I think plasmas in the past had a few issues with life expectancy. But all new plasmas generally have 60,000hr half lives which is the same as CRT's (Thats 7yrs if your watching it 24hrs a day).

If your plasma goes it's gone unlike a LCD where you can repair sections. But I figure by the time you need to repair a plasma (5 years + if your lucky) it'll be comparative to replacing a picture tube. The repair will cost more than just replacing the whole set with a new LCD. I’d say within three years a 42’ LCD will be around 1500 or less.

There are a ton of websites that compare plasmas to LCD's listing all the various pros & cons. Some say plasmas give a softer image which is more pleasant for viewing movies, where as LCD is too sharp (eg a computer screen). On the flip LCD's can be repaired & generally have a better image resolution & are normally slimmer.

Personally if you put two side by side I’d be struggling to pick the difference. The only reason I choose the plasma was price really... that & they also sound cool. But give it a year or two & plasma's will be all but dead as the price of LCD's falls.

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Ho's gotta eat too

The trick with any new technology is to buy at the point where the maufacturer is close to a break even point. This is becoming evident with 42" plasmas at the moment. LCD technology is still too pricey.

I would suggest something like a LG 42" Plasma for $2600 if you haggle, with the view to spending the extra cash in 2 - 3 years time upgrading to a 60" or 70" Plasma or LCD which will probably be about $5K to 7K then.

yeah i got that one for 3600 special price from a mate of a mate of a mate etc... i'm usin about a 2 year old strong STB that i had with my old LG widescreen CRT, but i'm still happy with it, it's just the size of a VCR whereas STB's have gotten heaps smaller...

i went plasma for 2 reasons... they're cheaper than LCD's and they look cool hung on the wall, i'm in the process of building a house and i've run conduits and wall boxes in the wall ready to seemless mounting of the plasma.. whereas LCD's are a bit bulkier..

Im waiting on OLED scrrens to come out to australia, they have started making 42ich OLED screens now.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000980044037/

Shit, now thats flat, makes mine look like a rear projection.

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Ho's gotta eat too

Sony 86cm CRT TV - Voted World's Best TV ever!

Downside - 90kgs, Depth 600mm

depends on wat size u want, wat sort of quality u want ie sd or Hd. do u have a budget.
i wor for harveys in morley is u are over there come see me, Tim
look after u to

Guys to be honest this is not as straight forward as i had hoped. Biggest dilemma is to go HD or not. With DVD currently only SD and only 20 hours a week of HD broadcast for each channel, I wonder of its worth paying the extra for HD?? The other concern is what does a HD plasma look like when you put a rescaled SD program into it - is it better or worse than SD signal into SD plasma?
Faaaarrrk.....................
Budget, initially 4K but really depends on what I learn re HD....
Appreciate your constructive answers.
Tim ok to email you at work or some where?
Cheers Al

All broadcasts are normally in about 4 streams 1 HD & a few SD with different aspect ratios. So you would just watch pure SD not HD changed down to SD.

Wait, save & get the HD, if you’re already spending that much go that little bit further. I would have regretted it big time if I went with the SD, but go with your heart young grasshopper.

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Ho's gotta eat too

Top thread guys. Keep it coming. I will be signing up for one of these bad boys when I get back at the end of the year, so please hurry up and come up with the final answer

I got nothing to add cause I know SFA about them at the moment. Have decided plasma. 42" panel should do it. Just a bit lost on the SD/HD debate. A mate over here has the LG (am guessing SD) but has the HD set top and was under the impression the picture was better with the HD set top box. running through his SD panel.

Apprently the LG and TEAC panels are out of the same factory. (Mate is a rep for Teac.) Am not keen to go too hardcore price wise as I reckon the picture on my mates LG 42 is more than adequate. So at this stage thinkin 42" TEAC but just need a bit more info on the right STB.