ChrisHeinonen

I haven't reviewed the F5500, but I did review the F7100 and the major issue I had on it was the viewing cone is very narrow. Move up or down much at all, or to the left and right, and you get big shifts in image quality. Dead on it was nice, but if you have a large group of people watching the viewing angles come in way behind a plasma.

No one has ever bribed me or offered to pay me for anything, but something semi-related came up this week. A company that was involved in a couple of pieces this year sent me a Christmas Gift last week. Nothing that I've reviewed, and with no request for coverage in the note, but something new from them. But taking any gift at all, even like that, feels very weird so we will be giving it away on the site to a reader instead.

Disclosure: I haven't done the research here, but can just tell you what I do with my kids. They have Kindle Fire HD tablets with Amazon Freetime Unlimited. For $3 a month they get a curated selection of apps meant for kids, an interface they can't get out of, and you can force them to do educational apps or programs for X minutes a day before they can watch something like Power Rangers. You can also set daily time limits, and the new kids one comes with unlimited replacements.

As I said, I haven't done a deep dig on it yet, but for tablets it has been the best option so far.

Sonos is fantastic. If you want music all over your house it can't be beat. If you only want music in a single froom from a smartphone or tablet, then consider an Airplay or Bluetooth speaker. I love the Sonos system, though, and that article is being worked on now.

This year I asked everyone I knew, reviewers, friends, family, etc.. how far they sit from their TV. Regardless of size they almost always answered 9-10' away. Because it seems most people are that far away, generally the difference between 720p and 1080p is negligible. That's why we lean that way in recommendations. If you are sitting 3-4' away then it's a different ballgame, but we asked around before we settled on a distance.