Samsung PN50A550 vs Panasonic TH-50PZ85U

Which one?!?!? I am so torn, they are so very close. Here is what I have currently.

Panasonic has Brand Name and better Black level

as to

Samsung has smoother performance, better more vibrant colors, sleeker design.

Picture is comparable for both.

Samsung is 1399.99

Panasonic is 1499.99 but comes with a 300 Blu-Ray player that I would sell to bring my cost down to 1199.99.

I just really love the look of the Sammy, but the pictures are soooo close. If anyone has anymore insight let me know, i am researching myself to death.

I have a 37inch 720p samsung and it is great...The main thing I like about it is the channel change response time. It really bothers me when a tv takes forever to 'load' a channel.

I have a samsung 40" LCD and love it. The contrast ratio(black level as you put it) is another misleading spec given by manufacturers. I did heavy research before i bought mine and found that info in my searches. I would definitely recommend the samsung.

Edit: here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_ratio

Yeah, I had a 42" Samsung Plasma that I just sold and I had mixed feelings about it...

It had a great picture, but he HDMI sound would cut out for no reason while watching and only come back after changing the source through the options or by turning off and on. Also I had some red "sparkles" that appeared on the plasma after about 1.5 years of ownership.

I sold it for 750 bux and have the Panasonic on order it comes in Thur, but just love the design of the Samsung. I dunno I get really good reviews for both...so torn...must...decide!!!

I also have a 42" plasma Samsung plasma. It's really hard to beat the value you get with samsung. I have a panasonic dvd player that i am not thrilled with. It's never given me any problems, but nothing about it excites me either. Hope this helps.

Sony or Samsung. everything else is crap. if you're looking to spend ~$1300, you can get a 46" Sony Bravia from Sams Club for that price and the picture is better than the samsung.

Pioneer Elite

http://www.cheaptelevision.co.uk/images/Pioneer%20Kuro%20plasma%20TV.jpg

hands down one of the best plasma TVs out there.

Panasonic > Samsung in your case.

alright well im gonna have to put my input in as ive worked for the cable company comcast and at&t....ive seen a good amount of tvs....LG 1080p plasma..top of the line, but yes samsung or panasonic are up there but not 720 that is not real hd just so u guys know....from my experience a vizio 1080p for 1500 looks the same as a samsung for about 1800 my point is vizio although very unknown get the job done, add a ps3 for bluray and a 360 for 1080p games and u will never notice a difference (i have been talkin about lcd....but with an Lg tv at 1080p u better go with the plasma because movies just look better on plasma, lcd is better for brightness especially in brighter rooms anyways good luck wit the choice

pioneer makes tvs?!?! i thought they were a cheap audio sheit:nocontrol

I don't know about their car audio line, but their AV receivers are pretty nice, I have a Denon, but am thinking about picking up a Pioneer to go with the TV.

LG's plasma is no where near the top of the line. Plasmas - Pioneer/Panasonic; LCDs- Samsung

My Pioneer Elite, although only 720 is absolutely gorgeous. Put my TV up against any LCD, hands down mine's giving you better PQ. Put my TV up against a Samsung/LG plasma, still no question in PQ.

Depends on your usage and where your gonna be locating the tv, if you plan on placing it in a well lit environment where there might be a window and possible glare, or lets say you play a lot of video games and like it to be bright like a pc screen, LCD it is.... But on a Plasma your colors are gonna be more exact and precise, plus the response time of the tv is wayyy quicker... somewhere around 480HZ vs LCD Top out right now of 120HZ, plus plasmas picture looks great real, not choppy like Samsungs 120 hz.... those tv make movies look weird... it strips them from their 24 frames per second, removing that epic look they have. About a month ago i bought the 50pz800u from panasonic, looks sleek! beautiful and has fantastic colors, it makes standard tv look great.. which is shocking for a 1080p. Anyhow if your gonna go LCD go SONY, screw Samsung, plus SONY might be more expensive but i believe the colors look better and the 120hz looks like its supposed to. If you decide on plasma... remember to break it in the first 100 hrs or so, so try to play everything on full screen and avoid channels with scroller etc, after that period fire it up! I passed the mark and my girlfriend plays rockband on it everyday, and i play tons of video games. Good Luck choosing, hit me up if you need more advice... i used to work home theatre so i know somewhat something.

get a projector, you realize soon that 50" isnt big enough. and that 60" isnt big enough either. so get a projector where you can go over 100".

i got the optoma hd70 projector hooked up to to theater system, and i got it set up at 90". pretty sweet. great for movies, and even tv. its got an hdmi hook up coaxial and component and all the usual computer hook ups. you could probably get the whole set up for about what your looking to spend on the tv set. the only negative is the bulb life is about 3000 hours compared to 50000+ of tvs. also got a vizio, nice tv, lots of hook ups, pretty good prices.

Whatever you get, it better be 1080p! wait for black friday!

There are 5 Samsungs in my household. 2 DLPs and 3 LCDs. All amazing tvs. I dont know much about the Panasonics though. But Samsung in my opinion is the way to go with a TV or computer moniter. Amazing stuff. But in the end it all comes down to what you really want.

What someone said eailer....Pioneer is one of the best on the market for plasmas. Awesome picture. In my opinion plasma's do look better, and don't buy into that burn in hype. I've played games on mine with a non moving life meter or what not and never had an issue. You will get ghost images, but that's only if you try and find them and even those go away withing of five minutes of changing the picture. If your a movie buff...you'll kick yourself later if you get a LCD

I just bought a samsung 52 inch series 6 with a free blue ray and 3 year plan. 36 months no interest. it was between the sony xbr6 or samsung and i went with samsung. the series 6 is pretty affordable and has all the bells and whistles you need. the pioneer was a little out of my price range.

Def make sure you get 1080p. 780 isn't worth it.

My vote goes to Sony Bravias. I have a 40" and I love it! :YEA

i didn't even google what you're looking at, but i can tell you if it were me, i'd go with samsung. they make a STELLAR tv. i've got 3 of em...

Depends on your usage and where your gonna be locating the tv, if you plan on placing it in a well lit environment where there might be a window and possible glare, or lets say you play a lot of video games and like it to be bright like a pc screen, LCD it is.... But on a Plasma your colors are gonna be more exact and precise, plus the response time of the tv is wayyy quicker... somewhere around 480HZ vs LCD Top out right now of 120HZ, plus plasmas picture looks great real, not choppy like Samsungs 120 hz.... those tv make movies look weird... it strips them from their 24 frames per second, removing that epic look they have. About a month ago i bought the 50pz800u from panasonic, looks sleek! beautiful and has fantastic colors, it makes standard tv look great.. which is shocking for a 1080p. Anyhow if your gonna go LCD go SONY, screw Samsung, plus SONY might be more expensive but i believe the colors look better and the 120hz looks like its supposed to. If you decide on plasma... remember to break it in the first 100 hrs or so, so try to play everything on full screen and avoid channels with scroller etc, after that period fire it up! I passed the mark and my girlfriend plays rockband on it everyday, and i play tons of video games. Good Luck choosing, hit me up if you need more advice... i used to work home theatre so i know somewhat something.

^^^+1, this guy knows what hes talking about...listen to him, seriously.

Def make sure you get 1080p. 780 isn't worth it.

My vote goes to Sony Bravias. I have a 40" and I love it! :YEA

I've sat in front of two Pioneer TVs side by side, one 720 one 1080 watching a bluray and there was no discernible difference in PQ.

720 vs 1080 all depends on your set up. If you're sitting around 8 ft away from a 50" TV, the two will look identical. The closer you move, probably around 5-6 feet, you will start to notice a difference. Who sits 5 feet away from a 50" TV?

^^^what he said.

plus, most of the good HD movies that i download are in 720p (not 780... lmao at that guy!) j/k... mostly.

You are correct about the 720p vs 1080p from a distance but I will probably be about 6ft from the TV most of the time given my space.

You are also correct about your TV, the 720P from Pioneer is used as a comparison to most 1080P model tvs from Samsung and Panasonic and the Pioneer still wins out on most of the tests. However the Pioneer is almost 4x the amount of the other TV's so that puts it out of my range. Its really only between these 2.

After a lot of searching around I found these 2 sets of reviews, let me know what you all think...I am pretty sure its a go for Samsung...

Samsung
http://alatestreview-cnet.com.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-pn50a550/4505-6482_7-32887581-2.html?tag=txt;page
http://hometheatermag.com/plasmadisplays/808samup/index.html

Panasonic
http://alatestreview-cnet.com.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-viera-th-46pz85u/4505-6482_7-32887121-2.html?tag=txt;page
http://hometheatermag.com/plasmadisplays/1008panapz85u/index.html

I just got a 42" Toshiba Regza for $490 from newegg.com
1080P, 1900x X resolution 8ms refresh rate...

720p/i and 1080p/i refer to lines of resolution. All these people buying 1080p tv's smaller than 40" are idiots. You have to have a large TV to notice the difference in the two. If i Had a 60" TV i would have got the 1080P version. But my 42" plasma doesn't even have enough lines of resolution to actual produce even true 720P, as is true with all plasma's 42" and below. Its like 15 lines short or something. Thats why you don't find 37" plasmas and so on. Now LCD's can pack more lines in a smaller area, but like i said before you won't notice it. Don't even look into 1080 unless you are going bigger than 40" at the very very least. If it were me...i wouldn't look unless it was at least 50".

can you get the 800u from Panasonic is much nicer however the Panasonic's black levels destroy samsung. I sell tvs and always liked samsung and never really thought much of Panasonic until recently. They have steeped it up a lot and we have been having little problems with the samsungs lately. If you watch movies you will love the panasonic unless you can shell out the money for a pioneer elite.

Go with the Samsung. I have the 61" 1080 it is way better than the pioneer. Crystal clear and have had not 1 problem with burn in. For the money it is a great buy. Especially with blu-ray and surround.

The next tv I have is a 60" 1080 LG. I have to say this is the best TV I have ever had. At the time I have not 1 bad thing to say about it. LG prices are great!

I just got rid of a panasonic I hated it! Burn in was terrible. Customer service was aweful.

Go with the Samsung. I have the 61" 1080 it is way better than the pioneer. Crystal clear and have had not 1 problem with burn in. For the money it is a great buy. Especially with blu-ray and surround.

The next tv I have is a 60" 1080 LG. I have to say this is the best TV I have ever had. At the time I have not 1 bad thing to say about it. LG prices are great!

I just got rid of a panasonic I hated it! Burn in was terrible. Customer service was aweful.

I bet your friends like sitting off to the side during big games right? lol

DLP << Plasma.

DLP/Rear Projection TVs are dead.