forget panasonic. panasonic likes to tout high contrast ratio, but in all the tests ive seen, it always ends up being near the bottom.
for analog or digital tv, something with the better processor is going to clean those images up a lot, compared to a 1,899 EDTV Costco special.
My recommendations:
Pioneer Elite 1120(or higher)
OR
Fujitsu HD (I forget the model number)
But at best buy (magnolia) the 50'' is like 6,999.99
their newer stuff is like 10k