I am currently in the market for a new television. I have Direct TV (5 year old receiver)...

I have heard that one of these two, LCD/Plasma has a longer life span than the other. Is this true? I want the best for my investment.

I have a LCD and I LOVE IT!! I know they have improved plasma's since I was in the market to buy a TV about 3 years ago. I think LCD has the longer life. My opinion is LCD is better. I have a Samsung 40" LCD and everyone who comes to my house to watch anything sits there slack jawed for the first 5 minutes because they can not believe how clear it is.

Is the LCD good for gaming? My husband and son LOVE to game!!

When I got a new TV a couple of years ago, here's what my research told me. LCD's have better clarity and plasmas have better color. LCD's have a slightly longer life. Plasmas have a "mirrored" face and LCD's have a matte face. Since we have a window on the wall opposite the TV and we didn't want to see its reflection in the TV, and since we wanted a lot of clarity, we went for LCD. We love it!!

I have a Wii hooked up to my LCD and it looks great. The Samsung I have actually has a game mode it speeds up the scaling so the games do not lag behind. So you definitely want to check to make sure the TV you get does have that mode.

Is the LCD good for gaming? My husband and son LOVE to game!!!

If you will be gaming you should only get an LCD... a plasma is more likely to have images burn into the screen that are not moving... in fact someone at best buy told me they will not honor the warranty on a plasma TV if you play video games on it and an image gets burned into the screen.

I'm sure since then this is much less of a problem on newer plasma tv's but it's something to consider.

My boss is a TV fanatic and prefers LCD to Plasma for a few reasons.

1. Plasma screens are very sensitive and you can ruin the screen simply by installing it, if you don't know what you are doing.

2. Plasma screens are subject to burn in images like a previous poster mentioned.

3. Plasma screens get dimmer over time. LCDs hold their brightness and are more easily repaired.

LCD's have to be backlit. Usually fluorescent tubes are used. LEDs are being used in high end laptops.

Plasma TV's run warmer. They are basically a lot of little neon lamps. Neon lamps, do degrade over time. The picture tends to be brighter and more colorful. They are also slower to switch states.

Thank you all for your replies. I'll be looking at LCDs this weekend then!!

Well, I spent weeks researching on the Internet. I decided on plasma for several reasons. I ended up with a Panasonic 42'' 1080p. With the new plasmas, there is very little reflective glare as they also have a somewhat "matte" surface. As for burn in, really, not an issue anymore as the technology has improved. Even the guys at Sony, who only make LCD's now, said that 120Hz. Still is not fast enough to handle gaming systems like a PS3 (which I have). The fastes LCDs are 120Hz. Plasmas run at something like 480-600. There is absolutley no motion slowing or blur when watching sports or playing games. All this and the plasmas are a lot less expensive inch per inch than an LCD. The life span of my TV is rated at 100,000 hours. No regrets for a plasma here.