Last year's 42HDT55 was a great plasma display. The 42HDX61 is, in almost every respect, even better. The styling is stunning and the feature list is first rate as is user friendliness. Even though it's available at a reasonable price, this is clearly no "cheap" plasma and you'll be glad you spent a bit more for it. The picture is again razor-sharp (but not without some enhancement artifacts that you may or may not notice) and clearly a cut above many competing sets. HDMI grayscale errors and an unrelated slight case of the "screaming greens" are about the only nits I could pick, but all-in-all, this set comes across technically as a polished product with very few design stones left unturned-very rare these days. You can find a few 42" displays with better blacks, but I've only seen one with a more refined picture in other respects, and it costs thousands more. At this price point, the 42HDX61 is hard to beat overall, especially for viewing in a lighted environment. Highly recommended. (Technical Notes)