I thank everyone who posts on this and the other forums. Although basically familiar with most HD concepts, I have learned far more than I would have expected.
New 50" V10 was delivered yesterday from national brick and mortar chain. Their delivery service was not as promised and I will visit them later today to discuss. However, the V10 was everything I expected and more.
The V10 replaced a 42" 60 series Panasonic plasma (circa 2006). I have been trying to find a 50" plasma to fit in an enclosed corner cabinet at our condo since 2007. WAF demands that televisions be seen only when in use. This year Pansonic offered a number of entries that would work. My original thoughts were to get either the 50" S1 or G10 model as they seemed to offer everything I needed, followed by professional calibration. However, my wife and I both enjoy movies and have an extensive DVD and Blu-Ray collection and the 96hz feature for 24P movie playback sealed the deal. Also, my wife suggested I get the TV that will keep me happy for the longest time as she is planning on an early retirement at the end of this year.
My first observation of the V10 was there was not a night and day difference in picture quality over the 3 year old 42" Panasonic. The older TV was never professionally calibrated, but was set up using DVE. Color, contrast, black level all appeared quite natural to most who have seen it. Usually the comments would come after watching something for a while and a friend would comment how the colors looked right or how deep the picture looked. The V10 did look almost this natural out of the box. I watched some hig-def channels yesterday and all looked very good on the "Standard" setting. Also switched over to Blu-Ray and changed to the THX settings with the 96hz refresh rate. At this, I was knocked out. I had thought that movies had a lot of depth on the old plasma, but nothing like this. We go out to the movies at least 3 or 4 times a month and this is the closest to film I have ever seen in someone's home (glad it's mine). Also, my room is quite bright with 2 (6'x6') windows, an arched skylight above one of the windows, plus the room is right next to our sunroom which is windows all around with another arched skylight. Even on THX there was more than enough light output to make viewing normal with bright sun shining in. I guess the TV sitting slightly inside a cabinet helps some. Also, never noticed reflections during the day or from lamps in the evening. Definitely a huge improvement from the older Panasonic. Television is running the break-in slides overnight and while I am at work. I plan to follow this routine for several weeks before trying the CNET or dNice settings or resorting to DVE.
By the way, out of the box I saw absolutely none of the problem areas as mentioned from many of the earlier posts. And I did have my eyes ready to try to find any flaws. My hope is that this set is a reliable as my previous plasma (soon to take up residence at my son's home) and that I can sit back and enjoy watching.
I have one question, but since this post runs long, will ask it seperately.
Although I have been viewing these posts for the last 6-8 months, this is only my second entry. Trying to follow the old addage of keeping my mouth shut and letting everyone think I'm stupid.
I would recommend Greg in a second for anyone considering having their TV calibrated and complete. I say complete because if you don't have a calibration done by a real pro then you are not getting the full experience.
