This week we venture into the plasma TV trenches to see what exciting products we can find in this intermediary technology. We kick things off with the Samsung PN42C430, a television with some troubles but plenty to like about it.

The Samsung PN42C430 is a forty two inch 720p plasma television that offers the Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio system for quality black and white reproduction, the E3-panel single filter design for improvement in the remaining colors, a game mode to reduce blurring in high-speed situations, BD Wise to automatically adjust your components’ settings, two ten watt speakers with SRS TruSurround HD, AnyNet Plus, ConnectShare Movie to allow you to access content from cameras and USB drive, two HDMI ports, one component input, one composite input, and a USB port.

You’ll see right off one of the most substantial problems here–the lack of substance. About the only reason it can be said that this television plays equally well with old and new components is that it almost never plays with either. Two HDMI ports, a composite and a component port don’t go very far in terms of getting all your hardware hooked up, and unless you’re working with a pretty nice receiver (which, if you can afford a nice receiver you probably wouldn’t be looking at a 720p television to begin with), you might run into some connectivity issues.

But still, the picture is pretty nice for a 720p, and the sound is fairly impressive (I’m convinced it’s that SRS TruSurround augmentation), so for people who aren’t really audiophiles that need a lot of components you might do all right here. HDMI for your cable box and a Blu-ray player, maybe you’ve got to plug and unplug your game system or use the components on your cable–you’re doing okay here.

Where this little number really shines, though, is in the pocketbook. You’ll be able to get hands on one of these for a surprisingly frugal $459.44 out at Amazon, and that discounted, though you’ll pay most of the difference in shipping.

Still though, for a pretty nice television at a really good price, you’ll want to check out the Samsung PN42C430 for yourself and see if it works for you. I can imagine it would.