After looking at these things for hours a day and then selling them, i would say the following are the best, in the order they are in.
Plasma
1) Pioneer
2) Panasonic
3) LG
4) Samsung
5) Sony
LCD
1) LG
2) ACER
3) Philips
4) Tosh
5) Sony
Home Cinema
1) Panasonic - By Far!
2) Denon
3) Techniques
4) Sony
5) Samsung
Best Selling Makes
1) LG
2) Samsung
3) Philips
4) Sony
5) Goodmans (really)
6) Panasonic
Get out there and look at them all, dont take some ones word for how good they are as every-ones eyes are different and people like different screens. Skin tones are more nateral on Panasonics but some people love the Vibrance of the Sony, others prefer LG's colours, etc. DLP should not be ruled out either, they are great. Acer LCDS are uncommon for TV's but trust me, they are great, and you can get a proper 1080 LCD for a good price. We pass 90% of our HD from a computer to the screens, this looks better than Sky HD. HD DVDS (BlueRay and HD-DVD) Will be out soon so keep a hold onto your cash till they do, they will be the next big thing as the normal DVD will be out-dated by the end of the year, well thats when we're getting HD-DVD. Most HD DVD Players at the moment might say HD on them, but they just upscale normal DVD's to 1080 or 720.
BlueRay and HD-DVD are a new format of DVD, I belive they have 30gig capacity and a rumour of upto 90gig on blue ray with tri-layer discs?
Not much else to say, i am talking from a sales persons point of view, and some-times we are washed with what the company and manufactures want us to belive there products do.
One more think, buy good cables but dont go over the top. Monster Cables are good if you can afford them and dont forget the surge protector, many a customer wishes they would have belived us and got one before the storm hits and knocks the satalite dish out and in-turn damage all that gear. Some surge protectors clean the power to, many think this is a Gimic, and it is to a degree, but it really does clean the power, it provides constant power, as normal power spikes and surges, its very rare to get it dead on 240v, it ranges -/+5 or so they tell us. Belive it or not the sound is clearer with a power cleaner, it just sounds more definate and sharper, but then i get 10% commission for selling these things so maybe i am just brainwashed to the lot...