K so i want to give myself a little Xmas present Nov-Dec area and its going to be a big screen tv, moving up from a 32 inch sony crt (huge thing) and my brother just got himself a Pani Plasma and is suggesting one to me, i know i want a 42inch as i will be 7-10 ft veiwing distance Wall Mounting essential and i will be getting my HD signal from Direct TV, i want to keep it under 1500 also. I was also thinking of maybe doing some pc gaming on it once in awhile... not much tho, this will be mostly tv watching,
now i was wondering for suggestions and also i know plasma is better but should i look at lcd's too? i would rather have plasma tho due to its better overall qualities.

Also im going to be using a seperate sound system for a good 5.1 setup ... any other advice and suggestions that you might think of or answers to questions i havent thought of is greatly appreciated, please let me know if you need any more info for some good suggestions for me, ty you guys in advance,, lol least i knew where to come guys for help

ps im not trolling, im virgin newbie to this stuff guys so please forgive if i sound stupid , and yes i been looking through the threads trying to read up on it as much as possible as this is a major purchase for me

thanks again in advance, Phil

ok i figured out the 1080p is a good thing but what should i be looking at pani's samsung ,, what panels there only a few to choose from in that price range i can see on the few spots i did find,,
oh yea i figured out im kinda likeing this one from pani what do you guys think its in budget but im really liking the specs Panasonic Panasonic TH-42PH11UK 42"

thx Phil

Should you look at LCDs? Sure, why not...never hurts to look. I'm not sure if your size constraint has more to do with funds or available space. 42" is at the very low end of plasma manufacturing range; you will find more model options with LCD. The plasma will give you better blacks and off axis viewing, however LCD has come a long way in both regards. Sammy makes great LCDS...personally, I'm not as much a fan of their plasmas.

You mentioned a panny pro model and I'm not sure why, so you'll need to provide a bit of explanation there.

My recommendation would be to take a close look at the 42PZ800u. I'm not convinced that 1080p is needed on a 42" display but since you were looking at Pro Displays, I figured to start at this model. Others to consider are the PZ80u or PX80u (720p).

If your room can support a larger display, your budget could probably support at 46" in the PZ80u or even a 50" in the PX80u (but at that size and your viewing distance 1080p starts to be more meaningful)

In terms of other brands:

You might consider the LG 42PG25 which is a 720p display and combines many of the features present in the Pannys above. The 50PG30 is also an option in your price range and would be somewhat comparable to a Panny 50PZ80 which I didn't include for price reasons.

Net net:
Panny 42PZ800u
Panny 46PZ80u
Panny 50PX80u
LG 42PG25
LG 50PG30

Hope that helps...