Samsung SPN4235 42" EDTV-Ready Plasma TV

We purchased this 8X4 panel on sale at Future Shop 1 month ago, and overall we are very satisfied with the quality of the picture, especially with a progressive scan DVD source into the component input. We saw the SPN4235 in the store next to the Panasonic and LG 42in EDTVs and the Sony 42in HD plasmas. The quality of the Samsung was on par with the Panasonic and was better than the LG (which were both more expensive than the Samsung). The Sony was visibly better, but since it has 1000 lines (compared to Samsung's 480) and almost double the price of the Samsung, this is probably to be expected. For everyday TV, we have it hooked up to a DSS (StarChoice) on the S-Video input...here, the quality depends largely on which channel we are watching. The Movie Network (Canadian equivalent of HBO) quality is excellent. On the other end, the quality of the picture coming from Detroit ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates are not very good (pixelation, color banding, false contouring). Most other channels fall somewhere in between these two extremes. My parents have a rear-projection set hooked up to StarChoice and have similar comments about ABC, NBC and CBS, so this problem probably has nothing to do with plasma or with Samsung. I am really looking forward to the day when sufficiently many HD channels are available to justify the price of an HD box. The factory preset color settings for the SPN4235 are absolutely horrendous. I have set mine to the following levels (using the Custom setting at Cool 2): for DVDs, I set Contrast to 70, Brightness to 68, Sharpness to 42 and Color to 31. This last setting is extremely important, since I have found that when Color is too high, there is an abundance of green in dark scenes. Also, the high Contrast and Brightness settings seem to help in the enhancement of details in dark scenes. For ordinary TV, I lower Contrast and Brightness a bit...both in the high 50s to low 60s. I have read many reviews of the SPN4235 where people complain about lack of audio connectivity of this set. This blows my mind! Why would anyone plunk down a huge amount of money on a big screen set and not hook it up to a decent home theatre sound system??? The regular price on this set was 5000$ Canadian, and we got it on sale at $4000. The Panasonic 42in 8X4 was on sale at $5300. At $4000, the Samsung is an excellent value; however, at full price, I would probably opt for the Panasonic instead (based solely on reputation).