looking to get a new plasma for my dark basement theater/sports room

What are your Decision Points?

Best Possible Picture?

Lowest Possible Price?

Some Mid-Point between the two?

Specific Features you do - or do not - want?

I would go for the Panasonic ST50 line. Right in your ball park

Hard to argue against the ST50 - with the best (reasonably priced) alternatives being the GT50 or the Samsung E6500.

There are any number of plasma sets now that offer "perfectly acceptable" PQ - however none that are BOTH "Better," & Less Expensive, than these three.

The UT50 could be an interesting "bargain" option, particularly in a dark viewing environment - but, then, same could be said for other Samsung & LG models as well.


"Full Disclosure" - our newest set is a 60ST50, and we find the PQ somewhere between "Excellent" and "Outstanding" - GIVEN a high-quality input (!)..... That is: Most Blu-rays, but only SOME "HD TV" broadcasts.
This particular panel required several hundred hours to fully "settle in" (and around 400 hours for its Quick Onset IR to come under control!) - but we are very happy campers right now.

Read reviews at CNET - or even Consumer Reports.com (subscription required - but could always to to library & try to find a back issue).

For overall PQ, only the Sharp Elite beats the newer Plasma panels.

Still, in a Bright Room, with little lighting control, and for usage involving a LOT of Video Games & as a Really Big Computer Monitor, would try to find an inexpensive Matte Screen Old-style LCD (not an Edge Lit LED...) - and then retreat to another room whenever wishing to seriously watch a movie, either on a plasma screen or a decent projector....

You made it over here! You will be happy with the Panny plasmas, I own two of them, albeit older models but they still deliver a great picture!

It will scale all standard input format resolutions (480i,480p,720p,1080i) to its native resolution of 1920x1080 (1080p)