I'm going HD, but I'll still be watching a fair amount of SD on Time Warner Cable in New York (with a Scientific Atlanta HD box). So, I want to find the best HD PQ without giving up too much PQ in SD.

I'm still wrestling with LCD vs. Plasma and also screen size. My HD interest is sports, then movies (no gaming, no PC).

Any comments on how these models handle SD would be appreciated:

Panasonic TH-42PZ700U (plasma)
Samsung LN-T4671F (LCD)
Panasonic TH-50PZ700U (plasma)

I'm going HD, but I'll still be watching a fair amount of SD on Time Warner Cable in New York (with a Scientific Atlanta HD box). So, I want to find the best HD PQ without giving up too much PQ in SD.

I'm still wrestling with LCD vs. Plasma and also screen size. My HD interest is sports, then movies (no gaming, no PC).

Any comments on how these models handle SD would be appreciated:

Panasonic TH-42PZ700U (plasma)
Samsung LN-T4671F (LCD)
Panasonic TH-50PZ700U (plasma)It's my experience that if you get an excellent cable signal then a good LCD can look almost as good as a good plasma, but as the signal gets worse the reduction in PQ seems to get exponentially worse on the LCDs.

My friend has a 46" Sony XBR4 and my next door neighbor has a Sony Bravia 40S2000 and i can't get either of them to look as good as my older 42PX50U and my new-ish 42PZ700U. HD is somewhat close, but SD is noticeably worse on their LCDs. I must say that SD on my 42PZ700U looks better than on any other flat panel i've ever seen SD on, including last years Pioneer PDP-5070. I have not seen SD on any of the Kuros but i keep hearing that it's very good.

And since your focus is sports and movies, i'd definitely choose the 50PZ700U.

I have last year's Pioneer Elite 1140HD, and SD is indeed very good on it.

I briefly had last year's Panny 600U too, and it was good, though not as good as the Elite.

So Panasonics have probably improved some.