new tv for me!! help me decide!!

[gstarr]

If you have some control over the window shades in your room you shouldn't have a problem with glare on either a good plasma or LCD. Originally LCD screens were considered better in bright rooms because they can have tremndous light output compared to plasma's. Nowadays, the main thing is whether the screen on the plasma or LCD screen is very reflective. Quite a few of Samsung's LCD screens are quite reflective, although I don't know about other LCD screen manufacturers.

If I was buying a display this year in the 55" - 60" range I would still get the Pioneer Elite 60" plasma. While I haven't seen the new Panasonic Z eries in 58" or 65", I have seen the "Z" in 50" and was quite impressed. The "Z" is quite expensive, as Panny strives to meet the Pioneer Elite quality. The larger sized "Z" series should be released in Auguat sometime (58" & 65"). As the 54" Panny plasma" lists at $6K, I shudder to think what the list pricing will be on the 58" and the 65". While the "Z" series will have wireless in addition to the ultra thin 1" thick screen, all except those who are willing to spend a LOT won't be buying these. The Panny "V" series, the next to highest quality is about 2" thick with the same panels, the same low energy usage, much lower pricing, but without any wireless capabilites. If you buy a streaming third part unit or a streaming blu-ray player this shouldn't be too much of an issue. Of course, most streaming video's don't have the top drawer audio qualities of a Blu Ray disc.

In sum, I would get the PE Elite or a Panny Z or V series (as they both are THX certified. While the gray scale on the top drawer Samsung LED LCD's are rather bluish, as it is very difficult in the current local-zoning LED lighting to creat the smooth gray scales of a top drawer plasma, it is otherwise a quality unit. I still prefer those excellent plasma's, but you can still get very high quality viewing on the Samsung & Sony LED LCD HDTV's, as most movies in color don't have many shots that require detailed gray gradations. If you are watching many old black and white movies, it could be more problematic.

Greg

[rbinck]

There is no reason as far as the color gamut goes as to why a Samsung LED LCD would have a blue cast to the gray scale. If one is noticed it would have to be calibration. According to hometheatermag.com the color gamut is almost dead on the ATSC specs with red and blue being almost dead on and green just slightly off, but much closer than the Panasonic plasmas. See: http://www.hometheatermag.com/flat-p...tv/index4.html

[gstarr]

When I was watching The Maltese Falcon (B & W) on my friends Samsung 55" LED LCD I was not impressed by some "blotchy" effects from the edge lighting and also when there were dark scenes that have extensive gray scale. The Samsung overly darkened the black, which prevented the closest pixels from having proper gray gradations, giving it a blue-black effect. I am confident in the next couple of years they will improve the backlighting--maybe a combination of backlighting and edge lighting.

On color viewing the dialed in picture was mostly excellent. I still prefer the Pioneer Elite 50" and 60" plasma's, as does just about every professional reviewer.

Greg

[rbinck]

The color gamut on Pioneer plasmas are just about dead on the ATSC spec, much like the Sammy LED LCDs. That gives the best accuracy and it is too bad the Pioneer days are numbered. For those people who have a cave to watch TV in, the Pioneers are just about the best HDTVs available.