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New to Plasma: Samsung e6500 and Panasonic ST50

post #1 of 13
8/13/12 at 4:37pm
Thread Starter 
Hello!

So it's been a long time since I've posted, and since I'm moving to a new place I decided to purchase a new tv. I posted the same question on another forum I frequent but would love to hear some thoughts this way as this is also a higher traffic forum. I want to make the jump to plasma, having owned mostly LCD televisions.

I have narrowed it down between the 50 inch ST50 and the 51 inch e6500.

I understand that the 2012 Panasonic series recieved high praise, especially the ST50 for being the best value. That being said, from reading the postings on here, I got a bit anxious on purchasing one. I am also quite aware that the Samsung does not have as deep black levels. But after reading the review on HDTEST and on Cnet, it seems that it is neglible. Then again, forum posters say that it is not. However, it seems to me that there seems to be much less headache on the Samsung panels. Is that true? Or is is all exaggerrated? The other issue, and it's conflicting on the source, is bright room performance. Some reviews, such as Cnet, say that the Samsung as superior bright room performance, while I have read reviews saying that is not the case and that Panasonic is brighter even.

The other issue is pricing. I can get the 55 Panasonic for the same price as the 51 Samsung. And the 51 Samsung is about 200 more than the 50 inch Panasonic.

Then again, I am not opposed to paying a bit more if I can avoid headaches. This would be my first plasma purchase and after reading a lot of information, I already know many of the cons of the technology and I have decided to still prefer to go plasma. I have always owned LCD, but I love the picture quality plasma offers. As someone who studied film, I am all about seeing the film in the best quality I can... And that I can afford! Also, I dislike the issues that the edge lit LED-LCD have and their effect on the picture quality.

My set would mostly be used for films, gaming, and Netflix with some occasional cable broadcasting and whatever cooking show my other half wants to watch.

Any feedback would much be appreciated. Would love to hear from people who have owned or tested both.

I'm new to plasma so be gentle and excuse any ignorance I may have.

Charly
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post #2 of 13
8/13/12 at 4:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclix View Post

I'm new to plasma so be gentle and excuse any ignorance I may have.
Charly

As a film buff you are going be in heaven the first time you
turn out the lights and watch 2001: A Space Odyssey in the dark!
The glow and 'film like' quality of plasma has no equal.
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post #3 of 13
8/13/12 at 4:53pm
From what I've gathered you should be plenty happy with either TV. It seems that the Panny has a bit better blacks while the Sammy has a bit better color and sharpness of picture. The Panny has more complaints about IR and the Sammy has more complaints about buzzing. Both are plenty bright. The Panny probably has better anti reflective screen properties.
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post #4 of 13
8/13/12 at 5:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclix View Post

Hello!
So it's been a long time since I've posted, and since I'm moving to a new place I decided to purchase a new tv. I posted the same question on another forum I frequent but would love to hear some thoughts this way as this is also a higher traffic forum. I want to make the jump to plasma, having owned mostly LCD televisions.
I have narrowed it down between the 50 inch ST50 and the 51 inch e6500.
I understand that the 2012 Panasonic series recieved high praise, especially the ST50 for being the best value. That being said, from reading the postings on here, I got a bit anxious on purchasing one. I am also quite aware that the Samsung does not have as deep black levels. But after reading the review on HDTEST and on Cnet, it seems that it is neglible. Then again, forum posters say that it is not. However, it seems to me that there seems to be much less headache on the Samsung panels. Is that true? Or is is all exaggerrated? The other issue, and it's conflicting on the source, is bright room performance. Some reviews, such as Cnet, say that the Samsung as superior bright room performance, while I have read reviews saying that is not the case and that Panasonic is brighter even.
The other issue is pricing. I can get the 55 Panasonic for the same price as the 51 Samsung. And the 51 Samsung is about 200 more than the 50 inch Panasonic.
Then again, I am not opposed to paying a bit more if I can avoid headaches. This would be my first plasma purchase and after reading a lot of information, I already know many of the cons of the technology and I have decided to still prefer to go plasma. I have always owned LCD, but I love the picture quality plasma offers. As someone who studied film, I am all about seeing the film in the best quality I can... And that I can afford! Also, I dislike the issues that the edge lit LED-LCD have and their effect on the picture quality.
My set would mostly be used for films, gaming, and Netflix with some occasional cable broadcasting and whatever cooking show my other half wants to watch.
Any feedback would much be appreciated. Would love to hear from people who have owned or tested both.
I'm new to plasma so be gentle and excuse any ignorance I may have.
Charly
I can't speak personally about the e6500, but I believe that it is pretty closely related in terms of the feature set as my e7000 that I can say that it will be a great set. I came from the ST50 and can say that black levels are very impressive on both, but black level performance ST50 is the clear winner. The black levels on the e7000 are still quite stunning as well, just not the blackhole that is the 2012 Panasonic's. If you are a gamer this set is for you lag and motion performance is some of the best I have seen on a plasma set. The only thing comparable would be the GT50/VT50 which have little to no judder associated with 30Hz games being displayed on a plasma 60Hz display. If the e6500 is as good as my 7000 than you are gonna love gaming on the Sammy. I have no trouble gaming in movie mode on the sammy, but noticed moments of lag in shooters while panning the camera in ST. It would introduce dead zones where you will do a slow pan and suddenly the camera will suddenly whip around forcing you to correct. The last thing that caused me to make the move to sammy was the ST50 quick onset image retention. I spent 200hrs breaking in the set and suddenly it seemed to get worse faster and take longer to get rid of once there. I hope this was helpful?
Edited by Dr.Shankenstein - 8/13/12 at 8:35pm
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post #5 of 13
8/14/12 at 3:16am
Here's a quick question. XP Idealy, I'd love to get a 60"....Be it the Sammy E530/E550
or if i can somehow snag a 60" S30 online. BUT, for gaming i'm worried that 720p content won't look as good on a 60" in comparison to
a 50". of course viewing distance matters(I don't like sitting close period) but wouldn't the quality take a hit in comparison?
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post #6 of 13
8/14/12 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaveBoy View Post

... for gaming I'm worried that 720p content won't look as good on a 60" in comparison to
a 50".

Probably depends on the game. On my XBox360 "Battlefield 3" looks absolutely gorgeous on my LG 60PA6500. (It took me awhile to figure out that I had to manually depress the front panel eject button to be able to swap the disc for it to install the HD content.) As for the PS3, it looks okay after doing some tweaking. So newer games will probably look stunning (Crysis 2, COD (Call of Duty): Black Ops, COD:MW (Modern Warfare)2, 3, etc.) Since you mentioned 720p (PS3?), COD4:MW is a 720p/1080i/1080p game, so it should look good.
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post #7 of 13
8/18/12 at 5:35pm
Go for the 55''. Size does matter. wink.gif
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post #8 of 13
8/18/12 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclix View Post

My set would mostly be used for films, gaming, and Netflix with some occasional cable broadcasting and whatever cooking show my other half wants to watch.
A


on the E6500 you can change the HDMI label to 'PC'.
that will eliminate all or most of any video processing that leads to input lag.
with the Uk test of the e6500 they got 16ms and called it a gamers dream TV.
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post #9 of 13
8/18/12 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for all the replies! I am still mulling over it and probably will be until I move in a couple of weeks. I think the only difference now is that I've decided I may go even bigger and toss the 55 inch ST50 and the 60 inch e6500 into the mix.

Shopping for a new tv is giving me a headache. At times I feel like saying, the hell with it, and getting an led-lcd. Although I rather not... Especially when my 2009 Sammy LCD is giving me better picture quality than the led lit ones are. Sure there is the elite, but that is way beyond my budget.
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post #10 of 13
11/12/12 at 6:56pm
they are both really good I doubt you will notice black levels once they are in your place. I am also looking at these two and would like to know which has the better "internet" browsing experience... I plan to use a keyboard and am told the ST50 cannot handle flash website and the Samsung is far better at browsing.... I spend a lot of time on the web and having a nice 60" TV to comfortably view content is important.

From what I've seen in person the Samsung has the better picture - black levels are close enough. Curious to hear about the panasonic web browser and how good it is... any opinions out there?
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post #11 of 13
11/12/12 at 8:00pm
Thread Starter 
I ended up going with the e6500 60 inch and am for th most part completely more than satisfied. Beautiful picture. While it may not reach the levels of the Panasonic, the black levels are fantastic. My only gripe, which I fixed now, is that the latest update installed an application to my Smart Hub that caused picture problems when displaying 1080p content. I simply disabled the app as another user suggested and the problem was solved. That is why I said "for the most part",

It is a terrific set.
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post #12 of 13
11/12/12 at 10:20pm
Have A Panasonic that I bought a month ago and love it. I also just purchased a Sammy for my bedroom set because there are no smaller panasonics available. Both have great pics. If I had to say one is better I would say the Samsung wins but it is smaller in a darker room. SO it's not a fair comparison.
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post #13 of 13
11/14/12 at 12:31pm
I recently returned the samsung E490 because of IR. So now I'm shopping for a new tv and have a higher budget. I'm also thinking of either the e6500 or st50. The E490 had a buzz but I could live with it as I could only hear it if I was to close to the tv. But in regards to that does your new E6500 buzz? Also when you watch bluray movies are you using cinema smoothing? From what I read the E6500 can do true 108024p at 96hz on cinema smoothing while the st50 can only do 48/60hz.
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