New Plasma TV comparison  

Those are both great brands to go with. As a Panasonic fan, I would have to say the 60U or if you can, the 600U. Otherwise Sony is a great brand for LCD's.

Good luck with what you decide,
Cambryn

Depends on your requirements. If you have a really bright room, or use the TV top play games a lot, buy the LCD. Otherwise the plasma has a much better picture quality.

If you sit 10ft from the TV , look for a 50" plasma rather than a 42". Panasonic make very good plasmas.

I got a email today from buy.com saying they have a 50" philips plasma with amibilight [EDIT]

Take a look at the Pioneer 43" (model 4307 i think) they also have black surrounds and outstanding picture quality. I have heard some people are distracted by the blue power LED on the Samsung's

I've had the Sony BRAVIA 32V2000 (European equivalent to the V2500 you're getting over in USA in a few months) and currently have a Panasonic TH37PD60 (European 9th gen ED Plasma) sitting in front of me, and without a doubt, the Panasonic has the better image quality.

The BRAVIA does deinterlace better, but overall, plasma is better than LCD in my opinion. (and this is after me sticking with LCD for the best part of a year before trying Plasma, as I was worried about burn-in - which isn't an issue btw)

The only situation where LCD is better is with a high level of ambient light, at just about everything else, the plasma is better. (motion, colour rendition etc) I'd rather have a plasma and watch with the blinds down during the day than have LCD.

EDIT: Oh, and Ambilight = DLP-style rainbows. It's a nice effect, if a little gimmicky, but caused me to see red/green/blue flashes and gave me headaches.

I have to agree with andrewfee with all of the advantages of plasma over LCD, however the new Panny is very disappointing with the design and PQ. What happened to the Panny Onyx and will they bring it back?

I will have the new Hitachi 42HDS69 on order soon.

I have two lcd's and a plasma, no match, the plasma pq is real life like , with that said I would stay away from the 60u and 600u, very average pq and poor design imo
Take a look at thew nec and pioneer tread.
good luck

I actually saw the 65" model at a local Hi-end shop here in my city yesterday...incredibly impressive. I doubt the Onyx will come back, since they really had hardly any difference between them and the regular versions, other than a nicer bezel and a Media Receiver...and double the price!

The Onyx design is very nice (unlike the new 60's) and they are ISF certified from the factory and have a better video scaler. It should only be about $500 to $1000 more than the model below, just like the Pioneers and the Elites, if they would come out with it again.

Ambilight....? what happens when one light goes out...

No, those places are not legit. They will ask you to call to confirm your order, then try to sell you more stuff at inflated prices. If you refuse, then the TV you want will be out of stock. Only deal with companies with good feedback on the shopping websites, and if they ask you to call to confirm your order, try somewhere else. If the price looks too good to be true, it is.

Try going to the store of your choice and saying that you have to get say, 10% off or you will need to keep shopping. That is basically what I did when buying my plasma from CC. They caved in less than 5 minutes, and took my offer.
Those prices quoted at the big stores are somewhat negotiable. Do not be afraid to ask for a lower price, you will in all likelyhood get it, or a good counter offer.
Good luck in your shopping--

When you take a look at the nec and pioneer's pricing, then go back to the 60U and 60OU and decide if the price difference is worth it to you.

I just bought a Panny PX60U. The store loaded it flat in the back of my Explorer & I drove it home about 7 miles (real slow ... watching for potholes all the way :)). No problems. I think most of the problems with laying the TV flat is due to the front glass. It's pretty big & would have a tendancy to fracture more when horizontal than vertical. I would have preferred to transport mine standing up, but the box was 2" too tall for my Ford. I think horizontal is OK for short distances, just be really carefull driving & watch the bumps.

Yeah but I think that plasma makers have stated it reduces the panel half life to almost nothing laying it down like that... :p :D Congrats on the panel purchase! I just finished breaking in my 4260u and love it so far. Now I game 360 and watch movies like no tomorrow. So far no IR problems what so ever. I put in 4 hours of burnout yesterday. Again; enjoy your plasma friend! Sorry about the joke. :o

My local electronics chain still has 42" and 50" Onyx models on display. I just came from there and the picture looks great, even when compared side-by-side with the newest models. I see you're not in NJ but Amazon.com has the 42" Onyx at a super price with free shipping and no tax. You may want to check 'em out...

:p

I have the 50 inch 60u and I am very happy with it. I think a lot of the people critizing its image quality have simply been looking at the vivid mode at BB/CC which is horrid. Adjust this TV properly and it is IMHO superior to everything else in its price range. The Samsung 4253 was also very good (I can see how some eyes would find it better), but its handling of 4:3 SD was disappointing. I do believe the pioneer was better, but certainly not $1000 better...and I was disappointed with the NEC models I saw.

As for the sony LCDs, I believe that the XBRs are the ones to get. Not only do they seem brighter, but their SD quality is head and shoulders above any other LCD I've seen. As good as it is though the XBR 40 inch LCD doesn't look quite as good on SD as a plasma. That said it is significantly brighter and the casing is more attractive than any plasma I've seen. I have always been a sony XBR guy...but the panny plasmas were able to lure me away. I can see why panasonic is the #1 plasma retailer worldwide.

NM

I'll start by saying that I own a 500U, my friend has a 60U and we're both thrilled with the pictures and the sets in general...
With that said, I went to three local electronic stores today (Electronics Expo, CC, and PC Richard) and I'm surprised anyone ever chooses a Panasonic after seeing the extreme clayface at the out-of-the-box settings (Vivid with Sharpness at +17). The latter two stores had the 60U's on display and E/X still had the 50U, I think the extra contrast of the 60U's might make the problem look even worse but they all had it. Of course this can be cured in 10 seconds by turning down the Sharpness but how many people know that, or will insist on adjusting the TV's to their own taste? All of the sets were over-sharpened in my opinion but the Panasonics are by far the worst. Think how many they could sell if they tamed this adjustment and trimmed the consumer models like the commercial ones?
On the other hand, both Pioneer Elites had extremely bad IR and no other plasma in the store had any that I could detect... Guess I'll stick with Panasonic.

The Panny and the Sony were the two I was debating on. I really liked the sony's picture. But something about the plasma was just a touch better. I don't mind the look of the Panny. I don't think you will go wrong with ethier. One of the big deciding factors for me was the 2 HDMI slots on the Panny. Sony didn't have that. Also got the Panny cheaper than the sony. Paid 1900 bucks new. In a B And M Store.

good Luck....