Hi RD,

I actually went over to Best Buy a couple weeks ago and saw the set you mention. It is indeed a very nice DLP with a very bright output. Oddly, My wife is "pressuring" me to go plasma I have to agree with her due to the seating arrangement in our basement media/bar area. We want folks seated at the bar which is way off to the side to be able to see as well as those in the front. So I pulled the trigger on a 42" Panny commercial model. The TH 42PHD7UY. No tuner-nothing, just a big ass monitor, but I got a pretty good deal on it at around $3300 + I opted for the 3 year extended warranty. This is a 7th generation plasma and they are touting the same burn in possibility as a CRT. I don't believe it but, that's what they say. When I get everything working, I will publish a report here. I also just got DirecTV HD package as Comcast did not have HD in my area yet and also, OTA is not an option either!

Interestingly, I actually am using my Comcast cable for Cable TV ( basic package ) cable modem and also for my DirecTV. Since each DirecTV receiver is about 5 bucks (HD Satellite receiver was 300!) and my very basic cable package is only 13.95 a month I keep them both. I just got one HD DirecTV receiver and one standard. I can still use regular cable every where in the house that has a TV and since my PC has a Leadtek Winfast TV tuner that I use a lot it is pretty handy. So this made for a neat installation and only required some special splitters for sending DC power to the dish. So far everything works although I have yet to try my HD Receiver as the Plasma won't be here for a couple weeks (backorder) . I bought everything on the Internet. All together with surround sound and Momitsu VN880 upscaling DVD player Onkyo receiver/amp and Micro 6 5.1 speakers, I kept it at around $5500 about. I will also give my impressions of the network capable DVD player as it will definately be of interest here. Region free and Macrovision turned off right out of the box!

~Crabby