My friend is looking at getting a plasma and wants to know if the EDTV displays are good enough. I don't know much about them, but if you're not going to watch any HD programming is it worth the extra $2000 to get the HD set?

He's looking at a Panasonic 42", but I don't know which model. Also, what brands and models of plasma EDTVs are considered to be the best and which are the ones to avoid?

Thanks in advance.

He's got his eye on the right one. Lots of people at AVSForum who have the 42" Panasonic EDTVs report noticing very little difference to their eye, if any, between HD programming on their EDTV and a Panasonic HDTV plasma. The consensus seems to be that at 6' viewing distance you can tell some difference, but at 10-12 feet most can't. Some can though, so it depends on the individual. It's quite commonly reported that the EDTV looks better with DVDs than the HDTV set because the resolution of the EDTV matches that of DVDs. I have one of the new 42" Panasonics and the picture is outstanding on DVDs. Don't have HDTV yet, but it should be as good or better than DVDs and I'd be plenty happy with that.

I've got the Panasonic TH-42PA20u which is an EDTV. I bought it about a month ago. Fantastic set and it's priced right. When there is more HDTV content available (TV or DVD), I'll invest in a HDTV set. In the meantime, I didn't spend "a lot" of money on this set which handles my current DVDs and HDTV signals just fine.