Panasonic ST50 and GT50

I just went for the 55ST50 on Amazon for $1149.
The 55GT50 at $1349 on Amazon also looked like great deal but I was not convinced I needed it. You do get more connections in the back of set with GT, as well as the fancier video controls. Regarding the back of set INPUT/OUTPUT connections, I found the BestBuy site best for giving good pictures of the back...this helped me decide ST50 had enough for me. But now you got me wondering for just +$200 maybe the GT50 is worth it. I see now on CNET that the ST and GT seem to consume about the same elec energy.

Hockey? OK no joke- if you read the threads here you will see hockey is one possible weak point for plasma sets. What happens is when the TV screen goes to mostly white (ice) there is automatic dimming to control energy demand which peaks as the set goes to white. Some hockey fans find this distracting. See the owners thread for ST50 search on Hockey.

I saw no problems watching the hockey finals a few months back on my 50ST50, using the Custom or Cinema preset with a decent calibration.
Some see flashes, but those have been shown to be actually in the video source due to the flashes used for cameras.

I just purchased last night the 60GT50 on Amazon. So it's not here yet. My perspective is I'm not going to buy another TV for many years to come. I have a Hitachi 51S500 that I bought 8 years ago. And if I could hang it on a wall and utilize the space it's in better, I'd not be purchasing a new TV. It's a great TV, and I admit I'm nervous I'm going to spend good money for a TV that will be worse (I'm not that concerned it needs to better, but it would be nice!).

Anyway, my point is I plan on keeping this TV for the next 8 or 10 years. I'm not someone that will need to be at the top of the technology food chain when it comes to a TV. So even though I think the ST probably would be fine for my eye, I decided to spend the extra dollars and get the better TV. And since your budget allows for it, if you're not going to be out in 2 years getting another TV, I'd get the best your budget will allow.

I am coming from a Hitachi SD too, way older that 10 years old I am afraid to say.
Our 55ST50 shipped already so I have to officially give up thinking about changing the order.
To be honest I had partially wrong personal rationale about my purchasing ST vs GT.
I had thought the GT consumed more energy than ST, but CNET says it is near equivalent.
I believe VT may consume more energy, and I incorrectly assumed GT would be more like VT.

It depends on what you mean by "that much better of a TV". The differences between the GT50 and ST50 are listed in post #2 (or #1) in the Official GT50 thread so see if there are enough advantages to justify you spending more for one. Some people don't think the extra features are worth it, while others think they are worth it. I paid more to get the much nicer looking bezel, the extra HDMI input, and the THX picture modes.

Points that you should consider:

Streaming: The GT50's Dual Core Processor helps the TV's internet apps perform better. Advantage: GT50.

Blu-Ray: The GT50's THX Picture Modes will make Blu-Rays and DVDs look better. Advantage: GT50.

Sports: If you watch in the Custom (or Cinema) picture mode the GT50 will perform IDENTICALLY to the ST50. But if like me you would be watching daytime movies or even sports in THX Bright daytime mode then the advantage goes to the GT50.

Disclaimer: If instead of the THX modes you want to use Custom picture mode so that you can access the more extensive Pro Settings menu to adjust WB and Gamma and Panel Brigthness etc, then the ST50 will perform IDENTICALLY to the GT50. Basically if you completely throw out the GT50's THX modes, the ST50 picture quality is identical to the GT50 in all the other non-THX picture modes.


I've watched extreme snow skiing programs and saw very little ABL dimming during full-screen white-out scenes and it didn't detract from the viewing experience one bit. And it rarely happened anyway. It NEVER happens on regular content, and if it is happening i can't see it.

I've watched hockey games and ABL dimming is rare and even then it's minimal. The bigger problem was "hockey flashes" that some people started reporting around June but several of us checked into it further and discovered that the same thing happens on all of our other older TVs including LCDs and DLPs so it's not something that was happening just on the 2012 Panasonics.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1397245/official-panasonic-st50-series-discussion-thread-no-street-price-talk/3480#post_22126034

Nope. You should have checked Panasonic's website - it shows that the ST50, GT50, and VT50 all consume 119 watts in the 55" size, and in the 65" size they all consume 159 watts. That makes sense since all three models use the exact same core plasma panel module.

And even if one model uses a little more energy than another, that difference is miniscule and probably less than a few bucks a month. If you were to choose an LCD TV or LED LCD TV to save energy, yeah you'd save a few bucks a month but the purchase price of the TV will be hundreds of dollars more and the energy savings would never outweigh the higher purchase price, and with the LCDs you'll have inferior picture quality and the other adverse issues and problems one gets with LCD technology.