A plasma will most definitely outperform an LCD in a room where there will be a lot of direct light exposure (it's all about brightness and contrast ratios). Yes the incidental glare could be a problem, but that's going to be a problem with ANY display device.

I ran across this article (below) a few years back. Maybe it will give you some guidence. It's pasted to you, so I am not sure how it's going to transfer. Macey Plasma TVs Above the Fireplace? Reviewer: Phil Connor Copyright 2004 PlasmaTVBuyingGuide.com. All Rights Reserved. We receive a lot of e-mails asking about the possibility (or even plausibility) of placing a Plasma television or plasma monitor above a fireplace. Living room configurations often put the fireplace as the central focal point. Since we all know that the real focus of your living room is the television, we hit upon the question of integration -- how to merge the logical focal point of a living room (the fireplace) with the actual one (the TV). The introduction of plasma displays has made such integrative gestures real possibilities. Mounting a plasma display above the fireplace is a great space saver, not to mention an attractive way to display the panel. This is a very common application for plasma TVs today. Will the heat from the fireplace harm the plasma TV? There are a few precautions to take before hanging a plasma screen TV over your fireplace. First, take a thermometer and tape it to the wall above the mantel, in the place where the plasma TV will reside. Then build a fire, and let it roar awhile. Now, check the thermometer. If the temperature is above 90 degrees F, then the area is receiving too much heat -- either escaping from the front of the fireplace and rising up the face, or radiating through the chimney to warm the outside wall -- for a plasma TV to hang there without receiving some modicum of residual damage. It would not be advisable to run the plasma for a long period of time while its environment is this hot. Though the Plasma TV has its own cooling system, the surrounding heat will force the Plasma display to work harder to cool itself, thus shortening the overall lifespan of the unit over time. A Plasma TV may still be run for short periods of time without harming the unit (even with the environment heat at 90 degrees F or above). If the plasma display is not turned on while a fire burn in the fireplace, then the unit will not be harmed at all even though the temperature surrounding the unit may be warm. Of course, this might not be an option for people living in places where winter lasts seemingly forever, and fires are an everyday fact of life. In such cases, you should be advised to monitor the amount of heat your plasma display is exposed to while it is running. Can the Plasma TV be mounted onto a brick fireplace? Yes, cement anchors may be used with the wall mount to secure this application. Again, the amount of heat to which your plasma is exposed should be a concern here, as some brick fireplaces can radiate quite a bit of heat. Will the Plasma Display TV be too high? Can I tilt it? Even though plasma TVs typically have a 160-degree viewing angle, tilt wall mounts may be purchased if the mantel is high. A tilt wall mount application will allow the user to tilt the unit from up to 15 to 25% vertically (in this case, downward). With this mounting installation the user will have the choice between a flat or tilted affect while adding only 1.75 inches depth to the plasma TV. A flat wall mount can add as little as 1.25 inches to the depth. So, the difference is only half an inch. Can I just place the plasma on the mantel? A typical table stand for a Plasma TV is between 4 and 6 inches in depth. If your mantel can accommodate such a plasma TV stand, you have it made.

Now that you will have the big TV, be sure to get a Sony Playstation 3 to go with it. I don't have the 1st game for mine...use it for it's Blue-Ray player, the wireless Internet capability (if you have a wireless router in your home), the ability to use the PS3 to display my photos onscreen and produce an instant print of one (you need one of several Epson printers it supports to do this), play my mp3 collection, and just having a cool-looking device next to the TV,.

I agree with nine7xbam, one of the early posters on this thread - that the LCDs we saw looked way better than the plasma. (Though this was with 40" screens, and I'm not sure whether there's any reason to go to plasma for a bigger screen size.) I think finding a good deal on a Samsung LCD would be advisable. I had no concept of what all the gobbledygook specs meant until I actually went to a few stores and saw sets side-by-side. I could never get the color on one that was supposed to be great from what I'd heard (a Sharp Aquos) to look as good as a Samsung sitting right next to it. Someone pointed out to me that the high contrast ration on the Samsung (something like 5,000-to-1 or 7,000-to-1 I think) was what made the colors look so much better and to me made the picture look sharper. The other thing I walked away with after looking at TVs was that I would rather not have a plasma TV unless it had what's called 1080 resolution (instead of 768). The 768s looked anemic. If you have a BestBuy at all locally or there's one in reasonable driving distance, that's where we saw the best lineup of TVs. They nearly matched a price from an Amazon.com ad I brought in, though said their policy was to only match brick-and-mortar (not 'online') store prices. Of the much larger sets we glanced at there - of which they had a huge variety - I was surprised that the Magnavox brand looked way better to me than others, and among Sonys, the only variety that rivaled the Magnavox were the 'extra black' Sonys - not sure if those were designated XBR or just Bravia. Also, are you sure you need a 50"? The TVs are quite a bit less costly if you get down to 40-42" (and there I'd say, hands-down get a Samsung LCD. If there's more than one that they carry, choose by style and get the highest contrast ratio you're willing to spend for).