Samsung PN42B450 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

Great quality at this price point, way above my expectations!

My goal was to get an HDTV for no more than $1000.

This is how I convinced that Plasma 42" 720 p is the right choice for me .I've done quite bit of click shopping at online stores- amazon, eBay, newegg, abt.

1. Size: I don't need a TV bigger than 50". I live in a Condo. This is for my living room. Watch distance is ~8 feet.

2. Output: For <=50" size, I can not distinguish if the output is in 720p or in 1080 p(or 1080i).Comcast telecasts HD in 1080i in my area. As per my research, it takes at the least 2-3 years for Cable providers to upgrade their output quality to >=1080 p as such upgrade requires huge investment.

3.Plasma vs LCD vs rear projection: Partly this choice was governed by next criterion, price. Rear projections , available in the market, are largely >50". Between Plasma and LCD- I could not find any annoying feature in either technology when...Read more

First we bought the 42 inch vizio LCD (XVT) because of the 1080p and 120hz refresh, and it was on sale at Costco, but we found it to be annoyingly grainy, even while watching discs on our high-end Bluray machine (Sony BDP-BX1). After much deliberation and research online, we decided for the money we should be thrilled about the purchase, and so returned the Vizio to Costco (they took it, no questions asked, even without the box) and bought this Samsung plasma from Bestbuy for $100 less. The result... this is what we were looking for. We watch movies in the dark and this TV is perfect for it. No grain, crisp and beautiful. Is 1080p really that important? Or is this just more size-matters syndrome? Who knows - but this 720p plasma looks worlds better than the 1080p LCD, for less money. Go with this one!

I got this TV in the Best Buy bundle they offered with the Xbox 360. For the price, I had absolutely not expected how great this TV is. The picture quality is definitely amazing, and I still can't find a TV in any display stores with better HD quality so far. Like all plasmas, it does show the true black perfectly and there's no motion blur what-so-ever in any of the video games or sports programming I've played so far. It also has inputs galore (3 HDMIs, VGA/sound PC input, optical audio output) which makes it easy to hook up to all the different components. I'm also able to cut down on extra cables by utilizing the optical sound output to my Denon receiver, so anything I view on the TV feeds digital sound to my AV system.

If you're looking for a true hidden gem, this TV probably offers the greatest value out there right now - and the Plasma is still superior to LCD at the moment.