The last time I bought a TV was about 6 years ago and I have NO idea what's with all these new HD/Plasma/LCD yada yada yada. The wife and I talked about upgrading when the current TV went out, just didn't think it'd be this soon.

Ok, so I really don't watch a ton of TV but when I do it's usually football, baseball, or movies. I guess my main concerns would be picture quality and reliability. It doesn't need to blow me away with extras but I do want something that is simply plug and play. I don't want to have to buy special adapters or anything (am I showing my TV ignorance? ).

The old TV is a 32" and I don't want to go smaller but I believe these new TV's demensions are much different (widescreen) so I'm not sure what would be comparable. Also we have an entertainment center which I think we want to scrap and just do a stand/base. Do most of these stands have slots for components such as DVD players, etc?

Guess I better get over to Best Buy and start looking around but any input would be great.

Best buy sucks... Get a 42"+ DLP... And DEFINITELY get HD... How much do you wanna spend?

I have this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009WAXSI/ and I love it (and as some people can attest to around here, I'm super picky about wanting good tech stuff )

Make sure if you get something that it has a HDMI input and 2+ component inputs. Cheaper HD TVs will often only have DVI and/or one component input. Other than that it just all depends on what you want... what size, what price range, plasma or LCD, etc.

Where do you recommend I shop at? I think the major places around here are Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fryes. Not sure where else I should look. What is a reasonable price for a 42 inch?

Derk, do you think LCD is better than plasma? Is there a cost difference between the two? I'm already making a list of what it needs to have even though I don't really know what it all means.

HD, DLP, HDMI + 2 component inputs. I feel like I'm learning a new language.

I have a LDP TV and love it. Here's my layman's education on the whole thing as I'm no expert either.

LDP is better than plasma because LDP does not have burning (plasma is a heated gas vs. LDP using thousands of tiny mirrors). LDP is also a bit cheaper. However, plasma is smaller and thinner so if that's important perhaps its better.

HD is a must. Once you start watching high definition for sports, you will NOT go back. Your TV will probably come HD ready and you'll just have to subscribe to it from your satellite or cable provider. They usually give you a new converter box.

Component, S video and HDMI are all fancy new ways to pipe the picture from the cable/satellite to the TV. S video is good. Component is better. Much better and on HD you'll be able to see it. DVI and HDMI are the best and are very noticable on HD channels. Regular channels are not that much different. I advise definitely buying the cable (for $100 probably) that allows you the DVI or HDMI connection. It's worth it.

To answer the Plasma vs. LCD question, http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages ... 94117.html

I pause my DVR a lot and play a lot of video games, so I felt that LCD was better to not run into problems with burn-in, though plasma TVs are getting better about it. Also the cost of LCD TVs was less at the time. I know there have been some price drops, but I don't know how comparable the prices are now.

BTW, when you buy cables, buy them from monoprice.com. Cheapest cables, great quality. Any AV forum will tell you to go there to get them

Be a real man and get the one I got.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSH ... to80%22TVs

The picture here does it absolutley no justice but you can read about it and go see it at Circuit City. You can find it online for around $3K

My mother, who up until this year still had rabbit ears was at my house 2 weeks ago and saw it. She now owns one.

HD on this beast is the 8th wonder of the world.