I believe the monitor is only available in silver, but I'm not 100% sure. I know there's 2 other 42V7XX models, the 42V715 and something else, perhaps one of them may be black...
My 42V710 has been working like a dream since I got it. Picture was great right out of the box, although I did have to adjust the tint a little bit for my own preference.
I think the screen may be a little brighter than the 50V500 Hitachi's, (my friend has the 50V500A, which I get to see frequently...) also, I think the blacks may be a little "blacker" on the 42V710, but it's really hard to tell...
Anyway, if you sit around 8-9 feet away from the TV it's a perfect size, any futher away and I'd consider the 50V500A (don't get the 50V500 without the "A", I've heard a lot of problems with that "monday" unit...)
The HD picture on the 42V710 is stunning as well, I have comcast HD cable and I use the component outs for the video (comcast says they don't have boxes which support HDMI yet), although I'm considering getting a HDMI / DVI converter so I can run DVI from the cable box to the TV (I already run the optical digital audio from the box to my receiver, so I'm just looking to move up to pure digital video signal transfer. I wonder if I'll be able to se the difference?)
Anyway, I'm very pleased (and the wife is too), I suggest getting the 5 year warrantee just in case as this is a relatively new TV...