Panasonic ST50 Deals - Page 24

Hi

Haven't bought a tv since a Samsung DLP 8 years ago.

Decided over Christmas to go for a 65 inch.
I've boiled it down to Panasonic TC-P65ST50.

Is this considered a good choice? Any other suggestions?

Any comments appreciate for total noob at this.

Always a noob when it comes to this stuff. I bought a 50" Panasonic plasma 6 years ago and sold my house with it. I am also heavily considering a 65" Panasonic, except I'm leaning towards the VT rather than the ST.

Thats pretty slick, whats the EPP on the 50" ST50 or GT50? If I could get the ST for $900 or lower or the GT for $950 id do it other wise I might have to go with the U or UT idk

Is ABL more noticeable on the ST50 with the brightness cranked like that?

The best remaining prices on the EPP site look to be the 50st50 for 899.99. The 50gt50 can be had for 1219.99 and the 55gt50 is 1358.99. As Panasonic sells out of different models they just take prices down and put a store locator on that model. I got lucky to get in on the deal on time. Sorry to say don't ask for a link I have no clue how to link it using my smartphone. I have to sign in through my company's corporate perks site to see these prices.

I've gone in and called every BB in my area and the home theater manager flat out said no. He said it would not make business sense for them to lose money when their cost is $1200. Maybe one of you gentlemans can tell me where you all bought yours and I can call and buy it over the phone? Thanks in advance.

I purchased mine at the BB here in Knoxville. If you have a printout or PDF of the sale price the stores in your area should not have a choice in matching. Price matching is a corporate policy they should have to honor it. I would ask to speak to store manager or assistant manager. If that still doesn't help ask for a number that you can call to speak to their boss. Let them know that you are trying to spend your money with THEM and not their competition. If you don't have proof to show them the best price I have seen on 55 in. is $1199.99 from Amazon. Only other option is to check prices over next month or so and wait for them to come down. Good Luck.

The policy actually states which online retailers they will match. The Panasonic EPP program is NOT one of them. Why would they match an employee purchase program? It shouldn't surprise anyone if they say no.

its highly YMMV on pricematching that isn't amazon/other usual B&M suspects. Personally my local BB is one of the worst and will give you just about every excuse in the book not to. The only reason I put up with them at all (tried to even deny pricematching Bestbuy.com) is that they're 3 miles from my house vs 6 miles for the next closest. I'd say try closer to the superbowl. I'd like to get the 60GT50 closer to 1000 at least on the good side of 1300? For daytime AND nighttime use, is the dual calibration worth it over say a ST50?

So, I'm finally gonna upgrade my 2008 42" Samsung plasma. Since I bought it, I've moved to a bigger house and sit so much further from the screen that I have trouble reading sports scores.

I'm struggling between the 55" and 60" ST50. The 60" is still a little bit out of my price range at the moment. I had been considering the UT50, however our living-room has windows. Since the glare on our current plasma is sometimes annoying (it does have a filter) I don't even wanna chance the non-filtered UT model.

Anyway...My real question is WHEN does Panasonic typically announce their new models?

Should I anticipate snagging a P55ST50 or P60ST50 for a couple hundred bucks cheaper if I wait a month or two?

I DOES look like inventory of these ST50 sets is starting to get slim around the net. Since it seems to have quite a rep online, will that exert upward pressure on the price?

I know that nobody here has a crystal ball. But I figured that some of the more frequent TV buyers/flippers here might have a little bit more of an instinct for seasonality in Panny plasma prices.

Thanks!

Info about the new models will start to come out next week at CES. They typically release them around March - April.

Smolakian does bring up a good point.
As the inventory of the ST50's starts to dwindle, will the prices be driven up due to high demand and low supply or will we continue to see more sporadic sales of these sets in an effort to clear out inventory as the release date of the new models approaches?
Perhaps someone with experience on how these things go every spring can chime in.

Inventories may be low just cause we just had Christmas and Black Friday. if Panasonic really stopped production already, they won't have any plasmas to sell between now and June (if it's like last year).

Most likely there are more STs coming once retailers restock their inventories, which combined with the Superbowl and CES announcements, should lead to some good sales. That seems to be what happens every year.

Thanks for the insight!

I'm gonna sit and watch for a couple weeks. Not sure if I can wait till the Superbowl though!

I'll be sure to chime in here if/when I see a drop in either the 55" or 60".

That sounds like good advice. Thanks for the input. I hope I have the patience to hold out.

To give you guys a little incentive, here's what happened to me 4 years ago.

I bought a 46" Samsung LCD for $1560 around Oct after prices came down a lot. I really wanted a Pioneer 5020, but they were like $2100. A few months later in Jan/Feb, the Pioneers were selling for $1500. Wanted to shoot myself in the head.

While this does tend to happen there is also some risk in waiting. The ST series specifically has been constrained since before the holiday season and may never recover before being discontinued. Since we haven't seen stock levels increase by this time, it is quite likely they never will. If there is not excess inventory prices will not be slashed drastically and/or you may not be able to find a new-in-box unit in a store. Tread lightly, Panasonic is conservative with inventory and has probably moved on to production of the 60 series panels at this point.

No doubt there's that risk, yes. Perhaps the ST50 isn't profitable for them, so they never produced it in good numbers.

My opinion is that the demand caught them by surprise and by the time they realized it, there was little time to react responsibly. Being a more mid-low price tier does also mean that there is likely a lower margin rate than GT & VT models, which probably didn't help their decision either.

According to an insider on another forum, they really don't make much on the ST - the other two upper lines are definitely more profitable.

Paul's has 55ST50 for $1199 - $50 (save50 coupon) = $1149, shipped white glove to your door. Tempting, as i was kind of hoping for a 60" at a good price.

That is what I am doing. All the good deals seem to have been on the 55".

But the GT50 is just $1250 w/ save100 coupon. Still hoping for a better deal on ST or GT 55".

Purchased my 50" ST50 through Panny EPP the last week of Dec. for $899 + tax, free shipping through Pilot, I couldn't be more happier with the price and service that Panasonic delivered on. Pilot did a great job as well with standard delivery, no need for "white" glove treatment.

I originally went to BB and had them price match the 50" from EPP but since that size was only online order they wanted me to purchase full price then upon delivery from BB bring in the receipt and then they would give me the price adjustment. I didn't chance it through BB, and overall their customer service skills are getting worse each year. I much rather not deal with teenagers that think they know it all and think they can run a electronics store. Their are some exceptions though... All the money they spent remodeling their B&M stores should have went to re-structuring their sales force and management. They'll be like CC in less than 3 years, online only.

Ok. Now I am getting nervous. Seems like almost everybody is out of stock of the 60" and 55" ST50. The places with them in stock are no big bargain. Maybe I gambled and lost.

Wanted to see what those that had some knowledge on how Panasonic reacts to pricing their current inventory (ie ST50's) now that they have announced their new products and upgrades at the CES show.

I saw that today at the CES show in Las Vegas Panasonic announced some of their new products and updates. Below is a link to the Pana website that shows what has been announced. I did not know if there was anyone at the show who could talk to the changes in either quality or functionality of the plasma series of TV's that are being newly product coded the TC-P65ST60, TC-P60ST60,TC-P55ST60,TC-P50ST60, The P65ST60 has a suggested retail of $2,800 while the P60ST60 has a suggested retail value of $1,900

There is another plasma series without the 3-D functionality and the smart TV capabilities being announced. The family are product coded TC-P65S60, TC-P60S60,TC-P55S60,TC-P50S60,TC-P42S60. The suggested retail on the TC-P65S60 is $1,900 and the TC-P60S60 is $1,300.

Again these are suggested retail prices for pre-order. The pricing is show on the link below.

Would love to hear from some of the knowledgeable folks on this site on their opinions of what it all means.

Here is the link.

http://www.panasonic.com/promos/ces/2013/products/viera-televisions.aspx

I got a Panasonic TC-P65ST50 from All Time TV. $2229 total but I see the prices are starting to move up as inventory decreases.

Why not pauls, it's $1150 for the 55" ST50.

.
Why not pauls, it's $1150 for the 55" ST50.

That's exactly what I did today. Thanks
Edited by Freddyknuckles - 1/8/13 at 7:31pm

Cool, I'm really close to doing the same, or possibly the GT50 for $100 more. Paul's has a 30 day price guarantee too.

The 30 day price guarantee is what convinced me to do it. i can't wait!