Panasonic or Sony 34inch?

I may be in the market for a new television and since I haven’t been following the latest TV development for so many years, I think I need some advise from others in this forum. Thanks in advance.

I have always owned Panasonic (my present one is The One, please don’t laugh) so naturally I went down to the Panasonic dealer and he recommended the latest Tau Giga TX-34P300X,K. He throws onto me all these 8x Density Picture, Giga 100Hz, Giga Progressive Scan feature stuff. I am very impressed with the picture from the Panasonic demo DVD. I could count the hair on the model head but not that much with normal DVD disc. Then my friend came along and suggests that I look at the Sony DRC model instead. I have a quick search on the net and the specification sound impressive what with all those doubling of vertical and horizontal line stuff. Since there are no dealers in my small town that can show both for side-by-side comparison, I am seeking advise from this forum on my selection. To me, picture quality and reliability is paramount (isn’t that so for everyone?). And I heard Sony tube is less “lasting” due to their brightness. Is that true?

Another issue. Some people say that the latest Sony DRC projection TV is now as sharp as normal tube. That cannot be so, can it? If it were, I sure would be thinking of that instead. Excuse me for asking such naïve questions.

<a href="http://www.panasonic-my.com/products/visual/details.asp?ID=341" target="_blank">http://www.panasonic-my.com/products/visual/details.asp?ID=341</a>

What's the equivalent model in U.K?