The only thing a 1080p is really useful for is Blu-Ray. I believe all over the air HD content is 720p or 1080i at best.

 

Had a plasma before the 52" LCD, and had a 42" Plasma before the 42" LCD. LCD is def better to my eye.

 

Panasonic will actually be buying the patent for the specs and technology the Kuro uses once Pioneer is done in a 2010. So they should be close to Kuro quality, though not built to Pioneer's standards IMO.

 

GREAT stuff, guys. Thanks for all of the information. Good stuff... Maybe I need to shop the Plasma side a bit more... Sorry DZ, I'm not shelling out $3k+...

 

I just bought a 42" LG LCD 1080 and it works great, looks great and the picture is great. LG is a good brand to consider, i paid just over 900 last month and i'm not looking back. TV is a beauty...

 

You get a lot of TV today for less. I paid $1600 for a VISIO 46" 1080i back in 07. Now you can get a VISIO 47" 1080p for less.

I like to stand back an see which screen I end up watching. I'm looking for a 26" now for the kitchen.

 

Bought a 52" Sony LCD with a Blu-Ray.

We bought LCD as the room the TV is in has windows on two sides. We were told, and read online, that the LCD screen would have less glare because of it's matte screen than the PLasma and it's glass screen.

To date, and it's over a year now, we couldn't be happier.

Blu-Ray is pretty cool as well. It "upconverts" old DVD's to a higher visual quality and Blu-Ray movies really are awesome, especially animation.

Good Luck in your search!

 

Thanks, Jeff. I too had read a little bit of that same type of information with regards to the glare. I appreciate your insight and help. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do but, I feel confident that a portion of the ole' tax return may go into this bucket. The old 32" Sony XBR that's in the bedroom is going to get an upgrade.

 

Its funny that you say you hadnt shopped Plasma until you asked all of us on here. I hadn't either. I just didnt bother cause Plasma got a bad name early on with the whole "burn in" and what not.

After comparing the two, you'll see they are VERY similar. As i said, in the beginning, I didnt even look at plasma, they guys on here told me to at least check it out and compare, and I ended up buying the Panasonic plasma.

Some of the 1080p LCDs have such a sensative screen on them...meaning that if you touch it with your finger (like on a flat computer monitor) you get that discolored trail. Well, my son just turned 1 and had this horrible vision in my mind of him tossing a toy at the large, bright moving pictures on the wall and just destroying it.

Well, Plasma on the other hand has a 1/4 glass panel on the front, making it VERY strong. Not usually a major factor in the purchasing decision, but it played into mine.

Certainly give Plasma a chance, I think you'll be VERY surprised. And ask them to put it on standard def tv. That was another huge factor in my purchase. The panasonic plasma looked REALLY good in standard def

 

Get a plasma if and only if the room is very dark with little window light. The glare will drive you crazy from the glass on a plasma screen. I had a 46" plasma by Panasonic, can't remember the model # but paid about $1400, but it was terrible during the day in my living room even with the blinds closed. My living room is set up in such a way that the TV is above the fireplace on an East wall with a typical 36" double hung window on each side of the fireplace about 5' away from the TV. The salesman said I should be OK since there were no windows that would let sunlight directly to the screen. He said plasmas are designed for very dark rooms, read basements(man caves), that have very little natural light. The TV looked OK at night, but was terrible to watch during the day. I considered putting the plasma in the basement, but I'm still not done with the renovation down there and didn't want the TV to get destroyed in the process.

I took it back and bought this Mitsubishi instead:


I got it as an open box item from Best Buy for $1199. Great price for a TV that had an MSRP of over $3K. I realize I got lucky with an open box item and I wouldn't use a plasma now if you gave it to me. I put this TV next to the Panasonic plasma that I returned and it was no comparison. Don't believe all of the "plasma hype" you hear. Some plasmas are probably better than LCD's, but plasmas aren't meant for everyone. Go everywhere and watch TV's and decide on the one you like. I went to the store with my heart set on a plasma...and ended up with an LCD that I couldn't be happier with.

My brother in law bought a Samsung 46" LCD from BB for $1299:



It's not bad, but doesn't look as good as my Mitsubishi when watching fast moving sports because this particular Samsung model only has a 60Hz refresh rate versus my 120Hz. If you don't watch sports, it's probably not worth worrying about. My bro-in-law said he wishes he would have gotten the TV with the 120Hz refresh rate, now that he thinks about it, but it was quite a bit more because his TV was on sale and the model with the high refresh rate was not. Just something to think about.

I don't like the thick frame around the Samsung either, the frame around my TV is very thin, to each his own.

You can't research enough, especially when you're dropping that much coin on something.

Good luck and let us know what you get.

 

The glare hasn't really been a problem for me. Our apartment living room has windows on three out of four sides, so there is usually always a lot of sunlight coming in. The only time we ever have a problem is if we have the room arranged that allows the sun to be shining directly on the screen from behind you. Other than that it hasn't been a problem--so don't let glare scare you. Then again, it always depends on the brand and model you get.



The only thing I wish I'd have changed with my plasma purchase is buying it online instead of from Best Buy. They offered me a credit card solely for their store, though, so I couldn't pass that up. Being in college I wanted to go ahead and establish a good credit rating before I got out. You can save several hundred buying online, though. The only problem you'd run into is returns/exchanges if you have problems. That's the benefit of store-buying--you can drive it down the road as opposed to shipping it back. Tough call.

 

It all depends on what you're comparing...a high level LCD will look better than a low level plasma. My Panasonic plasma was crap, but it was near the low level plasmas...the LCD I bought was far superior.

All LCD's have this, it's called a liquid crystal display. It feels like jelly under a screen.

I thought about this too. Another good idea in weighing your decision. That glass in front of the plasma screen is a nice safety feature for flying objects and such...I don't know how durable the LCD screen actually is. My TV is above the fireplace and out of harms way, the bottom of the TV is almost 5' off the ground.

 

I just got a 50" Panasonic plasma for $900 a couple of months ago.

LCD has it's advantages but plasma offers the best bang for the buck.

 

i bought a 47 samsung from costco for its 2yr warranty

 

I just got a 46' sanyo plasma from walmart for $998.00. Sanyo 46" Class Full-HD 1080p LCD HDTV with Digital Tuner, DP46848
I love it, I was gonna get the 50 inch they had on sale but not one walmart had it. so i settled for the 46, and it does the job.

1080p, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 16:9 widescreen
2000:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brightness