Listen here...
I've been doing research on this myself lately, and I'm going to stick with rear projection DLP for now.
The reason?
There's a new kid on the block called SED or Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display, it will be released this year.
Apparently everyone at the trade shows last year says it blows LCD and Plasma out of the water in every way.
For example, compare contrast ratios:
LCD- 3,000:1
Plasma- 5,000:1
SED- 100,000:1 (yes, that's one hundred thousand)
Apparently looked so real people thought you could reach out and touch objects on the screen. The picture is as sharp or sharper than LCD, contrast ratio way the hell higher than anything, colors more vibrant and tracks movement better.
It's actually based on the old tube technology (which I liked better anyway), except instead of 1 tube it's hundreds of thousands of little tubes.
The models released this year will start at 55", 1080p, and as flat as anything out there.
Prices will be higher than plasma, but it is cheaper to produce SED so they are in a position to compete.
LCD and Plasma makers are already scrambling to cut costs to compete with SED, and the word is they are trying to get even bigger screen models down to $1,000 by 2008! We'll wait and see, but expect prices to drop significantly in the next couple years.
In the meantime, I would say find a good deal on rear projection, and make sure it has digital inputs as the new Blue Ray DVD players and HD DVD players will not have component/analog outputs for security issues. I'd also get 1080p too if you can (a little more expensive). Then wait for LCD or Plasma to come down in price or wait a little longer for the SED tvs to become more affordable.