Recently got a 50 inch plasma 720p, when looking for surround sound what do I need to look for?

Look for hookups of 7 channels (in the event you ever want to upgrade from 5 to 7 you need those extra two ports). Also make sure they have generic connectors (not the plug kind) if you get a sony receiver and bose speakers they wont work together cuz the plugs dont match. But if you get the clamp ports... you can always connect the bare wires.

Lastly check out wattage. 700+ watts are definitely necessary for the purpose of surround sound. Id suggest 1000w if you can afford it.

Lastly sound quality, why buy things that you personally dont think sound crisp, clean, and clear. Try each system when you go shopping and check various mid-ranges as well. Most small speakers with powerful subwoofers suffer in the mid-range.

For a big TV an upconverter is nice. it improves the quality of the DVD if it's not an HD or blue-ray disc. However with only 720p I dont think the improvement is going to be that noticable and might not be necessary. The upconverter translates non 720p DVDs to 1080p which you dont even have, so I would not suggest the upconverter.

Enjoy

Will it work? Yes.....will it sound great? No.....at best the Phillips system will sound ok.

Any home theater in a box setup will sound mediocre unless you spend like 1000$ on it. And also the dvd player is built-in so if either the dvd part or the receiver part breaks down your out of 2 devices if it has to get repaired. The speakers are generally made only for that amplifier so forget about upgrading to better speakers as you will not get as good of a sound.

Your best bet is to invest in a seperate receiver and dvd player. Onkyo and Yamaha make the best receivers for a decent price and Paradigm's Cinema Series speakers are a great deal as well. You may be paying more than you originally planned for your home theater. But I can assure you that the phillips system you mentioned won't be giving you the theater experience.

As far as upconverter, you can get upconverting dvd players that will convert the dvd image from 480 lines of screen resolution to either 720p or 1080i/1080p. Good brands for this are Toshiba, Samsung, Panasonic.

Depends on how much sound you want and how big the room is. If you are buying localy find one you like and check it on amazon.com There is usually lots of reviews for the stuff on there so you can see what you are getting into. (is it worth the money) Like the other guy said yamaha does make some good HTIBs. Dont ever buy a bose like that one guy said. There are better systems for less money than bose they are waaayyyyy over rated. Whenever im spending lots of money on something i always check reviews on amazon.

Big room?? Get more power.

I love the Yamaha home theaters in a box. I sell them and use one at home.

Look at the Bose system. They are fantastic if you have the money to invest in one.