My first request!

I'm quite open to taking topic requests, and I got my first--thanks Roland--what to look for in a plasma TV.

First, a couple of caveats. We bought ours over a year ago, so I'm not as up-to-date as I was, but things haven't changed too much. Actually, that's not true, the size overlap and price competitiveness of big LCDs has gotten better.

But I know less about LCDs. At the time of our purchase, for our preferred size, LCD was not really an option. But a recap of the differences:

Plasma: wider range of brightness and contrast, better blacks, better with action, some risk of burn-in (when a static image is left on the screen too long--not really a big deal anymore after watching 100 hours or so), performs better in a dark setting.

LCD: no risk of burn-in, tends to be lighter and less fragile, performs better in a lighted environment (fewer issues of glare)

Power, while not a huge issue, is more difficult to determine. My understanding is that the power for an LCD is constant--if it's on, it uses "x" watts. Plasma power depends on the image on the screen--white images use more power, dark images less. Plasmas will generally be rated to use more power, but that's the upper limit, not constant.

At this point though, there is a lot of convergence between the pluses/minuses of each, so there is no "correct answer". What/where you watch may be the best way to pick a

Focusing more on plasma, of the main brands, Panasonic is generally regarded as having the best glass (picture). Panasonic sells their glass to other manufacturers. Our Toshiba has panny glass, but Toshiba now uses Samsung or LG (forget which). HP still uses panny glass. Other well regarded manufacturers are Pioneer (more expensive), NEC (less commercially available), and budget-wise, Vizio gets decent reviews.

One thing hurting the Vizios now is Costco doing away with their return policy on electronics. Previously, you could return an item at any time, but now it is limited to 90 days. But I digress.

Things to remember/consider:

• How a TV looks in a showroom is immaterial unless you are able to adjust the picture. Brightness, color, contrast are all boosted so as not to be a realistic representation of what you'd see in your house. By all means, go look, but remember what you see isn't really accurate.
• What features do you need? do you need an internal tuner, speakers, cable card, memory card slot, computer hookup, etc. if you're able to forgo tuner & speakers because of cable/satellite feeds and HT setup, that opens the options to commercial lines from Panasonic and NEC that have additional features and a cleaner aesthetic look. one of the reasons we didn't get a panasonic was because the model we would have gotten didn't have separate picture settings for each input, which i viewed as a important.
• If you get a plasma, in the initial picture adjustments, turn down the brightness a lot. Color and Contrast will probably need to be turned down as well. THis all helps with the break in process
• When/if you get your new flatscreen, don't tell someone how has already bought how much you spent. It will aggravate them.

If you find a model you're interested in, AVS Forum is likely to have a dedicated thread (or at least a lot of commentary) on the model from owners. Not necessarily reviews, but pros/cons, likes/dislikes, problems, etc.

Penultimate thing, as with all big purchases, remember to use a credit card that doubles your warranty and skip the extended. Most Visas, Mastercards and AmEx do this. Discover doesn't, but check first.

If you're ready to buy, and aren't afraid of purchasing online, Visual Apex and Plasma Concepts are well regarded etailers.

Last thing: As I mentioned, Panasonic is generally considered best in terms of picture quality, but remember that when it's in your house, you'll only be looking at that one, not that one next to those you didn't buy. More important to picture quality is proper calibration of the picture settings.