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The larger the screen surface, the better off you'll be with 120 or higher refresh rates, and for that matter, higher res (the 4K sets). I've got a 40, and it's more than satisfactory (I picked it up off the Sam's "last ones" rack five or so years ago), but that's very much a middle of the road size now, and in some parts of the US, probably considered entry level.
Avoid 720p, even if you're not streaming.
More than two HDMI ports is not an extravagance, as the ports sometimes go bad, and you may add some kind of Roku or other streaming box, in addition to disk players.
Stick to your budget, because you won't stick with the same flatscreen TV as long as you have any CRT style TV you've ever owned. My parents' first TV was a small B&W Crosley they bought used in the 1950s, well before I was born, but when I was a kid I watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and a few years later watched Neil Armstrong make the first human footprints on the Moon. It died a couple of years later, and my mom often lamented later on that "we should have just had it fixed."
Reviews of electronics are always months behind the models' end-of-life availability, and reviewers have biases, favorite brands, graft, corruption, stupidity, and scores to settle. Mostly they are a subclass of social parasite.
Judge the picture using your own eyes. Screw alll brand recommendations, and trust your own eyes.
Go to the Big Box store (yellow tags) for maximium selection, and to the wholesale clubs for best prices and pretty broad selection (probably buy at the latter; check the Sam's "last ones"; this time of year, Costco blankets the entrance area with big screens).