Well it looks like the not so old Samsung 50 inch plasma is on its last legs. It has a blue vertical band running down the left side and repair folks are telling me it is likely the display panel which cost as much or more than a new TV to repair. So what are you folks liking these days as the best TV for home theater? This is a set up with an oppo 103 and NAD integrated amp and Sonus fabar toy towers. We are looking for a 55 inch set and are wondering if plasma is still the best way to go? As always thanks for any suggestions.
AFAIK Kuro doesn't exist since 2010. Some of technologies were sold to Panasonic and used in Viera line.
I can easily recognize Plasma in large stores because of its yellowish white. The fact that plasma, in the review, scored higher for contrast or speed doesn't make difference to me because they all have too much contrast, brightness and speed to start with. My Samsung has 240Hz refresh rate but it is only useful for sports. Movies at this rate have this "soap opera effect" - they look like video. 24 frames/s "magic" is gone. Higher than 240Hz rate, that plasmas are capable of, is overkill IMHO.
I have 55" Samsung LED with edge lighting. It is just excellent. Black levels are as good as the best Plasmas while sharpness is stunning. Brightness and contrast stay during day in bright room (adjusts itself). The only problem is that Samsung comes from factory with weird colors and huge contrast. I was able to find settings that somebody posted after calibration of identical TV. I entered it (lots of settings) and it worked.
Be careful if you plan to connect TV digital audio to DAC since some TVs (like Panasonics) output only Dolby, perhaps assuming your home theater has sound processor. If you have only 2 channel PCM DAC look elsewhere. Samsung has menu selection for the oputput.
I was at Best Buy the other day and what I thought was a plasma was a LED TV and it had fantastic black levels and vibrant colors. I have a Samsung plasma and love it and yet here was a LED TV with comparable picture quality and mine is only 8 months old and was highly regarded. My," the times they are a changing".
Fast forward just a few minutes and I'm looking at a Sony 4K TV and my jaw drops. End of story.
It was fed via USB with a 6 GB contraption so it was truly displaying 4K and all I can say it will be my next, and last TV I ever buy. Granted, nothing made today, disc format wise, is 4K capable, but Blu Ray players like OPPO can output 4K.
This reminds me of how people put down 1080P since nothing really was up to it at the time and yet the picture did look better when the TV was 1080P capable. I've got the feeling it's just around the corner. The Sony goes for $5000 but will probably be discounted at least $1000 by years end and this is for the 51 inch model. It's all I'd ever need with that kind of resolution.
My advice is to go out and find a demo of true 4K on this Sony and then decide if you can wait it out. It's that good.
IMO, LED's still can not rival plasma tech concerning black level, which of course means truer colors. Also, although LED's can output more brightness they can not out do a plasma in dynamic contrast which is any fully black image next to a fully white image on the screen. Also I've seen demonstrations that most LED's will only do 1080p on a still image. If the image is in motion, as in a slow pan, they will drop down to 1080i.
Thanks folks, that's helpful. Kinda interested in a Panasonic this time around maybe. Just wanted to be sure that LED wasn't better at this point. Wonder how long I have before the panel in the Samsung gets really bad? Fun week, plasma troubles, dishwasher is making noise, and washer started leaking........there goes the budget for those Avalon Ideas........
I still use plasmas, and like them the best. I've got 2 LG's. A 60, and a 42. Both get a ton of use, and still work perfectly. Both are about 6-7 years old. The 60 was their top model when I bought it, and was about 6k retail then. You can get a better set now for 1/4 that or less. I still love the Sony. Have had them too. I'm just still hooked on plasma. I highly recommend the LG. Never used the Panasonic, but read good things about them.
This is an FYI, not a recommendation as I've never seen one, but the new 4k ultra high def sets are falling in price. A brand called Seiki has a 50" model available for app $1100.
For my money, nothing beats a Plasma...still. Last Christmas we snapped up a 60" LG on sale for $800. It retailed for $1400 and usually sold at $900 in stores and online. It was one of LG's cheaper 60" Plasmas. The upper-end picture response resolution-wise is just a tad softer compared to the 50" Samsung it replaced (same panel problem as yours), but the colors are better (more accurate with more of them and better saturation). What I like most about the LG is the "ISF" controls that allow a pro calibrator (like Geek Squad or ISF) to quickly and completely adjust everything with a higher degree of accuracy. However, the controls were just easy enough for a geekhead like me to get in there for a while on my own and come away with something much better than any stock setting. So, I haven't been tempted to go that route yet. Together with a boatload of power conditioning (mainly bought for the 2-channel audio), the color and overall performance is the best I've yet seen. Also using the Oppo 103.
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