After some thought, I am going to hold off on my TV purchase for at least another three weeks or more. After talking to some dudes whom I respect, I've been talked out of buying the $4000 LCD TV from the future. It's just too high of price for a TV that only displays pictures. Had it also cooked and cleaned for me, then it might be still in the running.

Since then, I've given more thought to buying a plasma TV. After doing some research, I came across a report on Panasonic's new plasma offerings for 2009 (my emphasis added):

"The G10 series is offered in 42”, 46” 50” and 54” screen sizes. Unlike the above series, the G10s are standard depth plasmas (around 3.5”). The G10 uses Panasonics new “green” (low power) Neo PDP technology with Infinite Black and 40,000:1 contrast ratio and full 1080 lines of motion resolution. Features include VIERA Cast Internet connectivity, THX Certification, SD card slot for still photos & AVCHD home movies and 3 HDMI inputs. The 42”, 46” and 50” models will be available in March with the 54” arriving in May. The model numbers are TC-42PG10, TC-46PG10, TC-50PG10 and the TC-54PG10."

This bit of info is important for several reasons. First, Panasonic has quietly positioned itself as one of the best plasma TV manufacturers in the world. Second, they've somehow managed to reduce the power requirements of their plasmas to apparently 50% of their 2007 models. For their higher-end models for 2009, this means some of them are about 1" thick now. Hopefully, this will also mean they've done away with the fans that were necessary with older models. I'm fine with a thicker TV but if they've reduced the amount of juice it requires then it becomes cheaper to use, it's better for the environment, and it's quieter since it doesn't require fans now.

Availability is supposed to be in March but unfortunately no pricing has been announced. So for now, I'm going to wait.

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