Finally decided to buy an HDTV. Suggestions? Also, a question.

 component or hdmi.
hdmi is better to use.

TV advice:
samsung is a great brand they currently have 1080p 32 inch samsungs at bestbuy for 699 or so.

I have NBC/ABC/CBS in HD, free, with basic non-digital cable on my one HDTV in the basement, that's with Time Warner, your provider might not do that though.

Samsung has some nice TVs, check them out, and i assume you will get LCD, correct?

i suggest u not look at something in 1080p. it's just that some of the things don't do 1080p yet. there is barely a difference on a tv that is small. when i bought my 32" the guy had two tv's. one was 720p and 1080p, barely a difference.

for video games u will want a HDMI cable. it's good for having a tv that is 1080p. there is also component cables, which the 360 already has. i had to buy component cables for my ps3 the other day. HDMI didn't work with my tv something wrong with it.

i would get a tv with HD tuner in it. i have to say that it all depends on ur cable. if u have a box like with comcast then i don't think u can get free HD. if u just have regular cable through a wire then u will get some channels in HD. i found that my local channels have something wrong with it. when i put it on HD channel there is like a 2 in of black on each side. only some shows are in HD.

46" 1080p Samsung. Samsung and Sony both make great LCDs, but I highly recommend you go with a Sammy if you can. I get Fox and CBS free, so I don't see why shouldn't be able to.

And HDMI cables from Monoprice.com or Amazon. Don't you dare spend any more than $10 dollars on HDMI cables. Component however, you may have to splurge for. The ones that came with the 360 are great though, if you have those already.

get a LED LCD with 120Hz from samsung and you should be set.

Pioneer make really good Plasma TV's, so if you want the best go for one of those. You're probably not gonna find one for under $1300 though...

"  component or hdmi.hdmi is better to use.TV advice:samsung is a great brand they currently have 1080p 32 inch samsungs at bestbuy for 699 or so. "

If you're going LCD, then it's Samsung or Sony as far as manufacturer, though Sharp is good too. You should look for a 120 Hz set.

If you're going plasma, get a Panasonic G10.

" If you're going LCD, then it's Samsung or Sony as far as manufacturer, though Sharp is good too. You should look for a 120 Hz set.If you're going plasma, get a Panasonic. "

You'll be safe with pretty much any new Samsung or Sony Full HD TV. Just look out for high contrast ratio's and you should be good.

I just ordered a Sharp AQUOS 32" LCD today for $648 on Amazon.  I think Sharp is the best brand these days. I believe they're built in Japan.  It has 3 (6?) hdmi inputs & 2 component inputs plus 1 optical output.

Check out my mini-bio & you can see some photos of my system. That silver flatscreen will be replaced.  For $1300 for your a/v system, I'd just save whatever you have left so you can upgrade to better parts. Like some kind of surround receiver, amps, speakers, etc.

You use the hdmi inputs to hook to your consoles into the tv.  Although the sound won't be very good. If you get a TV with an optical out, you can route that to a cheap surround receiver & speakers to get better sound.  It won't be as good as mine though, unless you plan on spending about $8000.

I personally think that Samsung makes the best LCD HDTVs out there. They have great pictures, they're very durable, and they are relatively affordable as well.

Samsung is a solid brand, there are a few other good brands out there that aren't known that well, I myself have a Tatung, most people think it's some random brand, but they actually been around for a long time and have sold their screens to big brands. In my case I paid like 580 euro nearly 3 years ago whereas a 32 inch with the same specifications from Samsung was 700+.
That said, I have no idea if you can get Tatungs in the US, and how the prices are.

Anyway while a 720p is fine, I would definitely go for a 1080p, ofcourse it's more expensive, but technology moves forward, and although the next generation of consoles is still far away, you can be certain that 1080p will be the new standard for it (well except Nintendo ofcourse, who might move to 720p if we are lucky...) and since the lifespan of the screens should be quite long, there is a good chance you will still be looking at it when these consoles come out. Even if you were to sell it by that time, a 1080p would be worth more then a 720p obviously.
For 1080p you should go 40inch or higher though, but seeing your budget this shouldn't be a problem.

As for home theater set I would suggest doing this yourself, I bought 1 of the cheaper (read: 300 euro) Harman/Kardon AV receivers and I bought 2 Sony speakers with electrostatics instead of the tweeters for 75 euro (got a free center and rears with that aswell), which used to cost over 1500 euro. Ofcourse you can all sorts of speakers, including just from a store, but I really would advice getting a complete home theater set, while they do look nice, you end up paying just as much for a good set as you would for a good receiver + new speakers, while a good receiver has a lot more to offer, you can use whatever speakers you want, you have lots of digital inputs and best of all, they don't break, or atleast not as easily.
If you are going to buy 1, make sure to get a good one (and with that I don't mean 1 of the cheap ones which are just as bad as the crap they use for HT sets), I would estimate that a good one will start with about 250 dollars, ofcourse there are much better, but they really improve on sound quality and even more inputs, but that's for the real audio people, for 250 dollars you have a receiver that is already well beyond what the average person has.

I ended up getting a 42' LG 1080p for $800 at Best Buy. Friend of mine has it and says it's good, and it looked better than anything else comparable on the Best Buy floor. I also picked up a HTIB from Insignia. I don't need it to be very loud since I am in a small apartment living room, so I'm pretty sure that, for the price and based on my needs, it will be a sound decision. Had to go back to work for a bit, so I'll set it up when I get home and throw up some poor quality pictures of my setup.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Just kidding, I'm glad you feel made a good purchase.

Go with LCD instead of Plasma.

See first post