Advice for early adopter looking to trade up

So I have an old rear projection mits (wt-46809) and I am starting to get television envy.


My parents went and bought a nice sony 50" rear projection about a year ago and the picture is really way better than my mits.


I am thinking about getting a new 50" and ther are so many choices it is driving me crazy. The bulk of the TV is not a concern (my TV cabinet fits this big dinosaur nicely). Width may be an issue -- I think I need a set without side mounted speakers or with removable ones (I don't need speakers on the tv at all with my current setup). It can be a monitor because hd coming in through my tivo series 3 with cablecard tuners. I am also looking to get into hd-dvd or blu-ray in the next year or so.


Budget 2,500 to 4,500.


My questions:


1. Is 1080p the way to go? I read conflicting things about whether anything is being broadcast in it/or will be in the forseeable future. Also, seems to up the price by at least a couple grand. In aocntrast, from what I have read, being able to do 1080i native seems to be a worthwhile thing to have though.


2. Any reccs generally?


3. What do I do with this big old tv? My current thought is to donate it to a local school or something like that.


Thanks for any guidance you can provide.