Stay away from the plasmas. As mentioned in the other threads, their life is half that of an LCD, they generate a ton of heat, and they are subject to "burn-in", so you cant play video games on them, leave a DVD on pause, etc. They also use a lot more electricity than an LCD. On the plus side, they have better picture and color, including deeper blacks. Also, as mentioned, get a 1080p.
As far as brand goes, just go into a store and look at them. You can really see some differences. Sometimes, the off brands are better, though. I bought a 15 inch Emerson LCD that was on sale, for my daughters bedroom three years ago, and it still looks great, even though she watches it a lot. When I compared it to the others in the store, even the name brands, it had a noticeably better picture than most, and it was a lot less expensive.
