If deals like this keep coming, Black Friday is going to look darn near unimpressive.

For the rest of this week, Best Buy has the Panasonic TC-P42C1 42” 720p Plasma display for a silly-low $498.99. While only a 720p display, it boasts 30,000:1 native (real) contrast ratio, 600Hz refresh rate, two HDMI inputs, and side SD card input. 

If you’ve been looking at a smaller set for a bedroom, living room, kids room, bathroom, guest room, garage, or storage closet, why not step on up to a 42” display for about the same price? 

BONUS deal: Need some compelling source material to test out your new display? Looking for something as dirt-cheap as the TV you just bought? Best Buy currently has Firefly: The Complete Series on DVD for only $12.99. 

This is one of my all-time favorites and well worth the price. I somehow can’t imagine the words “space” and “western” merging well, but somehow Firefly just works with no cheese factor whatsoever. While this is one title I’ll eventually replace with the Blu-ray version, at $69.99 it just doesn’t seem worth it when the DVD box set is so affordable.

Stephen Hopkins

Stephen Hopkins is chief technology editor for EH Publishing. He writes product reviews, features, and focuses heavily on 3D TV, iPhone and iPad apps, and digital content.