Panny TC-P50S1 or Sammy PN50B550?

[Swingman24]

Okay, first off, I'm new here and this is my numero uno post. Been checking this place out for about a week and you guy's and gal's seem yo know what you are talking about and there are plenty of interesting threads going on.

Now, that I got that out of the way, here's the dilemma: Tax return check just came in and I have decided to get a plasma. I researched plasma's for a month now and I can obviously can see that Pioneer, especially the Elite's, are the Holy Grail of not just plasma's but HD televisions, period. But, unfortunately, like many others just a little too pricey for this poor boy. So I went to the Panasonic's and Samsung's.

The 2 models that seem to be the best within MY price range are the Panasonic TC-P50S1 and the Samsung PN50B550. They are both running at about $1,600.

Now I have read 1 review on the Panny and that was on cNet and it was quite favorable. Although, they did say that it did not have the best primary color accuracy nor were there many options to adjust it but the blacks were very deep even if they were not quite up to Pioneer standards. It also does not have THX display certification, 1080p/24 refresh rate or a PC input.

On the other hand I cannot find any reviews on the Sammy PN50B550 but there are plenty of reviews of it's predecessor the PN50A550. And while the picture is apparently pristine and the color accuracy is as good as it gets, it is not without it's problems. I read some of the user reviews and one guy said he could see some pink hues at several different spots on the screen and yet another complained about their customer support. There were several reviews that complained that the Sammy's were bad about burn-in and/or image retention. But they do have a PC input and 4 HDMI inputs instead of 3 on the Panny although I can't imagine that these will be a tipping point.

So I know everyone says that this is an important decision for them and I am doing the same because I can't afford to waste money on some piece of crap TV. I just can't decide which one would be better to own, picture and performance wise. Please HELP! Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks