I am looking into buying a flat screen TV, not over 32 inches. I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on the many options out there. I know there are plasma, LCD, along with the many options like aspect ratios, contrast, speed. Im not a pro when it comes to picking these out, any help would be awesome.

Actually, for the best resolution possible (smaller pixels), I'd go for an LCD computer monitor about that size or slightly smaller. Most monitors in that range can be used as either TVs, PC or Console monitors. However, LCD TVs are kind of crappy to use as PC monitors because their resolution/aspect ratio, etc is subpar. I use my DELL 22" monitor to watch 1080p blu ray movies or for PS3 & PC gaming.

Computer monitors were Hi Def well before TVs ever were...

DELL is your best bet for LCD viewing if it's a Monitor...

I'd imagine fleeting would be one of the most informed people in this forum when it comes to T.Vs. It seems his home entertainment system is monstrous, I'm sure he's done the research on all that stuff plenty of times.

I'm sure he has as well - but believe me, I spent every evening for an entire month doing research on LCD Monitors versus TVs, especially between 20" - 24" monitors. I'm not sure if the larger ones are any different with pixel size...

We have a 52" Sony Wega something Tv my friend gave us. It's fucking fantastic. It's LCD
bigger then you were looking for but the bigger screen tv's are pretty sweet.
We'd also been looking at getting a 32" flatscreen lcd tv for our bedroom eventually

Depending on $$$ consider a Sony Bravia... we had to replace our plasma and due to altitude (8500+ ft) we decided on LCD and after a fair amount of research and actual in store comparison viewing we decided to go with Sony... not as big as Elph's ginormus rig but around 42" and very nice to look at.

LCDs made the jump up to 52"+ screen sizes this year. For quite a while the largest LCDs were 46". If you wanted a larger screen you had to choose either DLP or Plasma.

If lighting is at all an issue I've read that plasma screens are better.

LCD screens provide the best picture quality and if you plan on gaming, they generally are affected much less by burn-in.

The biggest difference between a high quality LCD tv and an LCD computer monitor seems to be resolution and price. Very large computer LCDs in the 28" - 32" range can cost significantly more than a comparable LCD tv. The higher price usually translates into much much better functionality and flexibility of inputs and options, and as much as double the screen resolution, but not always. Some of the newest LCD tvs from high-end manufacturers are closing the gap between tvs and computer monitors.

Just remember that if you buy a large sized computer monitor with some crazy high resolution capability, you'll need to make sure your graphics card(s) can run it.

Aspect ratio: 16x9 or wide-screen, most all are
Contrast 1000:1 or better, it really depends on your lighting
Speed: 8ms response time or better. 5-6ms for games.

I have a toshiba 52" lcd (1080p), and a vizio 42" lcd (1080p).

I did quite a bit of looking around, and decided that they're not that much different, except for the sony brands which commanded about 30-40% premium for better quality.

These things recycle every few years now, just like computers. Get something cheap, and upgrade later.

1080p is something I would recommend, however, as it can also function as a computer monitor (1920x1080 resolution).

Costco has good prices, but also check the two web links I provided in the computer hardware forum for where to get deals.