Get to a store where you can see them side-by-side to see the quality. If one looks too grainy/blurry/ect, look for one that looks smoother. Sony HDTVs are really blurry. Also, ask the electronics person if they are actually running on HD. It may sound stupid, but it's important.

I was at Circuit City earlier today and the guy was trying to get me to buy some $4599.99 Panasonic plasma, but that was waaay too expensive. The problem with buying from TigerDirect is that I can't actually see the TV in action and if I wasn't satisfied, I'd have to pay shipping to return it ($177.50). It seems to me that LCDs are more expensive at larger sizes.

Look for a DLP in all honesty. Plasmas that are 1080p will run you a fortune at a large size. LCD's will cost a ton at large sizes as well and I'm guessing you want 50+ inches on the screen.

Also, check on what the lamp is in the DLP, there are new ones out that do not have the rainbow effect because they use LED's instead of a lamp.

Read this and see about DLP: http://www.dlp.com/hdtv/led_hdtvs.aspx

Also, when looking at the TV's in stores be careful. They are not set up to look great in stores and the lighting there can also affect how well the screen looks. Have them give you the remote and go through and tweak the settings on the TV to see if it looks good for you. Also bring with you a DVD that you know how it should look and be great and judge it from that. Alot of the streams and movies they show at stores are split either 60 ways so it loses quality, or they are "Disney" based animated movies which look great no matter the tv you play them on.

Also, careful with the information you are getting from posters with the "Wikipedia" links. They are dated and not something I would rely on. AVS is a great place to go to http://www.avsforum.com/ .

I did do a little searching on that Toshiba you listed in your review and it got some great reviews from customers and really seems to be the best big tv you can get for that price. Now I'm debating about picking up this TV just because of how cheap it is.

I'd suggest looking into the samsung HLS-5679w model as it is the newer LED DLP and doesn't need lamp replacements all that often. The LED's should last for about 50k hours of viewing before they need to be replaced.

Here's a review from AVS on it as well as discussion with people who have bought it and those asking questions about it: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=709624

Also take a look at the Sony KDS-55A2020, as it's a great TV and you can get it for around 1500 now.

Here's a review from CNET on the Sony http://reviews.cnet.com/projection-tvs/sony-kds-55a2020/4505-6484_7-32331181.html?tag=pdtl-img

If you read what they gave the 60 inch (Which is the same just bigger) they gave it a 8 out of 10 which ranked it in the top 10 of their HDTV's.

I recommend LG LCD.

Ummm... You're saying wikipedia is a bad source but a forum isn't, on a forum? Meh, I don't think so... forums are somewhat full of biased and a little bit of uneducated people it seems... and this forum is no real exception...

You are clearly clueless. If you were not, you would know immediately that the Wikipedia article is really OLD and DATED, and you wouldn't even have answered sth so stupid about AVS, a forum that clearly you don't understand.

Let me tell you what is stupid about what you posted (apart from the rear projection example you gave of your friend, which just shows more cluelessness on your part):

The article talks about LCD TV which are 32" or less in size, and compare them to 50"+ RPTV, which is plain stupid. How do I know that? Simple! The only LCD that are lighter than LCos based RPTV (like the Sony SXRD) are LCD of 32" or less. Every 1080p LCD (or plasma) is far heavier than these RPTV, and can't be hanged on the wall without very special reinforced mounts. The bulkier part is still true, but it just shows this wikipedia article was made a long time ago.

The disadvantages list of LCD is very lacking, you can esily add ten more (dead pixels, banding, screendoor, motion dithering, ...).

@sieanr: stop the nonsense, you described how a LCD pixel work. The only difference in 120 Hz LCD is that the response time is enough to display 120 Hz, which is a multiple of 24 Hz, 30 Hz and 60 Hz, which is the main reason to go 120 Hz (compatibility with these 3 frequencies). You can be assured they have sufficient response time for normal HDTV content, that's all.

Then, talking about RPTV, you forgot the part about them having the quality of movie theaters, which is what people want when watching their movies: picture fidelity and quality.

Talking specifically about SXRD, it is not susceptible to glare, as the silk screen effect (SSE) is caused by the special treatment applied on the glass, so that it doesn't glare. Plus, the viewing angle is actually pretty good (as good as CRT). The only time when it's not good, is when you're too close to the TV. As these are big screens (50+"), you must have a reasonnable viewing distance.

The fact that they place that the lamp has to be changed as a disadvantage is actually very strange, and clueless.

Every TV looses quality over the years, because the parts that provide the image wear off, affecting colour mainly (and gamma). That's true for all of them, plasma, LCD, CRT. The big advantage of RPTV, is that you can change the lamp and then the image is fixed. So, provided you want to keep the TV for a long time, this is a pretty big advantage.

The choice of a DLP by the OP is actually a pretty good choice, and you can see he informed himself before choosing.

If it wasn't for the price, I would advise to get the Sony RPTV SXRD 50", provided his model doesn't suffer too badly from green blob and he can live with no 1080p@24 support (and don't expect to use VGA for more than 720p).