Hitachi 42HDT79 42" Plasma TV

The picture is to say the least phenomenal. High Def channels still floor me!! Picture brightness, contrast and black levels are stunning once tweaked by the user. Not to say that most people can't live with the factory settings, but this TV offers so many adjustments that you simply can't leave the factory settings the way they where. I spent about 2 hours tweaking the colors(color management and color decoder are awesome)contrast, hughs, gain, and black levels and the TV destroys any other HDTV I've viewed.(Plasma, LCD or DLP) Hat's off to Hitachi for offering so much TV for such a great price. Remote feels a little light weight, but it performs well. It can be programmed for all of your home theater gear thus reducing clutter. It's backlight works well, but it's not perfect. The channel and volume control are done by spinning a small wheel control that seems a little clumsy and slow but to be fair after a couple of days use you start to get used to it. The build quality seems very very good. The TV is very sturdy and the swivel stand that comes standard on the 42" TV is a nice feature, although mine is mounted on the wall. The TV has a ton of adjustments that can get overwhelming to the novice but a feature that returns the TV to factory settings is right there to save you. 3 HDMI's are very nice. I also use the cable card which works perfectly in this TV, and the built in TV guide is flawless. Overall this TV is an outstanding value and I put it up against Pioneer and Fujitsu for the best picture, best features, best price. Hope this review helps anyone out there stuck in the "which plasma should I buy" state that I was in for about 5 months. Shop smart.