Costco is closing out the 2010 Panasonic GT25 series 3D plasmas (1 Viewer)

[Adam Gregorich]

I picked up a 42" GT25 today for $679. They had a 46" (with 1 pr of glasses) for $899 and a 50" on sale as well (can't remember the price). Not bad for a Panasonic 1080P 3D Plasma with Amazon, other streaming and infinite blacks.


http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/VIERA-GT-Series-Plasma-Full-HD-3D-HDTVs/model.TC-P42GT25.O_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection

 

[ScottJH]

Adam,


Was the 42" price out the door including tax? Is the Costco item # on the receipt?


Thanks,

Scott

 

[Malcolm R]

Hmmm...I'm headed for Costco later today. I may be tempted if they have this deal at my store.

 

[Malcolm R]

They did have these at my Costco. Nice set, but I couldn't talk myself into it right now.


My current TV still works fine, and I watch all my movies via projector anyway. I can still wait awhile to see if prices on the 3D LED sets come down.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by ScottJH /forum/thread/310136/costco-is-closing-out-the-2010-panasonic-gt25-series-3d-plasmas#post_3795142

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Malcolm R

They did have these at my Costco. Nice set, but I couldn't talk myself into it right now.


My current TV still works fine, and I watch all my movies via projector anyway. I can still wait awhile to see if prices on the 3D LED sets come down.

For what its worth Malcolm, I wouldn't buy a 3D LED/LCD. I would only get a plasma. LG, Panasonic and Samsung all make 3D plasmas. I have just found that in my personal experience the LED/LCD panels are just too slow and you get more ghosting, plus the black levels on plasmas are really nice

 

[TheBat]

I got the gt25 50 from amazon for 999 last week. its an awesome HDTV and awesome in 3d.


Jacob

 

[Adam Gregorich]

LOL I'm already going to get killed upgrading the 32" we had to the 42". I can't even consider the 50". I did get a 65VT25 a few months ago and that is fantastic. We watched Tangled 3D earlier this week and WOW.

 

[ScottJH]

The 50" is $879.99 + tax.

 

[Sam Posten]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich

For what its worth Malcolm, I wouldn't buy a 3D LED/LCD. I would only get a plasma. LG, Panasonic and Samsung all make 3D plasmas. I have just found that in my personal experience the LED/LCD panels are just too slow and you get more ghosting, plus the black levels on plasmas are really nice

Much respect for Adam but I will say that I find this to be mostly hogwash! Except MAYBE the black level part, where Plasma still holds a slight edge that wont be noticed by anyone but a total fanatic. =)


I'll sacrifice the minor black level differences for the huge gains in energy efficiency.


YMMV.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten


Much respect for Adam but I will say that I find this to be mostly hogwash! Except MAYBE the black level part, where Plasma still holds a slight edge that wont be noticed by anyone but a total fanatic. =)


I'll sacrifice the minor black level differences for the huge gains in energy efficiency.


YMMV.

Sam, I was referring to 3D. I see a lot more ghosting on LED/LCD than on plasma. I just don't think they have a fast enough refresh. LED/LCD has an advantage when it comes to power usage, but especially in 3D, plasma has a better picture.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

At the smaller sizes we're talking about here, would it really make all that much diff though unless people plan on sitting like 5ft from the screen?


For most setups, people's eyes won't be able to resolve 1080p on such small screens anyway -- maybe even 720p might not get fully resolved.


So would the slower refresh be a significant issue w/ that in mind? I'm curious.


FWIW, I may consider adding a smaller (maybe 32"-ish) LCD/plasma later this year for the family room or something after we move (and put the 61" DLP RPTV in a separate room on another floor), but I wouldn't really care about 3D for that...


_Man_

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by ManW_TheUncool

At the smaller sizes we're talking about here, would it really make all that much diff though unless people plan on sitting like 5ft from the screen?


For most setups, people's eyes won't be able to resolve 1080p on such small screens anyway -- maybe even 720p might not get fully resolved.


So would the slower refresh be a significant issue w/ that in mind? I'm curious.


FWIW, I may consider adding a smaller (maybe 32"-ish) LCD/plasma later this year for the family room or something after we move (and put the 61" DLP RPTV in a separate room on another floor), but I wouldn't really care about 3D for that...


_Man_

At 32" you are only going to find LCDs. It all depends on how far away you are if you can see the difference in resolution. Since this will be at the foot of the bed I think at that size we may see some. The faster refresh will be useful for very fast moving action and 3D. Interestingly I wasn't intending to get 3D for the bedroom it just happened to be in the model that was on sale and I have glasses from my other set. I still need to run another HDMI cable and upgrade the BD player for that to happen. Both low priorities at the moment.

 

[Sam Posten]

OK fair enough, I will have to respect your opinion on that, because I have not rigorously tested 3d viewing since I'm not ready to trade in my pj just yet! Still those thinking of going Plasma should be aware just how much energy they draw compared to the LEDs.

 

[dmiller68]

So I keep seeing postings about how much power plasmas draw. Do people really pay that close attention to how much energy your home theater uses? I love my Panasonic Plasma. I thought the GT looked pretty good when I looked at tem the last time I went to Costco. That is a pretty good price but I don't think I could convence my wife to upgrade the other TV's in my house yet.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by dmiller68 instead of watching TV. But I was inspired to go look and I was actually very surprised. I thought the same thing that Sam did but....


Panasonic has done a lot over the past two years to increase efficiency and their plasmas are Energy Star rated. The 42GT25 model that I got draws [url=http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/shop/VIERA-GT-Series-Plasma-Full-HD-3D-HDTVs/model.TC-P42GT25.S_11002_7000000000000005702#tabsection]99w according to Panasonic. Keep in mind that is in energy saving mode. In 3D torch mode I'm sure it draws more as the brightness is cranked up to overcome the shuttered glasses. I tried looking on Samsung.com and they don't publish power usage (not even in the manuals) all they say is they exceed the Energy Star rating. I went to LGs site and picked a 42" LCD and they said that average power usage is 175w with a peak of 205. I then picked a 42" LED LCD and they said that average power usage is 125w with a peak of 155w. Please note that neither of these are 3D models and I just picked the first 42" models I saw on their site. Some may draw more power and some less.

I have no idea what they consider average, but on the surface it looks like the Panasonic Plasma is actually very competitive and actually might use less power than the LED LCD set.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

How good is the energy saving mode on the Panny plasma?


I have my 61" LED DLP RPTV set to run at minimum power for movies (in darkened room) and medium for regular TV stuff (in normal, but still relatively dim, room lighting). I used a Kill-A-Watt device thingy to check power usage, and it runs around 80-85W at minimum power and something like ~120W(?) at medium power -- max is something like ~170W(?). But that's for a 61", not a 42".


_Man_

 

[Towergrove]

I recently purchased a Panasonic 3D Plasma and I have enjoyed it very much. I got 3 pairs of glasses. Im also glad to see that over the past three weeks we have had at least one new 3D film released each time.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Sarah-

Which model did you get? Based on your glasses count I'm assuming the VT25 or GT24 series I agree that its nice that high quality 3D releases are starting to trickle out. We watched Tangled last week with our 5yo twins and everyone enjoyed it.

 

[JohnRice]

Originally Posted by dmiller68

So I keep seeing postings about how much power plasmas draw. Do people really pay that close attention to how much energy your home theater uses? I love my Panasonic Plasma. I thought the GT looked pretty good when I looked at tem the last time I went to Costco. That is a pretty good price but I don't think I could convence my wife to upgrade the other TV's in my house yet.

I think splitting hairs about 50-75 watts difference is pretty silly myself. If these same people would hang up half a dozen loads of laundry a year they would save enough electricity to watch a plasma for the rest of their life. Yet, they go on about how efficient LEDs TV are and slam plasma for consuming a measly 100 watts or so. The fact is, you still get by far the best image bang for the buck with plasma. So, go to Target and buy a couple laundry drying racks.