Thanks guys, very helpful comments; particularly re screen brightness and dealer bias.
Learsfool, your impressions mirror mine exactly. The differences that I noted at the dealer were not subtle. To use an audio analogy, the Samsungs were like good solid state, very clear and defined; impressive but bordering on the surreal and hyper detailed. The Panasonics; like tubes, with softer, more rounded images, but with a nice sense of refinement. I am glad to know that this can all be tweaked to satisfaction.
"have it professionally calibrated once it has been in use for 250 hours, I think it is (unless you already know how to do this yourself). I did this, and could not believe the difference it made. I watched the guy carefully and could do it myself in future."
Does one need any test equipment to do this, and how difficult is it to do without having watched a pro do it? It will be difficult if not impossible to get a tech to my house which is in the middle of nowhere.
Learsfool, your impressions mirror mine exactly. The differences that I noted at the dealer were not subtle. To use an audio analogy, the Samsungs were like good solid state, very clear and defined; impressive but bordering on the surreal and hyper detailed. The Panasonics; like tubes, with softer, more rounded images, but with a nice sense of refinement. I am glad to know that this can all be tweaked to satisfaction.
"have it professionally calibrated once it has been in use for 250 hours, I think it is (unless you already know how to do this yourself). I did this, and could not believe the difference it made. I watched the guy carefully and could do it myself in future."
Does one need any test equipment to do this, and how difficult is it to do without having watched a pro do it? It will be difficult if not impossible to get a tech to my house which is in the middle of nowhere.