Agree with the later posters.
CRT, Plasma, LCD (best to worst picture quality).
Traditional CRT sets continue to give much better pictures (and I'd stick to 50Hz versions for anything other than DVD watching at present. If/when HDTV comes along then 100Hz may be worthwhile).
The reason LCD has replaced plasma is mostly down to the manufacturers. LCDs are cheaper to produce and can be used more flexibly in multi applications such as for both TV and as Laptop/PC monitors. Overall, their picture quality is inferior to Plasma and definitely inferior to CRT.
LCDs biggest problems are a narrower viewing angle, some 'smearing' of fast-moving action, poor contrast in dark scenes (killer for Sci-Fi fans) and generally poorer colour rendering. That said, plasma has serious problems with heat, fan-noise, burn-in and power-consumption and as already pointed out, reliability/fragility.
Where plasma still holds on is in bigger panel sizes (bigger than 40 ins). Less than 40 ins is now dominated by LCD. LCD will get bigger panels pretty soon, so plasma is definitely on the way out. However...
LCD has those serious drawbacks which are limitations of its technology. All TV manufacturers are looking at something new, driven by those shortcomings of LCD, and within only a few of years (2007/8?) I'd expect LCD will start to be replaced by FED technology to give much better viewing angle, picture detail, colour reproduction, lower power consumption, etc.
If they were my $ I'd get a decent 28/32 ins CRT for 'normal' viewing and a projector for those special DVD/XBox/PS2 nights.
CRT, Plasma, LCD (best to worst picture quality).
Traditional CRT sets continue to give much better pictures (and I'd stick to 50Hz versions for anything other than DVD watching at present. If/when HDTV comes along then 100Hz may be worthwhile).
The reason LCD has replaced plasma is mostly down to the manufacturers. LCDs are cheaper to produce and can be used more flexibly in multi applications such as for both TV and as Laptop/PC monitors. Overall, their picture quality is inferior to Plasma and definitely inferior to CRT.
LCDs biggest problems are a narrower viewing angle, some 'smearing' of fast-moving action, poor contrast in dark scenes (killer for Sci-Fi fans) and generally poorer colour rendering. That said, plasma has serious problems with heat, fan-noise, burn-in and power-consumption and as already pointed out, reliability/fragility.
Where plasma still holds on is in bigger panel sizes (bigger than 40 ins). Less than 40 ins is now dominated by LCD. LCD will get bigger panels pretty soon, so plasma is definitely on the way out. However...
LCD has those serious drawbacks which are limitations of its technology. All TV manufacturers are looking at something new, driven by those shortcomings of LCD, and within only a few of years (2007/8?) I'd expect LCD will start to be replaced by FED technology to give much better viewing angle, picture detail, colour reproduction, lower power consumption, etc.
If they were my $ I'd get a decent 28/32 ins CRT for 'normal' viewing and a projector for those special DVD/XBox/PS2 nights.
