Originally Posted by Thrush

Not got an LCD myself, mine's a plasma (but only cos of the size), but when I was out shopping with my friend last year when he wanted a TV, we spent a whole day looking all over the place at varying LCD's, and eventually settled on a Sony 40". It's by no means top of the range, but it's not the budget model either, and for it's performance, it was better (both in performance and value for money) than a lot of others, including several Samsung and LG models. My brother has a 32" LG, and I'm not really impressed with it, neither is he.

What you need to remember is there are only two manufacturers of LCD panels - Sony and Samsung/LG (Samsung/LG are the same company) so these panels are all very much a sameness. However, the difference in the differeing brands is the "engine" in the TV - thats what all the "Bravia", "XD" etc is all about. Software and processing makes a big difference, and my money is on Sony for the better product (IMO of course)

As for Pio or Panny, I can't only comment on plasma's as I've only ever looked at their plasma's really. Pioneer are out of the game now, and have stopped producing plasma screens. They were number one, now Panasonic are. Panasonic have also just bought all the technology and software from Pioneer, so their TV's should be on a par with the most recent Pio's come next year, and after that they should surpass what Pio have achieved so far. Pio are renowned for making some of, if not the, best plasma's available.

General rule of thumb, in most cases, is <40" go for LCD. 40" and over, go for plasma. However, the rule can be broken for some of the 40-46" 1080p LCD panels, as these are getting very good now.

Black levels tend to be better on most plasma's compared to LCD's, tho LCD's are generally sharper in a like for like situation. The difference in hi-def, 24fps viewing is negligeable at best now tho.

LED is the new forefront of flat panel technology. More colour, more vibrant, more depth, more clarity, faster response times, quicker brightness and contrast changes. But more bucks too.......