[crazzeto]

Here is a basic overview of TV technologies (very basic). Remember, more than just LCD's and plasma's exist in this world. This is a short benifit/drawback list.

LCD:
Positives
No burn in's, no need to worry about lamps, wall mountable, less power draw, cool running.

Negatives:
Typically poor black leveles, typically poor contrast ratios, slow response times - leads to "lip sync" issues in games like rockband in worst case, can also cause ghosting though ghosting issues are more or less totally resolved.

Plasma
Positives:
Great black levels, great contrast ratios, fast response times, best TV's in the world are plasmas.

Negatives:
burnin/IR issues possible, particularly with gaming, hot running (space heater), much bigger power draw, some Plasmas are worse than others in all these regards.

DLP:
Postives:
Very good black levels, very good contrast ratios, very quick response times (absolutly no lip sync), best value in large screen size class - 50" 1080P screen *will* fit in your budget, DLP's make for some excellent TV's, one of the worlds best gaming screens is a wrap around DLP.

Negatives:
Absolutly can not wall mount, unless you get an LED based display it will have a projector lamp which *will* need to be replaced in 2/3 yrs (range $99 - $250), most advanced display technology implemented in LCD - Plasma first, perhaps later on it trickles down to RPTV DLP's, RPTV no longer considered "sexy", though I bet a large one will still cause your friends jaws to drop esp when they see the picture.