Sorry, but no. I respectfully disagree.LCD? Plasma? Sony? Panasonic? Samsung? Yawn....
It's quite simple: do the research, read the reviews, check out the prices, have a look in the shops. Having narrowed the choice down to one TV - buy it.
Sit back, relax and enjoy.
Perhaps it's as simple as you make it out to be for true enthusiasts such as yourself but there are those of us who don't have specialist knowledge. Doing research and reading reviews can only get you so far; as you say, there comes a point when you have to go and look at the sets. But what if you can't find them? And if you can, how do you know how well they're calibrated? What if you can't find a well-calibrated one? How will what you see in the shop translate to how the set will perform in your home, under different lighting conditions?
And this is without not really knowing what you're looking for - even identifying one's own priorities can be a tough job. I think I'm concerned about black levels, but at what level does it become indistinguishable to my untrained eye? Do I actually care more about brightness instead?
For mere mortals such as us who don't know the right questions to ask, but still want to get the best out of their cash and not regret their decision, the whole process is often a long, drawn-out and difficult one.