64" Samsung PN64E7000 WiFi 3D Plasma HDTV w/ 2x 3D Glasses $1800 + Free Shipping

Imagine retention in plasmas in today's world is just a hoax, unless you keep a same image logo such as CNN logo or something for hours and hours.

I will never buy another plasma again, at least not from samsung. I have the pn58c8000 that I purchased 2 years ago. There is the buzzing noise at the first year. Recently, there is a purple line across the screen. Samsung will not help me because it is out of warranty.

Man sweet deal any advantages of plasma over led?

Can someone point me to the 100 hours break in media (slides, images etc) ?? Thanks!

Yes, if you like bees the TV will buzz and the best advantage is to save on electrictiy you can just turn off the TV and still watch it with the exclusive image retention feature that only plasma has! Plasma is the best TV ever!

Stupid post, thanks for posting inaccurate "facts" regarding current tv sets. Some people do have buzzing, but that is generally people in higher altitudes. I have two plasma's, one being the 64C8000, and I can hear a buzz if I place my ear directly to the tv, nothing even a foot away. 2 years of watching the set normally, with kids, and no IR as well. Put in some decent settings posted at AVS and not only will you have an awesome picture but no IR / burn-in as well. Also, the power usage comment is always made buy stupid people. How much extra do you think it costs to run vs an LED? How much more would a 60"+ LED set cost? Do the math to see how many years it will take to make the energy usage have you break even. In the meantime with your LED you can enjoy poor off axis viewing and a blooming picture.

I pulled the trigger on the Panasonic TC-P65ST50 last night from Amazon Warehouse for $1,880. Now I'm reading the Panasonics are more susceptible to image retention. The Samsungs supposedly fair better in this respect but it's not conclusive. Ordering the PN64E7000 and doing an in house shootout seems excessive. What to do, what to do...

I wouldn't fret over it - image retention on both is going to be a fairly non-existent issue, and you will be very happy with either. This is coming from someone who has owned a 42" Panasonic (TH-42PX60U) , a 50" Panasonic (TH-50PX60U), another 50" Panasonic (TH-50PX77U) after getting the first one replaced under warranty (the year they had the "purple snakes [avsforum.com]" problem), a 64" Samsung (PN64D700, the model year before this one), and then another PN64D7000 a week later when my first one suddenly stopped working. Amazon's no-hassle return truly was that - I was very glad I bought from them. Replacement TV took a bit to get here, but it was still a very easy process. This was summer of 2011. Plus at the time it was $1,800 for the TV, Blu-ray player, and Shrek 3D four-movie set with Megamind in 3D and 2 pairs of glasses.

The only ones I ever really minor retention problems with were the original 42" and 50" Panasonics, and those were from 2006. I did not run a break-in on them, and the 42" was run on 4:3 content a LOT with sidebars. The image retention was noticeable at times right after watching a particular network for a while, but always went away (except for the 42", where if you look VERY closely, you can see the middle area is VERY slightly dimmer than the outer areas when you are watching 16:9 content, as those phosphers have aged differently from not being used as often, especially during the initial 100 - 200 hours of use).

When my first 50" Panasonic got exchanged under warranty because of the "purple snaking" problem, I did a proper break-in on my replacement model. We have played thousands of hours of games, movies, and TV shows with static logos on it, and we've never had an image retention problem. With the 64" Samsung we've had since 2011, we've only noticed image retention once ... after we had been playing a lot of the Cartoon Network all week, which has a fairly bold black and white logo, we could still see the outline of the logo when switching to something else. That resolved itself within about a day of watching other content, though, and it wasn't all that noticeable to begin with (but of course once you see it there, you stare at it like you're the Eye of Sauron looking for your precious).

TLDR - Go with the one with the best packaged extras for the price since they're within 80 bucks, and/or with the vendor you prefer dealing with. Image retention is not a factor that needs to be considered between the two models.

The Panasonic ST50 is their entry model, whereas the E7000 is Samsung's next to highest end, so I guess that's something to consider if you want to look at other specs, features, and bundled extras they have (3D glasses? I haven't looked to see what Panasonic includes now). But "entry level" on this line of sets is kind of like talking about one of Mercedes' "entry level" models. It's still a luxury high-end item. Panny is pretty legendary for image quality. Plus the Panasonic is bigger. Maybe just by an inch, but hey, bigger is bigger.

Image retention shouldn't be a problem if you break it in properly. I ran break in media for 100 hrs and haven't had any problems with my plasma yet. I watch alot of sports and play games on my tv and image retention have not been an issue. Usually any image retention disappears after watching 30 min of a regular program.

All these people racing to shop with Amazon don't understand how business works...

Competition lowers prices.

Everyone racing to buy from Amazon does nothing to reward the vendor who deserves credit for this deal - Tiger Direct - so they'd miss out on the deal without Tiger.

Amazon already has 1/3 of all internet sales in the US, but people race to make it a monopoly and screw the consumer of the good deals of competition.

Amazon comes up with things to increase their monopoly - like 'loyalty rewards' - and it works like a charm. 'I will only buy from Amazon, I need my 2%!!!!!'

I like Amazon, but people, be glad to support the competition.

I will never buy another plasma again, at least not from samsung. I have the pn58c8000 that I purchased 2 years ago. There is the buzzing noise at the first year. Recently, there is a purple line across the screen. Samsung will not help me because it is out of warranty.

Had the same issue with one of their LCD's from an issue they knew was their fault and they basically told me to pound sand. I felt like I paid $1,400 to rent the tv for two years.