I'm also concerned about the burn-in on plasmas. I've seen it several times and it has always scared me away from plasmas. But those sets were very early $30,000 NEC's we had at work and I know newer sets are less prone to burn-in. I'm not going to do any gaming on this set so to me the better PQ out weighs the burn-in issue. I have a Sharp 45" LCD hanging in my bedroom so I'm very familiar with the issues of LCD. The motion blur is pretty much a thing of the past. The issue is there are few LCD TV's in the 57"-65" range and the ones that are available are very expensive. The Samsung and Panasonic plasma TV's I'm looking to buy were next to the Sharp 65" SE and both plasmas looked better than the Sharp LCD.
The new Samsung LED backlight 6 LCD's look amazing and if I could afford their 57" LCD that would be the set I'd buy. But to increase their contrast ratio Samsung has added a reflective screen (or glass) to the panel so that kills one of LCD's advantages. And to me non reflective screens are a big advantage. I've been living with my Toshiba 56H80 for almost eight years now and would like to get a TV that's less reflective. My new home will have less of an issue with light than my current home and regardless what anybody thinks the Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas with "anti-glare screens" aren't much better than the old ones and still reflect images A LOT.
I'm still comtemplating the following three in this order:
1 Pioneer 6010FD
2 Samsung 58A550
3 Panasonic 58PZ700U
Has anybody else had a chance to check out the NEW Samsung? They are so new that hardly anybody has them.
You might want to read the following thread about a fairly new plasma TV with burn-in:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42394&highlight=burn
IF I were going to buy a plasma TV, I would go with Panasonic, because I think they give the best picture for the money and are relatively reliable. But I would not buy a plasma.
Whether you will have a problem with burn in or not is going to depend upon many factors, such as the particular model you buy, and then how you use it. For example, if you watch a lot of material that is not the aspect ratio of the TV, and if you don't stretch and/or crop the image to fit, you are more likely to have burn in problems, particularly if you have the letter boxing and column boxing black instead of gray (unfortunately, black looks better than gray). Using whatever pixel-shifting/screen saver modes the TV has should also help in preventing burn in. Regardless of burn in, though, it will use more power and generate more heat than other TVs. At least some of the price difference will be lost in increased power bills.
If you don't need a thin screen, you might want to consider a rear projection model. You can get much more picture for your money that way. And if you have the proper room for it, and don't mind a bit more trouble setting it up, front projection would be my TV of choice, as it is the most like a movie theater.
Also, if you are not in a hurry to buy the TV, I am sure that the large LCD TVs will drop in price. The smaller ones did, and are still dropping in price, while getting better. The same will undoubtedly be true of the larger models.
But given the size of TV you want, if you need the TV soon, and if you need a thin TV, and if your viewing habits will permit it, a plasma is probably the most practical choice.
