There is not yet a plasma that can display true 1080p but some of them can receive a 1080p signal and then convert it to 720p. The bigger question is how long do you want to wait? There will always be some gimmick coming down the pike worth waiting for. I waited until DVI became very common and then I waited a bit more to get a unit that will at least acccept 1080p so that I can watch it when the next generation DVDs come out. Having waited so long for this I now have to worry about HDMI which does not bother me as I chose to continue to run my audio seperate so I don't need qudio piggy-backed along with the video. While not true 1080p, it will be spectacular. To answer your first question there is speculation that 1080p will be available in plasmas perhaps by December. Obvioulsy they are vague about this as they don't want to be producing obsolete units in the meantime that might not sale.
Hey goat, I just noticed you took my advice and visited the NEC thread. While the answers they gave are much like mine it looks like they said it better. I hope we were of some help.
So, is it worth the wait? Perhaps, if you are where I was a couple years ago. I have decided to forgo the proverbial two birds in the bush and enjoy the 50XM5 NEC plasma sitting on my wall which is truly awesome.
One more point, should you decided to wait. I care not to wait out the upcoming war between the two formats while the manufacturers work on de-bugging the new 1080p format in their haste to keep up in the market.
