Ready to buy my first plasma tv... advice.

[guitarist]

1) Don't buy an LCD. Buy a Plasma. LCDs are slowing being phased out now that large Plasmas are economical to produce., and offer a more favorable viewing experience. Plasmas have superior image quality, and "burn in" is not as big of an issue.

[Stavs]

I'm a plasma fan, but I will add this bit of info.

Amazon has a deal right now where you'll get a free HD Tivo with certain Samsung Tvs (older models). I think they are all LCDs, but you'll save some money. Either LCD or Plasma will do good for you in an office..people wont be that critical about the screen as you'll get a great image regardless. Be wary of the cheaper brands and their warranty coverage. Polaroid for instance stops supporting their tvs after the warranty period.

[wickedsteve]

Look into LCD and the difference between them and Plasma. And check out this chart.

[sekker]

Viewing angle is the concern I have with LCDs. If you put your TV in a corner and the viewing angle is never >35 degrees, you are probably fine.

We have a plasma and we successfully view it at 45 degrees (like checking out a baseball game from the adjacent office area). If this were an LED, we'd probably consider a second, smaller TV for the office space.

LCDs use a lot less power, and generate much less heat.

We regret the power use of the plasma, but not much else.

[vicrock]

Also be aware that, as with computers, whatever you buy will soon be "obsolete"

[Will Collier]

I'm going to be contrarian here, but unless you're getting a ginormous screen (larger than 50", anything less and you almost certainly won't be able to tell any difference), don't get wrapped around the axel over 1080p. 1080p is still largely marketing hype. There is no 1080p content available by cable, satellite, or broadcast television. Zip, zero, nada, none--and there isn't going to be any anytime soon, and by "anytime soon," I mean "for many years to come, if ever." The bandwidth requirements are way too high.

The only 1080p content you're going to be able to watch in the foreseeable future will be on Blu-Ray (or if you're a fellow dead-tech buzzard, HD-DVD). That's it. So unless you're a major Blu-Ray fanatic, paying extra for 1080p is a waste of money at any screen size. By the time 1080p is widespread in actual cable/satellite/broadcast television (assuming that ever happens), you'll want a new TV by then anyway.

[Will Collier]

Oh, and FWIW, I'm quite happy with my Panasonic plasma.

[zero]

First advice: DONT BUY A PLASMA

buy LCD

[Stavs]

[quote zero]First advice: DONT BUY A PLASMA

buy LCD
No offense, but how about backing it up with some reasons why to make it useful for the OP?

That being said, You should be able to get a good deal on a 720p set in any flavor (led or plasma) since marketing is pushing people to 1080p (like me!).

Ignore the fanboy comments and look at true features of each. Burn in is a non issue anymore with Plasma as manufacturers now have "pixel shifting" technology which makes the pixels move (not visible), so that is a non issue. I think the only issues come down to:

Price
Glare
Resolution
Motion Blur (existant on LCDs) which affects videogaming and heavy motion material like sports.

[wickedsteve]

[quote sekker]Viewing angle is the concern I have with LCDs. If you put your TV in a corner and the viewing angle is never >35 degrees, you are probably fine.

We have a plasma and we successfully view it at 45 degrees (like checking out a baseball game from the adjacent office area). If this were an LED, we'd probably consider a second, smaller TV for the office space.

LCDs use a lot less power, and generate much less heat.

We regret the power use of the plasma, but not much else.
I got a fairly cheap LCD almost two years ago that has a viewing angle of 180 so I kinda figured that viewing angle is not even an issue anymore. Do they still make LCDs with limited viewing angles?