I am thinknig of getting either a plasma or LCD. The big expensive ones look gorgeous in the shops. Does anyone have one? Are you generally happy with it? Any downsides? I will be interested to hear from you.

Downside of my plasma was the £100 bracket to hang on the wall and the scary first night wondering if I would be awoken by an almighty crash as it fell to the floor. They are very heavy.
Go for it.

I believe LCD are lighter than plasma and a bit thinner, so I'd go for an LCD.

Yeah, gotta agree. LCD are much better. Also the LCD does not suffer 'screen burn ' like plasma does.

Hi Hotphil,

They may be heavy, but they are considerably lighter than big CRTs. The Toshiba 36" CRT for example weighs 76 kg! I wouldn't want to hang mine on the wall anyway.

What Plasma do you have? Do you find it OK for watching football on, as I have heard this is one of thier weaknesses (particularly for long shots).

I have a 23" LCD screen on hanging on the wall.

Doubles as a pc monitor also.

I built my own bracket for about £3, so I saved about £80.

Fantastic picture.

23" is not big but a decent size and does not command much space in the room it is in.

I love it.

If I go bigger, I will go for a projector and use this just as a monitor.

At present, big plasmas and considerably cheaper than big LCDs. This of course may change in the near future, but at present I think this is why most people are going for big plasmas. I think the issue of screen burn is less of a problem now than when plasmas first came out. Apparently you would have to leave an image on the screen for an inordinate length of time before screen burn became a problem.

I think LCD TVS can also go to a higher resolution than plasma, which might usefull if you are planning on playing Playstation games on it or connecting a PC.

I've got a (couple of year old now) Samsung PS42P3SX. Tbh it's probably a bit too big for the room it's in, but I do love it dearly. As far as watching football/rugby etc goes the TV is fine, what you've got to be aware of is the (getting worse by the month) compression that Sky uses. It can mean that when blown up to 42" the picture can get a little blocky when there's lots of movement. That's purely Sky's fault though and not the TV's.
In my small room, I'd probably go with a 36" if I had the choice again. But there's always hindsight with such purchases, I've had 2 good years out of mine already and hopefully many more to come.
Oh and Xboxing on a 42" plasma rocks.
I chased out all the cables to the TV and would suggest anyone putting a flat panel on the wall does the same. It would irritate me immensely if I could see the cables dangling out the bottom or in that horrible white trunking screwed onto the wall.

I understand that many on the market now are Hi-def ready. If spending that much money now, I'd suggest goinf hi-def ready would be a good thing - the beeb's been recording eveything new in hi-def for a while and it can't be long before broadcasts start in hi-def. Plus, you'll get a higher resolution if you plug a PC in.

Thanks Hotphil, this is really helpful.

I have been looking around and very few TVs seem to be HD ready - if I could I would wait until next year, when I believe Sky will have some HD channels up and running - but my own TV has packed up, so intend to get something soon. At the moment I'm looking at either the Panasonic 37" Plasma or the Toshiba 36" CRT.

Oh for the days when choosing a TV was easy. Now we have to decide between CRTs, LCDs, Plasmas and RPs - even before we decide on the make etc.

The one thing i have discovered in my searches though is that there a big differences in picture quality between the cheap and expensive plasmas - more so than between cheap and expensive CRTs.

Definitely. Make sure you can get a demo of a properly tuned in/connected model! Also, check out magazines for buyers guides. I'd recommend the company that sold me mine if only I could remember their name! They were local, did a good price and free delivery (which if you've ever seen the size of the double-layered box that a 42" plasma comes in, is a good thing). Actually, that's something to be aware of - unless you've got your own van or a very large estate car with the seats down e.g. Range Rover, you won't fit it in. Period. They are packed with a LOT of space/protection to prevent transit damage. Note that plasmas have to be transported upright. If you're looking to buy ALWAYS ask what the delivery charge is, some places I was looking at had good prices, but then wanted £100-£150 to deliver.
Going back to the bracket, I got a generic one from Richer Sounds (£99 if I remember correctly). Once on the wall, hang 35kg/a small child from it to make sure you have peace of mind that the telly will hang. Needless to say, partition walls are unlikely to be suitable.