Panasonic VIERA TC-P46S30 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This item arrived 8 days after order (2 days early)and the delivery driver helped me unbpack, which took about 5 minutes. Set up was straight forward and easy and took about 10 minutes. There are only 3 HDMI connections, (2 in back and one on the side) but there are component connections for an additional HD source. If you use both a satellite or cable AND over the air antenna (I do) you will need to go back to the menu after initial setup to scan OTA channels as the first time set up only gives you the "either/or" option. There is NO RGB connection on the TV so a computer will have to be connected via HDMI or with an RGB-HDMI/componant adaptor.
Network setup was easy and went without a hitch. I have a wireless bridge which connects to the TV via ethernet cable so didn't need to deal with wireless set up but I suspect it was pretty simple as well, depending on your wireless router and existing network. Internet apps are somewhat limited to the major players like Netflix, Pandora,CinemaNow, etc. and there was no indication that Panasonic will be adding more in the future. DLNA was an important feature to me and this is the first mid-priced model that Panasonic has offerred with it that I could find. The TV immediately recognized my network and after a little familiarization with the interface I was able to play 99 percent of my network media files. I did note that the program files the songs within the albums alphabetically, not in their original album order. Annoying but not a big deal unless there is a specific order that the songs need to be played in.(like a "live" album) There is also an SD card slot and media player app but I didn't try this function
The pre-set picture settings take some getting used to as each is designed for different physical environments and you can spend a lot of time trying to decide which one suits you. There is also an option to create your own picture quality setting. I was initially a little dissapointed with the OTA high def picture as it appeared pixelated with rough edges. However this was in a bright environment during daytime hours when digital OTA signals from the broadcasters can be of lower quality . Stronger signal stations didn't seem to have the issue nor did the satellite channels. Night time viewing was awsome and I was quite impressed with the picture quality. I am no audiophile but connecting the digital optical out from the TV to my receiver provided excellent digital sound quality through my system.
Internet app access is a single button push from the remote and the interface is easy to navigate using L-R arrow buttons. I watched programming from Netflix and had no buffering issues with a connection speed at about 1.3mbps. The SD picture was very good and appeared about as close as you can get to HD at SD speeds.
At this point I have experienced no problems or issues and am very happy with this TV. I would reccomend it to folks interested in an alternative to higher priced LCD TVs of similar size and who aren't sold on 3D yet. It also appears to work well for internet feature access at limited connection speeds.

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