Help me decide! Panasonic 55UT50 or LG 60PA6550?

The blacks are better on the UT50 for sure, it has no AR coating tho so glare may be an issue.

You might have a glare problem either way. Do you want 3d ? If not might want to take a look at the 60 U50/54

The LG should be capable of a brighter image and possibly better color accuracy if properly calibrated, but the contrast ratio will be much worse. LGs also have bad color banding, and I'm not sure about the newest models, but they've had bad dithering in the past. Pick your poison. I personally would rather spend extra for the ST50, but choosing between the two, I would pick the UT50. I own an older LG, so I already know how much some the LG issues bother me.

As chunon said, if you are interested in the UT50 and don't care about 3D, then it would make more sense to buy the 60" U50/U54. It's very inexpensive -- probably the same or less than the 55" UT50.

I happen to be in a very similar situation myself. I currently have had the LG model listed above for about 3 weeks. The display replaced 2 edge lit LED models that had terrible bleed through, horrible motion/judder and overall crummy picture.

The LG has a decent display, but I'm by no means an expert. Mine is in a daylight basement, but is watched largely with the lights off at night.

I'd like to add that I think the 60 seems a smidge too big for me when sitting at 11 feet. I'm wondering if the 55" would make any difference at that distance...

Also, if the general concensus is that the Panny is superior picture-wise, I'd be willing to give up 5" of display for it and having the option of 3D.

From what I've read, the major issue with the UT50 (and U50) is that color accuracy is poor in all picture modes except cinema, and max luminance is low in cinema. Many of us like to target 40 fL (or close to it) even in a dark room, and both CNET reviews mention that the U models can't reach that -- at least one of the displays reviewed could only hit 33 fL in cinema mode with contrast maxed. The ST50 can achieve pretty accurate color in other picture modes (it also has a gamma setting and white balance controls in the user menu), so you can achieve both a bright image and accurate color, whereas the U models force you to choose between a dim image with decent color or a brighter image with poor color. For me, that makes the UT50 an unattractive option, considering the relatively small price difference between the UT50 and the ST50. All of the Panasonics will be better in some areas, like contrast ratio, than the LG.

I hate to say it, but that is a discouraging bit of info. I like to limit my large electronic purchases to Costco for the extended warranties.

I'm no videophile, but I like quality, and I can tell you that I hated the PQ on two edge-lit LED's that I purchased. Would you guys say the UT is still superior to most budget edge lit LED sets?

I would say yes Plasma almost always beats LED unless you are talking flagship models.

get the panny plasma. much better picture quality