Is there a decent 65 / 70" LED TV out there?

Is there a reason you aren't considering plasma?

Don't worry so much about bright rooms and plasmas. I have a panny 50st30 (2 year old model comparable to the 50st50 this year) in our bedroom that gets LOTS of pm light. no worries watching it. It has a very nice AR coating. I think you mean image retention (IR) not burn in. I notice it from the comcast DVR menu, but it goes away when switching to real content. It's also shouldn't be a a concern for you.

What you do have to choose is the size. plasma only goes to 65''. if you need/want 70'' (or bigger), then you have to go LED backlit LCD.

Best,
jeff

I have the Sharp 60C8470U, the 70" is essentially the same. I would highly recommend this TV.

the only reason not to get a plasma in this scenario is if you think you'll have issues with kids throwing things at the screen in which case you can justify spending that 6k due to getting something with gorrilla glass. At less than half the price of the sony, if you ever did manage to get burn in (which is extremely hard to do and would need some serious abuse to achieve) you could buy another one at that price and still console yourself knowing you have better PQ in both cases.

Having read everything above...
Plasma doesn't cost that much more (these days) to operate year to year. Especially, not so much more to justify the price tag of large LCDs with good image quality. Cost to performance ratio is pretty high on a model like the 65ST50.
Plasmas can have an anti-glare film which solves your windows concern.
I am a video gamer, and (big surprise coming next...) a little more satisfied by plasma PQ/refresh. Set the TV for game mode on gaming input and ask your kids to turn the TV off when not using it.

If your kids throw a controller and hit the TV, nothing saves you. Gorilla glass Sony's will still crack the panel and I've seen it happen once. Gorilla glass may not scratch or break easily, but it also gives to pressure. You can push with your finger hard enough to move the LCD surface. Another note to the above, the Sharp Elite has a little glare. Ive noticed all TVs of decent PQ have a glossy finish.

I would suggest a 65ST50 or a 70" Sharp LE845. Sharp is very well priced for what they offer and the 70" TV is not that bad. If the decision on a TV isn't meaningful enough for you to try to convince the other half to accept a plasma get the Sharp.

You could consider the Vizio M3D651SV. It has a glossy screen though, which might give you concern depending on where the windows are. Mine looks good even with lots of light. BUT if you have a light source at the right angle you can get refections. If you decide to try it, you might want to get from a local source you can return to.

Rick

There are trade offs to both LCD/LED sets and plasmas.

I like the picture better on plasmas, but have had bad luck with buzzing (or am just very sensitive to it). Tried a Vizio plasma several years back that buzzed loudly and got IR easily. Tech couldn't quiet the buzzing so I ended up getting a Sony LCD RPTV.

I just decided to upgrade and decided to give the Panny 55UT50 plasma a try. Loved the picture. Got some IR from CNN/ESPN and video games a few times, but it went away pretty quickly. But it still had a loud buzz I could hear over the sound at normal volumes on bright scenes--and especially loud if I displayed a white slide with no sound (could hear it 15 or so feet away). Again the tech wasn't able to fix it--just replaced the screws and said the buzzing was at normal levels and he could barely hear it. My girlfriend commented on how loud the white screen was during break in--so it wasn't just me. Though she didn't notice it when watching things with volume on.

Anyway, gave up again and I'm sending it back to Amazon and trying the 55" Panny LED (ET5 series). I know I probably won't like the PQ as much--especially for movies with dark scenes. But I"m not that much of a videophile and will almost definitely be happier making that trade off for know buzzing and being totally worry free about IR. The UT50 also has a glossy screen and no filter, so reflections are a big issue. I can control lighting, but it gets old having my blinds down and missing out on my 21st story view all day if I want to watch TV!

Point of this rambling is there's no right or wrong answer as to what's best as it just comes down to how you use the TV and what your personal pet peeves about displays are. Videophiles will probably mostly go toward plasma due to the blacks and color accuracy. Non videophiles will be more split over whether buzzing is noticeable/bothersome, whether they display static images for hours (long gaming sessions of the same game, hours and hours of ESPN/CNN) etc.