So here is my story ... During a move from one city to another , I totally deystroyed the inner screen of my 50pz950 by allowing it to fall flat on it's face on a carpeted surface .. The tv made the move fine but when I finally got it in the house, out of fatigue or stupidity , I placed the tv up against the back of my black leather sofa .Forgetting it was there, I tilted the sofa back to place a rug under it, and crash goes my tv
! I thought I got away without cracking the screen but after using a flashlight I could see the the outer glass was good but the inner screen was cracked like a mirror someone threw something at.
First thing in the morning I call LG and very simply they direct me to their nearest authorized repair center. Having no idea how much a repair like this would cost, I call the repair center and explain my problem. The technician after looking up my model told me that I needed a new screen and that total repairs would cost $550.00!! He told me tv would be like new after repairs and included a warranty but he did mention that for that price a few hundred more I could probably just get a new tv and to give it some thought. Now my tv being less than a year old and me being very happy with it never considered a new tv but now I was like what the hey, maybe I might find something I was missing.
So after about a week of shopping around and looking at new model plasmas, I finally found a deal I liked on a Panasonic 50ut50 3d tv for $699.99 at onecall.com. Best buy had the same model there for their sale price of $850.00 but they said they would match the price so I jumped on the deal ..
Now lemme say this, the Panasonic DOES have BETTER blacks, and a very nice picture right out of the box, but the picture on my LG was just as nice but it took some work which in turn made me appreciate it more. Honestly , that's where the good points on the Panasonic ended. The user menu felt very very cheap, so did the remote. The smart tv portion of the tv was not very intuitive and i was left stumped using some of the aps. One big thing, most tvs now use passive 3d not active like the pz950. Let me tell you, if you have experienced active 3d and go to passive, unless you are in denial you will notice a HUGE difference. I immidatley noticed the loss of resolution in 3d. The picture was brighter but why in the world would I prefer a brighter fuzzier picture ? The 3d did not cut it for me. The bezel of the tv was also cheap looking when compared to the LG. I probably could have spent a few hundred more and gotten a higher end Panasonic but mind you, I got my LG on super sale for only $799.00 so I was trying to stay within that price range and really see if I could get more bang for my buck.
After all that I finally decided it would be way worth it to me to repair my LG rather than replacing it. I was totally spoiled by LGs class, features, and options. I can first hand say that the LG pz950 is an EXCELLENT set and once you experience this level of performance from a tv set , you will not want to settle for less. Im watching my 950 as I type this now and could not be happier ... Btw if you get your tv repaired at a authorized center, your LG warranty will still continue and the technician was able to transfer my calibrated settings to the new screen so I did not have to pay for another calibration ! Like LG says life's good !
