Flat screens?

The best film like picture quality is still plasma. Lcd TV's are getting better (newer LED back lights) and will have more contrast but poorer black levels and still look somewhat artificial. After this, the sony sxrd and JVC D-ILA pictures are nice and I'd put DLP's last.
The Pioneer elite plasmas are probably the best followed by Panasonic (way less expensive) and Samsung and LG.
If you are viewing from 9-12 feet back get a 46-50" plasma.

I just bought a 32" Vizio LCD for my bedroom and I'm quite happy with it. But your needs are somewhat different. 55dok gave you good solid advice. I'd tend to go with Panasonic or Samsung LCD for your setup, unless cost is no object. If that is true, those new Kuros from Pioneer are the cat's meow, probably the best picture of anything out there. You'll pay a bit of a premium because it's new technology, but the reports I'm hearing say the picture quality is STUNNING.

Try to go with at least a 50" screen, you'll always want something 4" bigger than you buy and a 46" in a living room would be just a wee bit small if you're sitting more than 7 ft. away. If you're more than 10 ft. away, move up closer to a 60" model if you can.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/kuro/demo/full/0,,2076_310069651,00.html?camp=kuro

Plasmas have now gotten down to reasonable cost levels and can compete quite well with LCD, but the Kuros will be at the top of the range because they were just introduced. But, oh, what a picture!

-RW-

I agree with 55dok that plasma can have better picture quality than LCD. Plasma has better detail in dark scenes, LCD has brighter whites. Plasma has less motion blur, good for sports. They are better at off angle viewing, LCDs appear washed out when viewing off angle.

If you're viewing from say 8 to 11 feet a 768 progressive scan panel would be sufficient, your eyes won't see the difference between this and a 1080P panel unless you are sitting within 7 feet so you can save some money there.

Panasonic makes some nice affordable 50" models which can be found for $1500 to $2000. Pioneer, best black level detail and picture processing, is more at $2500 to $3000 street price. You can even find other makes for as low as $1000 and they aren't bad to look at either.

Questions to ask yourself are how far away will you sit, what are the viewing conditions in your room, how critical of picture quality are you and how much money do you want to spend? Do you feel secure buying online for better savings? Or do you want to be able to return it to the store if you have a problem? Be sure to check out the return policy.

And beware that it is very hard to compare these sets in the store. All are set to torch mode to get your attention and the viewing conditions are very poor so reading reviews can be very important.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

Haven't looked at TVs in the last few months but when we were shopping for a smaller Sony flatscreen LCD ...I'd rate technology options (50"+)as: Plasma, Sony SXRD, DLP, LCD...that was my impression anyway. The Sony LCD we got is fantastic with high def content but conventional broadcast content can look very grainy and there is some "blurring" on fast motion stuff due to the slow refresh rate of LCD. Sony gets their LCD tech from Samsung. It's not a shot at Sony but a limitation of the technology. Sony's proprietary LCD technology SXRD has a much faster refresh rate and I fell in love with a 60" rear projector using it. Not flat screen, however. Plasma looks great...almost 3D but I've been concerned about the life-time of the screen. Had heard it will fade out over time and can't be repaired. Interested in comments about plasma reliability that I think would be informative to Raquel as well.

Haven't looked at TVs in the last few months but when we were shopping for a smaller Sony flatscreen LCD ...I'd rate technology options (50"+)as: Plasma, Sony SXRD, DLP, LCD...that was my impression anyway. The Sony LCD we got is fantastic with high def content but conventional broadcast content can look very grainy and there is some "blurring" on fast motion stuff due to the slow refresh rate of LCD. Sony gets their LCD tech from Samsung. It's not a shot at Sony but a limitation of the technology. Sony's proprietary LCD technology SXRD has a much faster refresh rate and I fell in love with a 60" rear projector using it. Not flat screen, however. Plasma looks great...almost 3D but I've been concerned about the life-time of the screen. Had heard it will fade out over time and can't be repaired. Interested in comments about plasma reliability that I think would be informative to Raquel as well.