Panasonic VT 55" or GT 60"

I was in the same boat as you, 60"GT vs 55VT for a bedroom with a viewing distance of 13 ft. Last week BB had the 60 GT for 1700 and the 55VT for 1600 so I finally got off the fence and ordered the GT which will be delivered tomorrow, for me the GT's size won out over the slightly better features of the VT.

If you search around the forums a bit, you'll see that the differences between the ST50, GT50, and VT50 are very small, especially around the PQ side of things. The GT50 and VT50 have the THX settings which are actually very good and pretty comparable to most calibrations, but if you plan to calibrate the TV yourself or have someone else do it, then they are useless to you. The VT50 has the Infinite Black Ultra filter which is supposed to give deeper blacks although I didn't see much of a difference in the store between the GT50 and VT50. Besides that, there is not much else different between the TVs.

Many people have said that the ST50 is one of the best TVs you can buy for the price right now, so you may want to look into that. I ended up buying the 55" GT50 as I was unable to compare the GT50 to the ST50 in the same room at the store and didn't want to risk anything.
So with that being said, I'd say go for the 60" GT50 if you are stuck between those two only.

I have a 55 inch and sit about 14 feet from the display and I think 55 is just the right size for me. A 60 inch at 10 feet, you may see more dithering than you would like, unless you get it professionally calibrated and then the VT50 would be better for that.

If possible, grab the actual dimensions of both sets and make a cardboard cutout of both sizes. Or get some painters tape and make boxes on the wall the size of the TV's and see what size might look better for your space.

Imo when the quality is even somewhat close, always go for a bigger picture - space permitting.

Agreed.

Unless one is a super hardcore and knowledgeable videophile type they aren't going to notice much difference between two similar quality higher end models anyway. Where as a size difference is readily noticeable to anyone.

Here's one of the other 55VT50 vs 60GT50 threads:

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1452892/55vt50-or-60gt50-for-the-same-price-which-would-you-choose

Buyer beware, my tc-p55vt30 just went over the one year warranty and now the screen is black and power light blinks. After paying over $2000, you would think it would last a bit longer. My 42" HP plasma gave me 5 years. Should have figured something after being literally spammed by them for months to get an extended warranty. I've owned other tv's and got the extended warranty but never had to use them, lasted over the typical 3 yr mark. Pretty expensive per month use cost when you do the math...

For me, I would choose a larger screen over an incremental increase in PQ. I had a similar situation - 55ST50 or 50GT50 - and I am very happy I picked the 55! If you go smaller, you would always be thinking ''I wonder what the bigger size would look like..."

Don't forget that it may be an isolated incident (annoying though it is) - there are always a lot more satisfied buyers who never post on forums because they have no reason to!

Have you considered contacting them to see if they would consider a goodwill gesture if it's only just out of warranty?

Duplicate post.
Edited by MemX - 2/24/13 at 7:33am

I ended up buying the VT 55 over the GT model for my living room set-up.
I could have gotten a 65' VT, but I didn't want that big of a TV. I know... I know... shame on me... But I watch the majority of my movies in my basement dedicated theater. I don’t care to watch general programming on such a large TV. As it is, I'm going from a 50" Toshiba rear projection TV to a 55" with the VT, so this will be a nice size upgrade for me.
When demoing the VT and GT, I could see the difference in black levels, especially when they switched the screen to a blank black screen.
The pricing I was being given, the VT was actually CHEAPER than the GT, so for my personal situation, the choice was a no brainer.

I agree with this as well. I went with the 60GT50 as I could not find the 60ST50 anywhere. I sit 8'-9' back from my plasma and the size is perfect in my room. The 65" would have been waaaaay to big in my room. If there was a 60VT50 and it was close in price to the 60GT50 I would have more than likely gone for that. But there isn't one so I felt the added size easily trumped the minimal video quality improvements of the VT over the GT. I had a 50" Panasonic 720p plasma so the 55" size would not have been much of a size improvement IMO. So I would recommend going with the 60GT50 over the 55VT50 .

Bill

Well your situation has nothing to do with this thread (you should have posted it in the VT30 thread or even started your own thread) but since you're new, do this - i recommend you contact Panasonic immediately and very nicely explain that you would expect a flagship model from the leading Plasma brand to last more than one year and to please cover the repair. They have sometimes voluntarily covered catastrophic failures at 13 months and even 14 months under customer goodwill. Remember, be nice but firm, and ask to escalate your case if you don't get satisfaction from the first people you call. The people that answer the phone are usually powerless and kinda stupid so expect some apethy, but hold your ground.

Failing that, if you bought the TV using a good credit card it may have the feature where they add one year to the manufacturer's warranty and may cover the repair bill during year two.

Also, sometimes if you go to their local repair shops and explain the situation they will take pity on you and try to help push through a goodwill repair if the TV is a month or two out of warranty - they have some pull with Panasonic and they would like to do the repair since Panasonic would be paying the bill. This has worked for a few people i've recommended this to.

It sucks that your TV went bad, but it doesn't mean Panasonic makes crappy Plasma TVs because that just isn't the case. They have a lower failure rate than any other brand or type of TV (something like 3%) and you just happened to get unlucky. 97% of Panasonic owners have perfectly fine sets.

PS - HP doesn't make their own TVs. Your trusty old HP Plasma is actually a re-badged Panasonic that was made for HP and sold under the HP name. My trusty old 2007 HP LCD TV is actually a top-of-the-line Sharp.