Need help buying a 46-50" Plasma this weekend.

Well, to each their own, but the Panasonics are regarded by many as being the best bang-for-the-buck plasma. Me being one of them. The Pioneers are even better, with a price premium.

I'm more aware of the Panasonic that the Pioneers so I'll talk about the Panny's and I'll let someone else talk about the Pio's.

I'm getting the Panasonic 46" 1080P TH-46PZ80. Recently it could be had for 100$ less than your target price.

The next step is the 50" which could be found for about 200$ more than your target.

See the 100+ page Panny owner thread for the technical stuff. I actually read the whole thread, I recommend you do it as well if you are new to the plasma world. But to make a long story short:

1. Pannys have their own problems like every other TV, but those problems are really minor for the majority of users unless you are very picky, or you happen to be sensitive to a specific "issue". Some issues more or less common to the different plasma brands and models are the green-fringing and the rainbow-effect, watch some material in-store to check if you are sensitive to these.

2. To my and I think to most people's eyes this year's Pannys (TH-xxPZ80, PZ85, PZ800) overall have a far better picture than the previous generation Pannys (TH-xxPZ77, PZ700, PZ750). Many threads about this exist already.

4. Panny recently dropped the Canadian MSRPs, so beware of big-chain stores (FS and BB come to mind) trying to convince you their price is the deal of the decade when they're comparing the OLD MSRP to their current price tag...

I agree with Alibaba. The Panasonic is your best bet within the budget stated. For gaming, the Panasonic Plasmas are one of the best IR resistant panels. At 10' You might want to spend a little more for the 50"

Well in that price range, your best bet for 1080P would be a Panasonic. When you are watching it in the dark you will probably notice its not that black in it's black levels.

I know some people make such a big deal about the BLACKS. Well I love the picture on my Panasonic, it may not be the blackest, but it still has a great picture and the price was reasonable. I watch in the dark all the time and I really don't notice or care. It's 1000 times better then the older HDTV I replaced it with.

who says short and sweet is a bad thing

right now as of this second i would pull the trigger on the samsung pn50a550 1080p 50" plasma if i were u and actually i might just do the same thing on sunday night unless someone can talk me out of it

btw the 50pz80u can be had for less then this and its not an online retailer goddam stop talking price im gonna get in trouble

The 50"pz80u is going for your target price right now...

If you need 1080p/24 playback and it is between those two it is an easy choice.
5080.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I do not believe the Samsung properly handles 1080p/24Hz.
at least they didn't in last years models.

Also, at your seating distance you would have a hard time discerning the resolution difference even with a side by side.
Also, the 5080 has deeper blacks, higher contrast and less prone to IR.(though easily wiped on the Sammy)

I agree with this analysis. I have had a lot of Panasonic gear and loved it. Nonetheless, when it came time to upgrade my HDTV to a 60 inch model I bought a Pioneer Kuro PDP-6020HD. This time Panasonic wasn’t in the hunt because they were not yet shipping their 58 inch models.

The price premium you must pay for a Kuro is hefty but it produces the most startlingly beautiful PQ I have yet seen. Like the OP, I have a PS3 and use it to watch BDs on my Kuro, so I can pretty much guarantee that the Kuro is the way to go if he is willing to pay the price. Even the 50 inch Panasonic will be a little out of his projected price range and a Kuro 5020 would be way out of it. Still . . .

I sit 7ft from my 5080 and i see no SDE. Sure a Pio 1080p set might make a noticeable difference, but i don't see any pixel structure at my seating distance. I would be willing to bet from ten feet you couldn't see a difference between a 1080p sammy and the 5080 with pixels. the 5080 does such a great job at details that it looks amazing. It also does an awesome job with 1080p@24fps which is how i have my combo player set.

Plus this is an awesome article that puts the 5080 up against 1080p sets with experienced product testers in a blind test. Guess what the 5080 wins. perfect article for you to read.
http://www.hometheatermag.com/lcds/2...ce/index7.html

eightninesuited, you're not gonna get a better plasma right now than the A650. It's less expensive sibling, the A550 received a spectacular review from UAV and they never mentioned any issue with processing 1080p/24 signals. I wouldn't worry about that on the A650.
In fact in real world viewing, the black levels and shadow details are excellent. Not just from my point of view UAV as well. I wouldn't worry about.

resolution at your seating distance isn't high on the list of importance. Get kuro.

I would beg to differ.
Though it is a good PDP, and is better than any LCD currently on the market.
-imo

Too bad you aren't in the US. Sears has a 50" 720p Panasonic plasma on sale for $1,099, plus you get $200 toward installation or AV furniture. They are practically giving these away!

The Panny Rebate is only on 1080P models but the PX80 price is still a Great Price!

No, the rebate includes the 720P models also, including the PX80 models.

Rebate