Panasonic did a very good job of making this set easy to use, but not a perfect one. The main on-screen menu is large, legible, and attractive, with short but useful explanations. But it isn't always intuitive. For instance, pressing the right arrow won't take you to a submenu; you have to press OK for that.

As with most HDTVs, you change inputs (for example, moving from broadcast channels to your Blu-ray player) by pressing the remote's Input button, which brings up a scrollable list. But Panasonic has improved that standard by adding the ability to edit this list. You can assign various labels to your inputs, making them easy to recognize. If you assign the 'Not used' label to an input, it will be skipped when you scroll through the list.

The remote control isn't exceptional, aside from the well-done backlighting and a ridge on the back that gives it a good grip. The volume and channel controls are perfectly located, but the circle of arrows is too high. The remote is not programmable.

Another button on that remote, for Viera Tools, allows you to change some common options without searching through the more complex main menu. These options include one to convert 2D programs to simulated 3D. Since Panasonic didn't bundle glasses with our review unit, I can't tell you whether the effect looks any good. The Viera Tools menu also provides access to media-player settings, the video mode, and 'Eco' settings to turn the TV off automatically after too much time of nonuse.

Although the TC-P50ST30 has Energy Star certification, it isn't particularly green by today's standards, burning 138 watts when on. generally consume more power than LCDs or LEDs do, so this result shouldn't be surprising. When turned off, the TC-P50ST30 sipped so little electricity that the amount didn't show up on our tests.