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Plus: Answers to all your flat-panel questions
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2. Okay, I know there are two kinds of flat panels, LCD and plasma. Are there any big differences?
There are a couple, but fewer and fewer as the technologies advance. Generally speaking, LCDs are brighter than plasmas. That means LCDs can look better in rooms with lots of sunlight (you need a bright monitor to outshine all the light in a room). The trade-off is that they might suffer poor contrast in dimmer lighting, where plasmas tend to fare well.

LCDs weigh significantly less than plasmas and can be thinner - both issues to keep in mind if you plan to mount your flat panel on the wall. If you go down this road, you need to mount brackets to the wall and have enough clearance so that the TV gets proper ventilation (another issue for plasma buyers, since those monitors run hotter than LCDs). Unless you're really handy, get a pro to install it.

Sharp

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Samsung

Panasonic

Sony
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