I am looking to upgrade from a 32" JVC CRT to an LCD there are a lot of 46" Screens in my budget as they will complement my sound system for movie watching. I've been quite impressed by some Sony KDL-46 screens (in various flavours D, V and W!)

For future proofing I'm looking at 1080p screens, (which appears to rule out the 46Ds) but can't decide if the extra cash for 100 or 50 Hz is worth it because I haven't seen a 100 yet.

 I currently have no HD sources, with a 32" CRT there was no point, I am only changing because the CRTis starting to fail. When I do change it will be for a Blue Ray Player within (12 months) most of my TV viewing will continue to be via Freeview, so the set needs to produce a reasonable SD picture untill my PVR dies (I expect another 3 -5 years from this) and I invest in an upscaling PVR (or Sky HD).

My issue is screen life, I'm fairly certain most of what I'm hearing from salesmen at various retailers is to boost thier commision on warranty sales. To hear them there is a better than even chance that my £1500+ investment will have burnt in, have dead cells or even be on fire before I've reached my seat after first switching it on! I get the same schpiel if I'm buying a toaster! OK' I'm exagerating but they're talking 2 - 3 years! which I find unbeliveable given the life of the LCD and TFT displays I've seem from many laptop computers.

I note from earlier threads that Plasmas have mtbf of about 60,000 hours what is it for LCDs? In short do I fork out for the "to be" system when the CRT dies and upgrate gradually or nip down down to Tesco and buy a budget 28 or 32" LCD to keep the kids happy watching Ceebebies until the electronics industry learns from the automotive industry that planned obscelesence is not something that punters are going to continue paying for.