Plasma
Pros: Good black levels, high refresh rate
Cons: Dying breed, power hungry, heavy
LCD
Pros: Light, cheaper (than Plasma), bright
Cons: Washed out blacks, low refresh rates
LED
Pros: Deep blacks, good refresh, super thin, Eco friendly.
Cons: expensive
All new LCDs are going to have specs that include "120 hertz". This means that it refreshes the image 120 times a second, but with all content not exceeding 60 hertz, LCD's insert a black frame for each frame of picture. This helps them improve black levels and lag times. This artificial increase in the frame rate, creates a weird "floating" effect between the foreground and back ground. You will have to check this out in a store to see if it bothers you. It annoys me. Some people don't mind it and in fact prefer it.
What is best right now? Depends on your wallet. LED LCD is where its at. Highest color ratios, deepest blacks, thinest tvs that are also eco friendly. But a 50" will typically run around $2500+. The best bang for you buck will be last years models before LED LCD got big. You can find deals for last years top of the line for half their original price because of the new LEDs taking all the glory now.
I prefer Plasma because of the very natural and sharp image you get with it. Black levels are on point, frame rate is where it should be and picture is sharp. the problem is because everyone is moving toward cheaper LCDs Plasmas are hard to find, but still dominate the top picks in TVs even now.
Check out the ratings below from HD guru. They rate the new tvs. This is their top ten pick.
Where to buy? Def not best buy. They always intentionally over price them. Check online. once you find a TV you like see what it goes for on Amazon. Its good litmus test to see if the price you found is competitive. But if you have found the TV you like at best buy remember you can bargain. Dont take their price at face value. They place huge margins on their TVs and are def willing to cut into them to make a sale.
The best advice I can give is be patient. Shop around. Take sometime to figure out what you want, how big, and how much you want to spend. Then work on which store/website will give you the best deal for it.
Let me know if you have specific questions, if i dont know, i can def look into it.
holler.
