I am ready to upgrade my bedroom TV and after looking around for a week and reading several forums on the differences between LCD and Plasma, I remain confused about the wide range of prices and quality.

I thought I had it locked down that I was going LCD over Plasma, but after another visit to a different Best Buy it is getting hard to tell the difference.

The minimum size I want is 52''. Originally I was going LCD, 52'', 1080p. Now I'm not so sure I need the 1080 and could go with the 720p. This will be a TV just for watching (ie no Xbox or gaming or PC).

Here are my top three choices when it comes to picture quality:

Panasonic 58'' 1080p Plasma $4049
Samsung 52'' 1080p LCD $3899
Sony 52'' 1080p LCD $2978


Once again, I can probably save $1000 bucks if I got 720 instead of 1080p.

I would love to hear opinions on this. Since they are pretty damn expensive I don't want to make a major mistake.

Any input is appreciated.

I got a Samsung plasma awhile back and could not be happier with it.

Mine is 1080i, not 1080p. As far as I understand, the only non-game/PC source you can currently get at 1080p is HD-DVD and Blu-ray. If it's not a place you'd watch HD-DVDs at and you're going to pay a lot extra for the 1080p vs i, it might not be worth it.

I'd definitely not drop all the way down to a 720 though. Where I'm at, you can pick up 1080i signals off even rabbit ears, so you'd definitely be missing out at 720.

Speaking of rabbit ears, I'd try to make sure it has a tuner and get a cheap antenna. The quality of the broadcast HD channels over air is actually better than satellite (and I think cable), due to lower compression rates. And, they're free. This site is handy for figuring all that out: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

As far as LCD vs. plasma, for that size you are probably paying a really heavy premium for any LCD that looks as good as plasma. If you aren't playing consoles on it (which will burn-in ghosting on plasma), I doubt it would be worth it.

I'm no expert though. I researched before buying mine, but I don't really keep up to date on everything.

A lot of programming is still shot 720i and converted, but hopefully that'll disappear in the next few years with the new solid state cameras coming out. We almost never shoot progressive, so 1080i is pretty much all you need and truthfully I can't tell the difference.

When shopping keep in mind the room. Is it dark, or is there light that hits the screen? Is the viewing straight on, or from an angle? A lot of these factors should be told to the guys wherever you're gonna buy it to help pick out the best one since they all handle differently in different conditions.

Great resource, and like Sanchek recommends a plasma for a big screen: http://www.cnet.com.au/tvs/0,239035250,240036500,00.htm

I bought a 52 plasma originally but couldnt shake the thought in my head of a pixel or some such going out. So returned it for a 60 sony lcd 1080sxrd. Having to only replace a 300 dollar bulb in 3-5 years is more comforting than an expected 3 year life with 8 hours of tv a day. I leave the tv on all the time if just for background noise and had a sony trinitron 36" for 8 years now with still perfect picture quality. So Im hooked on sony products besides there high end universal remotes synch up really nicely with other components and offer all the features.

Think I paid 2900 for the 60" in April of this year from a sony dealer in town.

The newer plasmas have a 60,000+ hour expectancy (better than tube expectancy).

When I was researching to buy mine, it was the LCDs that were prone to dead pixels, while the plasmas died by losing all of their brightness at the end of their lifespan. Though, most reputable manufacturers seemed to have a decent dead pixel guarantee and the lifespan on plasma is so long now that it's a non-issue.

thanks for the feed back guys.