Originally Posted by
OldFart
I've had a 50" Panasonic S-Series Plasma for 2 years now. Zero problems and I absolutely LOVE it. I find plasma to have more life-like colour than LCD and it also renders motion much better than LCDs IMO. All of the old "issues" that plasma screens may have had were solved years ago. My son plays games on it and burn-in/image retention has not been a problem. The S-Series has a good anti-reflective coating that works well and these coating have likely improved even further over the past 2 years. You will also hear that they run hot - not really true any longer, not enough to be an issue. LCD looks better in the showroom because it appears brighter (known as torch mode) under the harsh lighting. You cannot view a TV in your home on those settings. In real-world use in your home a plasma is plenty bright. BTW- a bright showroom with flouescent lighting is probably the WORST place to critically view a TV. Plasmas DO use more electricity, although improvements have been made. This is their only downside IMO. In the catagories that matter (to me) plasma wins. In contrast/black levels, colour accuracy, viewing angles, response time (rendering smooth motion). Don't let someone talk you out of a plasma based on 5-year old information. Do your research!
Now, if you're talking about a LED backlit LCD, that's a different decision than the LCD-Plasma debate. But those are pricey panels, and you stated that you are looking for good value so I left those out.
