Dvd,
Couldn't possibly say on price as I work in the industry (although it wasn't price that influenced my decision - we work with a lot of plasmas and both myself and my colleague own Fujitsus - maybe thats a recommendation in itself)
Horrible suspicion SRP is around £5k although its very new - this may seem expensive compared to rivals although in its defence connectivity is unrivalled (audio caters for both analogue and digital inputs ) and de-interlacer (essential for Sky or Freeview) is Faroudja DCDi.
I'm not sure of the contrast ratio (spec not given) although it is definitely higher than the previous P42HHS10.
Remember contrast ratio is a very dodgy figure to go on as each manufacturer seems to measure it slightly differently and Panasonic will give you a figure which defies belief.
In practice its very good with better black levels than before (also note that the picture settings in fine mode allow you to adjust both the black level and luminance - the set has some 8 user defineable picture setting memories so a tweekers dream).
Best get yourself a DVE disc for this one although the out the box settings are pretty good.
So why the move from the 42PMA 400E - perfectly respectable plasma and it can't be that old?
In all truth you'd have to go to something like the Fujitsu to get a worthwhile improvement.
Its interesting that in the States Fujitsu is generally considered to be the luxury product rated in many cases to be better than the competition and in a lot of cases Panasonic.
By the way I also never liked the early Alis panels that Fujitsu produced although this one is sooo much better when combined with AVM plus.
Hope this helps
http://www.fujitsu-general.co.uk/plasma/home/product_P42HHS30.asp#