I agree what Mossy is saying, but if you are wanting a flat panel TV and telling the wifey that it won't take the converter box, I won't tell.
Now on to the TV. We have bought several in the past few months. The great room TV is our "good" TV that is the one I researched and spent forever agonizing over. I ended up with a Samsung 52" 650 Series. OMG!!! Awesome TV. All of the other TVs were "impulse" in we found a good buy and bought on the spot. We bought the kids a Plasma 50" Insignia from Best Buy (floor model, but had only been on display for 2 weeks). This is where they play their PS2 & Wii. It is hooked to the Satellite but rarely used. Not quite as nice as the Sammy, but not bad. Our office ended up with a 42" Hitachi. Again a nice TV, but not as clear as either the Insignia and several degrees lesser than the Samsung. For the kids' bedrooms we got them 32" Vizio. Nice bedroom TVs, but I wouldn't want them to be my main TV. Not quite as nice as color and not as crisp.
Had I not gotten the Samsung, I probably would've ended up with LG & Sony. The Sharp was nice too. Leave those 4 and that is where you can start seeing the drop in my opinion.