I have been ogling the new Samsungs at Walmart, 40” is about $1500, the ones with the PC port. With IPTV just around the corner, you may want to make sure your next display is PC connectible.
Been a big fan of Sony for the longest while, but lately Sony has been going down hill and the prices been going up hill. After buying a Samsung 22 widescreen monitor last Christmas, became a Samsung fan... excellent quality displays. The new displays are top notch in my book, and to my old eyes.
In any event, you likely want to make sure it tunes digital QAM signals so you can direct attach to digital cable without a cable company box and the attendant fee. The law forcing the cable companies to support un-bundling the set top box and enabling cable cards goes into effect July 1, 2007, so waiting a few weeks and see what develops might be wise.
I’ll second the recommendation for Samsung. I also have one of their LCD monitors and it’s gorgeous.