Flat screens?

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.

What 55dok says is absolutely spot on. I own BOTH plasma (Panasonic) and the latest Sharp Aquos (LCD) both in 42".

The Panasonic plasma is by FAR the most realistic (even though it is TWO years older than the Sharp). I heavily regret the Aquos purchase. LCD manufacturers are LIARS. It claimed a 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio for the Sharp....clearly this is pure and utter BS!

I wish there were more honest people around like 55Dok - it would have saved me learning the hard way! But, as usual the reviews all gave Aquos a high rating....complete BS.

BTW: I also owned Sony Vega 36" XBR HD CRT tube TV and it was BETTER than both the new flat screens for natural colours and contrast. The new flat panels however have the edge in terms of accurate geometry (especialy towards the corners) and brightness however.

For a sleeper LCD check out Olevia - highly rated by Consumers Reports and IMHO gives a picture quality second only to the Sony Bravia series at 2.5x the cost.

Although I think Rlwainwright is correct that you will want 4" greater than you actually buy, you'll also notice that it really doesn't matter all that much because the picture is soooo much clearer than a convntional CRT TV that you'll find it easy to watch and generally pretty satisfying.