What's the proper way for ONE PERSON to pick up a 50" plasma/LCD TV?  

not sure about "proper" but what i would do is: facing TV (glass to me) left hand near bottom left hand corner, right hand near upper right hand corner. lift up. if need rest glass on chest during transport.

I'd pay a friend or next door neighbor $5 to come help me for the 2 minutes it would take to do that - and avoid the worry of dropping it or having it slip out of your grasp and breaking.

But that is just me.

I'd probably use either a small crank fork lift and a crate or a enging hoist and a harness.

its not the weight, its the size, its a 2 men job.

I'll echo others and say that the proper way for one person to do this is to seek the help of another person. It's not the weight alone -- the physical dimensions of the panel, one's ability to manuever easily with panel in hand, compromised lines of sight, etc. would lead me to ask a friend or neighbor to give me a hand.

i've also seen people say not to wear a belt or blue jeans (or other things with metal buttons) so as not to accidentally scratch your screen. just a thought if you do try to pick it up by yourself.

DO NOT rest the glass against your chest or apply any significant amt of pressure against the glass. A 50" diagonal piece of glass is relatively fragile and will crack if you push against it with your chest.

If I had to lean the plasma against myself, I would lean the back of the TV against my chest rather than the glass. Of course, this would prevent you from being able to really mount it anywhere since all of the mounting points are on the back.

Which leads back to what a few have already mentioned - get someone else to help. It is a VERY bad idea to try to wall mount it yourself. After wall mounting my plasma, I cannot imagine trying to do it without help from someone else.

Definitly get someone to help. Say that you do find a way to grab ahold of it, what if you start to lose your grip or lose your feeting?! :eek:

Please get someone to help you. Just make sure you wear a white gloves(J/K)