I'm looking to buy a ~50" flat panel to hang over a fireplace. I'm pretty settled on plasma because blurr makes me angry and going over the fireplace DLP isn't an option. I don't game often enough to worry about IR and the only bright lights will be from the windows next to the fireplace so glare shouldn't be an issue.

My biggest concern is SD picture quality. Most of my families preferred shows are on channels that don't come in SD, especially my 3 year old's cartoons. My parents got a plasma and my daughter's shows looked absolutely horrible, she wouldn't watch them. I'm thinking that a $2000 TV should look better than my ol$300 tube, but my parent's TV didn't do that.

What features should I look for when selecting a TV to get better SD picture quality?

Watching SD on a big HD screen is like looking at someone's face through a big magnifying glass. It usually won't look pretty. The added size just blows up the poor resolution and reveals flaws you didn't see on a smaller screen. So no matter what HDTV you buy, you'll probably be surprised and disappointed by the SD picture quality.

That said, generally, LCD is worse than plasma with SD content, and there are a couple of plasma companies known for SD quality due to their superior processing of SD signals. The king of this, beyond the really super expensive sets, is Pioneer. But Pioneer's are relatively expesnive sets. For a more affordable option, Panasonic would be a good option. Most of their plasmas offer relatively good SD quality.

Also, to ensure the best SD quality possible, make sure your cable provider is offerring the best signal possible and that you are using good quality cables--cheap ones can be found at monoprice. Component cables, if oyu can use them with your source, will be much much better than compostie or s-video.

In the 50" range I would say the Fujitsu for the best SD, but it is more than your budget.

After about 3 months of research, I ordered the 6070HD Pio. I had initially been headed towards the Panasonics based on spending some time viewing my son's 42" Pany.

I am really impressed by how good the SD picture quality is. Of course this does vary by channel. People say that Pioneers have terriific processing and it sure looks that way to me. My son's reaction when he saw the Pio in SD was that it was much better than his Pany. We both have Charter cable, myself in Onalaska, WI, and his up in Eau Claire, WI. So take it for what it's worth, but my research and experience shows my the Pio really has fantastic SD picture quality.

Without being facetious, I have to say that I keep my old Barco 50" Retrographics CRT display around for SD. When I got a plasma several years back, I was originally going to get rid of the Barco but the plasma showed every flaw in the SD picture, whereas SD was very watchable on the Barco. For a given screen size, there is something about CRT that is very forgiving on SD material compared to any flat panel I have seen.

I'm looking to buy a ~50" flat panel to hang over a fireplace. I'm pretty settled on plasma because blurr makes me angry and going over the fireplace DLP isn't an option. I don't game often enough to worry about IR and the only bright lights will be from the windows next to the fireplace so glare shouldn't be an issue.

My biggest concern is SD picture quality. Most of my families preferred shows are on channels that don't come in SD, especially my 3 year old's cartoons. My parents got a plasma and my daughter's shows looked absolutely horrible, she wouldn't watch them. I'm thinking that a $2000 TV should look better than my ol$300 tube, but my parent's TV didn't do that.

What features should I look for when selecting a TV to get better SD picture quality?

"Cleavland Plasma" member says NEC plasma the best at SD.

Pany 700u series is also quite good for SD viewing.