Philips 42PF7320A 42-Inch Widescreen Plasma HDTV
a good buy for the price
Just in time for the Super Bowl (can we say that here?), I picked up this set at BJs for $1898. I took it home and hooked it up to a STB. No picture. After an hour of fooling with the cables and the remotes, I got it working. I should have tried the CableCard, it would have probably been easier. I did not purchase an expensive HDMI cable, but used the five standard cables that were supplied free by Cablevision (3 video and two audio leads).<br /><br />Once the set was on, WOW! The HD picture is fantastic. I watched the NJ Nets beat the Pistons at the Meadowlands on YES HD and you could see the grain in the wood floor. The detail is that amazing. Colors are crisp and bright. Regular signals that were \\"stretched\\" by my STB looked good. Text could be read clearly across the screen. HD channels look absolutely spectacular. The speakers are OK, but you will probably want to mate a nice surround sound system with a great tv like this.<br /><br />While LCD sets are getting better, you still can't beat plasma for brightness and viewing angles. I have my screen setup in a large room and the picture looks fine from all angles. The free desktop stand is a nice feature and it was easy to mount the set with two people. While some people feel that plasma sets will not last, the average screen is rated for 25,000 hours. Do a little match and you will see that should last you a dozen years or more. For commercial purposes, like message screens in airports and public buildings, plasma displays and used almost exclusively. That convinced me. One look at the picture on this screen, and you will be convinced as well.<br /><br />update 08/09/08<br />This set is still working fine and has migrated from my living room to the master bedroom. Not needing a second HD set top box, I asked Brighthouse to install a CableCARD. It took a little work, but the card is working fine and saving me $4 a month over the STB rental. The CableCARD does not permit purchase of movies or ppv. That's OK with me.<br /><br />update 09/20/12<br />Four years later and this set is still working great. I have a CableCard from Brighthouse that works on almost all the channels that I subscribe to.<br /><br />update 2/9/14<br />The set is still working fine but there are several channels that don't work with the cablecard, like Reelz. From time to time, this set will trip an internal circuit breaker and shut down after it is turned on. I unplug the set and wait 15 seconds and plug it back in. Sometimes, I have to repeat this process a few times to get the set working again but this doesn't happen often.