Should I get a plasma TV or LCD for my big screen basement theater.?

We want to be able to play video games on it too.

Neither! Unless you have a pressing need to be standing with your shoulder against the wall that the TV is hanging on while you're watching a movie there are much better answers for price and picture quality. The people suggesting front projectors are on a good track if you want a bigger screen, but to really take advantage of a front projector you need to purchase a screen to project it onto, and you will need an axpensive one if you want great quality video (just projecting the picture onto a wall, even if it has been painted with special "projector screen paints" just really will not cut it). Also, if there are any uncovered windows in your basement room the front projectors will struggle if the windows aren't covered completely during day viewing. It sounds to me like you may have some coin to drop if your considering Plasma or LCD flat panel big screens so with that in mind here is what I would buy: 1) if you, and company, will be sitting directly in front of the viewing area, with no one sitting sharply to the sides buy the best CRT rear Projection big screen that you can find i.e. The Misubishi Diamond series would be a nice place to start. I know that there are a lot of new hyped up technologies out there right now (many of them very promising) but, the best picture is still being presented front and center in front of a good rear projection TV. That being said, picture quality declines quickly the further you move from that central viewing location. 2) if the viewing angles are a problem The next best choice again comes from a rear projection setup, but these have newer technology assisting them: DLP projection, and LCD Projection TV's. There are some other technologies that you could look into like Lcos of HDILa, but in my experience DLP and LCD projection TV's stand out from the rest of the crowd in the micro device rear projection category. These TV's offer an increased viewing angle over the conventional CRT rear projection sets with only slightly less potential picture quality. (Now I know that some people will disagree with me on this point and say that the new tachnologies are better, however, I've never seen grainy lag following a perfectly thrown football on an HD rear projection CRT set, or grainy grid like black detail in the shadows of my favorite movies for that matter! The new technologies are fantastic, but they aren't perfected yet!) To finish up, Plasma and LCD flat panel TV's are great where space is an issue, but while that small package looks awfully cool hanging on the wall it sure has its limitations. That grainy lag behind fast motion being one, black level and depth being another huge problem. Without the ability to reproduce true black (which is the case with every flat panel tv that I've encountered) the picture quality of flat panel TV's pales in comparison to a properly tuned up rear projection set. As far as video games go the only technology that has a real problem with burn in is Plasma. Other technologies have the potential for burn in but the chances are very low. i.e. you would have to leave a game menu up on the TV for days without changing anything in order for burn in to be a problem. (please tell me you won't do that!) Well there's my shpeel. I hope that what I have said might be useful to you. Good luck with your TV selection! lcd - more reliable technology For a basement theater I would get a DLP front projector. The most bang for your buck. The best picture. Plays well with consoles and PC. go for it 50" plasma start around 2500 and up you can play vidoe games on the better ones like samsung have a game mode which basicly turns down the brightness and contast on the input down just rember dont leave the game paused for a more than a few minutes so you wont suffer from burn in just like big screen tvs for the last 30 years most plasma have 60000 half life that 7 hours aday for 18 years First of all, mrknositall is absolutley correct. If you putting this in a basement, get a good front projector. Make sure it is a HT projector and not a multimedia projector. You won't be sorry.

Bamos, what makes LCD a more reliable technology? Please expand on your answer. I'd like to hear it.

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