I just spoke to the son of an Audiogon member who's manager for Best Buy up North.
He suggests the Panasonic Plasma for combo of best color, reliability and price. He likes the Samsung but doubts it worth the additional $1000.00 and 3" smaller screen.
A doctor in my audio group can buy whatever he wants, ordered the new Vizio 552. It's only $1595.00, sports local dimming LED and specs look like Samsung and LG.
Spread is $1000.00 for each jump. Cheap Vizio, more expensive Panasonic Plasma and most expensive Samsung.
Other suggestions are welcome. Also, anyone experienced with the HDMI switcher that Oppo builds?
http://www.oppodigital.com/hm31/