Hi,
My parents have decided to buy a new television and i have been instructed to do some research and find them a good one. They are looking for something around 42" in a plasma or LCD and want to spend under $1500.00. The room the TV will be in is fairly bright but most of there TV viewing is done at night. They do not watch many dvds. Mostly into watching sports, a lot of hockey viewing. So far i have been looking at and considering the
Sony KDL40S300 LCD
Sharp LC42D64U LCD
Westinghouse W4207 LCD
and Samsung HPT4264 plasma
Also, looked at the Panasonic TH 42PZ700U.
i was leaning towards a LCD model but have lately started thinking that a plasma would show better color.
Just looking for some suggestions , recommendations as i would like to find them something they will really appreciate.
Thanks
shawn

I suggest an LCD for them as I'm concerned that they'd be too casual about break-in or noticing IR before it becomes burn-in. Burn-in's less a problem than it used to be, but it's still there.

The 40" Sony KDL40S3000 is a very nice set. Another nice choice, especially for viewing at slightly more exotic angles, is the 42" Toshiba 42HL67. If looking more head-on, viewing angle for both is more than adequate.

There's an issue with the Sharp called "banding", where the screen has inconsistent backlighting, even when viewed head-on. It's unfixable and very annoying. That's why the prices are so low.

The Westinghouse has an issue with the HDMI inputs where only one HDCP chip for the HDMI inputs. This potentially means constant power cycling. It's not worth the trouble.

Either technology (LCD or Plasma) will likely look good to your parents. When I went through this with my father, we went with a 42" Panny Plasma because it is known to have one of the best Standard Definition processors.

LCD will have the advantage in the room if it is very bright, but my experience is that Plasma looks fine unless the sun is hitting the set directly.

For evening viewing, the Plasma may have a softer look, which many tend to feel is more natural looking. The counter point to this is that LCD generally has a brighter picture. Some like the brightness as it appears sharp. Others find the brightness to be straining and the colors somewhat un natural.

I would echo mikemikeb and suggest you stay away from the Westinghouse and the Sharp and agree that the Sony is a nice set. I do not agree with him about burn in on Plasmas, especially with the new generation sets. There are very few reports of burn in these days. Almost all casual Plasma owners just plug them in and play without problems The only problems generally come with gamers or if your parents watch only one channel all of the time (my father in-law has the weather channel on for hours upon hours). If you are concerned, there are some very simple precautions such as toning down brightness and contrast levels, and setting the aspect ratio to a full screen mode.

Mikemikeb brings up off axis viewing angles. This would favor Plasma, but I think that unless they are really viewing from extreme angles, it would not be a major deal breaker.

The deal is sealed on this one by the sports watching. Only the very best and most expensive LCD's handle sports well. Many, including me, are sensitive to motion blur on LCD sets. Hockey is especially problematic as the puck is very small, moves very fast, and has a lot of contrast between it and the ice. Motion blur is not an issue for Plasma.

Go with the 42" Panny and dont worry about it. It will provide your parents with the best sports and standard def viewing of all of the sets.

I suggest an LCD for them as I'm concerned that they'd be too casual about break-in or noticing IR before it becomes burn-in. Burn-in's less a problem than it used to be, but it's still there.

That's why I'm looking at LCD for my mom. Probably 90% of what she watches is 4:3 - SD cable, DVDs of old TV shows and TV movies.

That's why I'm looking at LCD for my mom. Probably 90% of what she watches is 4:3 - SD cable, DVDs of old TV shows and TV movies.But the problem with this is that SD and DVD and old shows look a lot worse on even the best LCD TVs than they do on a regular Panasonic plasma. Old people need to be taught to embrace the ASPECT key on their plasma's remotes so they can fill the screen :D

Thanks for all the quick replies.
i went looking around tonight and have narrowed it down to the Panny or Samsung plasma. The Samsung is $200.00 cheaper and has a 2 year warranty so i am leaning that way. It seems to have good reviews on the net also. Anyone have an opinion on the samsung?
thanks again

Thanks for all the quick replies.
i went looking around tonight and have narrowed it down to the Panny or Samsung plasma. The Samsung is $200.00 cheaper and has a 2 year warranty so i am leaning that way. It seems to have good reviews on the net also. Anyone have an opinion on the samsung?
thanks again

I've read that Samsung is not as reliable as Panasonic and they have horrible customer service. Also, they have inferior video processing so SD looks worse. I say go for the Panny.

Just getting the TV, turning it on, and having 4x3 bars showing on a plasma long enough, burn in's still going to happen. Old people are usually more stubborn, and won't bother with stuff they feel isn't necessary, like break-in, especially if the clueless BigBox salesman says that burn-in's no longer a problem. You'd be surprised how much the average guy trusts a BigBox salesman (enough to buy Monster cables, that's how much!).

No matter what TV they get, let your parents know about Monoprice. They're so good, they sell orange HDMI cables (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024008&p_id=3954&seq=1&format=2). If you're handling the TV purchase, you might as well buy the cables, too.

I rarely say this, as most postings are opinion, but mikemikeb's last post is misleading, if not outright wrong. He is right that burn-in will happen if someone turned on the black bars and left them there for an extreme amount of time.

If someone is able enough to do-it-yourself on the installation, then they are able enough to understand aspect settings and minimal break-in advice. It is highly unlikely that someone just comes in and hooks up a 42" flat panel without some guidance. But, for argments sake, lets say it occurs. It is highly unlikely that they would be wathching 100% Standard Def programming, so the bars are not a constant.

Burn-in is no longer a major problem. Yes it can happen, but on the Panny, set the bars to the grey scale pattern...just like the directions say. If you are worried, and you dont need to be, tell you parents to vary their viewing....or more simply, set the aspect ratio to full screen.

If the problem were serious enough that stubborn, non-educated viewers ruined their sets by watching Oprah with bars, they would be returning them in droves. Plasma is a mainstream technology and it is complete and misleading hype to worry about standard tv watching being a problem.