bigjohn raises a very good point: you don't want to damage your panel with smoke/soot/heat/fumes/etc. However, many people do setup there panels this way. I'd recommend you read up on some of the info on http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/index.php (look for the Plasma forum). Do a search on fireplace and you'll get lot's of excellent analysis on this very topic.