1080p an issue for now?

I would get 1080p because: it's the best that's out there, the premium is low, software is available for it, and scaled material may benefit. But at 12-14' I think 50" is just too small, I'm the same distance and wouldn't have less than the 73" I'm now using. You don't have to go that big but 57-65's are reasonably priced and looking very good (assuming you have HD OTA or Sat. material also available.) The 50" plasma may give you a better picture but might not give you a better "experience".

hang on...the premium for 1080p is actually quite high for plasma. i didn't really like rear projection, which can be had with 1080p relatively cheaply. you can't get it in plasma for under 5 or 6k at least.

i have been wondering if 50 inches isn't going to be big enough. the panasonic 58 inch is at least 3500, and the hitachi 55 inch is around 3k. but, neither has 1080p. does anyone know of a plasma with 1080p that's not going to cost upwards of 5k? thanks. -dave

You mentioned that you like the LCD picure best (It should look good, especially on HD since the pixels are a lot smaller than plasma pixels). However, you also mentioned that the LCD's may be a bit small; therefore, you're looking at plasmas in the 50 plus inch range. Are you aware that the new LCD's starting to appear for the Christmas shopping season are over 50 inches? If you want an LCD over 50 inches, you should be able to find one now. It will also be 1080p of course.

I cannot agree with the comment above that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are like DVD-A and SACD. It's apples and oranges. The music formats are fringe products for a fringe market. The video formats are mainstream products directed towards the mass market. And it's not just the TV market. They will also appear in computers as a "new upgrade" to disc drives in order to get consumers to upgrade computers. They will also be directed towards gamers, such as the PS3, which has a Blu-Ray drive. I believe that the X-Box comes with an optional HD-DVD drive. The high rez video formats are going to be mainstream video, computer and gaming products. That's way, way beyond what high rez audio was directed at. The fact that there is room on the discs for high rez/multi-channel audio is a nice benefit that we audiophiles can ride along with if they are used for that purpose.

mark, any idea on what we can expect for lcd prices in the 50+ inch range?

Do you think you might integrate a computer for a HTPC? That would be one more reason to consider 1080p. A 50" 720P DLP at 13' is what I have now. It works, but any larger display might have problems with resolution, especially text.