[Memnoch]

G'day all, I'm planning to get rid of my old 20" CRT and get myself a flat panel TV, most likely an LCD. My options are (all Samsungs, because I like Samsung):

1. 32" 720p LCD - $800 approx. at Circuit City
2. 37" 720p LCD - $1150 approx. at Best Buy
3. 40" 720p LCD - $1100 approx. at Circuit City
4. 40" 1080p LCD - $1450 approx. at Best Buy

Here's what I'll mainly be using for:

a ) use as a computer monitor (I got a new Dell XPS M1530 with 1440x900 res)
b ) watching normal (i.e. not Blu Ray) DVDs
c ) watching normal and HD programming from my cable connection
d ) watching lower-rez cricket and rugby downloads from the internet (these stream at lower resolutions than the native resolutions of the TVs)

Also, it will be going into my apartment, and I will be sitting approx. 10 feet from the screen.

Based on all that, what would you recommend? I was initially going to get a 32" but then I though about getting a bigger size to future-proof the purchase. I looked at 40" and it kind of looked big for my place - 37" is probably the best size, but it's more expensive than a 40"! Then I started thinking, should I get 1080p? But given what I'll be watching, will that be overkill? In fact, will a 40" be overkill? I heard that if you watch normal programming on a 1080p (or those streamed internet media files) it looks pretty bad - some of the streamed stuff I watch on my 19" LCD monitor look pretty bad on full screen, I can imagine how bad they would look blown up on a 40".

My original budget was about $1000, then I pushed it up to $1200 when I thought about getting a bigger size - but any money I save will go towards getting a decent pair of speakers for the TV.

Comments please!