Chip, I work in television and all the techs here say the best possible picture comes from an old fashion glass picture tube in a high definition (HD) TV. Of course, they take up much more space than the plasmas or LCD's. Many people want the thin TV's because they look cool. But they don't always provide a better picture.

Picture quality improves this way, regular old TV -- plasma -- LCD -- high definition (HD) with glass picture tube. Plasmas and LCD's are also high definition but their resolution is not quite as good as you'll get with a glass tube. It's somewhere in between regular TV and true HD. I'm told that plasmas have a life of about seven years which may be less that you wanted to wait before buying another TV.

You should ask yourself how you are going to use the TV. Will you watch HD television or regular TV? HD is available over the air but it's only on some cable and direct satelite systems. If you have an HD TV connected to a cable system that doesn't transmit in HD then you're not getting the benefit of having an HD TV. And do you watch a lot of movies and DVD's which are shot in a wider screen format? A wide screen would be useful here and if it's HD you'll be able to take advantage of the slightly higher resolution of DVD's as compared to regular TV signals. And how much space do you have for the TV? Do you realy want or need a space-saving thin TV.

The best thing to do is go to a store like Best Buy or Circuit City where you can campare different models and choose which one is best for your needs. I hope this hasn't left you even more confused. Good luck. Tom.