FYI-- a lot of charities won't take bubble TVS anymore, but Best Buy will take your old one for free.

Plasma's are getting really cheap but for a reason, don't buy one. Buy a LED HDTV (high definition). We just replaced an LCD rear projection flat screen with the LED HDTV flat screen and the picture is awesome. It feels like I'm in the movie/tv show b/c the actors look/feel like they are right there with you.

I just bought a 46" LG (I think) that was about $1000. I think it is the LED/LCD. The wireless is great because you can stream Netflix or Hulu directly without a box. We paid to have it wall mounted but it was awkwardly high and made our room look like a frat basement, so we un-wall mounted it. If you wall mount, you really need something on either side and underneath to make it look like it is meant to be there.

I will just warn you that the whole thing has ended up being a big pain - the $ for the wall mount, the $ to undo it, having to buy a new piece of furniture for it to stand on, having to buy an adaptor so we can use our non-digital stereo speakers. We are still working out how to use the speakers and control volume with the remote. It has ended up being a bigger project than I wanted to get into. I like it, but I did not realize what a hassle installing it would be.

We have a Samsung 46" in our basement on the wall and a Vizio 32" inch LEDin our guest room. Both are really high quality. We did the wall mount in the basement because we didn't want to worry abouLED t the kids touching the screen. They can still touch it on the wall, but it definitely seems more out of reach than if it was on a table. You don't need 3D.

donate to charity

If you have kids, wall mount all the way (TVs toppling over cause an increasing number of injuries every year -- older TVs were bigger and more stable).

You can get an articulating wall mount for less than $100 on Amazon -- you can tilt it side-to-side and up and down, while it's safely and attractively on the wall.

Disagree about wall mount -- if it's on a table, you can turn it a bit to minimize glare. And only mount if you can run all the wires through the wall -- friend of mine has her TV really high on a big wall and all the wires run down about 4 feet below it. Ug.Ly.

this a great, neutral site for technology reviews and product info:

http://reviews.cnet.com/televisions/?tag=hdr;brandnav

Best option for me would be a LED LCD. Actuallt if you can find a LED rear projection in the size you want (Mitsubishi still makes one in 72" the picture is amazing but they have a larger footprint and can't be wall mounted .

At least 120 Htz refresh rate and the highest contrast ratio you can find.

Also ask about viewing angle.

The other stuff (3-D, wirelss internet, ect. ) is all nice options. But then it's something else that can go wrong.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 40" Samsung LED and love it. LOVE it. Pay attention to the position in which you typically watch TV (head-on vs. from one side or the other of the couch) and whether there's direct light from a window that would hit it - there are guidelines on which types of TV's are better depending on those things. Flat screens have gotten so cheap lately - you're lucky. Mine was like $2000 and now it's down to $700.

+1. Not sure what size we have (46" I think) and it isn't wall mounted but we love ours too. You can stream Netflix and Pandora on it. You probably want to get something bigger than what you think you want.

I have a 40" Samsung LED and love it. LOVE it. Pay attention to the position in which you typically watch TV (head-on vs. from one side or the other of the couch) and whether there's direct light from a window that would hit it - there are guidelines on which types of TV's are better depending on those things. Flat screens have gotten so cheap lately - you're lucky. Mine was like $2000 and now it's down to $700.

In our house, it's the plasma that's popular. But, if there's a lot of sunlight it's hard to see from the glare. Magee with the wall mount if you have the right type area. Didn't work for two of our TVs because of cement walls in our house.

Get an LED, 120 hz.

Get a high-quality (read: smart TV) LED TV that's got wireless internet and local dimming. That's all you need to know.

Oh, and spring for the wall mount. SO much nicer looking.

All of my TV's are from the '90's. I never had the money to upgrade, so I have no knowledge about modern TVs. Now I'm thinking of surprising DH for Christmas. So, what is the difference between LED, plasma, and LCD?