I bought a Philips 52" 7402, 120 Hz at Costco last week after my 20 month old Vizio Plasma died and Costco fully refunded me my original purchase price. I forked some additional money to get the Philips. Now after a week with the set, some rebooting problems, lack of adjustability, and some picture quality issues, I've decided to bring it back. So now I have the interesting dilemma of choosing another set.
The room it will be in is a large family room with an entertainment nook (space for RPT) with about 10-12 feet between the screen and the sofa, with one additional chair about 40 degrees to the right (as well as a bar and kitchen behind it). I say this because I want to be able to clearly see the set from the single chair and possibly bar, although its not really necessary beyond the single chair. I'd ideally like to clearly see the advantages of the 1080p sources I have, but not married to it. With the Philips it seemed like I need to sit a bit closer to the television to notice a difference.
The room has curtains/shades but is almost always lit (not by bright sunlight). We occasionally watch some movies with little or no ambient light. We never play video games, and generally liked the look of plasma over LCD (because of the blurring issues on the Philips and others we've experienced). I already have a stand/entertainment unit that can accommodate 58 inches horizontal (a 67 inch will over hang by approximately 2 inches on each side). Our sources are a DirecTV HR-20 DVR, a Samsung BDP-1400 Blu-Ray player, an Apple TV, a Tivo Series 3, and a Toshiba A30 HD-DVD player (and yes, we have an HDMI switcher). We also have a Harmony 880 that likes discretely switchable inputs....all of which worked great with our old Visio.
So my "local"/easily returnable/extended warranty choices for televisions are a Sony Bravia KDL-52WL35135 LCD, a Panasonic TH50PE700U Plasma or an 8G Pioneer Kuro 5010 Plasma (?)... the "online" choices that interest me are a Samsung PN58A550 Plasma or a Samsung HL61A750 or HL67A750 LED based RPT (I'll only consider LED based RPT).
Taking into consideration size, budget ($3k upper limit all inclusive), and the room/environment, which television would you recommend? I'm willing to take other recommendations that I may have overlooked in my price range. There is so much talk about the Kuros and their great contrast, but size with 1080p sources is very alluring. Maybe the Samsung PN58A550 is a happy medium (but at the upper threshold of my budget)?
The room it will be in is a large family room with an entertainment nook (space for RPT) with about 10-12 feet between the screen and the sofa, with one additional chair about 40 degrees to the right (as well as a bar and kitchen behind it). I say this because I want to be able to clearly see the set from the single chair and possibly bar, although its not really necessary beyond the single chair. I'd ideally like to clearly see the advantages of the 1080p sources I have, but not married to it. With the Philips it seemed like I need to sit a bit closer to the television to notice a difference.
The room has curtains/shades but is almost always lit (not by bright sunlight). We occasionally watch some movies with little or no ambient light. We never play video games, and generally liked the look of plasma over LCD (because of the blurring issues on the Philips and others we've experienced). I already have a stand/entertainment unit that can accommodate 58 inches horizontal (a 67 inch will over hang by approximately 2 inches on each side). Our sources are a DirecTV HR-20 DVR, a Samsung BDP-1400 Blu-Ray player, an Apple TV, a Tivo Series 3, and a Toshiba A30 HD-DVD player (and yes, we have an HDMI switcher). We also have a Harmony 880 that likes discretely switchable inputs....all of which worked great with our old Visio.
So my "local"/easily returnable/extended warranty choices for televisions are a Sony Bravia KDL-52WL35135 LCD, a Panasonic TH50PE700U Plasma or an 8G Pioneer Kuro 5010 Plasma (?)... the "online" choices that interest me are a Samsung PN58A550 Plasma or a Samsung HL61A750 or HL67A750 LED based RPT (I'll only consider LED based RPT).
Taking into consideration size, budget ($3k upper limit all inclusive), and the room/environment, which television would you recommend? I'm willing to take other recommendations that I may have overlooked in my price range. There is so much talk about the Kuros and their great contrast, but size with 1080p sources is very alluring. Maybe the Samsung PN58A550 is a happy medium (but at the upper threshold of my budget)?