I'm going to purchase a new TV as mine is pretty old... I've already made the choice between LCD and plasma and decided to go with the plasma since I think it better suits what I am looking for. However, now I'm faced with another decision... should I buy a 720p plasma or shell out the couple hundred bucks extra to get the full 1080p TV? Right now I'm typically looking at tvs in the 40-50 in range. Any input is appreciated, thanks!

The bigger the TV, the higher resolution required.

There ought to be a rule of thumb for HD TV's like there was for regular TV's. That incorporates resolution. The old TV standard was the viewer should be at least 5x away from the diagonal dimension of the display, The rule should incorporate resolution.

When you blew up non-hd signals, you could see the scan lines.