Hey, I first came here about 3+ years ago, learn a ton about tv's, and thanks to all the advice, settled on a Panasonic P42S1. Now the time has finally come to get a bigger, better set with my tax return 
The return won't be here for another 2 weeks however, so I'm just gonna have to hope these TV's are still in stock. I've been back in this forum and reading many, many pages here about them, but I wanted to ask specifically in this thread too.
The set will be mostly for late afternoon/nightime viewing. I sit about 7 feet away. I found after I owned my S1 for awhile that overall accurate color is actually top priority for me (does white look "white" without a color push? Do skin tones look accurate?) and after that is black levels/contrast. I know any one of these sets will be a major set up from what I have now in black levels (especially with the rising blacks issue these sets had!), but I can't stand anymore to watch sets that have noticeable color pushes that only go away with service menu calibration.(I did a poor man's calibration of the S1 with calibration settings taken from 3 different users here at AVS and then went with the best looking one, which eliminated the yellow push this set had). I watch blu rays via PS3 and also gaming too.
I have a budget of about 2000 or so, maybe a hair more if needed. I'd like to also get some sound to finally go with my displays too. So I'm trying to decide if I want to go with the 55st50, get it calibrated for 200-450 (depending on who does it), and spend the rest on some not too great but ok sounding soundbar or HTIAB...OR try and step up to the 60ST50, maybe cut out or scale down the extras...OR the 55GT50 on Amazon is only a meager 100 bucks more right now, so I'm thinking if the picture (THX or otherwise) is significantly better color accuracy wise after user adjustments right out of the box, maybe get that and have a slightly larger budget for audio stuff & skip calibration...ORsince reading about some of these absolute fire sales on the 55VT50, do I just get the top of the line model if the price is good enough, buy a small bit of audio, and use the out of the box settings (with maybe calibration to come later on)?
I know it all comes down to user preference, but I hope I've provided enough info about my environment, setup, and desires that you guys who own these sets can help point me in the right direction. I'm looking for this set to last a good 4 years or so at least before I shell out more cash for whatever tech is available then, but I don't want to wait till next year's sets to buy since they only seem to be slight improvements. I'd rather have the best deal on one of these amazing quality sets now.
The return won't be here for another 2 weeks however, so I'm just gonna have to hope these TV's are still in stock. I've been back in this forum and reading many, many pages here about them, but I wanted to ask specifically in this thread too.
The set will be mostly for late afternoon/nightime viewing. I sit about 7 feet away. I found after I owned my S1 for awhile that overall accurate color is actually top priority for me (does white look "white" without a color push? Do skin tones look accurate?) and after that is black levels/contrast. I know any one of these sets will be a major set up from what I have now in black levels (especially with the rising blacks issue these sets had!), but I can't stand anymore to watch sets that have noticeable color pushes that only go away with service menu calibration.(I did a poor man's calibration of the S1 with calibration settings taken from 3 different users here at AVS and then went with the best looking one, which eliminated the yellow push this set had). I watch blu rays via PS3 and also gaming too.
I have a budget of about 2000 or so, maybe a hair more if needed. I'd like to also get some sound to finally go with my displays too. So I'm trying to decide if I want to go with the 55st50, get it calibrated for 200-450 (depending on who does it), and spend the rest on some not too great but ok sounding soundbar or HTIAB...OR try and step up to the 60ST50, maybe cut out or scale down the extras...OR the 55GT50 on Amazon is only a meager 100 bucks more right now, so I'm thinking if the picture (THX or otherwise) is significantly better color accuracy wise after user adjustments right out of the box, maybe get that and have a slightly larger budget for audio stuff & skip calibration...ORsince reading about some of these absolute fire sales on the 55VT50, do I just get the top of the line model if the price is good enough, buy a small bit of audio, and use the out of the box settings (with maybe calibration to come later on)?
I know it all comes down to user preference, but I hope I've provided enough info about my environment, setup, and desires that you guys who own these sets can help point me in the right direction. I'm looking for this set to last a good 4 years or so at least before I shell out more cash for whatever tech is available then, but I don't want to wait till next year's sets to buy since they only seem to be slight improvements. I'd rather have the best deal on one of these amazing quality sets now.
