All I care about is Black Levels and Picture Quality...Help!

I'll try to keep this post brief, although I could write a long, sad book on this. I have been searching for a replacement to my awesome Sony KDL-46S3000 for about six months. It's a 720p LCD that has great black levels and an overall great picture. Unfortunately I really want a bigger TV. I bought the 55" Panasonic ET5 on Black Friday but quickly discovered the black levels didn't even come close to the 7 year old Sony it replaced. Sure it looked great in the day when the kids are watching hi def cartoons, or at night with the lights on when my wife is watching Modern Family or whatever.... But when we turn off the lights and watch a movie, it's just terrible. So I returned it for a Panny plasma.

The Plasma has an unbelievable image. Blacks are awesome and so are the colors. It's plenty bright. It's a great TV. But I've discovered that I'm in the unlucky 15% of the population that sees flicker in plasmas due to the effective 60hz refresh rate. It's like the old days of CRT computer monitors. Most people didn't care what the refresh rate was set to. But I had to be at 72hz or above or I'd go crazy. Anyway, whether you know what I'm talking about or not, it doesn't matter, trust me, I can't have a plasma.

So what's the consensus on the best black levels and PQ for dark room movie viewing in a 55" LCD TV? I can't go back in time and do a million hours of research like I did before for the previous two TVs. I need to get rid of this plasma and get the replacement and be done with it. I don't care about anything but the black levels and overall dark room picture quality for movies. Please help me figure this out? I can get a good deal on a WT50 but the reviews on that are mixed at best. Budget is about $1700 but I'd much rather spend closer to $1200 or so. Thoughts? Thanks!!!

Wow, I always thought that IPS was better in every way. So better colors and viewing angles but worse contrast and therefore bad black levels, eh? Interesting. Thanks for the info.

I appreciate it. But in the end, what I noticed about the ET5 was that the blacks were a hazy bluish grey. The colors looked good. It was otherwise a great TV. But I could not get anything that even approached what I was hoping for with respect to the blacks. If you're saying it's all related, that's fine. I'm just hoping some one can help me cut through the chase and recommend a current model that isn't $4,000. It's frustrating reading reviews and then finding that the model is no longer available.

Sounds great on the Sony, but they are EXPENSIVE. I was hoping to keep it at $1600 or lower for a 55".

It's kind of interesting, the Sony TVs don't seem to be nearly as prevalent as they used to be. What's with that? They don't sell them much on Amazon and I just don't hear about them. At any rate are any of the lower end Sonys good? My old S3000 was definitely not top of the line, but as I said, the thing rocks. There is a part of me that wants to put it back on the wall and call it quits...wait for OLED. But I've been looking at a 55" for a couple of months. I'm afraid of how small that 46" will look!