HDMI 1.3 will allow "deep" (12 bits per subpixel, not 8 as currently specified) color. I'm not a fan of HDMI audio, because my experience has been that most TV's can't handle downmixing 5.1 audio to 2.0, and most receivers can't handle downmixing 5.1 to 2.0 for HDMI while keeping digital audio-only output (coax / optical) at 5.1 going to the receiver.
So, you navigate layers of menus to specify 2.0 out and you can then watch TV w/o a receiver, and then do it again to specify 5.1 out to watch TV with surround sound. Easier to just keep digital out at 5.1 and send HDMI video with analog audio to the TV. Not like TV speakers would show any difference.
As far as the pixel size goes: Pixel size on fixed-pixel displays (DLP, Plasma, LCD) is a function of three things: resolution (480 lines, 576 lines, 720, 768, or 1080 lines), display shape (4x3 or 16x9) and panel size.
So, on a 65" plasma, that I assume is 16x9, and having a 1920x1080 resolution:
65" = 65 * 2.54cm/in = 165.1cm = 1651mm
1920^2+1080^2=(diagonal pixels)^2
Diagonal pixels = 2203
1651 / 2203 = .749mm dot pitch
By comparison, a 17" LCD has a .264mm dot pitch, a 19" is .294. You sit about 3 feet away from your monitor. With the dot pitch tripled, you can safely sit just 9 feet away and things will look "smooth," although you can still see dots
However, the problem lies with the WIDTH of the screen.
Your 17" monitor is even taller and narrower than a regular TV. It has a 5:4 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 1280x1024.
5^2+4^2=(diagonal ratio)^2 = 6.4. So, the screen width is 5 / 6.4 * 17" or 13.28".
The width of a 65" widescreen TV, though, is 65 * (1920/2203), from the ratio above, or a whopping 56.65 inches, 4.26 times the width of the 17" monitor.
So, 16 feet is not THAT unreasonable, it's 5 times the distance that you sit away from your computer, for a screen that's 4.26 times wider.
Pixels don't really factor into this determination.. just a matter of being able to take in the entire visual field (as opposed to zooming in on text or small screen elements like you do when working on the computer)
