We recently moved from an apartment to a house, so I had a lot of TV buying to do. Simply put, I bought a 60" 1080p Pioneer plasma for the family room (PDP-6010), 37" 720p Sharp LCD for the bedroom (37D43U), and 26" Panasonic LCD for the office (26LX70). All are outstanding, but I must say that the Pioneer plasma does outshine the rest.
Anyway, after we bought the Sharp 37" LCD and were using it on the stand, my wife decided she might want to mount the TV in the bedroom for aesthetic reasons. So I told her that's fine, but then the 37" won't be big enough if it's against the wall. So she said ok, buy a bigger TV. So I fought and fought (lol) and agreed to replace the 37" Sharp LCD with a 42" Pioneer plasma (the PDP-4280 if anyone is keeping score).
Just my view, but as good as these nice LCD's can be, I just love the picture a good plasma puts out. Of course, if you are only looking for 37"-40", that argues strongly for LCD as there are many more LCD options in those sizes. So if that's the case, like the others, I'd look at Samsung, Sharp and Sony first and foremost. The Toshiba LCD's look pretty good also. We were very happy with our Sharp 37" LCD (using primarily with HD cable and HD-DVD), and could easily have stuck with it. Good luck.
