shams said:
I have got to hit the sack, so no time to properly follow up your post. But I will say: 1/ I am definitely going Plasma. No interest in LCD - worst possible solution for what I want (movies, Wii). The new/modern Plasma's have solved all/most of the issues of the old ones - last for a lot longer, etc. And they look a hell of a lot better than LCD screens, no viewing angle issues, better blacks/colour (etc..). 2/ The split here is still about 50/50 480p/720p sets. I don't see 480p screens going away anytime soon. Got one for my partners mother - and she loves it. 3/ I would not consider getting a 1080p set for a few more years at least. IMO, they are quite pointless at this point in time (I wouldn't recommend them to anyone). Don't look significantly better than 720p, cost a lot more, and not enough things drive them properly. ... Main reason I am actually going to upgrade is that I can't use my Wii in 480p properly ATM. My TV is a "little" old, and actually has a separate component input for 480p signals versus component non-480p signals. And since not everything on the Wii runs in 480p (i.e. VC titles and more), its real pain to get around and switch those inputs around just when switching games. (My DVD player upsamples to 720p as well, so movies will look a little nicer I suppose. And a couple of other reasons. And I may end up with a 360 next year... sometime).
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1) About the only advantage Plasmas have theses days over LCDs is the contrast ratio (hence your last point for blacks/colours). That said, if you were in the market for a true 1080p display, the only plamsa I'm aware of that does that is by Panasonic and retails for almost AU$19,000. That is where LCD definitely comes out in front. In the 720p range, there probably isn't a huge difference and just come to personal preference.
2) Most of the sets I've seen in places like Harvey Normans, Domayne, etc.. are 720p. Can't say I've really looked at anything below 20" in the past though, so maybe they are there. BigW sells some EDTV sets still, but they are mostly no name Chinese brands.
3) For the eye to fully resolve 1080p is dependent on how far you sit back from the TV. For a 40" screen, you shouldn't sit any more than about 1.6m away and for a 50" screen its about 2m. Given most people sit much futher away than this, while 1080p might look somewhat better than 720p, it isn't until you get closer that you'd truely appreciate it anyhow. For 720p, while I've never seen anything to directly calculate it, based off the previous data and the 480/576p data I've seen, I'd suggest around about 3m and 3.5m respectively (it is 4.2m and 5.2m for SD pictures).
It is also dependent on constrast, so the 1080p plasma i mentioned before will have a picture which is much more easier to see the detail on than any current LCD panel.
