Technology
Obviously OLED will be great, SED ’s dead (kind of), what’s available now for large and flat screens: LCD (LED backlit or not) or Plasma.
LCDs (especially the fanciest newest ones) have this ugly “hand held video like” look / soap opera effect that makes a great movie (24p dvd or bluray) looks like a “love boat” episode! (it’s even funny: some people think it’s the HD effect/ feel / “too real”! no, it’s not: it’s just ugly. turning off frame interpolation with 120/240Hz is not enough, the gamma also looks bad, no brightness details etc…) which leave them good only for watching tv or playing games. Therefore to watch movies the only available decent screen display technology is plama with deep blacks and (real) high micro-contrast; any sane videophile will chose plasma over lcd.
Best Plasmas: ... used to be Pionneer Kuro Plasma
It’s not just the fact that the PRO-110FD creates a beautiful image. It’s that the image it creates is such a step above every other flat panel on the market that it is not even comparable.
Second-generation Pioneer KURO
The 2008 KURO family will posses black levels “five times deeper than the previous KURO
You can count on the June-bound models checking in at just 3.7-inches thick, sporting 1080p panels alone (no 720p), coming in 50- ($4,000) / 60-inch ($5,500) sizes
Note: Panasonic plasma seem to get good review too:
Panasonic TH-50PZ700U
Panasonic TH-50PZ850U against kuro
Basically, while Kuro is blacker (courtesy of its screen’s darker tint) and brighter, Panny’s color reproduction is much deeper, you get better dark detail, more accurate gamma, it uses 30 percent less power, AND it’s cheaper ($3500 to $4600).
Anyway panasonic will be producing future Kuro panels!...
Pioneer – Panasonic agreement
2009 update: Kuros are dead!
latest panasonic seems to be “almost” as good
2009 best
new king of hdtv P54V10
Deep blacks, shadow details, color accuracy (with THX mode) etc…
Lighter (33kg!) than old plasmas and ~thin (3.3 inches, 2 on top), more power efficient than older plasmas (280w!).
(I bought a TX-P50V10E dec 2009)
2010
Panasonic (upper models): 5000000:1 dynamic range = better black levels
+ 3D for VT models (nice if it were without glasses!)
The improved scan and phosphors along with the deep blacks and accurate color provided excellent image reproduction and fine shadow detail. These improvements add up to amazing overall images free of the “video look” associated with 120 and 240 Hz LED LCDs.