But would you still buy a plasma? I think I would - a 50" Pioneer would wipe the floor with these.

And what about Toshibas SED technology hailed as being the ultimate flat screen technology of a few years back. I know they had production issues but is this technology now dead?

I'm still going in to COMET and Curreys and comparing Plasma and LCS side by side.  I'm not sure ther is a lot in it... and thats with the current range of screens.  I'd love to see the new Samsung and Sharps Aquos range always seemed to get good reviews.... and the new Tosh is in the wings.... 

 SED displays sounded good... but Ive yet to see the technolgy in operation. There again, OLED polymer screens also boasted a novel technology for REALLY flat screens. Both yet to see the light of day... but they may be coming.

 Watch this space as they say.

I would agree that in most places I've been quite clearly some of the sets are poorly set up.  Almost as if they've opened the box and stuck them on the shelf and thats it. Some of them are never going to sell no matter which format they are.  Still, when you do get a 30 or 40 set up in a row (or rows) and you can stand back a bit, I can't find much to draw between them.  Even the poor rendition of blacks on LCD's is hard to see unless you got looking for it. 

 But despite my other half complaining about how long I spend in front of them all , I've not made a choice yet. The best still seem to come with a hefty price tag.