I had my heart set on a samsung 4665F 1080P LCD 15,000:1 contrast. It had the best picture i saw in the store for under $2,000 and i realize its not fair to even get a final judgement of a tv on display.. but its not like i can take each of them home and hook em up to my ps3.

I wanted a TV that was 1080p to match my Ps3's output. I only have one game which is 720p , but i just have this feeling that im going to be missing out. Alot of people say take a 720p pioneer kuro and it will have a better picture then any 1080p... i dont personally believe that, but i could be wrong.

Anyway the best price I could find a samsung 4665F for was $1699 + shipping which was about $250 to much. FRys had the panasonic for $1277 shipped so to me it felt like a no brainer. I am coming from an optoma HD70 so i wanted all the inches I could get for the money. In the future when I have a better home I will go with a 1080P projector. loved my optoma and wanted another one some day.

My question is, will I regret this panasonic for the price?

I had my heart set on a samsung 4665F 1080P LCD 15,000:1 contrast. It had the best picture i saw in the store for under $2,000 and i realize its not fair to even get a final judgement of a tv on display.. but its not like i can take each of them home and hook em up to my ps3.

I wanted a TV that was 1080p to match my Ps3's output. I only have one game which is 720p , but i just have this feeling that im going to be missing out. Alot of people say take a 720p pioneer kuro and it will have a better picture then any 1080p... i dont personally believe that, but i could be wrong.

Anyway the best price I could find a samsung 4665F for was $1699 + shipping which was about $250 to much. FRys had the panasonic for $1277 shipped so to me it felt like a no brainer. I am coming from an optoma HD70 so i wanted all the inches I could get for the money. In the future when I have a better home I will go with a 1080P projector. loved my optoma and wanted another one some day.

My question is, will I regret this panasonic for the price?
Well, that's going to depend on you really. But think about it - under $1300 for a 50 inch TV with a picture quality that is considered second only to Pioneer TV's, and not that far behind at that. That's a pretty fan-freaking-tastic deal no matter how you look at it.

I had my heart set on a samsung 4665F 1080P LCD 15,000:1 contrast. It had the best picture i saw in the store for under $2,000 and i realize its not fair to even get a final judgement of a tv on display.. but its not like i can take each of them home and hook em up to my ps3.

I wanted a TV that was 1080p to match my Ps3's output. I only have one game which is 720p , but i just have this feeling that im going to be missing out. Alot of people say take a 720p pioneer kuro and it will have a better picture then any 1080p... i dont personally believe that, but i could be wrong.

Anyway the best price I could find a samsung 4665F for was $1699 + shipping which was about $250 to much. FRys had the panasonic for $1277 shipped so to me it felt like a no brainer. I am coming from an optoma HD70 so i wanted all the inches I could get for the money. In the future when I have a better home I will go with a 1080P projector. loved my optoma and wanted another one some day.

My question is, will I regret this panasonic for the price?

You have nothing to worry about. Resolution is not the end all and be all of picture quality. Sit back and enjoy some HD movies and games. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

Plop a blue ray disk into your ps3 and enjoy. I'd say you did well.

That's funny, I'm kinda in the same boat. I'm leery of going with a 720p panel but the 1080p panels are too expensive unless I get a smaller one (say, 42"). And at my viewing distance (about 8-10 feet), I won't be able to really tell 720 from 1080 anyways, which my little brain is still having trouble believing. I was thinking that 1080p was going to be a similar improvement as 720p was over SD, but apparently at viewing distances of 10ft or more, it's not. And I've yet to hear anyone complain about 720p sets like your Panasonic having trouble scaling 1080p content. Someone PLEASE correct if I'm wrong on this point.

I'm also now looking at the TH-50PX75U, it's a common but very solid choice. And it sounds like you got one of the best deals on it that I've seen. I see a lot of more expensive LCD panels that look like pixelated poo, and people are happily dropping more on them.

After reading more on these forums I am optimistic that my panasonic will actually impress me. I really hope after I have it broke in and got the settings adjusted it will be above and beyond my expectations.

Just from a shoppers stand point while Standing in circuit city looking at all the displays the samsung 4665 blew me away. It was running on a 720p signal like 90% of the other tv's but the colors just popped and the blacks were VERY black! Literally while running 720p content it looked better then some of the $3000+ 1080p tv's running 1080p blue ray content. I knew this was the TV i wanted, but I just couldnt swallow the $1799 + tax price I am on this "get out of debt" crusade and had set my spending limit around $1200. For the samsung I would of went $1500 though. I look forward to this panasonic not only for its good picture but to help heat my home during these cold michigan winters :-)

$1,277. shipped on that set is a good deal. Fry's needs to put a store on the east coast.

One more thing, you didn't settle, you purchased a TV that was within your $$$ means, and a very good one at that. As the release of the new models gets closer, I'll be tracking prices on that model to see if I can pick one up in the 1K to 1.1K range.

I want to open a fry's in michigan, fry's would destroy the local competition... the cheapest I could find this panasonic locally was $1799 and that was "on-sale"

If you only plan on saving a $100 might as well buy it now for $1277...I was dead set on buying a 1080P set after selling my projector thats why i say i "settled" for this panasonic. For the price I should be thrilled, its just not in my living room yet ( still being shipped )

Good Choice & if you do find some things that you don't like about the set just remember that it was only $1,277 & in the future when you have more money & buy another set the Panny is going to make an "Excellent" 2nd set for another room. Enjoy your "NEW PANNY" & come back & let us know what you think about it especially for $1,277

I'm actually thinking about buying it at Fry's also. The only thing is, since I live in Texas where they have numerous stores, I have to pay sales tax. No biggie, but it's about a hundred bucks and change.

Still, the initial price point is excellent.

Just dont bother buying products that involve Frys rebates that come directly from them. Heard too many horror stories. I paid 1500 for my set from a locally owned store. Rather give them my money than a place that runs businesses out of business.

I had my heart set on a samsung 4665F 1080P LCD 15,000:1 contrast. It had the best picture i saw in the store for under $2,000 and i realize its not fair to even get a final judgement of a tv on display.. but its not like i can take each of them home and hook em up to my ps3.

I wanted a TV that was 1080p to match my Ps3's output. I only have one game which is 720p , but i just have this feeling that im going to be missing out. Alot of people say take a 720p pioneer kuro and it will have a better picture then any 1080p... i dont personally believe that, but i could be wrong.

Anyway the best price I could find a samsung 4665F for was $1699 + shipping which was about $250 to much. FRys had the panasonic for $1277 shipped so to me it felt like a no brainer. I am coming from an optoma HD70 so i wanted all the inches I could get for the money. In the future when I have a better home I will go with a 1080P projector. loved my optoma and wanted another one some day.

My question is, will I regret this panasonic for the price?

No.

As good as the 4665 looks in the store, the Panasonic 75U will probably look better in your home than the 4665 would. I know that may seem hard to believe, but 4665 just can't match the black levels of the 75U, and the benefits of 1080p are questionable at best.

I personally bought a 75U as well (bought it a few months ago), but the only thing I would have rather had was a Pioneer 5080, not the 4665.

When you recieve the TV, let us know how the shipping experience went. I'm in NJ and I believe Fry's is in CA, so shipping would have to be first class. No mules or covered wagons!!!

In response to buying locally I must ask why? I would not dare to compare Fry's to a walmart by any means. I have no doubts that best buy or circuit city has run many local small mom/pop stores out of business therefore I see no problem with Fry's selling us great products at a huge discount over the larger chains. I don't know any "local" stores in michigan that I would want to support. I have ABC warehouse who I think are a bunch of crooks, sears, best buy, circuit city, meijer, and walmart. Meijer and walmart do not offer any quality brands at a good price or I would support Meijers... followed by Sears.

Update on frys, I called them only a couple hours after placing my order and got right through to a live body with pretty much no automated operater runaround. The CSR said my TV shipped same day from Ohio which means I should have it in less then three days. Their corporate headquarters might be on the west coast, but they have some warehouses across the nation. So far have been very pleased but we'll see when its in my living room.

Ordered too from Frys.com, $1,277 USD includes free ground shipping and no state taxes. I had it shipped to Port Huron Michigan, which is about 45 minutes from my home in London, Ontario, Canada.

Ordered on Wednesday and arrived on Friday, 2 days, that's fast. Tracked the shipment, saw that it arrived on Friday morning and then called the shipping company (ABF) to let them know that I would pick it up directly from their Port Huron location, rather then have them send on to the UPS Store. I did notice that the shipment originated from Columbus Ohio, I think Frys has a local supplier there.

The Panny box was still upright on the large wooden pallet, with metal bands around the box and pallet to ensure that it would not fall over. Loaded the 50" box into my Mazda MPV with the help of the receptionist. Put the new Panny on the TV stand that my 3 year old 42" Panny ED industrial plasma is on.

If you're concerned about 720P vs 1080P, I've had no problem with SDE with my 480P ED Panny 42PWD7UY, looks great with HD. SDE isn't noticable unless you're within 7-8 feet with my 42" ED. Cost was $3,000 3-4 years ago, 720P sets back then were much higher. I decided to wait until HD was more affordable, then I would put the 42" into my bedroom. So for less than the price of a smaller HD set 3 years ago, I now have a 50" 720P and a 42". You can probably use the same rationalization for getting a 720P now and waiting for 1080P to come down in price.

RayO
I just ordered mine yesterday. When you picked it up did it have tilt sensors on the box? And anyone that that has got it delivered from abt did they allow you to open the box and look at it or can you plug it in before the delivery guy leaves? How is it packed? Can you lift the box off of the screen and get to the plug? Thanks for the help, this stuff makes me nervous... Had to take advantage of the Fry's deal though.

With my luck it will be DOA

RayO
I just ordered mine yesterday. When you picked it up did it have tilt sensors on the box? And anyone that that has got it delivered from abt did they allow you to open the box and look at it or can you plug it in before the delivery guy leaves? How is it packed? Can you lift the box off of the screen and get to the plug? Thanks for the help, this stuff makes me nervous... Had to take advantage of the Fry's deal though.

With my luck it will be DOA

No tilt sensors, however the wooden pallet was quite large, the truck would have had to flip over for the plasma to fall over. I didn't bother to check the contents (I probably should have), but I'm sure that they would let you open it before they left. To open the box, all you have to do is take out the 4 white grab handles on the lower part of the box, lift off the upper portion of the box, pull down the protective wrapping around the plasma, and that's it! Takes a few seconds. Hope this helps.

If you wanted to check if it powered on, all you have to do is attach the power cord and turn on the TV, it should show a menu after a few seconds.

I got the 75U from the Sears offer right before Christmas. Sure we could spend another $800 to get 1080, but I figured I'd wait a few years until all shakes out. Then I'll grab something else and put this one upstairs for the family room.

After reading more on these forums I am optimistic that my panasonic will actually impress me. I really hope after I have it broke in and got the settings adjusted it will be above and beyond my expectations.

Just from a shoppers stand point while Standing in circuit city looking at all the displays the samsung 4665 blew me away. It was running on a 720p signal like 90% of the other tv's but the colors just popped and the blacks were VERY black! Literally while running 720p content it looked better then some of the $3000+ 1080p tv's running 1080p blue ray content. I knew this was the TV i wanted, but I just couldnt swallow the $1799 + tax price I am on this "get out of debt" crusade and had set my spending limit around $1200. For the samsung I would of went $1500 though. I look forward to this panasonic not only for its good picture but to help heat my home during these cold michigan winters :-)

BTW
I have this set in my living room, it uses no fans and runs cooler then my 32" lcd.
Set runs very cool!!!!!!

I'm actually thinking about buying it at Fry's also. The only thing is, since I live in Texas where they have numerous stores, I have to pay sales tax. No biggie, but it's about a hundred bucks and change.

Still, the initial price point is excellent.

I dont know if you have any PCrichard stores near you but it is on sale for 1299.00. You can check it out on their website.

RayO,
Thanks for the information I appreciate it very much!!!,
I wont be able to turn it on anyway, It's below 30F here so I will let it acclimate a few hours before attempting to power it up.
How do you like it now that it is set up?? Haven't seen you post so you must be sitting back and enjoying it:D

Anyone Else got a delivery story from the Frys deal?

T out

RayO,
Thanks for the information I appreciate it very much!!!,
I wont be able to turn it on anyway, It's below 30F here so I will let it acclimate a few hours before attempting to power it up.
How do you like it now that it is set up?? Haven't seen you post so you must be sitting back and enjoying it:D

Anyone Else got a delivery story from the Frys deal?

T out

Hey, no problem! I have been using the new set, have Rogers HD cable feed, Toshiba HD-D3 player and Sony PS3. Fantastic PQ, I wouldn't expect any less from a Panny. For the price, I think Fry's total cost of $1,277 was a steal. Here in Canada, the 50PX75 MSRP is $2,299, with a discount of $300 during a sale.