1) Both of those sets are pretty junky. All of the current gen Sharps have been plagued by reliability and banding problems and Vizio, though everyone touts it as a "great value" on the internet, is an unproven off-brand.

2) Why would you buy a TV from Sam's? Go someplace where someone will actually benefit from your money and they care enough to negotiate on pricing.

3) For the money you're looking to spend, you could buy a name brand, 1080p set. Check out the Toshiba 42HL167 or the Samsung LNT4061F.

EDIT:

"Samsung make the best lcds and plasmas around when it comes to picture"

You obviously have never seen a Pioneer PROFHD1 or a NuVision LCD. And the guy above you is right: those numbers are arbitary.

God of War III playable demo and an announcement for a Q4 2007 release date.

WOOOO!

It's not over until Toshiba throws in the towel.

However, keep in mind that Toshiba's stand-alone HD-DVD players are significantly less expensive than most all of the Blu-Ray stand-alone players on the market. That, however, is looking to change soon, as more manufacturers are either dropping the prices on their existing hardware or release more price-conscious hardware. Sony plans to have a $500 BDP soon, Panasonic just dropped their player to $599, and Samsung's new player will clock in at a cool $499. All of these units are also 1080p, whereas Toshiba's budget-friendly units are 720p, with their higher priced ($599 & $799) units are 1080p.

There went the price advantage for the HD-DVD camp.

Also, with the great games on the horizon for the PS3 and the holidays quickly approaching, I imagine to see Blu-Ray take an even greater lead over HD-DVD.

I play a ton of VF5 with my friends, resistance online, and have been really enjoying blu-ray movies on my hd big-screen.

::shrugs::

Since I've already beaten Ninja Gaiden in two iterations, I'd go towards The Darkness.

Escape From Butcher Bay was awesome. I'm hoping The Darkness is, too.

The PS2 sold about 2 million consoles in its first year. The PS3 has sold about 3.6 million consoles as of April.

The PS2 started off with brisk sales and by the third year was outselling all other consoles on the market. The PS3 has brisk sales at the moment.

The PS3 has outsold the 360 in comparison to its time on the market.

It's pretty easy to find these sales figures between google & wikipedia.

I've been working in electronics for eight years. People in the industry call it "Best Lie".

Their employees are poorly trained, poorly paid, their prices are almost always higher than their competitors, and they offer no follow-up or support after a purchase.

Seriously, you can get better information from a monkey than some poor kid they're paying give-or-take $7 an hour.

Sure, Sony's games division may be posting losses, but you have to look at the broader picture. 

Ninty has to make money on its consoles.  Their only sources of revenue are videogames and consoles sales and a few other media, such as their trading cards and TV shows.

Sony, on the other hand, is using the PS3 to push a brand strategy, not just a category strategy.  At the moment, Sony is really driving home the "Full HD 1080p" experience.  They were the most successful CE company in TVs this past year (one of the highest profit margin categories in the industry), and 1080p was a huge part of it.  At the moment, they're focusing a lot of attention on Blu-Ray.

Having a loss leader (like the PS3) is all well and good for a company, so long as that money is being made up elsewhere.  Which it is, being both 1080p and a Blu-Ray player. :)

Oh boy, a discussion about cables.

To answer your question, any high bandwidth (1.3 compatible) HDMI cable is compatible with the PS3.  However, the PS3 is not a Simplay certified product, so there's no promise that the PS3 is compatible with all HDMI equipped gear. 

As per cables, let's dispell some rumors: the quality of the cable does make a difference in the quality of the picture and sound.  However, a $100 cable won't improve performance as much as spending an additional $100 on your gear.  Yes, cables, typically Monster branded, are very high margin items, meaning they make the retailers a lot of money.  Monster, however, is not "high end" or "expensive" compared to most other cables.  The problem is, most folks are familiar with the stuff sold at Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, or Best Buy.  Quite frankly, most of that is junk:  rudely manufactured lamp cord with RCA connectors.  Monster falls nicely in the middle of the road, which is why you find it at most electronics retailers.

Here are what separates a "good" cable from a "bad" cable:

1)  Shielding - it keeps RF, FM/AM, and static electricity from entering the cable and disrupting the electrical signal.  By the way, ones and zeros can be disrupted just as much as PCM signals.

2)  Dielectric - Electricity follows the path of least resistance.  If you place a copper cable straight, the ohms rating of the cable remains constant at 75.  However, most people don't place straight copper wire between components.  They bend it, it wraps around other cables, and forms that typical bird's nest.  A dielectric helps keep the ohms stable, preserving picture and sound in the process.

3)  Ends - Maximizing the connection area between two metal components facilitates better signal transfer.  This means more information makes it from the source to the receiving component.