Truth: Plasma TVs actually have a very long life. Most of today's plasma displays will deliver 30,000 hours of use until they fall to a level of half brightness. This means that if you watch the set for four hours per day, it would take over 20 years to reach half the brightness that the display was first capable of.

Truth: I have no idea where this one came from, but my guess would be disreputable retailers who wanted to make money off service calls. There’s no truth to this at all. Once the glass plasma panel is manufactured it cannot be re-opened and the plasma gas stays put for the life of the set.

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Truth: 50 - 63-inch models all have enough room to fit the number of pixels required to reproduce full HDTV sharpness. In the past, most 42-inch screens were not HDTV capable but many of this year’s 42 - 43-inch screens (and even some smaller models from Philips and Sony) have HDTV resolution. Be careful when you shop. Be sure to ask whether a plasma display is HDTV capable, rather than HDTV compatible. The latter will accept HDTV signals, and display them in lower resolution. Just to be on the safe side, make sure that the display has at least a 720 x 1200, or 1024 x 1024 resolution if you want HDTV.

Truth: Yes, and no. Most high-end plasma TVs will produce a pretty good picture with sports images. But, if you’re a sports fan, you’ll want a plasma display that can handle high-speed motion without producing artifacts like jittering, smearing, or images that lose focus. Fujitsu’s Plasmavision displays are the best in this category thanks to their AVM (Advanced Video Motion) circuitry.

Truth: The saying, "You Get What You Pay For..." is appropriate here. I have yet to see a bargain-brand plasma display come anywhere near the picture quality of the major plasma brands. For one thing, those cheap-o plasmas are not HDTV capable, and they don’t have the circuitry necessary to deliver an artifact-free picture.

Truth: This is my favorite, and there could be nothing further from the truth! Yes, you may initially save some money, but it may come back and bite you in the bottom some day.

Pretty much every major plasma manufacturer highly discourages sales over the Internet. Only a handful of dealers are allowed to sell plasmas on their Internet sites, and they are usually close to MSRP. Nevertheless, disreputable Internet dealers still sell them on their Internet sites. What you don’t know is that these sets will not come with a manufacturer's warranty no matter what the website may say. If you need service, the manufacturer will check your set’s serial number, and then you’ll be on your own. Many unauthorized Internet dealers will try to sell you a 3^rd party warranty to make up for the manufacturer’s warranty, but it won’t be the same, and many "fly-by-night" warranty companies go out of business on a regular basis. Please go to plasma manufacturer web sites and read the warning messages about buying over the Internet.

Against all my warnings, one of my neighbors bought a plasma TV over the Internet to save money. He figured he would get a bargain price and have his handyman install it on the wall. He bought the plasma and called me a few weeks later, asking about a horizontal black line across the center of the screen. I went to his home and indeed the black line was there. After some quick testing I found what was wrong, and it wasn’t good news. My neighbor had hooked up a computer to the display (which is fine) and left it there for a number of hours (not fine). Because a professional didn't install and calibrate the display, the contrast was set all the way up, and the PC had burned the image into the screen.

Since the plasma didn’t come with a warranty, and because he bought a commercial model rather than a residential model (another way to save some $$$) he was not covered for the manufacturer's in-home service, even though he was willing to pay for it. The plasma display was pretty much "toast," and my neighbor learned a very valuable and expensive lesson. Pay the money for a trained professional to sell and install your plasma TV.

Dawn Gordon Luks is a veteran consumer electronics journalist. In addition to her writing schedule, Dawn also designs home audio, home theater, and home automation installations in South Florida. Send an email to Dawn Gordon Luks.