Please help me decide what to do...

Return the TV.

Shop around for the Panasonic 50" in the 77U series (which has the anti-reflective coating) or look at a site like New Egg and go for last years Pioneer PDP-5070.

1080p will only be a factor if you are sitting 6 1/2 feet or closer. But for a 50", you're ideal distance is about 8 or 9 feet... and at that distance you can't visually resolve much of a difference - if any - at all.

Look. You can't future proof - you know new technologies and new resolutions are right around the corner. I have two 768p displays and the pictures are absolutely fantanstic - both are only several months old. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that 1080p is a total necessity. Either the panasonic or the Pioneer listed above have the ability to accept a 1080p signal and downconvert it to 720p/1080i... and any HD player you buy can output different resolutions. Besides, most channels only broadcast in 720p (some in 1080i)... but bandwith is such an issue right now that 1080p is not broadcast.

If you really want to convince yourself that 720p (or, 768p) is okay to purchase read the industry expert comments by the www.hdtvexpert.com. He's an industry consultant/expert.

I don't believe the Hitachi has a VGA port, either. However, the Samsung 50" plasmas do so you may want to check those out at the Best Buy you've been dealing with (if that's a feature you need).

OK, I think you have us all confused by now. There is no specification that determines picture quality. So if you're trying to figure out which television looks better by comparing specifications then you will be hopelessly lost and likely disappointed, too. I can sit here and tell you that the Samsung looks better than the HP but that's meaningless compared to you going back to the store and looking for yourself. Trust your own eyes as they are the ones that will be watching the TV for a long time in your home. That said, I'd spend another $200 of my own money to get the Samsung.

Yes the Pioneer quality (and panasonic for that matter) will be waaaay better than that HP. That is a definite YES.

As for Samsungs, I've read some complaints about their different screen modes (by that I mean aspect modes... such as 4:3, Full, etc.) that seemed to indicate that they are lacking. Might want to check that out.

I agree with the other poster.

You should check out the tv ratings on www.cnet.com.

They'll break it down for you.

The Pioneers and Panasonics both have amazing plasma pictures... as do some of the samsungs.

Go to Cnet and soak up the info.

Please check your PMs

Hey wbandit, before you go brand shopping, make sure your setup is fine. If you are on cable, perhaps a tech should look at your setup. Add to that, cable and satellite providers do a lot of compression and sometimes this will be visible as noise when there is a lot of motion in the feed.
Though HP wouldn't have been my first choice, it should be better than what you are seeing.
By the way, I own a Samsung 42" plasma and the PQ is awesome in HD, and adequate to very good on SD.

Good point. check your cables and do a real calibration. You wouldnt believe how many have composite cable hooked into thier display and wonder why the picture is bad. HPs may not be in the same class as the pannys or pioneers they when calibrated correctly are very good products.

I don't think you will have the problems with the other sets suggested.
Personally I have a Samsung HP-T5064 and I love it.
If you can look at all the sets in the same store it should help you decide.

You can get a Samsung 5084 for not much more than $2200 from a forum sponsor or amazon. Not to mention a Pioneer 5080HD isn't that much more. Personally I would spend the couple extra hundred dollars to get a large gain in performance.

are you seeing blocking or a smearing of the picture?

as a former Directv owner i can attest to the macro blocking that can occur. do you have any other hd tvs you can hook the directv box to?

that's a simple enough problem to test. if you live close enough to any local TV station to get an OTA feed, plug in an antenna and look at it compared to your satellite feed.

but yes i've seen some recordings from DirecTV and they were less than impressive to put it mildly, especially on sharper sources. army of darkness for example on D* looked worse than the scaled up DVD.

I have to disagree, I have not noticed any blurring effect on the PL5072N that I have viewed. You would have to spend alot more than the $1,300 it cost to have a significantly better picture. It has VGA, 3 HDMI, 2 Components and two Composite inputs. It also has a very versitle tuner, OTA and Digital Cable.

Absolutely! The PQ is much better IMO and less riddled with issues like artifacts and poor color saturation.

Agreed. Those two TV's will leave the HP in the dust. Just my opinion of course.