Re: 720 vs 1080… if you do most of your watching on cable, it probably won’t matter because the cable companies compress the shit out of signal in order to squeeze more HD channels through their pipes. So while cable may be offering HD channels, their quality certainly shouldn’t be considered true HD.
1080 only comes into play if you’re watching an un-compressed source, eg BluRay or Xbox/PS.
Also, your viewing distance from the TV is a factor on whether or not 1080 matters. If you have a big screen and sit close, 1080 can be noticeable improvement, but if you have a small screen or sit far, 720 is probably fine and you wouldn’t even notice the 1080. Here’s a good graph showing optimal size/distance ratios: http://www.blogcdn.com/hd.engadget.com/media/2006/12/resolution_chart.jpg
For me, contrast ratio and refresh rate is more important than 720 vs 1080.
