Yes the salesmen are correct in saying that if your watch alot of sport that a Plasma is the way to go. Personally I dont like the look of LCD's for sport. I work for one of Australia's largest Audio Visual Engineering companys and have seen many screens along the way. I have been part of a 300ish screen roll out (LCD) just recently, and let me say that for AFL they suck. When you decide on a screen, choose it to what looks good to your eye, not the salesmen's. Also take into condsideration what type of inputs does it have and are they going to suit your needs, eg HDMI, COMPONENT, COMPOSITE, S-VIDEO, and HIGH DEF tuner / ANALOGUE TUNERS. As for BLU-RAY, I believe it will be the standard for High Def discs. Sony have invested alot of money into things like the latest Playstation to generate it as the premier class of media. I would not be too worried about it being phased out in the near future. Good luck with the purchase.