What's your viewing distance?
Figure out the distance from your eyes to the screen in inches. Multiply that number by 0.615 to get your SMPTE recommended diagonal screen size. For example, if you sit with your eyes 10 feet from the screen, that would be a viewing distance of 120 inches:
120 x 0.615 = 73.8"
So from 10 feet away, the SMPTE would recommend a 73.8" diagonal screen size in order to give you the ideal 30 degree field of view for HD content.
The SMPTE recommended screen size is often significantly larger than people expect. But having that 30 degree field of view is really nice once you get used to it! You get to see all of the detail in HD content without being so close that you start to see individual lines or pixels in a 1080p display
Anywho, at the moment, Panasonic's plasmas are the best consumer displays available - especially at their very reasonable price points.
If you have a lot of sunlight coming into your room while you watch though, plasmas DO wash out a little bit. It's not the end of the world or anything. But those lovely, inky blacks do turn a bit grey under sunlight or bright room lighting.
Glare and reflections are not really a problem. Panny's plasmas have a very good anti-glare/anti-reflective coating on the glass panel. But you do lose a bit of the deep blacks under lighting and you lose a bit of the "pop" and "wow" under lighting as the contrast decreases and the peak brightness of the plasma can look a little bit "dull" when there is sunlight or bright room lighting.
As for playing videogames, genuine "burn in" is pretty much a total non-issue these days. I do still spot a bit of non-permanent image retention from time to time though. During the first few hundred hours of use is when you're most likely to see some image retention and when you'll want to be most careful. With my Pioneer Kuro, I had image retention from playing games. Enough that it scared me away from playing games on that display for a good long while! Now that the Kuro plasma has fully "settled in" after several hundred hours of use though, I've gone back to playing games on it from time to time. I see no traces of image retention on it now. The Panny plasmas are much the same.
I will say though, personally, for a sunlit or brightly lit room, and for videogames still, I do prefer a good LCD with a matte screen surface. I have a 55" LG 55LH90, which is a full-array, local-dimming LED backlit LCD. Under sunlight, its blacks remain blacker than my Kuro and its peak white remains brighter. So the image actually looks better than the Kuro under lighting. It's also great for games and there's zero worry about any image retention.
I have a Sharp 70" LC-70LE735U being shipped to me as we speak. This is also a full-array LED backlit LCD, but with no local-dimming. Both of these LCDs have matte screens, which, IMO, is a MUST! Almost all other LCDs have a stupid glossy screen surface that I personally find unwatchable. While the glossy screens to a great job of retaining inky black levels and high contrast under lighting, they also act like a freaking mirror! They might have an anti-glare coating, but there's nothing to reduce the reflections. I can easily see my own reflection looking back at me with any of the glossy screen LCDs (which is almost all of them, unfortunately
). It's also extremely easy to see strong reflections of any light sources - like a lamp or something.
So, to sum up:
If you have sunlight or bright room lighting when you watch, a Panny plasma will look ok under those conditions, but definitely not its best. It isn't the glare or reflections (which are better than a glossy LCD). But the blacks turn a bit grey and the peak white looks a bit dull. Burn in isn't an issue, but you might spot a bit of image retention, especially when the panel is new and still "settling" during the first few hundred hours. Overall though, the Panny plasmas are the best flat panel TVs available.
If sunlight and bright lighting are common for you, I WOULD recommend considering a good, matte screen LCD. Forget all about the "Hz". 120, 240, 480Hz. It's all meaningless. If you want motion to look normal and not all weird like everything is a soap opera, you're going to wind up turning off any 120 or 240Hz processing anyway! So do NOT get caught up in any "Hertz" marketing numbers!
You're right to want LED backlighting, but you have to make sure it is "full-array" LED backlighting, and not the crappy "edge" lighting that you'll mostly find these days. With almost all LCDs, I can easily spot uneven backlighting, backlighting where the corners or edges are lighter than the middle of the screen, lighting that is "cloudy" with "splotches" of lighter or darker areas, or just TERRIBLE off-axis viewing. IMO, full-array LED backlighting is the only thing worth considering with an LCD. Combine that with a matte screen, and you have a good solution for a bright or sunlit room.
Unfortunately, your choices are extremely limited! For the 55" size, you have to look at models that came out a couple or 3 years ago! The Vizio XVT553SV is your best bet. It's still widely available online. Well within your price range. And it's a very nice full-array, local-dimming LED backlit LCD with a matte screen in the 55" size!
Remember the SMPTE size recommendation though. You might easily be sitting far enough away that a 70" screen size would be totally appropriate! At that size, the Sharp LC-70LE732U will be near the top of your budget, but you should still be able to squeeze it under
Sharp is replacing the excellent 70" 73xU series with a crappy edge-lit 74xU series for 2012, so right now is a great time to pick up a 73xU unit on clearance!
The Sharp LC-70LE73xU TVs are excellent. They are full-array LED backlit. No local-dimming, but that's ok. The black levels are still nice and deep and there's no "blooming", so it's actually a plus! Most of all, they have a matte screen!
So take your pick:
Panasonic TC-PxxST30 or ST50 plasma in a 50, 55, 60 or 65 inch screen size
Vizio XVT553SV for a 55" LCD
or Sharp LC-70LE73xU for a 70" LCD
Hope that helps!
