Which hdtv would you recommend and why?

Another vote for the Panasonic plasma from me too.
I have been very happy with my Panasonic 58 inch THX certified plasma HDTV. It has a great picture with deep dark black backgrounds

FYI: I am actually surprised that the heat output is not more than it is. My father has an older 42 inch Panasonic Plasma that pumps out the heat, whereas my 58" barely seems warm. (Especially in comparison to the Lamm M2.1 monoblocks that are in the same room!)

My two cents worth.

Oh yeah - besides many of the good points here regarding ambient light, LCD / LED's are not so good off axis as the plasma's.

If you're going to be milling around while watching versus having a dedicated position to watch, the plasma's have an advantage there.

find one which reproduces 100% of the NTSC color spectrum. They are scarce; most tv's only reproduce around 70% of the available colors. Like high-end audio or marriage, you don't know what you're missing until you experience it, then you're done for.

It seems like now that Pioneer is not making their top-rated Kuro line, Panasonic is the one to go with if you decide on plasma. That is what I will do when I get enough money, and I have low light in the living room and the seating is really spread out. I think those are the main contingencies as to which type to get. If you have a lot of light and maybe one couch, go with the lcd/led. Samsung seems like a good start for these.

panasonic plasma --have the pioneer engineers working for them now --good reliability --if not plasma look at the vizio LED