There are a lot of big developments in the TV arena at the moment, I would suggest that now is not the time to be putting a lot of money into a new TV.
OLED technology is coming through nicely, the battle of which HD standard(720 or 1080) is still ongoing. power consumption is still a problem for a lot of manufacturers(lots of heat for your big ellecy bill)
If you feel you must then I believe Panasonic/Toshiba get good reviews, check out the forums at http://www.avforums.com/
Hope this helps
OLED technology is coming through nicely, the battle of which HD standard(720 or 1080) is still ongoing. power consumption is still a problem for a lot of manufacturers(lots of heat for your big ellecy bill)
If you feel you must then I believe Panasonic/Toshiba get good reviews, check out the forums at http://www.avforums.com/
Hope this helps
was thinking about buying one myself but dont know which one LCD or plasma?
Plasma....
Grey scale response / contrast - Plasma technology can deliver superior subleties - which means plasmas can generally give you more detail in dark picture areas.
Colour Saturation - Plasma traditionally scores high here because of the way it blocks light, turning off pixels when they're not needed so that no stray light can dilute its coulours. With LCD there's always smoe stray light in the mechanism, which adds a greying influence to colours thus makes authentic tones more difficult to see.
LCD.....
LCDs generally use less power than plasma TVs because they dont need to power hundreds of electrodes to stimulate phosphors.
No screenburn - Plasma screens are suspectible to something called screenburn, which occurs when a bright image, like the sky news logo, is displayed on screen for an extended period of time. The constant saturation 'tires' plasma's phosphors, leaving a permanent shadow of the bright image behind. 
LCD technology is pretty much immune to this problem.
Thats why I havent got a clue, other half wants a LCD!!
Plasma....
Grey scale response / contrast - Plasma technology can deliver superior subleties - which means plasmas can generally give you more detail in dark picture areas.
Colour Saturation - Plasma traditionally scores high here because of the way it blocks light, turning off pixels when they're not needed so that no stray light can dilute its coulours.
With LCD there's always smoe stray light in the mechanism, which adds a greying influence to colours thus makes authentic tones more difficult to see. LCD.....
LCDs generally use less power than plasma TVs because they dont need to power hundreds of electrodes to stimulate phosphors.
No screenburn
- Plasma screens are suspectible to something called screenburn, which occurs when a bright image, like the sky news logo, is displayed on screen for an extended period of time. The constant saturation 'tires' plasma's phosphors, leaving a permanent shadow of the bright image behind. LCD technology is pretty much immune to this problem.Thats why I havent got a clue, other half wants a LCD!!
The lastest plasmas don't suffer the burn effect anymore, likewise some plasmas use less power than some LCDs. We really are at a point in time when all the technologies are fighting for dominance, add OLEDs to the mix and it is as I said earlier NOT a time to be putting big money into a new fang dangled TV.
I would also point out that HD technology is something that 99% of people don't understand properly. there is a thing called upscaling and downscaling which can mean that in certain circumstances you actually end up with a picture of worse resolution than standard TV now!
You should also consider what type of programming you watch the most, try watching a fast moving sport or action movies on a lot of(not all I hasten to add) LCDs and it looks rubbish. In this respect you can't beat a CRT.
You should also understand the difference between interlaced and progressive scan.
Its not easy buying stuff with so many variables etc.
I would also point out that HD technology is something that 99% of people don't understand properly. there is a thing called upscaling and downscaling which can mean that in certain circumstances you actually end up with a picture of worse resolution than standard TV now!
You should also consider what type of programming you watch the most, try watching a fast moving sport or action movies on a lot of(not all I hasten to add) LCDs and it looks rubbish. In this respect you can't beat a CRT.
You should also understand the difference between interlaced and progressive scan.
Its not easy buying stuff with so many variables etc.
Recently purchased a tv and it had a fault so returned it, the place we got it said of all the makes they get few Toshiba returned, never had a Panasonic returned, LG not many returns, we opted for a Panasonic the faulty one was a toshiba, no problems with the Panasonic
I used to sell TVs long long ago and we stuck purely to Sony and Panasonic. In those days Sony was 'deemed' to be teh best but they tended to have a slightly different colour of picture which some people didn't like(me being one of them) and these people were always very happy with teh Panasonics.
I have a lovely Mitsubishi at home, CRT with dolby decoder etc and TBH I haven't found a LCD or plasma that can get close on picture quality on non HD broadcast stuff and as I don't see me getting HD till there is a) more stuff broadcast in it and b) teh price drops I'll stick with what I have. I also find that they seem to think everyone wants 37/42" screens nowadays. ours is a 25" and is IMHO a perfect size for watching normal TV on in our lounge. I find it overfacing when I go to my friends with his 37" LCD thing. IIRC there used to be a calculation that said you should sit 3.5x the screen size away from it so a 42" screen you should be over 12 foot away???
I have a lovely Mitsubishi at home, CRT with dolby decoder etc and TBH I haven't found a LCD or plasma that can get close on picture quality on non HD broadcast stuff and as I don't see me getting HD till there is a) more stuff broadcast in it and b) teh price drops I'll stick with what I have. I also find that they seem to think everyone wants 37/42" screens nowadays. ours is a 25" and is IMHO a perfect size for watching normal TV on in our lounge. I find it overfacing when I go to my friends with his 37" LCD thing. IIRC there used to be a calculation that said you should sit 3.5x the screen size away from it so a 42" screen you should be over 12 foot away???
Last night on the Channel 5 Gadget Show they did a comparison between LCD and Plasma at under £1,000.
To all intents and purposes it was a draw but only if between the two chosen makers for each type. Sorry but my ancient brain cell can’t remember the makers names other than Panasonic was one of them. I seem to vaguely remember Sony being mentioned but I can't be sure.
My Panasonic flat screen TV some 3 years old now, is a 27” wide screen that weighs around 5 tons. (Prospective burglars take note - you will never get it out of my flat, not even if there are two of you! There was barely an inch to spare bringing it in through the front door and the living room door had to be taken down to get it into the living room.) My living room is a smidgin over 10 feet square so a larger TV would be incongruous.
All being well it should last a few more years so I have no plans to change it until it dies naturally. Hopefully that won’t be tomorrow. In a year or two the prices should have come down to a more reasonable amount and all new TV’s will be just digital and High Density and not a hybrid of everything. The HD standard battle might have been resolved by then as well.
So unless you have your heart set on a new TV janet I would be inclined to wait until you have to buy one because your current TV has popped its clogs.
To all intents and purposes it was a draw but only if between the two chosen makers for each type. Sorry but my ancient brain cell can’t remember the makers names other than Panasonic was one of them. I seem to vaguely remember Sony being mentioned but I can't be sure.
My Panasonic flat screen TV some 3 years old now, is a 27” wide screen that weighs around 5 tons. (Prospective burglars take note - you will never get it out of my flat, not even if there are two of you! There was barely an inch to spare bringing it in through the front door and the living room door had to be taken down to get it into the living room.) My living room is a smidgin over 10 feet square so a larger TV would be incongruous.
All being well it should last a few more years so I have no plans to change it until it dies naturally. Hopefully that won’t be tomorrow. In a year or two the prices should have come down to a more reasonable amount and all new TV’s will be just digital and High Density and not a hybrid of everything. The HD standard battle might have been resolved by then as well.
So unless you have your heart set on a new TV janet I would be inclined to wait until you have to buy one because your current TV has popped its clogs.
Pioneer is lookin good over 12 months in