CES battleground: Is LCD or plasma better when picking hi-def big screen flat panels?

While I was preparing to come out here to CES in Las Vegas, a lot of people were asking what it was I'd be paying attention to while I was out here. When I mentioned one of the topics -- big screen flat panels (henceforth referred to as BSFPs) -- the responses were rather inquisitive. BSFPs? Aren't they a bit too home theatre-ish for the business angle we typically take here on ZDNet?
Fair question.
Given that the "C" in "CES" stands for consumer and there's a bonanza of MP3 players, gaming products, and home theatre stuff at CES (amongst all sorts of other contraptions for the home), business products are very much outnumbered here at CES. That said, BSFPs, while being of interest to many home theatre buffs, is also a category that matters to certain businesses.

Until I started up this Testbed blog where actionable information for technology purchases is key, I didn't spend much grey matter thinking about BSFPs. And, quite frankly, in advance of CES, BSFPs (as opposed to your plain old garden variety desktop models) were very much off my radar. But in hunting down the big themes for CES and in a desperate search for anything remotely businessy in nature, I couldn't help but notice how many of the CES announcements flowing through my inbox had something to do with a BSFP. It was as if the BSFP industry was saying, "David, we will beat you into submission until you cover us."
Now, I'm submitting.
Why? Well, for starters, one thing I noticed about many of the big screen announcements was how every offering was based on one of at least two technologies: LCD and Plasma (Digital Light Projection or "DLP" is another tech we'll save for future discussion). I suddenly realized that when buying a BSFP, no matter who is doing the buying, most of those buyers will first be faced with having to make a decision between the two technologies.

Secondly, take a look around at where BSFPs are showing up: Airports, bus stations, restaurants, hotels, convention centers, lobbies, police stations, schools, etc. BSFPs are being purchased by businesses and government organizations by the bucketload.

As it turns out, there are some key difference between the two technologies. LCDs for example make a lot sense for desktop displays and on upward to around 47 inches. The, at around 42 inches, you start to see the plasma displays show up. So, there is some overlap and, not surprisingly, it's in that 40-something range where most BSFPs are purchased (which means decisions have to be made). But some companies like Westinghouse are pushing LCD beyond the typical range. Here at CES, Westinghouse is showing off a 80-inch prototype and in my discussions with company officials, the only reason other companies make both is that, where as Westinghouse is relatively new to the business and could dedicate themselves to one technology, older vendors who had to go with plasma for the bigger sizes when they got start can't ditch their existing plasma business. So, there's a bit of a battle going on here.

Are you one of those trying to figure out the benefits of plasma vs. LCD? If you are, then here at CES, I spent time with the purveyors of both to find out what it is BSFP buyers should be thinking about as they prepare to make a purchase. Here's the video of what I learned: