Need help selecting a new plasma (1 Viewer)

[jonmorris]

We currently have a Toshiba 56" DLP rear projection 720p HDTV that we've been using for the last 5 years or so. We have come to the decision that the Toshiba, although still a high quality television, just can not compare to some of the high end Plasma's and LED tv's on the market right now. We have about $1500 to spend and after researching both Plasma and LED we have come to the decision that plasma is the way we want to go. We would like some suggestions from those in the know. We both wear glasses and have no interest in a 3D tv so the 3D technology is not something that we're interested in. We are very interested in the Panasonic 54" G25 plasma. The picture quality is incredible and at 54" it is about the size that we are looking for (55" to 58"). Unfortunatley, we've heard several horror stories about power failures and horrible customer service asociated with Panasonic Plasma's and I must admit that it has us frozen in our tracks. We definitely dont want to risk blowing this kind of money on a dud. Can anyone make a suggestion of a 1080p plasma tv that has a picture quality as good as the Panasonic G20/G25 series? We are looking at this tv purchase as a long-term investment and we plan on keeping this tv around for a while and want to get something that will still look as great 5 years from now as it does now. We mainly care about picture quality/brightness and overall durability and reliability, and we don't really care about things like number of HDMI inputs, or sound quality as we use a surround sound setup anyway.


Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

For plasmas:

Panasonic THX certified units

LG THX certified units

and Samsung.


all are very nice.

 

[jonmorris]

What about the reported power problems with the Panasonic plasma's? I keep reading about shorted out power supplies and horrid customer service/unreasonably long repair wait times.

 

[GeorgeAB]

Samsung has its own history of abusive customer service and performance glitches. In my personal case, a repeated history. LG has only relatively recently offered models with picture performance I would consider worthy of consideration. I have come to favor the Panasonic professional grade plasma monitors, especially the Premier professional line. They are built better, but lack certain consumer oriented features that must be provided for by other means. Their cost is also higher and typically must be sourced from custom/commercial dealers, rather than the usual discount sources.


Prices have dropped significantly for consumer displays in recent years. As prices have diminished, don't be surprised if certain aspects of quality have dropped along the way. Manufacturers and resellers may have had to cut back on the performance of their organizations and/or products to compete on price.


Best regards and beautiful pictures,

G. Alan Brown, President

CinemaQuest, Inc.

A Lion AV Consultants Affiliate


"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"

 

[JoeCool6972]

Samsung also has the reputation of being the best TV. Lots of "best buy" awards etc. That's why I chose a Samsung.... reputation counts. Avoid the cheap off brands and no names. Just looking at a Vizio or other off brand compared with name brands side by side in the store and you can tell a big difference. Also Look at TV's in Wal-mart, Worst Buy, Sears, Sams Club, BJ's and other places that don't put the TV's in a dark area. That shows flaws in some TV's.

 

[brianflick]

Do the Panasonic S-class plasmas have the issues that the G's have? I was told that once properly calibrated the difference between a S and G class is very minimal.