Here is another way to look at it. According to PlasmaTVBuyingGuid.com, Panasonic plasma has a lifetime between 20K-30K hours. Some A'gon in this forum wrote that was only for half life. Some said otherwise. For NEC, I don't know the figure, but lets assume 20K hours for both units. Now I'm gonna make series of extreme assumptions for demonstration purpose. Lets assume the TV operates about 7 hours total per night because you have kids, who got home from school at 3PM, and the TV was operating non continuously until midnight b/c of your late night shows. Lets also assume that the TV was on for 365 days per year. You may watch more on the weekend b/c the kids watch cartoon all day. You may watch less b/c you take them to the mall. For our practical purpose, lets stick w/ 7hrs/day. Based on those figures, the calculated number of years in commission would be APPROXIMATELY 8, which is about time for another update or possible replacement. Now take the difference in price between the Panasonic and NEC and divide it by the number of years in commssion. I don't know the exact difference, but lets assume it is about $1500. If you take that $1500/8 years/365 days, you're looking at approximatley two quarters per day. If I were you, I would go with Panasonic because the level of daily satisfaction would be substantially greater than that of NEC while the daily difference in cost would be marginal. The comparision was based on the reviews and ratings obtained from the website mentioned above. On the other hand, if you are financially tight after Christmas with possible property tax and 2003 tax due coming, you may want to reconsider your cash flow and the feeling of your significant other. In such case, ignore all the math I just demonstrate and all the plasma panels. Only you can make that call. Good luck. One thing I know for sure is that regardless what brand people own, all plasma owners are very happy with what they get.
