Significance of getting 720 or 1080 depends on your viewing distance? How far is your TV from your sofa? If it is more than 5 ft, not much difference can be seen. For astro, better get plasma. 1080p tv will not blur with 720p movie. But if you really want to get a 1080p, get a bigger size >42inch

I think you mean 6-7 feet not 6-7 m. At 6-7m, you need projector    OK if 6-7 ft and you want 1080p, go for 50inch. why I say that.. cos you can hardly see the difference between 40in 1080p and 40in 720p at 6-7feet. If you don't believe me, see for yourself at the shops. Remember to stand 6-7ft from the screen otherwise you'll say I'm wrong.

I think you can still watch movie in 1080p if your tv is only in 720p resolution.

I have once saw the panny pv-8 displayed superb picture quality when feeded with blu ray disc in one of the panny promotion fair recently. Its PQ is much better compared to normal dvd play. Again, if viewing distance is within 6 feet I guess. If too far apart, eveything you see is about the same. Be it a FULL hd, HALF hd, SEMI hd or whatever D.....all will look just a square picture projected from a square frame.    However, this is when you really get into the movie not just everytime do the "audition" instead of watching movie.

So, conclusion is if you have longer viewing distance or wanna to benefit from a good story movie, dont bother investing your hardcore money into Full hd tv. Better invest into sound system coz no matter how far you sit, you can still enjoy DD5.1, DTS, DTS-HD, DSP etc etc......provided you have a good receiver. The digital surround can still shooting around behind you with crystal clear effect. 

Bro, are U sure the distance is 550cm? 550cm is about 18 feet. That is way too far. The most common viewing distance for a living hall is around 10 feet or less (for Malaysian terrace house and semi-D). You must have a big bungalow!! If I were you, in this case my priority is size rather than resolution! If you are really into home theater, a HD projector is more suitable and cheaper  Otherwise, you gotta stretch you budget a bit for a 50" plasma which is cheaper than 50" LCD. I saw 50" plasma LG PG20 and older 50" Panasonic PV70 at less than 6k. Shop around.

I think the cheapest and most effective method is probably to rearrange your living room and carve out a nice TV corner for viewing, not more than 8-10ft away from the screen. You will have a very immersive effect with a 42" plasma and some decent speakers, almost like having your own cinema.

I agree. Need to rearrange. At 18ft even with 50" TV, U will be 4-6 ft too far than recommended. But it's much better than ur previous 29"  .

42" best for less than 9ft,
50" best for less than 12ft,
4m = about 12ft. So get 50"