Which ONE to buy?

It's still confusing, but doing a little homework will make it easier.
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
You want a new high-definition TV. But choosing is far from a black-and-white choice.
The plasma looks really good, but oh that price. There's an LCD, but it's on the small side, or how about a conventional tube set with HDTV capability? And what exactly is LCoS and DLP?
Yes, it can be difficult to shop for a high-definition TV.
Or, as Mike Wood says, it can be easy.
"What looks good is what matters," said Wood, who is editor of Curtco's Digital TV magazine.
It's hard not to notice the TVs when walking past a display in an electronics store, all those vivid pictures looking real enough to touch.
Sticker shock
The potential for sticker shock remains high, as some of the best, brightest and biggest sets can cost thousands. But, they're cheaper than they were a few years ago and experts say people don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy high-quality HDTV.
"You can get one of these HDTV picture tube sets now for well under $1,000," said Jim Barry, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. Consumer Reports magazine listed some models as low as $550, easily competitive with comparably sized traditional analog sets.
The combination of more competitive prices, an increasing amount of programming and the popularity of DVD movies seems to be driving interest in HDTV.
Digital TV sales lag substantially behind traditional analog sets: About 4.3-million digital sets are expected to be sold this year, according to the association, compared with 21.8 million analog sets. By 2006, however, digital should grow to 11.9 million, compared with 13.5 million analog sets.
Reasons to wait are fading. Take, for example, Consumer Reports. Traditional analog sets were worth buying in 2000, the magazine said. Now, though, it says an HD set should be something people shopping for their primary TV should consider.
"The picture quality of the best HDTVs is far better than anything you can get with a standard definition TV," the magazine said in its November issue. "To fully appreciate HD's sharp detail and clarity, you really have to see it for yourself."
Keep in mind
So, where to begin? Here are some points to consider.
Walking into a store cold to shop for an HDTV is likely to do more to confuse than to enlighten. Consumers must expect that a new technology is going to require them to learn a few things. For example:
"All high definition is digital, but not all digital is high definition," said Barry of the Consumer Electronics Association.
High definition means the set can display a resolution of 720p or 1080i, figures that relate to the number of horizontal lines displayed on a screen. Like pixels on a computer monitor, more is better and 720p and 1080i are, for the moment anyway, the top of the line. Enhanced definition (EDTV) can display 480p, which is not as good as high definition but is better than standard definition TV (SDTV).
After that, you have flat screens and flat panels, but they're not necessarily the same. A flat screen can simply be a traditional set that has a flat rather than curved picture tube. A flat panel means it's a plasma or LCD (liquid crystal display), which are digital.
And it all requires homework. "If you had only one choice and it was plasma, you'd still have to compare brands and prices," said Alan Stafford, executive editor of PC World magazine's Digital World.
Plasma sets are big (up to 80 inches), bright and expensive. They can cost $3,000 or more for 42-inch models and more than $5,000 for 50-inch. Some plasma sets are ED, or enhanced definition, so you have to know what you're getting before you buy.
LCD displays are getting bigger, but they're smaller than plasma and expensive, around $2,000 for a 26-inch display, according to Consumer Reports.
Advantages
Plasma and LCD have the advantage of being thin, so they can be hung on a wall, and mostly feature the cool wide screen look, known as a 16:9 display. (The numbers describe the screen's rectangular width/height ratio. Standard, square TV screens are known as 4:3s.)
The wide screen makes HD shows look best, but even the 4:3 screens can display a 16:9 image by using black bars at the top and bottom of the screen -- avid DVD renters might have seen these black bars on their movie rentals.
Worth remembering: Standard programming, which is the most common, is designed for the 4:3 square of regular TVs. That means showing it on a wide screen set requires having black bars to the left and right of the screen, or stretching the square image to fit the rectangular screen, which can distort the picture.
But the best deals are in what's known as conventional picture tube HDTV sets. Unlike plasma and LCD, the conventional picture tube (known in the lingo as CRTs for cathode ray tube) sets look like the TV you have now. They typically have the squarish 4:3 screen display, though some are 16:9s, they're big and they weigh a lot. A whole lot. The intrigue factor is the price, with sets starting around $550.
"It's still the least expensive and often the best picture," Stafford said. "For people who are not sure whether they want to invest [a lot], CRT is a good way to hedge your bets."