Dad bought plasma TV. Thoughts?

I have no idea, but you can assure yourself the Best Buy employee wanted to sell the item that he would make most commission on!

If you can control the light in the room such as remove sunlight, then Plasma is the best. Period.

exactly what did he get and how much?

I'm pretty sure plasma has a better picture quality than LCD but there are some downsides like images and "burn" into the screen.

Plasma looks better but burns out over time

Burn in isn't an issue, and hasn't been for a long time.

Only downside to plasma is the excess heat and power draw over LCD or LED LCD. Upsides? Better colors, better blacks, smoother motion, just an overall better TV.

Honestly, so long as he's not paying over $800 or so for it, its a good deal. Definitely go for a good plasma set over an LCD / LED LCD unless power and heat are a concern.

Depending on the model he bought, there could be a few differences between plasmas - I bought the VT30 Panasonic last year - Best picture quality I ever seen.

That being said ...

Plasma have always been seen as the "looser" when it comes to Brightness and Colors - But dont be fooled. I went to the store when I was on the hunt for a TV and the seller kept showing me the Plasma - Which to me seemed "Dull", standing there in the store. But really, when you have a plasma standing in a store, with ALOT of lighting around and LED TVs, all in STORE-mode with their SCORCHING colors - A plasma WILL seem "Dull".

I was so lucky that I was offered a demonstration at my own home - It took me 5 minutes (3 of them used to pick up my jaw from the floor) to decide that Plasma was the real deal.

As long as you can put the Plasma so it does not get DIRECT sunlight, its all good. Black Levels are AMAZING - And I mean effin AMAZING on a Plasma, it will blow a LED out of the water. Get The Black Knight on Bluray and have a go on his Plasma - Its incredible!

Colors are MUCH more realistic on a plasma - As in skin colors are actually skin colored and so on. Some people prefer the more aggressive LED colors, a vibrance you can call it - And some, like myself, actully like to notice the details - shadows - and so forth.

There is a slight myth about burn-in and retention when it comes to plasmas - But truth be told, its only really bad at the OLD models (3-4 years old). I am yet too see ANY kind of burn-in or retention on my screen - And I have channels with constant logos on them and I play PS3 games on it. So yah ... Little advice though, I -WOULD- suggest that the first 100 hours you dont watch a static image for more than 30 minutes - Just flick it over to another channel for 3-4 minutes and then back.

From personal experience, unless you can get the room *really* dark when needed, then go with LCD/LED. I thought I could go plasma, but after dealing with general living room brightness, I swapped it out for an LED.

lol at most of the responses. panasonic plasmas are some of the best displays available. samsung plasmas would be next.