Phoenix42 writes: But keep the advise rolling people. I still need a matching DVD player, and is there any point in getting a Progressive scan DVD player with either of thoes TV? Bear in mind this will be the main TV and I won't be jumping to get a HDTV set when they hit the shores. Granted the price differance between Progressive scan and thoes with out is pretty narrow...

My dad and I both got the Panasonic RP-56 (~$225). There's also an RP-82 that adds DVD-Audio support. At least as of last year, the RP-56 was one of the cheapest progressive DVD players that didn't have many of the common bugs that occur in these players. For more on this, you need to read HomeTheaterHiFi's report on the chroma bug. See also their progressive scan report. The only minus for the Panasonic is that it doesn't seem to appear on the lists of easy-to-mod systems. If you care about removing Macrovision or watching DVDs from outside your region, then you want something else.

27" tv tubes are cheap enough these days that you won't be too stressed if you toss it / sell it / give it to your kid sister in two years (versus buying a $6K plasma screen today and discovering that it doesn't have the DVI/Firewire/SonyMagicFoo connector that becomes standard in two years). Just make sure you've got an S-Video input jack. The difference you see going from composite to S-Video is massive. The difference you see going to progressive scanning isn't nearly as dramatic. Of course, by that same logic, you don't really need progressive scanning now, so you can save $100 and get something cheaper today, possibly one of the cheap Taiwanese Sampo players that are easily hacked for region-freedom.