I'm shopping for my first HDTV and I have decided that a plasma is probably the best fit. Our living room is pretty small and the seating is arranged between just over 6ft to about 10ft from where the TV will be. Most of the seating is 8-10ft away. I was thinking that a 46" set would be a great size for this space, but now I am leaning towards a 50" 1080P. One question I had is, for someone sitting a little over 6 feet from a 50" plasma, is this too close for that size? One reason I am interested in the 50" is because I think the size represents a good value, but also because I really want to be able to appreciate that full 1080P HD. Is 46" a little too small to appreciate the 1080 resolution if sitting 10 or so feet away?

The Panasonic P50S1 is one that I am looking into, I hope to see it in person soon. My budget prevents me from going to a higher model, such as the G10. Any recommendations of a different brand in the same price segment as the P50S1?

Obviously I'm new here, with post numero uno, so thanks for any information you can help me with.

I sit 8' from my 50" 720 PDP, and would like to have a 58" or 65". Does that help?

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I'm just under 7 feet in front of my 1080P 50" Plasma and love the size of it for where I'm sitting. 46" at 8-10 feet away is getting a bit small!!! You get that 46" and once it's there you'll wish you just got the 50" screen. When I saw the 50" at Best Buy, it didn't look as HUGE as when I got it HOME and mounted. I went was a 42" 1080i Rear Rear projection HDTV to this 50" and I'm glad I did. You need to also remember that a Majority of Movies will have Black bars on the Top and bottom of the screen since a lot of then are shot in Aspect Ratio's of 2.40:1 or so and not 1.78:1 which is a 16x9 HDTV. So the Larger screen helps with the Loss of screen. Besides on a HDTV you want to sit closer then with a SDTV. The reason to sit further back on a SDTV is because of the lower Resolution, so you get a good picture and not see all the pixels of the picture. On a HDTV, your at a much better Resolution, so this isn't a problem. Also if you sit to far back, depending on screen size, your going to miss out on the HD Detail. Blu-Ray for example won't look any better then a DVD.

Thank you both for the insight. That makes me feel more comfortable about going with the 50" plasma. I measured again and the closest seating will be more like 7 feet, plus a few inches.

Any recommendations of a different brand in the same price segment as the P50S1

For the sake of comparison, maybe a Samsung PN50B550, or an LG 50PS60.
But I think the S1 is probably your better choice.