[G-MONEY]

Originally Posted by JD10367

Yes, but that's a 720p. If you're going bigger than 32" you probably want 1080p. (32" or smaller, it doesn't really matter as much, although Blu-Ray will look better with 1080p for sure.)

In short: LCD used to suck, but their pics are now pretty good. Plasma used to burn in, but they don't do so as much. DLP has a nice pic, but the bulbs can be expensive and I think they're best viewed straight-on and with little light in the room (although I could be wrong).

The smallest you probably want to go is 32" IMO. 27" just ain't worth it. But if you go too big the image won't be as sharp, so you have to ask if having a few extra inches is worth a reduction in picture quality.

You should go to your local big-box and check out some models side by side, keeping in mind that they've set the pics to look as good as possible in their store (but you'll still get the idea). Things to look for are resolution (720p vs. 1080p) and contrast ratio (the higher the better, i.e., a TV with a 20,000:1 contrast ratio will give you deeper blacks than, say, a TV with 5000:1) as well as number of inputs.

More on the inputs: Composite is the "old-school RCA style", a white and a red for your L-R sound and one yellow for the video image. That's the least quality. A step up is Component inputs, which takes that yellow and breaks it up instead into three color wires (Red, Green, Blue): this will give you a better picture. The highest quality is HDMI; the cables will rip you off if you buy them in the store, but you can get them cheap online. You want at LEAST two HDMI inputs (one for HD Cable and one for a Blu-Ray DVD player or a PS3 or something), as well as one, if not two, Component inputs (for an upscaling DVD player or a lesser-quality input from a game system like a PS2 or Wii), and a couple of old-style Composite inputs can't hurt either (for a really old VCR or something).

That is incredibly helpful. Thank you for that advice. Could you give me your thoughts on this one? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218086176467

From what I can tell it looks like a helluva deal. Great price, huge screen, 1080p, and 3 HDMI inputs as well as 2 components and 2 composites. The only thing I can find to be concerned about is 3000:1 contrast ratio, which seems like it might be low but I'm not really sure. Let me know what you think.