Hi all,
It did come in Monday afternoon. Got it setup on the TV stand and haven't really changed anything yet. Mostly cycling through the built in modes for now. Once I get some time on it, I'll try and run a calibration disk (I only have the Disney WOW disk so that'll be the one).
Anyway, here are my thoughts:
First time with a Plasma so getting used to the darker colors then my LCD had. Everything looks a little dull to me, but I know that is a remnant of watching too bright colors on the LCD screen. Don't get me wrong the video looks beautiful on movies and TV, just doesn't seem to pop as much as the LCD did (And I know that was artificial). I love finally getting to see black on space scenes and not a really dark grey.
There is a bit of reflection on this set, but coming from the Samsung 750 series I'd say that had a bit more reflections then this one does. I have a room that has windows to the side of the TV, and only ever watch TV with a back light on, so normal (normal for me at least) viewing is unaffected by the reflection. If I watch something on this set with the room lights on, I do not notice the lights that much. I did notice the lights with the Sammy though.
With the room lights on and the TV off, it makes a pretty decent mirror
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15199839/LG5...20Lighting.JPG
There appears to be a double image but that was a slight bumping of the camera.
Having some trouble getting the Harmony One to correctly switch the inputs when jumping from activity to activity. The Harmony Database does not know what a PA6500 is, but it did suggest the PG6500 instead. That one has discrete inputs (And discrete power too). The discretes work, but when switching activities the set refuses to switch inputs. If I hit the help button then it goes right where it needs to. Still playing around a bit with the delays, so might eventually get it working.
I've noticed that it does seem to have some IR on static images, but not sure if that is a function of it being so new. For example my son was playing Burn Out Paradise on the PS3 the other day. When you launch the game you get the loading screen and then it fades to black, since my son has a tendency to leave the LCD on with a game paused (he's 10) and then forget about it, I've warned him that he cannot do that with this TV. When the game faded to black he commented that he could see the burn out logo and thought he had already broken the set. Now that screen was only up for about 10 seconds or so (and we were sitting really close), but we both noticed the retention. None of these images stay on the screen very long. As soon as something repaints that area the IR is gone. Something I'll have to watch in the next 30 days.
Haven't had a chance to watch a full movie yet, but did watch the bank robbery scene from Dark Knight. That looked phenomenal. So much better then it looked on the Sammy. The Sammy had the 120 Film mode processing and when the camera panned over the building the lines of windows seemed to stair step a bit, not seeing that on this one. Motion seemed very smooth.
I have noticed that text on the closing credits of Doctor Who through Netflix streaming looks odd, but Doctor Who has very fast scrolling credits and not sure if that is the TV, Netflix, the PS3 or what. I never watched Doctor Who streaming on the Sammy, so not sure if that did the same. Will check this weekend, but then that'll be a Roku box and not a PS3 so might not be an accurate comparision. But if I see artifacting there, at least it leads to something other then the set. Speaking of Netflix, I'm seeing more detail on this set then I saw on the Sammy. Little things like individual strands of hair stand out now.
Comparing this to the Sammy (LN40A750) size wise, this set is obviously a bit bigger, but since the Sammy had such a large (and reflective) bezel, the Tv does not seem that much bigger on the stand then the Sammy was. It's a few inches bigger all around, but just doesn't seem it. Vieweing area though is a big increase. My wife (Who never notices these things) even commented on how the set did not appear that much bigger, but the viewing area seemed huge compared to the Sammy.
If I have my ear right behind the set there is a little high pitched humming, but the fans in the computer (That is also hooked up to this) are much more noticeable to me then the set is. As I type this I'm sitting about three feet from the screen and hear nothing. My wife has dog hearing. She usually notices humming in dead silent rooms. She has not said anything yet about hearing humming from this set.
For the price we spent, I'm very happy so far with my purchase. Once I get the colors and such dialed in more to my liking, I think I'll enjoy it even more. But if not I still have 26 more days to decide if I'm keeping it or not.
Jim