Right now I can get it at CC for $899 out the door ($999 + 10% off coupon + no tax in DE). Should I pull the trigger on that and save money for other toys (360 and Logitech 880 remote)? Or should I spend 2x as much for a Samsung HL-S5087W?

I know the Sammy's 1080p but is it worth twice as much?

TIA!!!

:)

You won't hate the set, it's better than almost any CRT RPJ set in most respects.
A little more will get you into a JVC HDILA which is considerably better. But if you just need a decent set the Panny will be useful.
Don't worry too much about 1080p for now. Only worry about it when you look at someone else's 1080p set displaying a 1080p which makes you think "Dang! That looks so much better than my 5 year old Panny 720p set." 1080p isn't guaranteed to look that much better though. I've true 1080p from a 1080p source. It looks great, but 1080i looks really good already and would no doubt look better if not compressed (like the 1080p source I saw) so much.