I just bought this beautiful tv at Costco for $1650 ($1899 w/$250 coupon). After much research I decieded to go with an LCD vs. a plasma. My living room gets a lot of light and I didn't like the glare that plasmas are notorious for. As with anybody looking for a new TV you tend to want to get the largest TV you can afford. But I was finally able to convince myself to go with the smaller 47" after reading a nice article on CNET.com . This article point out what most people overlook when purchasing an HDTV. You need to think about how far you'll be sitting from the TV. In my case I will be sitting about 10-15ft away. Any closer and your eyes will pick up on the pixellation even in HD. Here is a straight forward list of what you'll need to concider when buying an HDTV.

1) How far you'll be sitting away from the TV. See chart for reference.

2) Get HDTV broadcasting!! - Standard Def looks terrible on an HDTV.

3) Don't worry about 720, 1080i, 1080p - With the right sized tv at the right distance you won't be able to tell the difference.
(* if your considering buying a blue-ray/hd-dvd player you will see a difference with 1080p)