New Plasma: Panasonic or Samsung?

[lojack1976]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I know a lot of people around here say that panasonic plasmas are the greatest thing to ever happen to home theater, but I wouldn't take anything made by Panasonic unless it was free. I've owned a number of Panasonic products, and friends and family have owned them, and I've found them to be extremely unreliable. From TVs, DVD players, stereo equipment, and phones, they all broke down early and often. I'd take the Samsung. Just my anecdotal testimony... from what I hear, the Viera actually gets very high consumer reliability ratings; but that certainly contradicts my experience.

I too have experienced some problems from Panasonic problems in the past, but their TV's have an extremely good reputation for quality and reliability. Panasonic/Matsushita is a very large company that sells both high end and mass market electronics. Cheapo mass market products like cell phones and various home electronics are problematic with many manufacturers, but Panasonic's high end products are very reliable. I would imagine that like most companies a good deal of their lower end products that end up in Walmart are outsourced to China.

And before we go pumping up Samsung...they have a well known customer service problem, and there are many people throughout this forum and others who've had many Samsung problems, and this is with their high end products. I've read where people in these forums who've purchased Samsung TV's had to exchange them multiple times because they were defective right out of the box. I'm not bashing Samsung, but their track record is not nearly as good as Panasonic's. I don't think I would completely rule out a Samsung TV, but I'd definitely be a little more worried than if I purchased a Panasonic or a Sony product. It probably wouldn't worry me much if Samsung had good customer service, but I've yet to read anywhere that the do. Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony treat their customers extremely well when problems do come up.

At the end of the day all manufacturers have some problematic products in their line-up. Some companies excel in one area and do horribly in others. When it comes to TV's Panasonic definitely gets the nod over Samsung. I think that if I was to purchase a Samsung TV I'd be much more likely to buy an extended warranty. I'm sure Samsung does better than Panasonic in other areas that they compete in.

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by titulin

In a couple of months, I`m going to buy a new Plasma.
I know that Pioneer are the best, but I can`t find it in my country.
Please, recommend me the best models for Panasonic and Samsung for $2.000/$2.500.
Which one is better, Panasonic or Samsung?
Thanks!!

I bought my TV in February. At the time the Samsung PN50A550 was under $1,400 while the Panasonic models (800u, 850u) were all $2,000-$2,500. If the price differences were the same today I'd say go with a Samsung. But they're not. It seems Panasonic has finally realized how close to death plasma is hovering and has adjusted prices to make their TVs more appealing to the average customer. Right now the G10 can be had for $1,600, which is about the same price as the Samsung PN50B550. Now that Panasonic has become more affordable I don't think it's any contest; get the Panasonic.

I believe the V10 and Z1 will do a better job displaying 24f/s film-source material, but I don't know if their additional cost will be justified. We'll have to see what the experts say when those models are released later this year.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by repete66211

I bought my TV in February. At the time the Samsung PN50A550 was under $1,400 while the Panasonic models (800u, 850u) were all $2,000-$2,500. If the price differences were the same today I'd say go with a Samsung. But they're not. It seems Panasonic has finally realized how close to death plasma is hovering and has adjusted prices to make their TVs more appealing to the average customer. Right now the G10 can be had for $1,600, which is about the same price as the Samsung PN50B550. Now that Panasonic has become more affordable I don't think it's any contest; get the Panasonic.

I believe the V10 and Z1 will do a better job displaying 24f/s film-source material, but I don't know if their additional cost will be justified. We'll have to see what the experts say when those models are released later this year.

You're comparing the Sammy to the top-of-the-line Panys. You would have been able to get the 80U/85U for the same or less. From what I've seen, Panasonic pricing has been pretty reasonable (if you can even say that about consumer electronics ).

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

You're comparing the Sammy to the top-of-the-line Panys. You would have been able to get the 80U/85U for the same or less. From what I've seen, Panasonic pricing has been pretty reasonable (if you can even say that about consumer electronics ).

I could be wrong, but as I recall the 80 and 85 were around $2,000.