Technological advances have made giant flat-panel TV screens with intensely detailed pictures affordable to the average American consumer. But which one to choose?

Home theater enthusiasts say you can get the best bang for your buck with a system that uses a digital projector. They can easily be hooked up to your computer, video game system or DVD player or cable signal and display images at a variety of sizes.

These days, high-quality home theater projectors made by makers like Mitsubishi and Samsung sell for as little as $850.

If you're on a tight budget, you can set up your projector in your apartment or dorm room by simply directing it toward the wall. If you want a more impressive display, you can buy a screen (measured at 70 to 200 inches diagonally).

These screens, made by companies such as Elite Screens and Da-Lite, cost anywhere from $225 to more than $3,000 for deluxe models that have a motor to retract the screen into an aluminum casing.

There are some downsides to projection systems: They use a specialized bulb that needs to be replaced every few years for around $350. Another drawback is that projection systems work far better in a dark room. So if you don't have a windowless basement, or a room with dark shades, you're probably better off with a plasma or LCD (liquid crystal display).

Plasma TVs and LCD sets look alike but actually use different technology. Plasma screens use a gas that's charged by electricity, while LCD screens create images by charging a different material: liquid crystal.

Some experts prefer plasma screens because they display better black hues, have sharper images and can be viewed from all angles, but the TVs have a shiny screen, making it harder to see the picture if there's a lot of light in the room. They also are big energy hogs: Consumer Reports says its tests show that plasma sets use up about twice as much energy as comparable LCD screens.

Prices of flat-screen TVs -- made by dozens of companies like Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Olevia and Vizio -- dropped dramatically in recent years. It's even possible that 32-inch LCD TV sets, which now usually cost $600 to $700, could drop to as low as $350 in stores by the end of 2009, analysts say.