To get rid of that old tube TV and be a part of the digital revolution, you need to know the actual technology of plasma & flat panel LCD so that you can choose which one is right for you.
The Plasma TV is made up of small gas plasma cells that have a specific electrical voltage charged into them that creates the picture; on the other hand the flat panel LCD TV has liquid crystals sandwiched in the middle of 2 glass plates.
If you take a trip to the local electronics store and view for yourself, you can be the judge of the image quality. In the past, Plasma TVs had a much better contrast ratio than LCDs. Plasmas were easier and cheaper to make for the larger screen sizes but advances in technology and manufacturing has evened out the playing field.
Not only that, Plasma screens had much better viewing angles than flat panel LCD TV. When viewing an LCD screen off center, the pictures become darker and the colors change appearance. But this problem has been eliminated by modern day manufacturing. But if you have any doubt then you should check the viewing angle when you are looking at flat screens at the electronics store.
With the higher resolution and have a tendency to look sharper and clearer than the Plasma, Flat panel LCD TV is better when looking at the image in a resolution of 1080i/p. If your rooms are full of windows, the Plasma screens can be marred easily to have a sheet of glass over them for protection which doesnt add some weight.
Flat panel LCD TVs have reportedly had issues with rapidly moving images becoming blurred. You must pay attention to the refresh rate. Be certain to purchase a refresh rate below 16ms to get the best quality. The high end models today are more towards the 12ms range in fact.
The plasma TV was expected to last about 20,000 hours while flat panel LCD had a 60,000 hour life time. The newer generations of plasmas have now been improved to match the life time of the LCD, because we always need more.
