While researching new TVs I came across a few that people really rave about. One is the Panasonic 42px60u plasma. They can be had at Best Buy and the like for around $1500. It will do 720p (768 really) no problem. I took a good look at this PDP while doing my research and it is a great set, especially for the money. One problem is that source components like the OPPO 971H using the Faroudja DCDi chip can cause macroblocking issues on the Panny set.
It seems that the 9th generation PDPs have gone a long way towards fixing problems like stuck pixels, faded phosphors, screen burn-in, and such. Plus the brightness had improved dramatically. Plasmas also have a wider viewing angle than LCD sets although the LCD sets are getting better.
For the purposes of full disclosure, I ended up buying a JVC HD56FN97 HD-ILA (LCos) rear-projection tv. LCoS has been the technology I've been watching for quite a while and the price/performance calculus finally hit the sweet spot for me.
