I've found reviews can often lag behind model launches, particularly magazine reviews, so it is hard to know where to go to get reviews on the kit actually in the shops.

I did a lot of research before I bought my LCD TV and this is what i found:

Plasma's have the most natural looking colors (warm tone) and the most accurate blacks, specially if you look at the Pioneer series plasmas. However, the draw back is the reflection if you are in a bright room. Also, there is no worries about ghosting as the refresh rate on a plasma is more than a human eye can handle (over 300mhz).

LCDs have more vibrant colors and the blacks on it depends more on the TV (cheaper LCDs show more of a charcoal than a true black). From what I noticed, SONY has the best blacks whereas Samsung has more color vibrance. Also, due to the matte screen and color vibrance, the LCD's handle bright rooms a lot better.

To compare, I watched Dark Knight on a Plasma and a LCD set right next to each other, and I could notice the difference in the black tones in the Hong Kong scene on the Plasma, whereas on the LCD it sort of blended in to a point where batman at times got lost in the background.

However, I chose a SONY LCD because we have a huge bay window in the room and the room is always pretty bright. But I would have chosen a plasma if it wasn't for the bright sunlight in the room during the day.

Some of the new Panasonic plasmas have a pretty good anti glare screen, look for the ones that the glass looks greenish when off. I don't like the matte anti reflective screens because the picture loses a lot of depth but if your room needs a matte screen then there isn't much you can do.

As a lot of people have said, plasma beats LCD or LED backlit LCD for picture quality hands down, the most expensive LCD you can buy isn't as good a mid high line plasma. Also 120/240Hz refresh rates can have some really bizarre effects on movies. It's really noticeable during camera pans. In just about every TV we've reviewed we ended up turning the feature off because the slight motion blur was preferable to the high refresh rate effect. It was least bothersome on high end Sonys on most bothersome on LG and Samsung no matter what line.

For the best value for picture quality I can't recommend the Samsung PN50B550 plasma enough, if I was in the market for a new TV that's what I would get. Everyone in the office was blown away by that set.

This is important!

If the room you're going to put it in has a lot of sunlight pouring into it, LCD is better than plasma - which is why we made the decision that Mohawk did as well (Vizio 55" LCD and it rocks).

Much appreciated folks, I'm getting a lot out of this thread. I'm leaning heavily toward a Samsung 6 or 7 series at this point, I think I'd be happy with the 120hz vs 240+, plus they have low response times which should keep stuttering down shouldn't it?

I wanna lean away from plasma TVs because of our living room (apparently burn-in is pretty much solved these days) being bright, but there are some GREAT prices on them. It's like they're trying to get rid of them.... Which scares me. Are there any downsides besides bright room performance that I'm not thinking of? Durability? I'll have to see one to judge just how bad they react to bright rooms.

I've also discovered that people have some sort of idiotic obsession to call Panasonic "Panny" and Samsung "Sammy". Why do they do it and why does it drive me up the wall?? Apologies if anyone here does it.

Keep in mind your room size and how far from the set you will be sitting. About 2x the screen size is about right.

Bright rooms are an issue with most plasmas, mostly from a reflection standpoint. Burn-in is less of an issue than it used to be, but can still happen. You'll also get "image retention," which is basically temporary burn-in, but it goes away over time. Most plasmas also buzz a little bit, which bothers many people, so if it's going to be in quiet area with the volume set low, you'll probably notice it. Plasmas also don't work, or don't work correctly, above 5000ft over sea level, so depending on where you live that could be an issue.

The actual display technology is not as important I don't believe as the features of the set for future compatibility. By that I mean that having a digital tuner, enough ports, etc., will probably have more of an impact on the set's useful life than the fact that it's plasma, so even if they stopped selling plasmas tomorrow your set would still work with new stuff as well as any other type of TV with similar features.

I've had CRT sets, a CRT rear-projection set, a DLP rear-projection set, smaller LCD sets and a plasma, and hands down the plasma has the best picture. I have not owned upper-end LCDs, so I can't compare it to them, but from what I understand it compares favorably at worst. However, it's not as care-free as an LCD, uses more power, runs hotter, and is more prone to reflection issues, so you will certainly want to consider your environment before making any choices.

With my older sets, I was constantly making adjustments to the picture, trying to get stuff in the shadows to show up while not having other areas too bright, stuff like that, and my girlfriend got tired of it. With the plasma all she has to put up with is me saying, every so often, "wow, that's a good picture - I really like this TV!"

I am extremely happy with my Samsung LN46B750....

If you want a better deal, you can't go wrong with the Samsung LN46B650. the older version.

My parents (basically the last people I know who didn't have a flat panel TV) recently bought an LN40B550 which I think looks great. I assume the 6xx etc mean higher end/capabilities? I kinda like the Touch of Colour too. Even if it's red and not my fave colour, blue, it still looks nice IMHO.

And just to muddy the waters a bit as to me getting plasma or LCD, I'm about 100 ft ASL here in NS, so plasma would work just fine.

As far as Samsung model numbers go yeah the 650 is higher end, 750 higher than that and so on. 2009 models are B, 2008 A and the new 2010's which are just coming out are C. LN is LCD, UN is LED backlit, PN is plasma. So it's type, size, year, series.