I personally don't much like plasmas. I've seen quite a few of them deteriorate after a few years' heavy use, and while a plasma is great if you just want to use it for watching movies, you can usually get an equally good projector at a slightly cheaper price. That said, I'm one of those wackos who don't like to replace things more than once a decade.
I'm not an expert on which brand is the best, but the only non name-brand (Philips, Sony, Pioneer, etc.) producer of flat-panel TVs I can vouch for is Syntax-Olevia, which makes some nice stuff indeed. Aside from that, I reccomend bringing a good source of HD video (perhaps a laptop with a DVI output?), and plugging it into each TV in turn; most of the cheaper stores have one absolutely awful video signal routed through about eight distribution doohickeys, making a $10,000 Pioneer Elite look about the same as a $100 Sanyo.
Also, make sure to get the requisite number of features. Unless you've got a reciever with HDMI switching (about $300+, or more like $400 for one with decent sound quality) or want to buy a HDMI switch ($80+ for a 2-port switch, IIRC), it might be worth spending a few bucks extra for a TV with two or more HDMI inputs. Furthermore, some TVs have low-quality analog inputs; if you're stuck with RGB or composite for TV or use with a Wii, this is something to watch out for.
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