LCD, LED, Plasma, which one?

By far LED.  I've done hours of research on this. 

Plasma is a gas that diminishes in time.  Over the months you will notice the screen not as sharp.

LED is a better technology over LCD because:

1) LED doesn't get as hot

2) Saves electricity which means more money in your pocket (more green)

3) LED bulbs last an average of 10,000 hours longer

4) Refresh rates of an LED are faster which means a clearer picture

Enjoy your new TV

I would go LED or Plasma

1.  Plasma does diminish over time but so does LCD.  This time is typically measured in tens of thousands of hours and not months.  I have had my plasma for 7 years and it runs 4+ hours per day at least and I have not seen any dimished pixels.  Mine is rated for 100,000 hours, (100000 / 4) / 365 = 68.49 years.  I am guessing that one of the system boards will fail long before I need to worry about the phosphors going dead.

2.  Plasma will produce better blacks and whites with the exception of some of the higher end LED tv's.  The reason they produce better blacks and whites is because the phosphors light themselves up.  Better blacks/whites means more contrast and that translates to deeper richer colors and a better picture.

3.  Plasma will provide a wider range of viewing because each pixel is lite up.  LED is getting better but still not quite as good.

4.  LED is uses about 1/3rd of the power of a similar sized Plasma TV and will typically run a little cooler.

5.  Backlighting from the LED's or LCD (flourescent) can provide better viewing in bright rooms.

6.  Plasma TV's are typically cheaper than the LED tv's.  However, that is changing all the time.

7.  Regarding 60Hz vs. 120Hz vs. 240Hz.  120/240 is great for gaming or sports but movie's can often look a little weird using 120/240.  Director's use tricks in cinematography to create certain moods, looks or add backgrounds to scenes.  To much detail can expose these tricks and make the scene look unatural and distracting.  Some of the manufacturer's are including a method to switch between refresh rates so that sports look smooth and movies look the way they were intended.

My only advice on which to buy would be to stay away from LCD.  The method of backlighting is flourescent tubes and washes out the picture.  The technology is dead other than lower end sets and LED's have come down enough now that the extra 50-100 dollars is worth the much improved picture over LCD.

I don't know much about the LED TVs, so I can't say anything about them. I have a LCD and love it. The picture is great, especially with HD signal or BluRay, and I've had no problems with it at all.

I steered away from plasma primarily because I read that there's a high probablility of the picture being distorted by heat. I live in the New Mexico desert, so there's ALWAYS a heat source somewhere near the TV. I also read that they're heavy, and I like to stick with things I can move by myself.

I did a quick search on LED TVs and found this site:

http://ledhdtvtelevisions.com/led-vs-lcd/

I've not read all of it, but it seems to address the questions I was able to think of.

I was recently at HH Gregg perusing televisions myself.  The salesman I spoke with was an engineering student in college who worked part-time.  He told me two things that stuck:

1. Stick with either LED or Plasma as LCD technology is going the way of the cassette tape. 

2. There are only four manufacturers that make the tv's any more: Sharp, Samsung, Panasonic and LG.  

The salesman advised that for LED technology I should go with Samsung as they have really produced a great product.  As for plasma, he said to take a hard look at Panasonic.  They recently bought out Pioneer's (who got out of the plasma business) elite patents and are incorporating that technology into their tv's.

Just though I'd pass it along. 

Do Sony, Toshiba, Westinghouse, Philips, etc all farm out their manufacturing? 

As for "going the way of the cassette tape", I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean for a TV. I have a rear projection TV that we got just as LCD TV's were hitting the market. You cannot find rear projection anymore, despite the fact that it is more energy efficient than the other technologies (as well as the old tube style TV's).  It still has sharp picture, with a full 1080p screen, and I only recently had to replace the bulb. A TV is not like a cassette tape - I'm not going to run out of some way of watching TV with an older one or be unable to find content I can watch.

Sounds to me like your salesperson was giving you a bunch of salesguyspeak. It sounds like smartypantsenglish, except for the whole truthy part of things.

If you can control the lighting (curtains or basement) plasma is still king for picture hands down. Samsung 3d plasma 6500 or better was what I went with.

If you have sky lights or other light sources you need to deal with, LED.

If I could love a TV as much as bradword loves the iPhone, I do.  My Samsung LED is a-ma-zing.  And it hasn't worn off since July 2010 when I bought it.

The article is from 2008 - a little dated. It looks like what they were saying (and it may still be true) is that Sony farms out the manufacturing of the physical components to a couple of manufacturers. But nothing about who actually designs the product. It reminds me of when I bought my first bike in my 20's, and the salesman told me that since all bikes use Shimano components, they are really all the same, and the brand did not matter.If anything, such a statement is more true of bikes than TV's, in that the bikes manufacturers have a limited number of component styles to use, while the TV manufacturer can specify whatever design they think will work for them, and use the resources of the plant to actually MAKE the parts. 

I get that the cassette reference meant they will stop making them. I don't get how that matters. When I was in my teens, I was looking at a stereo that had an 8-track built in (I am on the older side). The salesguy in that case gave me good advice, that 8 tracks were going out of style. Indeed, within a couple of years, if I would have bought that player, I would not be able to find new music on an 8 track, and only been able to play old music that I already owned. But a discontinued TV will still play new content. And given the life span of the TV, by the time it stops working, the technology would have moved on quite a bit (unless you drop or shoot the TV - then all bets are off).

Why would a salesperson lie? I can think of several reasons, starting with unintentional mis-statements and going to deliberate efforts to boost commissions.

Lots of good info here!

DW and I have a Plasma.  It is great in light and dark conditions although it does have a glossy cover over the screen that reflects light when it shines directly on the set.

One thing that has not been mentioned is 3D vs non-3D.  I for one HATE watching 3D, I think the picture is awful, and all i get from it is a headache, HOWEVER I would not hesitate to by a 3D set and here is my reasoning:

The processors needed to process a 3D image HAVE to be quality.  SO any 3D set (even a low end set) is bound to give you a great non-3D picture.  You do have the ability to watch non-3D programming as well.

One more tid bit I read, LED is actually LED backlit, it is still an LCD display, just back lit with LEDs, which reduces energy consumption and aids in lighting the picture and crystals.  Please correct me if I'm wrong on that though!

Re 3D - I also wasn't going to spend any extra money on it, but all the mid-higher end units seem to have it now. And I looked at a bunch. Several have "dumb" glasses - I found them all weak. The samsungs are battery powered and need to bluetooth pair to the TV. Once done, they are pretty amazing. It's not so much that stuff pops out of the screen, more like depth as you would see looking into a deep picture box. I only have the Shrek series in 3d, but the PS3 does it for many new games automatically which I've played around with and it's very nice.

Also, the higher models have the anti-glare screen (above poster mentioned glare). That's one of the main differences between the D550 and the D6500 (and a pretty major requirement for almost any room).

Thanks for all of the advice.  There was much more to learn that what I expected. 

 I went with a Vizio 32" LED.  Mostly due to price and other options or lack of.  I was hoping to go for bigger, but with what the retailer had, they would have been too big for the cabinet the tv will be in. 

 I hooked it up to an a DVD player just to see if it would work and the picture is pretty good.  Now just to get it hooked up to the satellite. 

Yes: LCD TVs are LCD panels with florescent backlighting.  "LED" TVs are LCD panels with LED backlighting.

I believe there are some TRUE LED panels, but they are upwards of $10k

Organic led is the next step.

If you find the picture for normal tv shows looks "soap opera"ish, you can fix it with some settings (interpolation for one)