Avsforum is a great place to check out. It's enormous though... you'll be reading forever. Give yourself about a week to read because you'll need it. They cover EVERYTHING there though... read, read, read!!
A note on the burn-in factor. LCD and plasma sets are prone to this, but it is impossible to get burn-in on a DLP. The technology is different. A DLP screen is made up of a million+ little mirrors that move, instead of lights or pixels that light up. As such, there is nothing to be "burnt-in" on a DLP. On the downside...with the DLP, the bulb WILL burn out at some point (supposedly they have a lifespan of about 8000 hours). This will have to be replaced, and they go for about $250US at the moment. However, once replaced I am told your picture quality will be as good as the day you bought it.
I did a rather lengthy write up on my large-screen research a few months back. If I can find the link to it I'll post it here.
I finally settled on the Samsung 50" HLP. For high-def programming I couldn't be happier. It's simply the best picture I've ever seen and I am still amazed by it clarity months later. But for standard definition programs it's pretty poor...worse than my 36" Sony Vega tube for sure. It's aggravating at times. It has the ability to look so good in HD, it's maddening to see such awful SD images and be unable to make them look much better. So I'd suggest you get an HD subscription quick! Luckily, by mid to late summer '05 Directv is expected to offer the major networks for the 40 or so largest US markets. (Right now you only get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS in HD if you live in NY or LA, or way out in the boonies far away from any metropolitan area). The new sat is being launched in April, which means it should be operational by July or August....at which time there should be a lot more HD to choose from, if you choose to go with Directv.
Other issues I've had with this set: The audio and video can get out of sync with each other. If you're using the TV's speakers it's not as noticible, but who wants to have a home theater and not use it? The thing is, the video has to be delayed at times because of high motion...and the set will in turn attempt to delay the audio by the same amount of time (fractions of a second) so they are in sync with each other. But when you've got a satellite tuner hooked directly to you tuner there is no way for that audio to be delayed, so you hear the words sometimes before the person speaks them on-screen. It's an intermittent problem though. And it's worse on S-Video or Component by far than it is on DVI.
Also, I've experienced a bit of a high-pitched ringing sound coming from the back of the set. Not very loud, but noticible during quiet scenes...and in particular while the TV is warming up. It's covered by the warranty though, and Samsung reports it is a known issue (it's the fan inside) and is sending a tech here to correct it.
Anyways, I'll go try to dig up that article.
Cheers.
(edit) Another rule of thumb I have heard from many people: If you are a sports fan, or watch high-motion type programming, DLP is the way to go. However, if you are more of a movie buff, go with the LCD. Don't even bother with plasmas, too many headaches, and more expensive to boot. DLP handles fast motion better, but is weaker on black levels. I have to admit, dimly lit scenes are not great on my set. But football and basketball look unbelieveable. So I will sacrifice a little movie clarity, to have great looking sports.
