Why it's cool

Everybody seems to want a flat panel TV. They're thin, sleek, and sexy.

But more than their looks, their small depth gives you back tons of floor space in your family room, bedroom, or den. With their ability to hang on a wall like a picture, you don't need to have furniture to hide them.

Flat panel displays have wide viewing angles so people sitting off to the side still see a great picture and with sizes from 37" to 61" they're large enough to deliver a convincing movie experience.

Because they're so thin, flat panel displays can be recessed flush in a wall and even hidden behind artwork.

What it does for you

Flat panel displays deliver large, sharp, bright, colorful pictures with a very small foot print.

Because they can be hung on a wall or placed on a narrow table or cabinet, a very large TV doesn't have to dominate the room.

Special articulating brackets let you swing the display away from the wall so it's at just the right angle when you're watching it. When it's off you can stow the display flat against the wall, out of the way.

LCD and plasma displays are much brighter than rear projection sets so they work well in rooms with high ambient light, like family rooms and dens.

How it works

Two technologies are used for flat panel televisions: plasma display panels (PDP) and liquid crystal displays (LCD). Both types are called 'fixed pixel displays,' meaning the picture is made up of millions of red, green, and blue cells — pixels.

In both types a 'glass sandwich' of sorts is used and electricity applied to a given cell causes the cell to light up. In plasma displays the light comes from glowing phosphor lining the cells, similar to tube TVs. In LCD, a light source behind the cells provides the light. Plasma displays run hotter and use more power than LCD but they generally have higher contrast and produce better blacks.

LCD displays are generally brighter than plasma displays but they can exhibit some 'lag' or smearing in scenes with fast motion. Plasma displays are subject to 'burn-in' when static images are displayed for long periods of time — LCD is not susceptible to burn-in. LCD also promises a longer life than plasma, though life expectancies for plasma are still greater than 7 years with normal use.

The differences in picture quality vary more by brand and model than simply by the type of technology. One of the greatest factors in picture quality is video processing — the chip-based technologies that tell the display how to control the pixels. Better processing costs more money.