What sets this excellent screen apart from others in its size category—aside from its great picture—are some great behind-the-glass features. First of all, this TV has an excellent built-in tuner that receives both standard and high-def signals. I hooked up a small, portable antenna and after a short scan of the airwaves, the tuner pulled in dozens of channels more than the last tuner I hooked up in the same location in my house.
 

After several TVs––both big and small––had paraded through the Grindall’s living room, the family finally found the one for them: the LG 50PX4DR. Ken’s wife declared “Kore ga iijann,” which roughly translates to English as “this is just right.”

The quality of the HDTV signal the tuner receives forced me to become a devotee of several PBS shows that I never was too interested in before. But now, they are just so … pretty. I don’t have a compatible cable service, but the digital-cable-ready plasma can accept a CableCard, which allows you to make a direct cable connection. Its a pet peeve of mine that you spend thousands of dollars for a plasma that is four inches thick and then have it sit on a pedestal filled with AV equipment about 2 feet from the wall, greater than the depth of the average rear-projection TV. A flat-panel TV should be mounted cleanly on a wall, with no dangling wires marring the presentation. This is the first plasma that I’ve seen that had enough going for it to fulfill that promise without sacrificing features.

For example, this plasma has some great connectivity features. You can connect the FireWire (IEEE 1394) signal from your MPEG 2 video camera (not MiniDV or Digital8) and watch your own videos directly on the TV. You can also connect this port to an external HD recorder, like a D-VHS or future Blu-ray recorder. There are two HDMI, one that supports a DVI adapter, so I had no problem connecting my PowerBook. There is also a VGA-type input for analog computer video connections.
 
For digital still-camera owners the set has multiple card slots to accommodate memory cards from virtually every camera on the market today, which can be a great way to present your photos. It is even possible to load a card with MP3 files and play them through the TV. This brings us to the speakers, which are good but not great and not removable, so you will have them even if you route the sound to better external speakers.