If you leave your TV on many hours a day a plasma will be bad in 6 months time, the screens have a 'half life' that goes down rapidly if used a lot.
Don't know about the Sony. It's highly touted but has had a few minor quirks. I need closed caption because of some hearing loss in my 30's and it doesn't work on CNN!
Bought it at a REX store, don't know if that's a nation wide store or not.
I have not read through the thread but have heard that DLP might be something to check into.
We have a REX store here in upstate NY. We were told they were a southern chain. Funniest thing. They never have any customers. The only other place in town to buy TV's is Wal*Mart.
Good advice about the plasmas. Our TV is on all day. I had no idea the plasmas would deteriorate.
"If you leave your TV on many hours a day a plasma will be bad in 6 months time, the screens have a 'half life' that goes down rapidly if used a lot."
Most plasmas these days are advertising a 60,000 hour lifetime, which would be 6.85 years if the tv was on 24 hours a day. Not a major problem. On good plasmas the burn-in problem is also fairly minor, although I still wouldn't suggest leaving a static image or 4:3 "pillar box" image on one for an extended period.