Panasonic TC-P42G25

Panasonic Viera TC-P42G25 42-Inch Plasma TV

The 42-inch Panasonic Viera TC-P42G25 is a 1080p plasma HDTV with a 600Hz subfield drive. It's big, clunky, and thick, with elementary on-screen menus and a forgettable remote. Still, it does have some nice features, such as a cinema mode with THX certifications for picture calibration, and a fantastic range of good viewing angles. As of October 8, 2010, the lowest price we found for this set was about $795. The TC-P42G25 has a pretty basic design for a 42-inch HDTV. Its bezel is shiny, black, squared-off, and somewhat thick; and the television sits on an oval swivel stand. Physical buttons (Power, Menu, Input/Ok, Volume, and Channels) are hidden on the back left side of the television, behind the screen. Most of the ports are positioned on the back of the TV--and as a result, most of your wires, when plugged in, will be perpendicular to the screen.To facilitate wall-mounting, Panasonic provides a few ports on the side: two USB ports, an HDMI port, an SD Card slot, and a video-in port. The remaining ports are on the back of the set: two HDMI ports, a LAN/ethernet port, an antenna/cable port, two component ports, another video-in port, a digital audio output port, and a PC port. The TC-P42G25 remote is undistinguished.