I am in the market for a 55" or larger Plasma. Any suggestions on make and model would be appreciated.
I bought a Samsung PN59D8000 last week at Best Buy for $1800. (had a bunch of gift cards there, so it offset the markup). It's a 2011 model being closed out from the shelves. So far, so good. Initially, I went in for a 60" Sharp LED, but saw the Samsung on sale and went for it. It got high marks from the A/V review sites. Might want to search for it online somewhere for better deals.
I have had a samsung 58 incher for about 2.5 years with no problems and a great picture. I havent had the best luck getting it to play content from my network drives, but that may not matter to you. Im a big fan of plasmas since they have gotten much more energy efficient, but if your room is brightly lit then you may want to at least consider an LCD. I have a farily dark room for our plasma and it works great.
I don’t have a plasma but I will second the comments on the Samsung brand. We got a 55" Samsung LED two years ago and like it a lot. The picture is beautiful and we have had zero problems of any kind with it.
I too have a Panasonic plasma and love it. But what was said above about the room you will have it in rings true. My room is not very bright with blinds closed but I am getting some blackout curtains for added use on sunny days. It's not bad but it could be better so unless you have a somewhat dark space for it or can make it that way, LED may be your best bet. Plasma burns much less energy now, does not get the burn in and goes forever so it can be a great deal. I think you will do just fine with a Panasonic or Samsung. I enjoy the user friendly features and functions of my Panasonic.
Really enjoyed the Samsung I had a couple years ago. I had a Panasonic but took it back because it was frying the HDMI port on my cable box for some reason. I had to sell the Sammy last summer because we moved and had to slightly downsize for the room it was in. My only complaint on the Plasmas is image retention in between viewings, esp. on channels with logos on the bottom. There are ways to minimize this but they are tedious and involve the first couple hundred hours of TV life.
My Panny has an auto fill feature if there is anything resembling burn in which has not been an issue at all. Just doesn't happen even with logos. This may be an upgrade in the quality of the technology since you had one? Seriously, zero at this end.
Like Loop, my Samsung has a feature (auto-shift, I think it's called), that continuously and hardly even noticeably, shifts the entire pixel imagery up one or two rows to assist in stimulating the pixels that may need a rest from static images on the broadcast. I THINK I noticed it once in the first week I've had the TV running, but not since. The plasma technology seems to have made a strong advancement from what we all knew in the first-gen plasmas. They're thin now, hardly put off any heat at all, and many of them have glare-reducing finishes on the glass. avsforums.com had some good advice on taking caution in the first 100-200 hours of plasma use. Mostly, tweaking the factory settings down some to help get the pixels gradually eased in to use. There was also a bunch of videophiles suggesting a photo gallery DVD/jump drive set in loop while you're at work to run the TV through a series of workouts to prep the pixels for more constant use. I would've chosen a Panasonic at the store if they had a 65" in stock, but I'm satisfied with the Samsung. It's got a great looking bezel to make it tolerable for the wife to look at while the TV is not running.
Plasmas have come a long way in recent years. My Panny VT30 has never had the slightest hint of image retention, and the power dissipation is similar to LCD panels. While many LCDs now have decent pictures, none of them match a VT30. I was sold when I went to A&B TV in Austin. They have all their largest screen HDTVs lined up where you can scan them all to compare pictures. The VT30 picture obviously stood out like none other. That's the one I got, and I couldn't be happier with the picture. The picture is so life-like that the screen looks like an extension of the room.
