Buy LED, LCD or Plasma

Learsfool - I only questioned post that stated 80" min. size for 20' distance. There is nothing wrong with smaller size if 80" is not available or doesn't fit above fireplace. 60" is good size (and above it price goes up really fast).

I'm going to put TV over fireplace as well when current (since 2000) DLP TV dies. I don't care much for plasma. It looks worse (losing contrast) in bright light than LCD, has horrible reflections, is prone to etching a pattern (sidebars) effect and wastes a lot of power. In addition it doesn't die gracefully by loosing contrast but by burst of cells that make dark stains.

Get largest LED LCD. Electroluminescent backlight have tendency to vacuum dirt (high voltage) that eventualy lowers screen brightness by lowering/briging high voltage (case of my IMB laptop). LED backlight should last almost forever.

I don't quite understand distance argument. 60" should be good for 20 feet or more. As for brands - I have good experience with Samsung (two TVs, two monitors) but heard of bad experience with Toshiba (friend, sister-in-law). Sony is overpriced and Panasonic is pretty good (bought one for my daughter).

The only concern I have about fireplace is that TV will be higher than the speakers (TV sound coming from the bottom) but it is very minor complain. Wall above fireplace is, IMHO, the best place for TV.

"Not that many people actually repair electronics these days, but something to consider."

Yes it is. Best Buy has repair facility that is able to replace bad parts (fixed my CRT TV). The problem is that boards are SMT and ICs are very difficult or impossible to replace. Only way to fix it is to replace whole board that might be not available after a while.