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Henry Hollander

In my view, a large plasma will generally look the best, with better blacks and wider viewing angles than rear-pros and LCDs. Also, rear-pros and LCDs can suffer from uneven lighting and thus poor uniformity across the screen.

On the other hand, there are no consumer plasmas measuring 70 inches or more. The largest are 65 inches from Panasonic and Samsung; LG tops out at 60 inches. Panasonic makes several larger professional plasmas, including the 85-inch TH-85PF12U ($30,000), 103-inch TH-103PF12U ($50,000), and 152-inch TH-UX1 ($500,000), shown above.

Of course, these are all far more expensive than even the largest rear-pro (the 92-inch Mitsubishi WD-92840, ~$6000) and virtually all large LCDs. Sharp's 70-inch LC-70LE32U ($3800) is currently the largest consumer LCD available, but LG is planning to release a 72-incher next year, though no pricing has been announced.

As for whether a large LCD or rear-pro has better picture quality, I'd say they're about the same overall. The decision of which to get has more to do with cost, screen size, and footprint than picture quality. Rear-pros are more readily available in larger screen sizes, but they occupy more floor space, and you have to factor in the cost of regular lamp replacement (unless you get a LaserVue set).

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