I'd go for a plasma unless you're going to be using it for a PC monitor and displaying static imagery for days (in which case LCD is pretty much your only choice).
Pioneer are the best but they're expensive. If that's outside your price range look at Panasonic and Samsung (LG might be OK too, but I'm not very familiar with their plasmas). Go to the store and look at both and see if there's any traits you like or hate. Bear in mind colour, sharpness and contrast are probably set to stupid levels - you can adjust them but even with them set standard you'll still get an idea if there's traits of certain pictures you hate (look at plenty of moving images, look at colour gradients, look at people's faces, that sort of thing).
IMO, the quality of screens nowadays is shit so I wouldn't buy one without a five year warranty (even then, if they develop a problem the manufacturers sometimes like to play the "no, that's within spec" game). But anyway, that's a personal opinion.