I keep flip flopping.

If you are strictly using it for film based content you can't go wrong with the Panasonic 55" VT50:$1999.99 or Samsung 60" E8000:$1899.99.
If you game at all I would recommend the 55" Sony HX850:$1999.99 or the Sharp 60" LE845U:$1799.99. Hope that will guide you in a general direction.

Sorry all the prices are for best buy as of today.

They won't be in store unless it was a cancelled special order. Since all the sets are Magnolia showroom models they will all have to be ordered into the store.

Zombie do you have a ABC Warehouse in your area? Online it says it is out of stock for the Sony 850 but my local ABC has a few in stock. SW Mich. I'm looking to get the 950. I was told by a Pauls TV salesman he enjoys the picture of the Panasonic WT50 and that is going for $1500 for a 55" in my area.

I'm in the same boat. My 10 yr. 50" plasma went out a few weeks ago. I've been debating between Sony, Panasonic, Elite and Samsung. I'm pretty sure I'm pulling the trigger on a Sony 950 tomorrow. Already spoke with my local BB mgr. about it. Kind of excited. Their going to PM Amazon.

this is true of all flat panel sets, not just plasma. The sets are supported inside the box by styrofoam blocks around the edges, if laid flat and you hit a sharp enough bump the screen can flex and break. The bigger the screen size the more likelihood of damage.

I had the UT50 (lower end model) for a couple weeks and had issues with IR from ESPN and CNN ticker logos and game HUDs. No burn in as it wasn't permanent, but some times it was stubborn and took several hours of watching other content for it not to be noticeble on bright screens (white commercial backgrounds, hockey ice, basketball court etc.). The set also had a loud buzz (that a servicing buy a tech didn't fix), so I decided to send it back and got a Panny ET5 LED set. I couldn't live with the buzz and didn't want to worry about IR at all since I like to leave ESPN on for hours on end, sometimes game for 6+ hours a few times a week if I'm sucked into a new game etc.

As for Pandora, does whatever you're using not go to a screen saver mode? I use the Pandora app on my DirecTV DVR and after a couple minutes it goes into a screen saver mode that moves the album/song info around the screen.


Overall, the risk of permanent burn in on plasmas isn't that great anymore. But stubborn Image Retention can be annoying if you're like me and have hours and hours of static images from things, with a few movies mixed in here and there. So I'd stay away from plasma if you have any kind of repeated static images. But consider it you watch a lot of movies, a lot of different channels etc. as the varied content will clear up any IR from logos and keep it from becoming stubborn and hard to get rid of.
Edited by dmaul1114 - 2/12/13 at 5:13pm

If you happen to come into a good situation where you find a sony hx 950, i would drfinitely recommend that.

I went in to my local sony centre (plumouth, uk) and they had a 929/239 set up directly above a 850/853 and the difference was substantial. Brighter image without losing detail and in the store i could see no zones on show, i wished i had the spare money in my bank there and then.

Better colour, better black, better brightness.

950 and 929 are only really a cosmetic difference from what others here say

Congratulations. I almost pulled the trigger on the Samsung 55". My friend has one. Then the salesman said I would go with the 60" b4 the 55" I'm getting another headache at this time. Said he has both the 55 and 60 side by side with the newest update and the 60 looks better to his eyes. He said maybe different panels. This was over the phone. So yesterday I got a hold of my local BB for a Sony 950 55" they priced matched Amazon plus a little better so I went with it. Waiting for delivery. Hopefully for us these sets will last 10 years.