I'm still using my Sony 32FQ set so take what I say in context.
Over the last couple on months I have been Stalking Curry's and comet and various other stores trying to first of all decide Plasma or LCD,, that decision took 3 minutes
My first priority Is SD quality I found the 42" PX image sharper and less"busy" viewing SD material compared with the newer PZ every time, plus I found the picture quality held up really well as you got closer to the screen... not bad even at 6 feet ,at this distance the LCD sets were horrible.
At 8 foot viewing the PX and PZ side by side both running 1080 blue ray I Could see no advantage of the 1080 set,, both sets looked great, But I did see the 58PZ running the same material and the 1080P really made a difference on that set, amazing picture
I also saw the Pioneer 4280 and it looked a lot better than both the Panasonic sets viewing freeview ,crisper images, More definition to edges of objects and so clean ,VERY sharp picture but not artificially sharp if that makes sense... really hard to put into words .... but a LOT more expensive, Wish I never saw it
What I have learned Is trust yours eyes, everyone is different and want different things..go and have a good look, Its surprising even under these viewing conditions how quickly the differences show.