I am a newbie in the a/v world, but have read a lot of the information available. I'm asking my question here, as this forum seems to be head and shoulders above others I've looked at.

I want to buy either a plasma or an LCD TV for my bedroom (our existing tv seems to have shrunk over the years!). We sit about 14’ from the TV. We primarily watch shows (like Law & Order, Damages, etc.) on Comcast Digital Cable, many of which we tape to watch later, and we also rent movies. My wife occasionally watches tennis and figure-skating, so lack of ghosting is somewhat important, but she definitely does not need to be "immersed in the action"! Neither of us is an audio/videophile, but we would like a clear good picture. We usually have the lights on next to the headboard. I have read a lot about the products, and it seems that a lot of the things that would make one go for, say, 1080p may not be applicable to us because of what we watch. When we looked at TVs in a store, it seemed that a 42 to 46” would suffice. Do I need a larger size?

So, given our viewing habits, and the distance where we will be sitting, my questions are:

1. Is 42” or 46” enough, or should I really go for a bigger size, and, if so, what?
2. Would LCD or plasma be clearly better, given the lights and our viewing?
3. Should I spring for 1080p, or will 720p be good enough?
4. Is there a brand(s) you’d recommend I look at, under, say, $2000?
5. If price were ignored, is there another brand(s) you’d recommend for my situation?

If there is a similar "non-gamer/non-sports" thread on this site, please just point me there for the answers.

Thanks for your help.

If you don't have HD sources, a 42" EDTV plasma is a good choice (and cheaper). The reflection could be an issue if you could not control the lights. Anyway, it won't be worse than your old crt tv.

On the other hand, though LCD has no glare, I won't recommend it for SD.

I'll second the ED panel. And make that the Panasonic 42PD60U (from last year).

My sister has one with only Comcast SD digital cable, and it looks great. Last time I was over there, I thought they had HD (I was like, 15' away), but when I asked my BIL, he just said "Nope".

I would normally suggest 50" or even larger at 14', but, being that it's for a bedroom, 50" might be a little big. But if you don't think so, the newer HD Panny's do a good job with SD (especially if it's Comcast digital), and they also have anti-glare or anti-reflection technology, which should help with the light issue. Even if you do only go with 42', they'd be a very good choice for your situation.

As far as 1080p, it's not even worth it to pay that much extra for something you're gonna watch from 14' away - unless maybe it was larger than 50".

Thanks for the advice.

I am trying to find the 42PD60U, and there are a few mentions of on-line stores, but I haven't been able to see it available in any physical stores--I guess because it's last year's model.

I have an additional question. I saw a variety of 40+" Plasmas and LCDs at CC, both 720 and 1080p. They were showing a basketball game on ESPN HD, and while most pictures were good when there wasn't much movement, all of them looked jerky (almost as though the parts of the screen were not in sync with one another) when there was movement. This was true regardless of the set and the distance from which we viewed the tv. It was worse than on my old CRT TVs. My wife was concerned about what this meant for her tennis viewing. Should she be, or is it a matter of adjusting the set correctly?

That was something in their signal or setup causing that. If it were a TV problem, you wouldn't have seen it on all the sets.

If they were using a Direct TV feed, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't know how they can even sell any TV's using that. I seriously wouldn't let that worry you. Comcast digital is usually nowhere near as bad as Direct or Dish, although, the satellite providers are now starting to use mpeg4 compression rather than mpeg2, and it's supposed to be an improvement.

The only store you *might* still find the Panny ED in is a Sears. Also, maybe a Tweeters.

I still see them online, too - I believe that you might still be able to get ahold of one through one of the forum sponsors listed at the top of the page here.