OT: buying a plasma/flat screen, any ideas on the best one? Options

[meares]

i'm about to buy a plasma...i'm doing some research, but wanted know of any personal exper. in your purchases...which ones to buy/stay away from.....

[Richard Casto]

QUOTE (meares @ Nov 14 2005, 05:30 AM)

i'm about to buy a plasma...i'm doing some research, but wanted know of any personal exper. in your purchases...which ones to buy/stay away from.....

I just realized that I don't think anyone asked what you will be using this for. Is this going to be in a home theature setup in which you probably will be lowering the light level and watching movies most of the time, or is this a direct replacement for a regular TV in which you are casually watching a wide variety of shows?

My opinion is that if it is a dedicated home theature setup, then maybe a projector would work best (as some have suggested). For a given screen size it is cheaper to use a front projector. Problem is that they are not as bright (if you project them up to a big theature size) so you have the have the lights dim or off. This doesn't work well for middle of the day viewing with light streaming in the windows. Also you have the cost, setup, etc. of screen, running cables, mounting the projector.

Something like the flat panel plasma, lcd or even the thin rear projectors make a bettter general purpose TV. Not the ultimate of a projector and screen, but easy to just setup, turn on and chill out. I just depends upon what you want to us it for.

Regarding the comment about the 16:9 comment above. It depends upon what you want to watch. I personally think that a few years ago the 4:3 vs. 16:9 was a valid argument. But today most prime time shows are produced in 16:9 at this point. But for a number of shows you still get 4:3. So it is something you should be aware of if you are getting a new TV. It seems like the number of 4:3 stuff that is being made today in the higher end TVs is becomming very rare. I personally watch 4:3 stuff stretched to fit into 16:9