When my old, heavy standard TV finally bit the dust, I knew it was finally time to upgrade to a flat panel TV. I went into the store not knowing much about the differences between LED and plasma, but after talking to the sales associate we decided on the Panasonic 54" plasma. I was going to get a smaller model to save money, but my wife actually talked me into the 54" after the associate offered us a great deal.

We got home, set it up, and honestly haven't had a problem since. There was a little bit of a learning curve involved in get used to the various functions, but by and large it's all very simple. There are still many functions on the remote that I still don't know how to use, but I've gotten this far so that's OK. The remote is a bit large - about the size of a cable or satellite TV remote - so that will be another big remote taking up space on your coffee table. You can bypass this with a universal remote, but I've had problems getting one of those to work on this TV on any more in-depth than turning the power off and on. Another reason to keep this hefty remote handy is that whenever the TV's power cord is pulled or your power goes out (frequent in California where I live), the TV resets itself and you'll have to set it all back up again. This has happened to me so often that I just stopped setting up the date and time and the like on the TV. Though you can wall-mount it, we have ours on a stand, which admittedly is a little wobbly. It's not a huge problem, however.

The most important thing about a TV is the picture, and in that department I have no complaints. The Panasonic Viera has multiple picture settings that will appeal to everyone, and of course you can customize the setting even more to suit your needs. I've found this sort of customization invaluable and can't believe I ever lived without it. At one time we had this TV set up a good 15 feet away from the couch and the picture retained quality wonderfully. Couple this Panasonic TV with a good surround system and it really is like having your own movie theater in your house. I've also found this TV to be great for gaming and have never had any problems with it in that regard. 5 out of 5 stars.