Viewsonic does NOT make good HDTVs ...
They have a terrible failure rate, the remote is sub-par and the TV's responsiveness to remote input is terrible, the picture quality using HD content is average, but bad for SD content. I would not recommend them at all.
Samsung, Sharp, and Sony are all good units. Sony currently uses Samsung panels (but usually paired w/ better tuners, filters, remotes, etc. for a higher price and a crappier warranty). Sharp's most recent offerings seem to have banding issues w/ analog inputs (HD15, Component, etc.), although they have none w/ digital input (HDMI). Since you're using DVI > HDMI, this won't be an issue for you.
As mentioned, NEC makes some excellent screens. They're definitely not aimed at the consumer, which has both pros and cons. As someone who's "in the industry," the pros will probably outweigh the cons.
I haven't tried Panasonic's latest TVs, although I've heard mixed reviews. They use S-IPS panels instead of the MVA/PVA panels most HDTV manufacturers use. While this may not be so great for HDTV use (S-IPS panels don't have deep blacks or consistent response times like MVA/PVA, which are desired traits for movie watchers), I wouldn't be at all suprised if it made it a better HDTV/PC Monitor than the units that use an MVA/PVA panel as S-IPS offers better colour reproduction, better screen uniformity, and lower input lag.
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