Found a winner in Toshiba 42HP95

I found little or no reviews on this plasma before I purchased. I finally found some user info on an HDTV forum. Based on what I read, this plasma uses a Panasonic display. So, based on that and the fact that this set has 4 speakers and all the input ports I could conceivably need, Plus the fact that it has a camera card slot (CF and SD) for viewing my digital camera photos and plays mp3's, and the fact that it was lower priced than the Panasonic (which didn't have as many inputs or other options) I took the chance.

I do video production and photography for a living, so I am very critical of image quality. I am very impressed with the Toshiba. It takes some tweaking from factory defaults, but there are plenty of controls to play with. I can find no fault in this image except the extreme whites are blown out no matter how low I set the contrast or brightness. This is my first plasma, so maybe they are all this way...

The speakers are more than adequate for most programs. Most SD channels have bad audio to begin with, so my stereo system just amplifies the problem anyway. When watching HD the sound is clean even at high volumes.

The remote is feature packed and even back lit. This set has the TV Guide channel guide built in which is not even mentioned on the "official" specifications. I haven't payed with it much, but the menus have nuch better and cleaner graphics than my Charter Cable SA8300 HD DVR's menus. Plus the Toshiba has a IR interface that lets me control my STB using the Toshiba remote.

I think this TV is a sleeper and is worthy of consideration over the much reviewed and ballyhooed Panasonic equivalent.