<p>On the issue of brightness (being too much for a bedroom), our Samsung and probably most of the other brands of LCDs have a setting to change the brightness from the preset Dynamic (what you see in the stores but too much for home use), to Standard (I like this) to Movie mode (for darker rooms). You can also adjust the level manually.</p>
<p>I have a 58 inch Panasonic plasma on my wall. I love it. I sometimes just turn it on without the sound, put it on an HD station, and stare at it in amazement. I remember having a 10 inch or so Dumont black and white with a magnifying glass in front of it when I was a kid so you understand my feelings on this.</p>
<p>Read CNET.com for how to buy tv’s. Too many factors for me to go through them here. Agree with Panasonic for plasma (got ours before 1080p was readily available, still great) and Sony Bravia XBR4 for LCD- and also Samsung for LCD if you go with the higher end models (we chose a nonglare Samsung, near top of their line, cheaper than Sony and a great computer monitor as well). There is a difference in quality in tv sets- saw it with displayed sets with differing contrast ratios last summer.</p>
<p>Here’s an engineers perspective.</p>
<p>If you want superb color a plasma is the way to go, or if you can find an lcd which has LED backlighting as opposed to florescent backlighting. The LED backlights can typically have reduced power consumption at certain times to give you much darker, well defined blacks.</p>
<p>Just something to think about as far as color goes.</p>
<p>ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: I HIGHLY RECOMMEND AGAINST BUYING FROM BESTBUYPLASMA AS A FORMER SHOPPER THERE. Very sketchy operation.</p>
<p>First off, I bought from Plasmabay. Different site name, same scum. Go to the about pages on each site and see the identical staff pictures, or hit the verisign logo on the lower right on plasmabay- it’s for bestbuyplasma. All in all, about 130 photo/video/home electronic sites are estimated to be owned by these people, the Acoona corporation. Also Skynet Global Services. They have a highly unsatisfactory rating with the Better Business Bureau for delivering broken equipment and not refunding customers. Many people have to resort to chargebacks.</p>
<p>The reason they have high ratings on review sites is because they review themselves. Go to epinions, look at bestbuyplasmas feedback. How many 5 star reviews are (name)_dt1 that sound like marketing material?</p>
<p>My family ordered a 50" TV from them. We got the TV a few days later- the box was immaculate, the cardboard not bent at all. We decided to open the box while the delivery guy was still there. We were going to ask if he minded, but before we got the chance he said “I’m sorry, but I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend opening the box while I’m still here”.</p>
<p>We opened the box. Inside was a very obviously cracked Plasma TV in the lower left corner. Like, impossibly cracked for the box condition.</p>
<p>We asked and the guy admitted that he knew the TV was broken (hence, why he made us open it). He was a grunt delivery guy (own description) and his bosses made him take it. In the warehouse a few days before they crashed a pallet lifter into the TV, with a horrible crunch. The TV was shot, the box obviously trashed. So they swapped boxes with a good TV. The great box would be delievered no hassle, the customer blamed for the damage. The bad box with the good TV would be carefully inspected upon delivery, no damage- no loss of money for the broken TV!</p>
<p>We luckily called Plasma Bay and threatened to chargeback (original credit card charge + $35 loss) and they delivered a good TV later than promised.</p>
<p>Anyhow, we got lucky. Most people actually chargeback after a month of no refund, Acoona threatens to sue and ruin your credit. It’s horrible. Go to bbb.org before buying from anyone, and I highly recommend using disposable credit card numbers (Bank of America offers them, Discover offers them as Secure Online Account Number) which can be canceled independently of your entire credit card. Another thing that Plasmabay threatens to do is to put your Credit card info online…</p>
<p>I just bought from Newegg.com, SUPERB etailer. Not TV specific but stuff is always well packaged and customer service is top notch. They refund manufacturer rebates that are falsely rejected (not their responsibility at all), quick refunds/replacements when items are DOA (rare, but with hard drives especially it happens), low prices, shipping is really quick.</p>
<p>seiclan - thanks for the hint re: LCD brightness. I’ll check and make sure my sister has tried this. (I suspect she has, she’s an IT wonk and pretty much obsessed with all things technical.)</p>
<p>‘Coopjust’ has good points. I just did a spot check at Circuit City and they’re less expensive than ‘Bestbuyplasma’ anyway and if you don’t like what you get you can always speak to someone face to face.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I highly recommend anyone who buys electronics often - or even rarely - bookmark Newegg. They are definitely the best online electronics retailer out there. While it’s sometimes possible to find lower prices on some items, it’s never possible to find better service.</p>
<p>No argument with newegg.com, I use them to buy almost everything for the PCs I build. They have great customer service, really fast shipping, and awesome prices.</p>
<p>LCD all the way. Lighter, more reliable, no burn in issues, and longer lifespan.</p>
<p>ConsumerReports ranks lcds and plasmas as virtually equal for reliability and lifespan. Permanent burn in is a problem of older plasmas and CR hasn’t found any perm burn in problems with new plasmas.</p>
<p>From ConsumerReports.org:
"LCD vs. Plasma TVs
The vast majority of consumers are buying LCD and plasma flat panels rather than rear-projection sets or front projectors with separate screens. Neither LCD nor plasma is the clear winner for quality; there are excellent sets of both types in our Ratings of LCD TVs and Ratings of plasma TVs. There are reasons to opt for one over the other, though. With LCDs, you’ll have a wider choice of 1080p sets than with plasmas, and the price premium over a 720p TV is usually smaller. You’ll also have more screen sizes to choose from, including sets smaller than 42 inches-typically the smallest size for a plasma. </p>
<p>LCD TVs are generally a bit brighter than plasma, and their screens are less reflective, so many look better in bright rooms. They’re also better for playing video games and for use as a computer monitor because they’re not subject to burn-in from fixed images displayed for a long period, as plasma TVs can be. (Burn-in might have been more of a problem with early plasma sets. We’ve seen no evidence of permanent image retention in our short-term tests, and recent anecdotal evidence from our own staffers and online forum participants hasn’t turned up any burn-in issues in typical long-term use at home.) LCD sets use less power, but the differences aren’t that great.</p>
<p>On the other hand, plasma TVs generally cost a bit less than LCD sets of comparable size and quality, though the price difference is shrinking. The best plasma TVs are better than LCD sets at displaying deep blacks and tend to have better contrast, which makes for rich, natural-looking images, especially in dim lighting. They’re also better than LCDs at handling motion without blurring the image, though some new 120Hz LCDs are showing improvement in that area. Another major advantage: Plasma TVs have a virtually unlimited viewing angle, so the picture quality doesn’t deteriorate when you watch the screen from off-center. With most LCD sets (and rear-projection TVs), the picture loses some contrast, color, or brightness as you angle away from the center. You might not notice this too much with bright images and vivid colors like you’ll see in a football game, but the degradation in quality can be obvious with other programs."</p>
<p>Lifespan is a very tricky term. When looking through information on Plasmas; look for the term “Half Life”. Plasmas gradually get dimmer. Because it is so gradual, the average person rarely notices it. But if you bought 2 brand new and left one boxed up for 2 years and then turned it on next to the other that has been used for 2 years, you WILL NOTICE the difference.</p>
<p>LCD doesn’t do that. It is the pregnancy theory. You are, or you aren’t. It works, or it doesn’t. The worst thing that can happen to an LCD; shy of totally breaking; is what is called bad pixels. It’s when a single pixel goes bad in the lcd. If you look close enough, you can see a dead pinpoint speck on the screen.</p>
<p>A lot will depend on how long you want to keep a tv for. If it is 3-4 years, then it doesn’t matter. LCD is more money but there’s less glare. Plasma can be bigger and cheaper but with glare. 3-4 years down the road, it isn’t an issue. If however, you plan on keeping a big screen for 7 years or until it dies, then LCD really is the better deal. It wont fade and go “Half life” on you. It won’t burn it. It’s a better picture. But, in return you will spend a little more. In another couple of years, there will not be any plasmas.</p>
<p>Burn in is less of an issue now than previously, but the first 200 hours are important. Make sure to play a variety of stuff and to not leave anything too constant on (e.x. stock ticker, video games) for the first month of typical usage. After that, you’re fine. I’ve played games with nonchanging interfaces on my Plasma, no burn in :D</p>
<p>I have a very fine $59 Konka (the most popular tv in the world, by the way), and it works just fine. Now if the tv can somehow by itself find some better programming…</p>
<p>Mini; “Most Popular” and “Best” are definitely NOT interchangeable. “Most Popular” because it’s a nice cheap TV. Konka makes a lot of CRT with some LCD. When you are from China; the most populated country; you can sell a lot more. Especially when the tv’s are made in sweat shops. It’s definitely not a Sony, Hitachi, or Pioneer. But at it’s price, I don’t expect it to be.</p>
<p>Price-to-value versus slave labor - interesting tradeoff. ;)</p>