PLEASE HELP ME CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE 2 HDTV's:

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Panasonic include that warning in all their plasma's, as does just about every plasma manufacturer other than Samsung I believe.

Yes image retention is a reality. If you experience problems with image retention and burn in on your CRT then you may well have the type of viewing patterns that will give you image retention and burn in on your plasma.

However, these sort of viewing environments generally involve 24-hour static images, like departure/arrival monitors at airport lounges.

It is not something I would concern myself with personally when choosing plasma vs. "other display".

oh i see. so even if i did a 6 hr gaming session (which i would rarely rarely do) i would most likely be fine. good to know, thannsk..

[JR8300]

I love the XBR series LCDs...while the XBR6 easily has the best black levels outside of the (LED) series LCDs the 120 Hz processing was in it's infancy and is not as good as what is seen in the newer models. The deep color calibration options are a calibrators dream.

The Panny is awesome...great blacks and picture. The bells and whistles aren't there though. Also, you don't have many options to improve the color accuracy.

Still my vote goes to the Panny, if you were looking at the XBR 7 or 8 it would be a different story. Get the Panny.

[GoYanks]

Originally Posted by JR8300

I love the XBR series LCDs...while the XBR6 easily has the best black levels outside of the LNT81F series (LED) the 120 Hz processing was in it's infancy and is not as good as what is seen in the newer models. The deep color calibration options are a calibrators dream.

The Panny is awesome...great blacks and picture. The bells and whistles aren't there though. Also, you don't have many options to improve the color accuracy.

Still my vote goes to the Panny, if you were looking at the XBR 7 or 8 it would be a different story. Get the Panny.

plus you can always pay the $300 and get a custom calibration which goes a long way... of course this would be after the 100 hrs burn in period.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Pelican170

oh i see. so even if i did a 6 hr gaming session (which i would rarely rarely do) i would most likely be fine. good to know, thannsk..

Here's some first-hand accounts from someone who purchased the 50" 800U last week:

Re: Break-In Period

I got my 50PZ800U last night and had it set up within an hour (which included cleaning and re-wiring. A LOT of re-wiring.) Watched less than 5 minutes of TV (non-HD), then immediately went into Xbox 360 in THX mode via component. Played around in the new dashboard for about 15 minutes (which DOES have very prominent static logos), no IR. Played Burnout Paradise for about 30 minutes (static icons at the top-middle and lower-right corner), no IR. Went back to SDTV for another 30 minutes or so, static logo in the corner, no IR. Went back to 360 for some DVD viewing. First off, Blade Runner's original DVD is possibly the lowest quality DVD I own, and it looked like ****, so I switched to Clerks II. Watched about 30 minutes worth with letterboxing, and again, no IR. Closed out the night with a good hour's worth of SDTV on the same chanel, with static logo. No IR.

While these aren't exactly the longest periods of time with anything static on the screen, it was impressive that there wasn't even a hint of it, anywhere. In fact, the ONLY IR I saw at all was when I turned the set off. The room was pitch black, and there was an extremely obvious silhouette of Steven Colbert on the screen for about 30 seconds or less. It faded out slowly, but it did fade out, and the screen was clean of IR after that. Turned it back on a minute or two later just to check, and nothing.

To say I am absolutely amazed with this set is an understatement. I haven't tweaked any settings at all other than to put it in THX mode and make sure it was set to Warm temp. Considering the set was brand new with only about an hour and a half worth of time on it, the skin tones in Clerks II were spot-on. 360 DVD viewing at 480p makes quality DVD's look almost as good as most HD cable stations. "Almost," meaning it's just a hair behind, since it's still only 480p compared to 720p.

I'll be picking up my HD cable box on Friday, but depending on the station, most SD broadcasts look pretty good. ESPN and some of the movie stations looked great for being SD, but other stations (CBS, ABC, NBC) looked horrendous. Just the quality of the broadcast, I suppose.

So anyways, IR appears to be a non-issue, even on a brand-new, straight out of the box set. I'll still be careful, but my fears have been mostly eliminated.

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Here's some first-hand accounts from someone who purchased the 50" 800U last week:

Wow, that makes me feel better. I think im picking one up soon. Thanks again...

[ghebert]

Go for the plasma....with lcd you will have to worry about motion blur, low contrast/black levels and such. I have watched BD on both LCD and Plasma and Plasma gave me the better picture.

[colgra01]

Thank you so much guys, your replies are invaluable.

[Toptube]

Originally Posted by colgra01

Guys I looked at the Pioneer Kuro Elite Pro 111 at best buy tonight...WOW. It is over my initial budget but on sale for 3999 and with three years no interest financing available , it almost seems like a no brainer. It also seems to be at least a few years future proof and the best out there.

Thoughts? I do feel guilty spending that, but considering a few years back when crappy 720 p plasmas were over 5 k , this doesnt see as bad.

I'd get a Panasonic. Half the price for 95% of the quality. You can take the money saved and buy a Blu-ray player and several Blu-rays-----and STILL have money for other stuff.