Not an 85u vs 850/800 thread, since I know there's probably a hundred of these already. But my question is a professionally calibrated 85 vs a non-calibrated 800 or possibly 850u. I know the 800 is by far better than the 85, but how close is it if the 85 is calibrated? They'd roughly cost me the same price.

My recommendation is to buy the best PDP you can afford.

You can have it calibrated anytime during the future.

Not an 85u vs 850/800 thread, since I know there's probably a hundred of these already. But my question is a professionally calibrated 85 vs a non-calibrated 800 or possibly 850u. I know the 800 is by far better than the 85, but how close is it if the 85 is calibrated? They'd roughly cost me the same price.

It all depends.

If you're just taking the 850/800 out of the box and selecting a preset, then the calibrated 85U would be the way to go. If you were doing your own tweaks in Cinema/THX mode you could possibly get it looking as good as the calibrated 85U but YMMV. Do you have any experience with self-calibrators like DVE or Avia? You can get the colors and brightness pretty close with these, but the grayscale would still be inaccurate if you didn't go into the service menu.

You may want to read through the 80/85U owner's and calibration threads to see if anyone has made any direct comparisons. I know some here have gotten it done (I recall one poster that went by Elway Elite) but am unsure if they have impressions of the higher-end sets.

The PZ85s have red push that can't be adjusted - even with a professional calibration.

If that's an issue for you, get the 800/850 instead.

imo the 850 would give you the most options. i didn't have much luck w/ color decoding on the 85u & from what i've read, calibration can help but can't really fix that issue. THX i think is most accurate mode on the 800 but if you don't care for that look you'd have a very hard time adjusting other modes to your liking. with the 850 pro menu i think you can get at least as good a pic as the 800 in THX and wider range of adjustments on both ends.

fierzer,

I purchased the 85U in November and think it is an amazing set. This was my first HDTV coming from a 32" tube. I did the recommended burn-in and also puchased the DVE (blu-ray) disk. I calibrated the tv on my own with the disk and am quite pleased with it.

I had pondered getting professional calibration done, but there are mixed reviews on the process. Mostly positive, but there are some folks that just didn't like it because after the calibration they tweaked it some more to suit their own personal viewing criteria, like brightness and contrast.

The 85U is a great set for the money and I am glad I didn't spend the extra cash on the 800U or 850U. As far as the red push, I personally do not understand what that means, nor do I see any problems with the reds or any other colors for that reason.

If budget is an issue, I would recommend the 85U and get the DVE (blu-ray) disk.

:D

fierzer,

I purchased the 85U in November and think it is an amazing set.
:D

I agree - it's a great set. I just purchased the 85U over the 800 and 850 this past week and could not be happier.

I have the 85u also and I see no Red Push. It looks great to me.