Yes, that is true even looking at plasmas in a place like best buy.. you could walk around with your eyes closed and know when you're in front of one

 

If the set is going to be in a very bright room with direct sunlight (during the times you will be watching), then I would go with an LCD. If you watch primarily at night, the set is in a light controlled or dim room, or in a normal room away from windows, stick to a plasma.

$1500 though is kind of limiting.. shopping online will help you a lot. You could score a Panasonic TH-50PH10UK (no speakers, no tuner.. needs HT setup and cable box), or a Panasonic TH-50PX75U (or 77U maybe) for close to $1500. Both are 50" and 720p plasmas. You could get a nicer 42" set for the money, but it will have lower resolution, and of course, smaller is never better

You will have a much wider range of choices if you go with an LCD.. but you will suffer in PQ and motion (bad if you watch a lot of sports).

 

I personally would put the money on plasma but vtec9 has a good point. Plasmas are glass screens so glare can be a pretty big problem if in a brightly lit room with lots of sun.

The picture quality and brightness from a plasma is something that an LCD can't beat, especially when it comes to reproductions of blacks & grays. Whether you can see it or not through the glare depends on where you're gonna put it.

Near the 50" side and up you're choices will most likely be plasmas as they generally dominate that size range over LCDs.
Around 40-45" you will see a lot more LCDs pop up.