The Silver Screen

We're looking to put together a new home theater as our current HDTV is rapidly deteriorating and it's our only television. So now's a good time to get some surround action again, I've missed it what with the big Polks packed up in the basement.

I have been mired in specs and reviews for days now, trying to carefully pick apart the cunningly intertwined layers of marketing and reality. Specs are easy to fudge, so you can't really trust them.

At a basic level, I've got everything picked out, except one major decision. This choice plagues every movie buff who buys a large panel TV today: LCD or Plasma.

They each have benefits and down-sides, of course:

Advantage LCD

Light weight

Low power consumption

Brighter - better viewing in well-lit room

No chance of screen burn in

Advantage Plasma

Much better blacks

Smoother, more "movie-like" picture

Better handling of motion - no jitters

Better off-axis viewing - no color shifts or dimming

The cost is pretty much a wash. I'm avoiding 3D for now, because it's still in its infancy as a technology and I expect it to change drastically very soon.

I imagine you who know me could guess right now which of these technologies I'm leaning towards. I am a serious movie lover and most of my favorite movies are dark and gloomy so I am probably a plasma guy. But there are newer LCDs coming out that have technology to improve blacks, although not to the level of plasma yet. Plasma has improved greatly recently and issues that have plagued them in the past such as burn-in and panel life are mostly in the past.

Currently, the highest rated television in picture quality is the Panasonic VIERA VT20/25, it pretty much beats everything else out there, and CNET stated that it was the second best picture they have ever seen on a television (the first was a Pioneer Elite from 2008 that is no longer made - Panasonic bought them out). It's also fairly expensive and 3D - something I'm avoiding.

Hmmm. What to do?