I bought a Sony 32" plasma that I keep in the garage for treadmill exercises. No ESPN sports but the screen has seen a mix of standard aspect ratio (4:3) shows and widescreen. There is a visible burn-in where you see a “ghost” image of 4:3 within the 16:9 widescreen. I also play DVDs on it and set my player to leave the “playing time remaining” status in the corner. That information has also been burned into the screen.
My TV was used 2 hours a day for 700+ days and I would consider that usage less than the average home user.
We have a plasma and given the price it was the best purchase. But the glare is pretty bad on it and it is a power hog. Realy it is all about trade-offs, what do you value most of all.
BTW we got a 50" and thought, “this is maybe too big.” WRONG. We coul easily go quite a bit bigger and not feel overwhelmed.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don’t spend enough time around different sets to have a ranking. When a client needs a new set, or sets, we go shopping at a place where I know the sales staff and they let me have the remotes and put them through the paces. I used to be the chief tech for a five store chain that closed a few years back, and the sales staff from those stores wound up at a dozen different places. One client got a Sony LCD, another got a bunch of LG plasmas, another was limited to units that had PIP because he needs split screen for seeing a C/Ku satellite receiver screen on one side and a DVB receiver screen on the other. For instance, I would never buy another Sony if I’m integrating it into a programmable remote system because their interface doesn’t make it easy to go directly to a single input on some of their models. They all have limitations and surprises and you need to know what you’re looking for in a set. One person’s best set might not work for you at all.
As long as the TV is reliable, picture quality is subjective. One other thing you might test if possible is the TV interface. How easy is it to do common functions on the remote, like switching inputs, programming channels, channel up/down, mute, sleep timer, etc? If you can play with some in the store it might help. FWIW, I like my Samsung interface, but I played with a Toshiba recently and found it cumbersome to switch inputs and program channels. Of course you don’t need to worry about programming channels if you’re not using an antenna.
Dueling anecdotes, but a friend has had a Panasonic plasma for ~3.5 years as his main TV for his family of five. No burn in and only one instance he can recall of temporary ghosting ( from pausing for ~20 minutes ).
If burn-in hasn’t disappeared, it certainly seems to have declined at least in impact according various articles and numerous anecdotal reports. A short 2008 article on the topic: Your TV Buying Guide: College 2023 Edition - CNET
Thanks everyone so much for your input. We’re now leaning toward LCD, but now we’re debating going bigger. Time to see how much space we have on the wall. . .