SWMBO caught me off guard!

[Wayne <Wayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hiyall, (I just realised that this is quite a long rattle - sorry :-) )

Strolling round our local 'shops' the other day (ok currys and comet) we
happened to be walking past the tv's. 30+" sizes of pure plasma / lcd
delights. Being careful not to slip over in my own drool as we started
to walk away 'she' came out with the classic 'plank in the face' comment
- 'do you want one?' closely followed by the 'I thought about getting
you a new tv'. Being taken aback and rooted to the spot as she started
to walk away, I cast an eye back over the selection, LG's, Sonys,
Panasonic's etc. I also realised at that point that I have no idea what
is good / not so good with these things.

Its been about 15 years since I bought my trusty Toshiba 25" tv - and
its been running sweet since (although of recent the tube seems to
'flicker' accompanied with some low humming from the speakers.) anyways
to the point of this tale, is there anything that I should be watching
out for in respect of a nice new big telly? ( and what sets the bullshit
'o meter ringing when having to listen to the sales spiel from the
'assistance' )

a few points that I'm looking for
1/ I don't want/need to wall mount it, I have a suitably big stand that
should take the weight of a plasma/lcd. This, I guess, would also
discount those that /have/ to have their own floor stands.
2/ At some point I would like to run a computer/xbox  through it as well
as the mixture of video and dvd players. I guess this is a standard
feature, although it would be nice to have a 'standard' vga connector as
well.
3/ I don't need something that has 'lots.1' sound processor in it -
that's taken care of.
4/ darkened viewing conditions will not be feasible - it will need to
withstand daylight viewing.

Things I'm not too sure about,
1/ 'HD ready' vs plane old vanilla 'HD'. Is it that HD is already fully
'compliant' vs 'ready' meaning I need to add some other box later?
2/ There seems to be different 'standards' of  HD - I guess they all use
the same physical connection but - as with scart connections, you get
various different video sources through different pinnings of lead. Also
something to do with 700 or 1000 odd lines -
3/ Do I need to watch out for 'burn in' any more - I think from not to
recent discussions that it isn't a problem but I thought I would ask.
4/ I've seen serial ports mentioned before for control... I don't know
if I would /defiantly/ use one but I guess its a nice to have.
5/ The old 'plasma vs LCD' debate


I would appreciate some of the shared collective knowledge on this if
anyone has any thoughts.
Cheers
Wayne.