 120/240hz of the LDC/LED unless you spend time after time staring at the fast moving objects.

Trust your own eyes, period. I have customers would not want the LED because its " cartoonist" color and they prefer the Sony with subtle "white and black" level. Others just WOW at the LEDs higher contrast ratio. The beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, indeed. Good luck.