You should be able to get a real nice set for your budget. I am a sales rep for LG and hence spend my days around flat panel TV's, so I can likely offer some decent suggestions. Panasonic seems to be one of your better bets right now far as things go, Sony are just introducing some nice new sets but bear in mind that they are in a joint venture right now with Samsung so you are in effect getting a Korean TV if you buy a Sony. Hitachi, Toshiba and Sony all outsource their panels, so it's not like there is any major advantage to buying from one of the biggies necessarily. In fact, it'll cost you more for the same deal in many cases. Far as the LG offering goes, the higher up panels are much better than the others--32LX1D or a 37LP1D would be your best bets from that line.
The current leading technology that will give you the best picture on an LCD panel is called "Super IPS", these sets will blow away your traditional LCD set in terms of brightness/sharpness/contrast and will provide a much better viewing angle off axis which to me is a very important issue. It'll cost you more, but the better sets are rated at 60,000 hours so may as well get exactly what you want as your panel will last a long time. I'd stronly recommend having a look at a number of sets before you buy as there is a huge difference between the cheapies and the better units.
Regardless, you should consider waiting around 3-5 weeks before you buy as the pricing on LCD panels and Plasma is about to drop for the fall selling season. Probably save you around 20% or so.