Plasmas have a better picture than an HDTV, but they don't last as long. Personally, the bigger the better, but obviously, it's what you can afford. Just do your research when it comes to pricing. Too bad you missed the Black Friday sales.

I know a great deal about plasma TV's having dealt with them since they were first available on the consumer market. Panansonic is an excellent choice, and I could not recommend another brand higher, the value to performance is very good. I would not say that Plasma is necessarily better than LCD, as each has their benefits, and drawbacks. If you are to using the set in a room that is very brightly lit, or has a lot of reflections, you may be better served by a LCD. LCD sets tend to have brighter pictures (when you are talking equivalent quality, or apple to apples so to speak), and very good anti reflective screens. Plasmas on the other hand still have brighter pictures than our CRT (tube) sets, can be viewed from any angle with no loss of picture quality (not so with nearly all LCD sets), have deep blacks (LCDs have trouble in this area as well), and very accurate color (another area even many high quality LCD sets are often criticized for). Another difference in Plasma sets and LCD is in dealing with very fast motion. Here Plasma is the clear winner. LCD sets have an issue with this that causes a blurring effect that is very bothersome to many people. In defense of LCD, many people do not notice this at all. Plasma sets are said to "burn in". This is total nonsense. If you never did this to a CRT set you owned, you absolutely will NEVER do it to a Plasma. Even on the very earliest sets I never saw a Plasma with a permanent image "burnt" into the screen. What a Plasma set will do is give the impression of burn in by retaining an image if a fixed image is held on the screen for a very extended period. This "image retention" is much different than burn in because it is totally temporary. Once a full screen moving image is back on the screen the retained image will disappear in very short order. Life span is another area where the misinformed will lead you astray. The very first Plasma sets have a life expectancy similar to a conventional tube (CRT) set, or about 30,000 hours until they reached the half brightness point. Just about all current Plasma sets (LCDs also)made by the major reputable name brands give a 60,000 hour life until half brightness. Be sure to check me on this, but I think Panasonic now gives a 100,000 hour, or 11 years of continuous use spec until their sets reach the half brightness point! Life span is definitely NOT an issue. As for size, that will depend on your viewing distance. Do what is comfortable, but do not get any closer than 1.5 times the screen width, and generally you don't want to be farther away than three times the screen width (however this is preference also). If you are 50" or below, and at the 2 to 3 time screen width viewing distance, 720p is going to be indistinguishable from 1080p to the vast majority of people (even the so called "experts"). When you go above 50" I would certainly reccomend going with 1080p, especially if you sit close. Nothing is currently broadcast in 1080p. ABC, FOX, and ESPN all use 720p for their broadcasts, and most others use 1080i. Between 1080i and 720p there is very little difference, and as a matter of fact when fast motion is involved 720p actually can look better. Today only Blu Ray uses 1080p and a 720p Plasma will simply convert the 1080p signal down to 720p for viewing.