Quote:
Originally Posted by mnc 
Are the blacks comparable to a good plasma? Trying to decide between the 70"735 and a 65VT30. I want really good blacks but in my bright living room the extra light output of an led is a nice bonus, especially for 3d.
Are the blacks comparable to a good plasma? Trying to decide between the 70"735 and a 65VT30. I want really good blacks but in my bright living room the extra light output of an led is a nice bonus, especially for 3d.
Excellent thread & resource. The quoted post and the response below it are spot-on for what I observed.
I was torn btwn the 65VT30 and 735U too. I'm not a videophile (sp.?), but I tend to research the bejeezus out of things and have a pattern of overbuilding things as I try to buy for the long-haul. Noted the following points while also trying to balance my admitted predisposition to bozoproofing anything high-performance (AV, racecars, electronics, etc.)
In ideal videophile environment (darkish room, perfect acoustics, etc.) VT30 rules. It's just spectacular, from every viewing angle, and is prettier industrial design. Really wanted the VT30. Loved the VT30's picture / motion / general performance in a dark room (and its controls / apps, glass design, etc.), but given my experience as product manager I tend to consider the mainstream use (~2 standard deviations) vs. "corner case" usage outside 2 SD. Reality for me & wife is that perfectly dark room is a rare occurrence at our place - outside 2SD. 96% of the time, we're in an un-ideal (for TV, but good for Portland area) bright, sunlit room or a ton of ambient light from adjoining rooms. So side-by-side in a bright showroom, I played with 735U's adjustments to make it look close to VT30, then adjusted it to be a bit brighter to compete with the ambient light. VT30 was already as bright as it was going to be. Pref became 735U at that point (and I fully admit I lean toward a little more vibrant colors & brightness while trying to avoid neon cartoonish coloration). Watch a hockey game or ski video, and my pref is for the bright whites (probably to the utter disdain of purists) - big difference between the nits/brightness offered by the 735U vs. the VT30 there.
735U's backlit LED implementation seems like it will live long w/ less degradation (vs. some concerns on Plasma tech losing brightness / needing re-adjustment) as years go by. True, LEDs lose some of their lighting as years pass too, but with so much brighter capability up brand-new on 735U (call it cushion / extra headroom) my bet is we can keep the 735U bright enough for us over the years vs. starting to feel that the VT30's a little dim at year 5.
My priorities started with updating our 2005-era Sammy 40" CCFL-lit 4096 to bigger size (65-70") while preserving or improving image quality. Love my 4096, so it goes to another room once the 735U arrives. Also wanted 3D. Brightness (given room realities) then became a factor. And most reviews said the picture quality can be adjusted / calibrated quite well. Working the controllers on each, the 735U seemed more intuitive (to a newb like me at least). 735U didn't seem to have the rich apps / high-end controls of the VT30, but I can't see myself using these very often. PS3 (games & Blu-ray), Netflix & some WiDi will be most of our non-Xfininty cable box usage.
Eventually I realized after reading all these reviews the difference between the absolute benchmark (VT30) vs. the 90% "good enough" solution (735U). I don't even notice motion blur on our 4096, and it's an old 60Hz set. Love the colors, just wanted a bigger version. Willing to give it the try it until Jan 24 trial through Best Buy. Pulled trigger at Best Buy yesterday, but due to backorders the 735U isn't scheduled to arrive here until 12/13.
