I've been thinking about purchasing the Hitachi 42HDT79 for a few months now. Just yesterday my neighbor showed off his 42HDS69 (hasn't experienced the flicker issue). The HD channels were stunning but the SD channels looked absolutely awful :eek: . They were much worse than I expected and seemed to be a step down from the bottom-of-the-line crt's I have scattered throughout my home.

With only 8 HD channels available in my locale, I expect much of my viewing to be in SD. The features of the 42HDT79 are a perfect match for my application, but I may start looking a bit closer at the Panny's.

Are there any 42HDT79 / 42HDS69 owners satisfied with SD quality? I am hoping that this a calibration issue or something... as I really want to purchase the set.

Many Thanks.

People could disagree with me but I have yet to find any plasma that gives a half decent SD picture, CRT will beat it everytime, I would consider looking at satelitte systems with HD... the difference is night and day and one you watch HD you can't ever go back.