[BktBallRef]

I bought the 52" Sharp Aquous LCD 1080P. I looked before Thanksgiving and they were $3199. The day after Thanksgiving, $2199 @ Circuit City. Knock off another $300 for Directv signup and I was looking good. Even so, a friend found the same TV on the dame day at the PX for $1599, Unfortunately, I didn't have that advantage but I'm still happy with my purchase. For me, Sharp products are as good as anything on the market. I'm looking at buying a Sharp Blu-Ray player this weekend.

LCD > Plasma, although Plasma is cheaper. The biggest difference for me is that there's no screen reflection with LCD. With the glass plasma screen, every light that hits the panel is reflected back at you. As Cameron said, you'll want to compare contrast numbers, because you want black blacks, not gray blacks.

Don't screw around with RCA or S-video cables. Go HDMI, It has the highest quality video and includes audio. But don't get ripped off! Sam's Club has 6' HDMI cables for less than $20. If you go anywhere that I know of, you'll pays $35 to $85.

Check with your cable or satellite dealer and see what HD packages they have. Directv has almost 100 channels and they're great! They're still working on audio sync with some channels but it's usually minimal. Time-Warner cable here SUCKS! They have less than a dozen HD channels. So going to satellite was no problem for me.

Finally, if you're gonna spend the money on a TV, buy quality. Don't screw around with looking for cheap. Get what you pay for.