OK, I've lived in my house just over two years now and the major work has been done. New kitchen, new bathroom, new boiler, new monoblock driveway, new conservatory, new carpet throughout most of the house, etc.

So that's all my priority jobs finished and it's now time to start thinking about going back to the rooms that just got a quick "brighten up" when I moved in and to do a proper, long-term decorating job on them.

That's where the conservatory comes into the picture. I'm taking out the patio doors between the lounge and the new conservatory and making it one large room. This means that the furniture layout needs to be different. And THAT means that I need to move the TV. And THAT means that I can kind of justify a NEED ( lol ) to have a plasma TV on the appropriate wall.

Thing is, with a bit of re-building, re-plastering, carpet, lighting, heating and 2 new 3-seater settees, I'm already over budget, lol. £1600 for a new plasma isn't really an option. But a second-hand one at a good price is

I've tried Ebay but there doesn't seem to be many (or any) second-hand plasma screens on there at all at the moment. Yeah, there are discounted new ones but a 37" to 42", which I'm looking for, is still too much. Does anyone know a good place to look for second-hand plasma TVs? I'm in the south-east UK btw.

Well ebay is crap anyway.......... why do you want one........ I have seen one and it was crap quality............ yes I know.......men and their toys.

LCD TVs are better than plasmas but you have to pay even more for quality that good. Plasma screens do need to be big to get a good picture out of them, particularly if you're plugging a PC into one - a PC running through a small plasma will look rubbish, I agree. But 42" should be very good for DVDs and I do have mates round for a takeaway and a film Friday or Saturday night most weekends. So investing in a big plasma would be worth it to take my home cinema setup to the next level

Oh yeah, and, men and their toys

I had heard some time ago that these screens were on the verge of major price reductions. I think the advice was: "Wait a year."

Anyway this is a quick find of the jist of that:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/busin...-plasma12.html

Thanks Jephree. That was an interesting article. They've already started coming down here over the last 2 or 3 months and I agree that they're likely to come down in price even more quickly as plasma TVs and the more expensive LCD TVs become more affordable and sell in bigger numbers.

But it won't look so impressive if I wait till everyone else has got one, will it, lol ?!

http://homecinema.tiny.com/packages.php?prodid=12859

£999 for 42". I'm tols that Tiny take Samsung panels direct from the factory to keep costs low so they should be decent quality but I wouldn't spend that much money without actually looking at one.

LCDs are great and don't suffer from the limited lifespan like PLasmas but they are so expensive and I think given you'll get three good years out of the plasma then £300ish per year for huge screen entertainment is a good investment

Have you thought about a projector? Even bigger screen for the same amount of money. Hook it up to a Windows MCE powered HTPC and you're in business, especially as the 2005 edition supports twin tuners and you can buy it seperately from a PC. Although I hate the colours, the info on this site is pretty invaluable if you think about making the leap: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forum...php?forumid=26

Just don't get a dodgy second hand projector though

NO NO NO AND NO OH AND ANOTHER NO, MAKE THAT X1000! Do not get a plasma they are rubbish! What you want is to go on ebuyer and order a top of the range rear projector with super cool screen

To what I said is a big NO & A WASTE OF MONEY! What you want to do is order lots of pc parts and get sky and tv on your pc. While your at it go to http://www.letsautomate.com

Thanks guys. £999 is certainly a good deal - you have to buy the tuner box separately (unless you run it from a TV card in a PC) and the wall-mount bracket is a bit over-priced at £199 but it still only comes in at £1267 for all of it, which is the best I've seen on a brand new unit from a retailer.

I've ruled out a projector for 2 reasons - firstly, it seems to be a bit more hassle and possibly more expensive once you've bought a projector and a ceiling-mounted big screen and, secondly, the layout of my lounge will be long ... but I'll be sitting on one side and looking across to the other side, which isn't really that far so I don't want to go much bigger than 42" anyway.

I have thought about adding a little Windows Media Center PC into the equation but I wasn't thinking of just having that on its own to run the TV signal. This isn't an area that I know much about. If I have a Media Center PC with a TV tuner in it, will "switching on the TV" be as quick and easy as if I just have a telly with its own tuner?

Woah just looked at your auctions, gimme a tft lol
Yeah if you set your pc up and its fast enough it should be better than a normal tv

The mortgage company has said today that my dream 'batchelor pad' lounge sounds brilliant and, furthermore, that they'd love to fund it ! WOOHOO !!!!