have you installed plasmas in bathrooms as well?

I have not yet, in my new house I will and my parents just installed one in their new bathroom recently. I do not have any knowledge about what moisture would do to an LCD tv but as long as the placement is good you should be ok. (As far from shower as possible) Also, many states have codes about placing electronic items above sinks and tubs. Some don't allow it at all and others put restrictions about how far above it has to be. Usually 4 to 6 feet above a tub or sink. In my parents case we were able to mount the TV lower because the outlets and mount for the TV was a couple inches outside the area of the tub. Obviously the swing arm allows for it to be directly over the tub but the laws have not caught up with that yet.

The Vizios have a poor rating with regards to repair as compared to other plasmas. That being said most plasma are built in a handfull of factories, that number is growing rapidly every year, the big difference between a lot of plasmas these days is in the electronics. How many inputs, how much control over the colors, contrast, brightness and various settings are the big differentiation. Also you have to look to is if they have a built-in HD tuner or a cablecard slot, maybe even a dvd player. Toshiba had a model out last year that had a DVD player, built-in cablecard and an HD tuner. They came in sizes from 27" to 37". The nice thing about a cablecard is that the cable companies only charge about a buck to rent one a month instead of 6 to 7 for a cablebox. They do essentially the same thing but save you lots of money over time.

It's getting tougher to find TV's with cablecards. I think most people just go with the cable box and they don't really know about the other option. You're right about the money savings too. I would probably keep my cable box just because it's also my DVR.

I guess that Vizio is made in one of the lesser factories. The picture is really just plain bad.

__________________