I have a Samsung HLS5087W 50" DLP 1080P HDTV
http://www.samsung.com/Products/TV/DLPTV/HLS5087WXXAA.asp. It's an amazing TV and you can find it online for $1500. I have been studying and reading all about HD content and HDTV stuff in general for a while now. It's become my new passion. Don't listen to people about price. You don't always get what you pay for with HDTV's. There are pros and cons for every type of HDTV (CRT, LCD, LcoS, DLP, Plasma, etc). There are also defective units in every model of TV. Reading reviews of multiple TVs online will always point you in different directions. You have to decide what
you want and go for it. No single TV is perfect in everybody's eyes.
Going to stores sadly isn't the best way to compare picture on TV's. Most stores have their TV's on "torch mode" (dynamic setting on mine) which are the TV's brightest settings. It helps them look better in brightly lit stores...but it doesn't do the TV justice at all. They also have most of the HDTVs on a split signal feed, with some of their more expensive models hooked up to a single blu ray player via HDMI, to make it look like it's picture is better...which isn't necessarily true. I did a combination of looking in stores (adjusting settings myself), reading reviews online, researching technology, and browsing several good AV forums. AVS forum is a crowded forum that's very informative, and hdtvoice.net has very good HDTV FAQs.
I chose DLP because I find the technology interesting, it has no chance of burn in, it provides bright vivid colors, it displays AMAZING HD content, it's cheap, the only thing that should die is a single light unit that can be replaced for around $200, and it has a long life expectancy. The reason I chose to go with Samsung is mostly the 1 year full parts/service warranty and "game mode". I planned on using it for HD gaming, and some DLP TV's have lag with gaming. I can assure you this TV has no lag at all. "Game Mode" also adjusts the picture to look amazing with games.
DLP main cons are rainbowing, dithering, and SDE (screen door effect). Some DLP TV's don't really suffer bad from dithering or SDE (you can adjust the settings on the TV to fix those problems) but they all have rainbowing. Some just don't have it as bad as others. Even the new 2007 LED DLP TV's which use the 3 main colors as LEDs shining through the DMD in the DLP chip to project the image, as opposed to shining a single light unit through a segmented color wheel through the DMD in the DLP chip - will arguably (technically) still have rainbowing. People will not be able to notice it really. I notice rainbowing on some DLP TVs but I don't notice it on mine. I always look for it also. My TV suffers from some dithering in crappy HD broadcasts or SD material. I never see SDE on it.
I am getting it tuned by an ISF technician next month. He will adjust the color decoder, color gamut, and gamma as well as the greyscale adjustments for all available inputs and scan rates for $400. It's pricey but it's amazing how much better an ISF tuned HDTV will look over one tuned even by the best AV junkie at home. These guys come with a lot of experience and $10,000 in equipment and do extensive adjustments in your system settings and all throughout your TV.
My TV is fucking amazing as is. I've had friends over on multiple occasions to watch HD broadcasts and for playing 360 (and 480i Wii lol..I need the damn component cable). Most of my friends have HDTVs and I have recieved nothing but compliments about my TVs HD picture (and my rl friends are mostly honest assholes that like to find something wrong with everything like some people on this forum lol). It actually made a couple friends jealous and upset they spent more money on their TVs, because mine looks better in HD.
Sorry for the long strange post. I guess my point is; start researching HDTV now and find out what size you want, and what technology you want. If you plan on using it for gaming you should go with DLP or LCD. Both technologies offer cheap HDTVs that are amazing. 1080p DLP sets are cheaper. Find the size you want and research the hell out of brands and models all over the web. Go to look at them in stores and mess with the settings yourself. Don't feel discouraged because 2 out of the 40 good reviews you read are horror stories about somebody getting a defective TV. It happens to the best of them. Most companies offer warranties on their TVs. After you are 100% sure about what you want...you will save a lot of money (more than $500 on some TV's) buying online. I got mine through Amazon.
Regarding 1080p...you will not notice a difference over 1080i unless you are going 50" or above. Don't even bother with it if you don't plan on buying that large of a TV. 1080p doesn't look much better than a good 1080i signal. The cool thing about a 1080p TV is it will deinterlace a 1080i/60 signal and display it looking the same as a native 1080p/24.
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