Panasonic 58" S1 or V10

the sweet taste of saving some money will wear out much quicker than knowing that you chose the better of the two sets. V10 would be my vote if you only are chosing between those two.

When the Panasonic 58 V25 becomes available soon, you might be able to get a really good price on the 58 V10. If you can check the sound quality of each from its built-in speakers, that might help you, unless you are going to use HT for sound all the time.

I agree with the poster who says that given your knowledge base, you are probably better off with the V10 for the extra 25 cents a day.

You should be able to get a better price for the 58V10 if you buy online. Check out Cleveland Plasma with the ad near the top of the page. You know the old saying: You gotta shop around.
If you're a little anal about picture quality and watch your TV in a dark room you're better off with the V10. That is if the black level threads have you freaked out. If not, save some bucks with the S1.

First of all welcome to the forum. As I'm sure you've noticed there's a ton of info here. Ive owned the 58 S1 for 5 months now and vie been very happy with it. Prior to this I owned an 06 Panny and I found the S1 to be a significant upgrade in every way

So out of the box the S1 has a green push in the grey scale. Luckily this can be dialed out via the service menu either by you or a certified tech. There are a ton of settings available in the S1 owners thread so if you get the S1 be sure to check that out. I haven't seen the V10 in a home environment but I think the biggest difference between the sets from a videophiles percpective are the available presets (THX) and picture adjustment options. I've read calibrators say that the warm color temperature on the S1 has a pretty accurate greyscale once calibrated but your stuck with the color decoding which could be better on the S1. It's not something I notice but it's good to know the possible issues. I'm not positive this is something you can adjust on the V10 but people seem to be very happy with THX mode for movie watching. I don't have this option

As far as black levels I don't think you'll see much of a difference. I'm sure you've read about the rising blacks and in that thread there are a ton of measurements on all of the 12g models. The variations were more dependent on screen size and not on model. The 58" 12g Pannys start at around .005 ftl and end up at .012 ftl judging by the graph available in the aforementioned thread. That said I'm very happy with my S1s black levels.

The last major difference I believe as you mentioned is the support for even cadence on 24p material. I actually send the content from blu-Ray movies to my S1 in the native format and let the S1 do the pull down. I honestly don't notice the kidder and believe it's overblown. But there is support for it for a reason and only you can decide how much your willing to pay for it

In summary, if you want the best of the best for last years model the V10 is the way to go. That being said, the S1 is an amazing value and can equal the V10 in the areas that I find important. And I also agree with the previous poster about getting them cheaper. I got my set for the same price you are being quoted 5 months ago

I hope I was of some help
Joe

I know you probably want someone elses opinion at this point but since no one is chiming in I can expand on 3:2 pulldown. Maybe it's because ive been watching 60 hz displays at home my whole life but i can say for certain I don't notice judder. Maybe it's obvious on the credits but I usually shut the movie off at that point. Obviously your seeing the 24p support on most LCD's now but that is due to their awful handling of motion. As of now plasma is the best in this department regardless of the refresh rate

That being said, it doesn't mean YOU won't notice it. There are many folks here that do so maybe doing a search on the topic would be helpful. Also, it might give you some insight if you could find a store that would let you demo the feature even if its not the same models.

I love my 58v10. I can't say that I notice a huge difference in 24p or 32 pulldown, but I have it on 24p all the time for blu-ray.

You can get one for under 2k right now from vann's and I'm sure some other places. That is crazy cheap for this tv. Unless a 58s1 saves you 6 or 7 hundred I would (and did) opt for the v10.

But see it currently does.. check prices on the 58S1. At that point you could get a 65S1 for $200 more than what you paid for the 58V10.

After using my PK550 with proper 24p playback, I would never buy a TV that doesn't properly support it.