I also have the Panasonic TH42PWD6UY monitor, and I think it's great. Bought mine from visualapex.com, which had very good customer reviews and gave me great service (responding both by phone and email to questions I asked AFTER I had bought the unit). They are now selling this unit for $2095, plus $195 shipping, plus $175 for a wall mount or table stand.
If you have a surround sound system and a cable box or VCR, I see little need to buy a TV instead of a monitor (except maybe to utilize the picture in picture feature, or for the simplicity of just turning on the TV without turning on the receiver and VCR). I also liked the cleaner look of the monitor as opposed to the consumer units that have speakers on the sides or along the bottom.