Panasonic 65 inch VT50 release date and price?

I think it's still tentatively scheduled for release in mid-May. MSRP will be $3,699 and i wouldn't expect much discounting off that price initially.

have fun returning a 65 inch TV.

I would get the ST50 65" now or wait for the V50 65".

I agree with Robby.

Is the 70-inch going to happen or not?

Probably not, but we can still hope.

Where are they stocking the ST50 65" right now?

How long is the BB return period these days? Since it will likely be 60 days before they stock the VT50 you'd need a long window to do as he suggests. Sounds like he wants a sale today and is counting on you not bothering to return later.

if you do consider the VT30 now, make sure to haggle with BB. You can get it VERY competitively priced from various online places with free shipping right now, and with no tax. And Amazon would match some of those places prices and have a free return policy similar to BB. So if you are paying more than 5 x 5 x 100 keep talking.

Still curious about this. For those who indicated above (RobbyTV?) to get the ST50 65" now, where are you seeing it? Everywhere I look it still lists pre-orders and Panasonic's site says release in "May-June".

The VT50 msrp will be $3999 with no deal at first. I wouldn't expect it to go into the $2999 range either until October/November. I have the 65VT30. Great TV. If you don't care about the newest of the new but seriously I think I would wait if you have something decent to hold on to. Do not get Samsung, unless you're really trying to save money. My opinion is Samsung is crap.

Panasonic lowered the expected MSRP on the VT50 a while ago to $3,699.

And there will be places that discount it almost immediately, not to current VT30 prices but still off of that MSRP. There are several places taking pre-orders now for substantially below MSRP. Just Google it.

Have you found any that have a decent return policy? I haven't found any yet. MacMall, for instance, explicitly stated to me that there are zero returns.

I'm paranoid about dead pixels

No. I'm in the same boat. That's the trade off with these early order deeply discounted options.

Why wouldn't you just post on (or follow) this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1386141
?

Why so gruff Big Ed? Are your favorite threads moving off the first page too fast or something?

It's still no Kuro 9G. I think in about 2-3 years, Panasonic will finally catch up

well in 3 years plasma (kuros included) will be superfluous as OLEDs come down in price and get all the kinks sorted out

The Panasonic VT50 wasn't intended to be a Kuro. Kinda like how the Cadillac V16 wasn't intended to be a Duesenberg

Interesting, the VT50 manual just became available for download, and that usually happens a week or two before the TV starts to ship. I wonder if this means the VT50 will ship sooner rather than later?

http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPER...-HELP_VT50.PDF

It kinda kills me that the $3,699 MSRP of the flagship 65" VT50 is only $200 more than what i paid for my old 42" PX50U in 2005 LOL.

Im sure the VT50 will be extremely close this year.

On the original topic:

Excited about this very possibly being the best plasma of 2012. Already put down payment on the tv from Abt. He spoke to his panasonic rep, and they confirmed a May 20th release date.
This was after being upset that both panasonic and the retailer said late March to early April. This tv will be hot

Probably right. The black levels might not be the same on paper, but it might be hard to tell the difference when you acutally view.

I have a 111FD and I am thinking wether I should get a 151FD or wait for the Panny. hmm

DrRx that is what I was thinking too. Why would Bestbuy.ca have it on their site if it was still 1.5 to 2 months away yet? I ordered one just in case they have some kind of inside track on these things. I could price match after the fact.

What sort of delivery date did Best Buy give you? And how long do we have to price match b/c the Canadian MSRP which Best Buy is charging is some $800 more than the US one (with the $CDN at parity or better, this shouldn't be the case )??

I am on the phone with them now to see if they are actually available. He says the warehouse shows them on order but no stock on them. He is sending an ETA request to Panasonic to see if they can get a ballpark time frame. They probably just jumped the gun or something it seems.

Panasonic has no policy precluding retailer discounting.

Samsung and Sony do.

In Canada they may be no clue but did note they are speaking of canada. All I know is I'm getting sick of waiting for the vt to come I may just bite the bullet and go for the Sammy. I don't understand how Panasonic could let there closest competition release their flagship months ahead of there's there is potential for huge loss there.

Panasonic Canada.........absolute RIP-OFF ARTISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!