Join the club! I've been teetering on the edge of buying for two years now and I still can't bring myself to take the leap! I just cannot find a TV that doesn't force me to bite the bullet and make a big compromise:
1. CRT-based RPTVs have a serious burn-in issue on 4x3 material (and station logos), and their native resolution is nowhere near competitive to the latest DLP and LCD based TVs.
2. Plasma TVs have an even more serious burn-in issue than CRT-based RPTVs, and picture quality fades over time. Positively ridiculous performance given the exhorbitant prices that these sets carry.
3. DLP-based RPTVs seem to have the right resolution but all sets use a single DLP chip and colour wheel design that produce odd rainbow artifacts as well as eye fatigue. Availability is still limited and only Samsung and (soon) Panasonic make them.
4. I think that LCD based RPTVs are probably the best of breed right now, but even these sets have their problems. I've seen Sony's Grand Wega II and the resolution (like the DLP-based sets) is great. The only problem with this set is the black level. To explain the problem, I'll describe my experience with the GW in a showroom. They had another Sony and Toshiba of similar size on either side of the GW and they were showing a HDNet football game on all three sets. The game was being played on a bright sunny day and the stadium had a grandstand with two levels, with the top level casting a dark shadow on the bottom level. On the other Sony and Tosh, you could clearly distinguish people in the shadowed area. On the GW, the shadowed area was almost a solid black -- almost no detail whatsoever. And no, I don't think that adjusting the TV would eliminate this problem. The TV seemed properly calibrated anyway as the picture in the non-shadowed area looked gorgeous.
5. And finally, there's the NTSC issue. No ifs, ands, or buts, NTSC is terrible on all RPTV sets, period. I've given up on ever seeing a good NTSC picture on a widescreen RPTV -- it's just never going to happen. The manufacturers will not spend the money to put a good scaler on these TVs to solve what they consider to be a temporary problem as we transition from NTSC to HD. So, I think that during this transition a second direct-view set is mandatory. I'd recommend that you move the TV you will be replacing to another room (bedroom?) and continue to watch any NTSC you need to watch on that set.
So, that's the 'state-of-the-art' as I see it. If you buy now, be prepared to pick your compromise and spend big bucks. Personally, I think I'll wait another year and see if a no-compromise RPTV finally comes to market.