For me it would be 1080p, a contrast ratio of at least 10,000:1 and a response time of at least 6ms. HDMI ports are a must, just in case there were some models that lacks them.

IF (and that's a big IF) I bought an HDTV, the importance of features I'm look would be in this order:

1. DVI/VGA port (I wan't to use my PC with it :D)
2. Response time (of under 5 ms if possible)
3. Contrast ratio
4. HDMI
5. Resolution (720p would be fine)
6. HDTV tuner
7. Sound

1. DVI/VGA port (have mine attached to my PC now)
2. response time (lower than 6ms)
3. price (I prefer low price products that I can replace in 3-4 years time)
4. resolution (although 720p is fine)
5. HDMI port (too many cables on component)

Yeah a PC input is important for me too because I want to watch TV and use my computer on the same screen. So I guess the Picture in Picture feature is important too cause I would be able to do both things at the same time

10,000:1? are you sure you didnt mean 1000:1?

1. 1080p
2. Contrast ratio of at least 15,000:1
3. 120hz refresh rate (24fps!)
4. Inputs (at least 2+ HDMI, 2+ component)
5. Other random features

I don't look at contrast ratio because there's no standard, all the companies have a different way to rate contrast ratio.

1: HZ/MS response time
2: BRAND
3: QAM atsc/ntsc tuner and amount of tuners(I like seperate tuners on my NTSC and ATSC.
4: Resolution and Native(I like tv's that support resolutions higher then their natives because I'm a huge fan of oversampling.)
5: HDMI in I want 3+ 6: Component in 2+ 7: Features and color spectrum Some LCD's lean to specific colors I want it to lean to blue because it's easier to achieve a full spectrum that way. 8: ammount of color supported 93%+ most LCD's are far under that up till recently

1000:1?  That's good for a low-end PC monitor. :P

Even my monitor has a contrast ratio of 2000:1

 mines 15k:1