Panasonic 55 in ch VT50 for 1699 from Pauls tv

Without tax, this is a really good deal for the 65vt50! If only I was a little more patient, I could have saved $300 from when I got it from Amazon. =(. (Paul's TV website makes it sound like they are paying for your sales tax so you'll be guilt free when reporting your taxes...)

Anyone have experience returning TVs from Amazon? $350 is a lot of $$ and might be worth the hassle.

does it work as/with a "Video Wall"? we are currently looking to purchase a 4x55" video wall for our church...any ideas?

This is a good deal. I got this tv for about the same price from BB after price match a month ago. The picture has been really good.

Quote from imolam3 : does it work as/with a "Video Wall"? we are currently looking to purchase a 4x55" video wall for our church...any ideas?

i wouldn't pay this much for somethng like that...

just an FYI guys---you really don't have to worry about burn in on any of the middle of the road or better Plasmas that have been out in the last 3-4 years(probably even older) .
Good rule of thumb is when you first get the tv, run about 100 hours of full screen content. After that, your golden. I have 2 Panny plasmas, one from last year and one from 3 years ago and have never had any issues and I leave sports tickers and things like that on the screen all the time.
Burn in is something the LED manufacturers throw out there to steer you towards their products.
It may have been an issue 10+ years ago but it isn't now. For the money, Plasma can't be beat.

Quote from Gdog2004 : just an FYI guys---you really don't have to worry about burn in on any of the middle of the road or better Plasmas that have been out in the last 3-4 years(probably even older) . Good rule of thumb is when you first get the tv, run about 100 hours of full screen content. After that, your golden. I have 2 Panny plasmas, one from last year and one from 3 years ago and have never had any issues and I leave sports tickers and things like that on the screen all the time. Burn in is something the LED manufacturers throw out there to steer you towards their products. It may have been an issue 10+ years ago but it isn't now. For the money, Plasma can't be beat.

I have a 6.5 year old 50in 720p Panny Plasma...burn in/screen burn/ image retention has never been a problem...I have seen on alot of older low dollar set like samsung/phillps/ zenith/LG.

Great price! Looking for a good deal on a 65" GT though...

Have to burn some RZ points, are you guys PM'ing with BB.com or BB in store? Only reason I ask is because I'm in NJ and have no local Paul's locations so in-store pm will probably get shot down

Quote from woodygg : i wouldn't pay this much for somethng like that...

but then again, since its a church, they probably have a ton of money to blow... haha

relating to the actual post, this is an amazing TV. if you're a videophile, then you probably already know about this set. if i had the money, i would have gotten this. however, i picked up the samsung PN51E7000 for $722 from best buy (bought it when they had the $200, and then the next day there was the $50+$10 GC fiasco). even at $800, if you can live with the 51" size, then its a great buy.

at $1700, this is still an absolute steal as its THX certified. can't go wrong with this set.

Quote from dkollander : I have a 6.5 year old 50in 720p Panny Plasma...burn in/screen burn/ image retention has never been a problem...I have seen on alot of older low dollar set like samsung/phillps/ zenith/LG.

Yes, I will clarify. PANASONIC (and pioneer) burn in is not an issue. The others I have no idea.

Quote from Gdog2004 : Yes, I will clarify. PANASONIC (and pioneer) burn in is not an issue. The others I have no idea.

out panny is about 6-7 years old... and has no burn-in issues. which is why i at the person who bought it at bb because their extended warranty () covered that... no wonder they pm'd.... they made it up in spades on the warranty.

Quote from Gdog2004 : just an FYI guys---you really don't have to worry about burn in on any of the middle of the road or better Plasmas that have been out in the last 3-4 years(probably even older) . Good rule of thumb is when you first get the tv, run about 100 hours of full screen content. After that, your golden. I have 2 Panny plasmas, one from last year and one from 3 years ago and have never had any issues and I leave sports tickers and things like that on the screen all the time. Burn in is something the LED manufacturers throw out there to steer you towards their products. It may have been an issue 10+ years ago but it isn't now. For the money, Plasma can't be beat.

burn is is not much of an issue... hasn't been for many a year...

Quote from Chris2 : Have to burn some RZ points, are you guys PM'ing with BB.com or BB in store? Only reason I ask is because I'm in NJ and have no local Paul's locations so in-store pm will probably get shot down

I did it with the local BB. They PMd the deal so 1709 out the door with the $10 waste fee for CA for the 55vt50

Quote from woodygg : burn is is not much of an issue... hasn't been for many a year...

This is true, although this is different than image retention, which is very real, and can be just as annoying.

For anyone who doesn't know, burn-in is permanent, while image retention will eventually go away. The time frame varies, could go away in minutes, other cases might take days/weeks. This is all documented in various places on the web, avsforum being the best.

Image retention also varies from set to set. One VT50/GT50/ST50 will exhibit very bad IR at first, while another VT50/GT50/ST50 will never be affected.

A couple of employees at my Best Buy tried telling me there is no IR in their sets. Some of you might get told the same thing in your own electronics stores. Don't believe them, it is very real, and most likely they are just confusing it with burn-in or aren't hobbyists so they are just uninformed.

Here is one thread talking about IR on a ST50, but this thread can be applied to the GT50 and VT50 as reports for them are just as numerous. http://www.avsforum.com/t/1414908...lease-help

Here is a CNET article from July http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3319...n-in-test/
Note: this article should read 'accidental image retention test'

So, IR does happen, but most people probably wont notice it, and it seems like for every 1 person that does get IR, there are 5-10 people that don't.

________
That said, plasma's destroy LED's in PQ and motion (there have been very few exceptions). For any type of serious movie viewing or sports viewing, plasma is definitely the way to go.

All of that said, the 2012 Panny plasmas are a huge upgrade from everything before them, the ST50 even beats the VT30. Sammy E7000 & E8000 will look a little sharper, but it is widely reported by pretty much all online display review sites that the VT50 is the best plasma of the year, almost on par, or equal to, the 2008 Pioneer Kuro. And this is a great price go get it.

The brighter the image the more likely you will have image retention

You can reduce if not avoid image retention by properly calibrating the set when you first receive it and at least annually there after.

NEVER set it to VIVID mode.

Keep the screen full with a changing image rather then a static image as much as possible.