Which hdtv would you recommend and why?

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

Samsung plasma 450 series (42") is what I picked up a year ago, and it's been killer. The advantage of the Samsungs over the Panasonics is that they have more picture control, which is useful if you are obsessed w/customizing your viewing experience. There are a ton of 450 owners who love them...check 'em out.