So I’ve got some spare cash and I’m thinking of getting one of those flat televisions. They seem expensive! Jinkies!
Anybody know anything about them? Are they cool? Can you hook up an XBox to them conveniently?
What?
They’re falt-y, every one of 'em. 
<D&R>
Well, I assume you are talking about plasma TVs?
If so here’s a brief intro to the issues surrounding them:
They typically look really good with cable TV, DSS, DVDs, and other high quality signals, but broadcast TV can sometimes look less than stellar.
They are also very prone to burn-in, so hooking an Xbox to one would seem to be a no-no.
There is some concern that they won’t last more than 10 years, but I have no idea what that concern is based on.
Also, there is a weird altitude restriction on them, so if you live in Denver or some place like that you may have trouble with one.
Personally, I think I’m going to wait for large screen fast LCD TVs. They will have none of the burn in or altitude problems associated with Plasmas, and have a proven track record behind them
A great place for more info is AVS Forum http://avsforum.com (The link button seems to be broken)
I don’t mean to sound too down on them, they have a phenomenal “cool” factor, and if you like the way it looks, and can swing the price, I’m sure you’d be happy. Incidentally, the best brands seem to be Fujitsu, Panasonic, and Pioneer, in that order
The falt panel ones seem to have a lot of fa(u)lts with them.
(sorry)
The flat ones look pretty good to me. I’d love to have something that looks less like a big box and more like a lean, trim, sophisticated thing that you can hang on the wall or something. But then, whereever you put it, I imagine you’re still going to have wires hanging down below it that detract from the ‘art object’ on wall impression.
If you’re looking for HDTV, make sure that the display will show HDTV at its full resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels). Mention that the screen can display ‘1080i’ is a good clue for this.
I’ve seen a fair number of screens advertised as ‘HDTV-compatible’, but when you get to the fine print, you discover that the display can accept 1080i signals, and then converts them to show at a lower resolution. There’s an eleven-thousand-dollar unit being promoted in Sony stores right now that is guilty of this.
I know I’d be pissed if I spent eleven thousand dollars on an allegedly-high-def TV to discover that it didn’t cover the full specs…