Be careful!!!  Your next TV buy should be selected so that it fits your home entertainment needs.  These include TV, your PC, games and surround sound music needs. for a careful analysis

Plasma
Virtually all plasma displays are wide-screen designs, meaning they have a 16:9 ratio of screen width to screen height (also referred to as aspect ratio), which is the standard for HDTV and very close to the ratio used for most modern movies. This makes them more rectangular than the traditional, almost square 4:3 displays. With a handful of exceptions, screen sizes start at 42 inches diagonal and range up to 61 inches.

You get what you pay for in plasma, which means you can't expect to get the same picture quality from an $1800 42-inch display that you would from a same-size model selling for $3000. The budget model will most likely be an enhanced-definition screen rather than high definition and will have poorer contrast; that translates to a softer picture with less punch and detail.

Even the best plasmas do not quite match the ability of good CRT sets to reproduce deep blacks and gradations of dark grey. They're close enough now, however, that you probably wouldn't notice except in a direct comparison. Like CRTs, plasmas use phosphors to generate light, which means they can be subject to "burn-in". When a static image is left on the screen for a long time (a station logo or a text banner, for example), it may not completely disappear when the image changes.

This is particularly likely to be an issue if you watch a lot of standard TV programming on a wide-screen display or play a lot of games with static backgrounds. Fortunately, you can minimize the risk by keeping contrast and brightness settings reasonable (virtually all TV sets come out of the box with their contrast, brightness, colour and sharpness controls turned up too high) and by using stretch modes to fill the screen when you're watching 4:3 programming. In addition, many models now use pixel-shifting strategies, which continually move the image on the screen in imperceptibly tiny increments to help prevent burn-in.

Although some plasma displays come with wing speakers that can be attached to the sides, many are strictly video displays with neither speakers nor any built-in TV tuner. You will need to factor those additional costs into your budget.

LCD
LCD screens range from 15-inch models (or sometimes even smaller ones) designed primarily as computer monitors up to 65-inch wide-screen designs complete with speakers and TV tuners. At screen sizes less than 42 inches, wide-screen HDTV LCDs have become increasingly price-competitive with similar-size direct-view CRT sets, though, for the most part, they still sell at a premium. A 32-inch wide-screen display has about the same screen height as a 27-inch TV with a conventional 4:3 aspect ratio. In screen sizes where LCDs compete directly with plasmas, the LCDs typically are more expensive, with the gap rising as the screen size increases.

LCDs have lower contrast ratios than plasmas, primarily because they have a harder time reproducing deep black and dark grays. Plus, they have slower response times. They also tend to be one to several inches thicker than plasmas and have a narrower effective viewing angle. (Plasmas, like CRTs, are easily viewable from well off to the side and do not exhibit any change in brightness as you stand up or sit down.) On the other hand, LCDs are completely immune to burn-in, are easier to view in brightly lit rooms and more often include all the standard features of a conventional TV.

LCDs also run cooler than plasmas, minimizing the need for potentially noisy fan cooling. An LCD is a particularly attractive choice in situations where a plasma would be too large or where you want a display that can serve double duty as a TV set and computer monitor

Some Technical Information:

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Important: Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio describes the relationship of screen width to screen height. Conventional sets have a 4:3 aspect ratio, whereas wide-screen models are 16:9. Wide screens are the future. HDTV is a wide-screen format, for one thing. For another, DVDs usually look better on wide-screen displays because nearly every movie made in the last 50 years was filmed in an aspect ratio of either 1.85:1 (very close to 16:9, which is 1.78:1) or 2.35:1 (even wider than 16:9).

Important: Resolution
Non-CRT displays, such as plasmas and LCDs, are fixed-pixel arrays, which means they have rows and columns of individual picture elements that turn on and off to produce the necessary patterns of light. Resolution is specified as the number of pixel columns by the number of pixel rows--640 by 480, for example, or 1280 by 720. Resolution and, to a somewhat lesser degree, contrast ratio determine perceived picture detail.

Digital content currently is delivered in one of four formats: 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. The 480i format is the same as that used for standard analog TV and, when programming originally in 480i is delivered by digital cable or satellite to your home, it retains that format. DVDs are sometimes mastered in 480p, but mostly they are 480i. However, a progressive-scan DVD player can deinterlace 480i DVDs to create 480p output. The 720p and 1080i formats are used by satellite, cable and over-the-air-broadcast high-definition content providers, as well as some advanced DVD players that upconvert 480i and 480p content. When Blu-ray and HD-DVD players come on the market in 2006, they will play discs that actually carry 720p or 1080i video.

Generally speaking, a display is considered high definition if it is wide-screen and has a total pixel count approaching 1 million. So, 1920 by 1080, 1280 by 720, 1366 by 768 and 1024 by 1024 are all examples of high-definition display resolutions. Small differences are not very consequential at greater than 1280 by 720, the specified resolution of the 720p high-definition format. Any resolution of 1280 by 720 or greater is best for viewing high-definition broadcast and DVD content, although, if you sit close to a large screen, you may prefer one of the new 1920 by 1080 (1080p) displays. Non-HD wide screen is called enhanced-definition; a typical ED resolution is 852 by 480. Standard-definition, or SD, includes 640 by 480 and 720 by 480. Enhanced-definition displays are best for 480p content such as that from progressive-scan DVD players.

Important: Video inputs
The number and type of video inputs determine which sources you can use with the display.
Composite video: This input type has the lowest quality, but the broadest compatibility. Any device that has video outputs will include composite video among them. Connection is made with a single 75-ohm coaxial cable between RCA jacks.

S-Video: S-Video offers better quality than composite video, and most video sources except standard VCRs now have S-Video outputs. Connection is made with a special cable and multi-pin sockets.

Component video: This high-quality option is the minimum standard for connecting HDTV tuners and progressive-scan DVD players. It requires three 75-ohm coaxial cables of the same type used for composite video.

RGB+H/V: This is another high-quality input type. An analog red-green-blue horizontal/vertical connection is sometimes used instead of component video. This input requires five 75-ohm coaxial cables of the same type used for composite video.

VGA: Video graphics array is a high-quality analog RGB connection used for computer connections and sometimes in place of RGB+H/V.

DVI: This is one of the highest-quality types of inputs. Digital visual interface is a digital RGB connection, commonly used for HDTV tuners and occasionally for DVD players; it may also be used for computer connections. It requires a special cable and multi-pin sockets. Some displays with a DVI input may work only with computers, so watch out for that if you plan to connect an HDTV tuner. Another thing you need for guaranteed HDTV compatibility is compliance with the HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) system.

HDMI: Also of the highest quality, High-Definition Multimedia Interface is basically DVI plus a digital audio link and HDCP. It can also be mated to DVI with adapter cables. This connection is used on some HDTV tuners and upconverting DVD players, and it will be the standard video connector for Blu-ray and HD-DVD players.

Minor: Comb filter type
Comb filters are necessary in analog TV to separate colour and luminance information without losing too much detail, but that's not an issue in HDTV. The only time the comb filter comes into play is for analog TV reception or any signal coming in via a composite video connection. For all other connections, it's out of the loop. Plus, the comb filters in all but budget CRT TVs are routinely very good these days