Need Help with Plasma Burn In vs. DLP Decisions

I agree with Lej... I've had my Panasonic plasma for over 2 years now, and have had no issues with ghosting or burn-in. I use the "justified" aspect to stretch 4:3 images. At first it was weird, but you quickly forget about it.

I also watch movies "as intended" with letterboxing if the aspect does't match the 16:9 of the plasma. After watching a movie, I use the built-in screen saver for about 5 or 10 minutes as a "just in case" to prevent burn in or ghosting.

The other thing that I don't think anyone mentioned is to tune your plasma carefully. Out of the box the units are dialed way too bright and saturated. This helps sell units in brightly lit stores, but is just too unnatural in a properly lit HT or living room. By dialing down the "picture" setting, you will extend the life of your unit and get a much more realistic image.

Also, even in older plasmas, the half-life of the unit is something like 80,000 hours -- 10 years if you run it 24/7.

Sound and Vision magazine this year has been comparing the different technologies. The preferred was plasma, followed by DLP, and then LED. They compared on several factors. Worth the read.

As requested above, I get 12 HD channels from Astound.com (Cable Company also provides me Internet and phone service). They are a small company and only service Walnut Creek, CA, Concord, CA and parts of Minnesota. Astound is in the process of being sold to Wave Broadband. Please see www.astound.net. Thanks for the information above. My search continues but, most likely, I will hold until year end. cheers..

Due to cost more than anything other performance factor I bought a Sony LCD about 2 yrs ago, and I have been extremeley happy with it in all respects. That said, now that the prices for all have come down and I need room for a turntable, I am buying a Panasonic plasma.

I have helped about 6 friends purchase and install plasmas this past year, and the picture really is better. Well in my opinion. Also, if you just use a the simple screen saver functions on your TV and disc player (never hurts to be thorough), there should never be any burn in problem.

They are really all pretty nice. The Projection LCD's are still about 1/2 the cost of plasma, but all of the prices are down so much that it's less painful to buy a plasma now.

I stopped into tweeter store today and spent most of my time looking at the DLPs dipslaying discovery channel HD feed simultaneously. Obviously I had no control over settings of the displays at all. Ya know, some of the DLPs look pretty darn good! My clear favorite was the 50 inch Panny DLP I saw. I cannot recite the model number. It was the best one though. Second place goes to a 60 inch Sony. Third to Mitsubishi, and fourth to the SAmsung line. This is just an opinion obviously.