Input or thoughts on the new Samsung plasmas

[pennc]

I've been debating on getting a plasma for sometime and need suggestions to sway my decision on getting the new pn50b860 or just sit on my money and stick with my old tube set. I'm really liking the slim design but was just wondering did they improve the blacks on the new generation of Samsungs? Was thinking about getting the lcd but the side lit led annoys me when the screeen gets really dark also the artifacts that occassionally happens from time to time when bumping the hertz. Just want some opinions on the set I was thinking of purchasing or even disagreements.

[nokomis_fl]

I've heard very good things today about the Panasonic plasmas and I'm going to try and find a TC-P54G10 to check out over the weekend.

Anyone had any luck with LGs?

[peter-gandalf]

I have a Panasonic plasma and the picture is great. It's last years flagship model, the 850U. This years models are even better, deeper blacks and better 24p output with out any flicker, my only gripe with the 850U. When in 24p mode the 850U has a frequency 48hz this years models do it at 96hz. At 48hz there is a slight flicker that bothers me so I usually leave it at 60hz and deal with the judder. 96hz is smooth as buttah.

The samsung plasmas I hear have really excellent color accuracy right out of the box. And black levels just about as good as the Panasonic's.

Either way you are going to get a great tv, though I'm not sure what frequency the Samsung's show 24p content.

[jivetrky]

The reviews that I've seen on the latest generations of panasonics and samsungs show them in pretty close running to each other.

I had to go with a lower model for financial reasons (went with the PN50B650) but the reviews all showed them pretty close to each other. And a few reviews said that the blacks of the samsung (this was compared to the comparable panasonic model, the G10 I believe) look a little better in moderate light situations (the panasonic looked a little better in dark viewing areas).

Since my living room is lighted for most of the viewing time of my TV, this was part of my choice.
My other reasoning was that Samsung seems to have much better upconversion of SD content compared to Panasonic. And since my cable company has a somewhat limited supply of HD channels available, I also weighed this in my decision.

And finally, with these two models, the DLNA compatibility of the Samsung was another win for me. I'm currently using a Popcorn Hour A-110 to play movies. If the Samsung can deliver the same quality while streaming over my Ethernet, I'll either sell the PCH or retire it to the kids play room TV.

I think the important part of my ramblings here is that you have to weigh all the factors of your choices. You can't simply go on which one other people think is best or which one is higher on the "top buys" list. You have to consider all of the factors of your viewing tastes, etc. Hope this helps a little. :)
Minus the differences which influenced my decision, I think that I would have been happy either way coming from a 25" crappy CRT television. It sounds like you are in the same boat.




BTW: the Samsungs also show 24p content at 96hz


BTW#2: My TV will be delivered today or tomorrow, so I don't actually have it yet for a fully informed review, so I'm still going off of what I've seen in online reviews and instore demos (which in both cases you can never been 100%)