We kick off this week, the first of the New Year (and happy new year, by the way) with a section we haven’t had a look at too many times–the plasma television market. And there are still plenty of plasmas out there to put onto your home theater shopping lists, so we’re going to start with the Panasonic Viera TC-P42G25.

The Panasonic Viera TC-P42G25 is a forty two inch 1080p plasma television that offers two ten watt speakers with surround sound capability, Viera Cast for access to online content like Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix, among others, Infinite Black systems that keep the black color on your screen crisp and sharp longer, a game mode to reduce blurring in high-speed situations, THX certification, Viera Link to make controlling your devices easier, three HDMI ports, two component inputs, two composite inputs, an ethernet jack, two USB ports, a PC input, and a digital audio output.

I’ll admit that the sound on this one isn’t as nice as some I’ve come across–sure, they’re ten watt speakers but they’re largely unaugmented–but the picture is pretty sharp. I liked how this one came out; the colors looked solid, the blacks sharp (just like that Infinite Black promised) and in general, this one just looked nice. Naturally, your mileage may vary here, but I think it went pretty smoothly.

Price will be an issue for the budget conscious here–the folks out at Amazon want seven hundred ninety eight dollars for this one–and while you’ll likely be able to do better elsewhere, this one is still at least passable for what all you get.

The Panasonic Viera TC-P42G25 is a solid system that should meet your needs nicely, if you don’t mind the cost, so it’s one you’ll want to have a look at yourself.