Choice of Panasonic or Samsung plasma.

[akirby]

Here is a 60" Sony Bravia LCD for $2500:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1666077657

The killer for me with Plasma was the reflective glass screen. I have a dedicated home theater in the basement with total light control but this TV was for the Family room upstairs which is a 21x16 2 story vaulted ceiling with a very open floor plan and 6 ft wide, 2 story windows on one side. There is also a lamp reflection to deal with in my normal viewing position.

I went with LCD to avoid the glare problem. Richard can attest to the ambient light problem. When he repaired my old Mits 35" tube TV he was able to solder the new components without any additional light. It's bright!

The price break on LCDs seems to be around 55" right now. I would submit that you won't notice much difference between 55 and 58 at 13'.

[eliwhitney]

akirby ...

That's a great 'buy!' for the display size ... and, absolutely, who would be able to "tell" between either a 55" / 58" or your 60" ....

"IF" there might be a need - - Sonystyle also has their all-new 55" for ~ ~ $600 less monies =

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... 1666077656

Have a great weekend ALL !

eli

[ANonemoose]

I am ready to replace a 6 rear old RP HDTV Toshiba which worked flawlessly for these years with a plasma and I really want a Panasonic TC-P58v10 for its 24p capability. When I went to see if this tv was in stock it wasn't and the salesman said that the Samsung PN58B860 was just as good, now I was puzzled, I read on 4 different sights that this is not the case and in fact the Sammy is unreliable and all it offers is more gizmos than anything else. Can anyone help me out on this, its a big purchase and once I buy it its mine so any input is welcomed. On a side note I also thought about a LED LCD but am not sure this new tech. is refined enough yet and if that is a better route than plasma.. Thank you for the time..

I've got six Panny plasmas. I tried every set that looked decent in the stores and had some hooked up side by side. I have five 720p sets (one of them is a 58" set) and one 50" 1080p. My wife and I decided about three years ago to get rid of all our CRTs and go to flat screens. Money is not a problem with us (I know people hate to hear someone say that, but it fits into my decision to go with the Panny plasmas). Side by side or alone, the Pannys just are easier to use and have PQ that is not bettered by any TV that I could find. Even sets costing twice as much didn't have better pictures. I realize this is subjective, but there it is. The new Pannys will be out in about two or three months and we will be phasing out the 720ps for 1080p sets. And I've begun to look in the stores already and see nothing to change my mind about the Panny plasmas. The first one I'm gonna buy is a 65" Panny plasma. You can, virtually, take these sets out of the box and use them. I did have to make minor adjustments on the 1080p, but the 720s are just as they came out of the box.

You're correct to be wary of the Samsung plasmas. For one thing, a lot of them "hum". I just read this, probably in HDTV Magazine, not sure. I haven't been able to hear a hum in the stores, but the noise levels in the stores might be masking the hum. I've also had several Sammy LCDs and quickly returned them. The LCDs always look better in the stores.

The other brands, Vizio, Phillips, Sharp, etc., I have tried and also quickly returned. As far as I'm concerned the folks that make LCD sets have taken the consumer for a ride over the last few years. A friend of mine was convinced a couple years ago that a Sony 60Hertz 40" set was the absolute best TV on the market and spent $2500 on it. Pretty hard to watch a football or baseball game on it. Then they come up with 120hertz to offset a problem that they knew existed with the 60H sets. Then they come out with 240H sets to offset the problems with the 120H sets. Now they come out with LED backlighting to improve the PQ of the previous sets which were backlit with fluorescent lights. What next? Get my point? Meanwhile the Panny plasmas play on.

Were I you, I'd wait a couple months until the new Panny plasmas come out and get one then. As far as burn in goes, I have not seen any burn in on my six sets. My son plays games on his 50" 720p set and there is no burn in on that set and he's had that for almost three years and it goes day and night.

Moose

[Richard]

The only real difference between a well honed plasma and LCD design that has been ISF calibrated is angular viewing.

The 120/240/480 processing is all about the motion flow processing feature; not resolving the inherent image blur issue with LCD which may be identified under lab conditions but can't be seen with actual video content.

[ANonemoose]

The only real difference between a well honed plasma and LCD design that has been ISF calibrated is angular viewing.

The 120/240/480 processing is all about the motion flow processing feature; not resolving the inherent image blur issue with LCD which may be identified under lab conditions but can't be seen with actual video content.

Angular viewing is what turned me off about the LCDs. That and I just liked the PQ on the Panny plasmas. I've been looking at LCDs for a couple weeks, I plan to buy a big 1080p set of some kind in April and what I've found is that some of the 240 hertz sets have really good angular viewing and some don't. From what I've read, some manufacturers do the 240 hertz thing differently. Sony and, oddly, Vizio are the only 240 sets I've seen so far that you can truly see the picture clearly from any angle. The last three Sony HD sets (all CRTs) I bought I had a lot of trouble with and all the Vizios I've tried at home didn't pass muster with the Boss. Guess I'll end with another Panny plasma, perhaps the new 65" model that comes out in a couple months.

Moose

[Richard]

Ya, its funny because one of the other members here told me angular viewing wasn't a real problem anymore about a year ago. As you noted it is, how much of a problem it is varies from model to model, and if you care about such things, you gotta go to the store and inspect what you expect. Pretty much what I said then...

[ANonemoose]

I agree. And I do care about these things. And I do go to the stores and check the TVs out. One of the things I've noticed is that I haven't gone into a store that had a sports show on in a very long time. I have to think that's because the LCDs are probably still choppy when dealing with quick movements, such as Derek Jeter running the bases. And the stores don't want you to see that. I've only watched baseball games on my friend's $2,400 Sony 40" LCD and you do see something like "slow" frames. His is a sixty hertz set. He bought it a little over two years ago and already it's obsolete.

I bought my plasmas at the same time and I've been satisfied with them. Never was a big fan of Panny products, but the plasma TVs are the best for the money that I've seen.

Rich

[Richard]

This link may help you understand what is going on...

Waveform 09A Motion Blur and 120hz LCD Frame Rate Processing
viewtopic.php?t=10552

[akirby]

Angular viewing is what turned me off about the LCDs.

Is that because you need high angle viewing at home or is it just a paper thing (like bench racing car specs)?

[ANonemoose]

The way my home viewing is set up is such that I could get away with a couple LCDs, but why bother? We're satisfied with the Panny plasmas, and I'd rather have a device that does everything I want rather than a device that almost does everything.

Moose