Jane2001

It makes me wonder if Samsung has the same issue. Panny has been in the leader in development of plasma tv's and have been in this business longer than Samsung so you would think the deteriorating black levels would affect (or is it effect ) plama tvs accross the board.

If money wasn't an issue I would go with Panny...but because I am cheap I would go with Samsung. In the end I don't think you can go wrong with either brand.

Sdallnct

Yup...and at the end of the day I'm even sure "right equipment" is accurate any more. Most every modern digital pj would work.

Now..."set up"...now we are getting somewhere. However, "set up" doesn't mean black out drapes, special lighting, etc. IMO the most important thing is "thought". Think about the use, your expectations, what you want. For example, instead of fancy "theater" lights along my riser, I have a cheap rope light on a cheap dimmer, plugged into a cheap remote system. And track lighting gives me incredible flexibility, brightness, direction and I have it on a dimmer that is controlled by my harmony remote. But I could have gone with canned lights or recessed lights or anything else. So long as they weren't shinning on the screen, it would be fine.

Heck I have a cheap mechanical dimmer on my living room lamp so when I'm watching TV I can use the lamp or not or lower it. I hardly consider that "set up" but it is effective.

I guess one reason I got a little passionate, is like the OP I have kids. I built my "theater" room for the kids as much as for me. I don't have fancy recliners, I have an old couch. Why? They want to eat pizza or buttery popcorn back there, no problem! I have commercial carpet squares that are easy to clean and individually replacement. My room was/is for the kids.

Sdallnct

Possibly. But I've only heard of the Panasonic class action lawsuit. If it was all plasma's would think would have heard form others as well. But I'm not staying up on it....soo......

kefrank

When I say "setup" I'm mostly referring to things like screen gain, screen size, and throw distance. All of those will affect the required lumen output of the projector, given a certain amount of ambient light.

shelland

The new one in Burnsville.

Spiky

Sure, the farthest from me. Although I think I already know what it looks like. It looks just like my TV, only a little bit smaller and 10x more $$$.

CRM114

I'm a Panasonic guy. But the sad reality is that Panasonic has a massive whole in their 65" lineup. They have the decent non-3D S2 for ~$2000 and the uber-plasma VT25 for $4500. THey have no G-series at 65". That's my price point I think.

Samsung does have 63" sets in my price range. About $2500 gets you their 7000 series that is 3D and has a lot of internet bells and whistles.

Not knowing much about Samsungs, I was hoping to get a "no stay away from Samsung" or "Samsungs have a great picture and are a great bang for your buck."

CRM114

A couple of notes.

I don't really want to build a "theater room." I'm putting together another family room where we watch sports, hang out, and do stuff like play instruments, games, etc. This room will have nice furniture and will be a place for get togethers and partying. The watching blu-rays thing is MY passion and is usually done by myself, late at night. Let's just say my family has no desire to watch Apocalypse Now for the 17th time like I do.

Second, while I did get the room sort of pre-wired for FP, I don't have the expertise to get it done myself. This room is going to be ready in the next week and I need to get it rolling. I can just see my FP foray running into disaster because I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Giant plasma is easy.

Superman07

So you need to buy now and not hold off a few months? There were very good impressions of the D7000 and D8000 Samsung plasmas for 2011 out of CES. 64" too. http://ces.cnet.com/8301-32254_1-20026987-283.html I think the D7000 would be what you want - no fancy remote necessary.

CRM114

I'm currently looking at the C7000 so I guess, yes. Panasonic also announced a G-series 65" but who the hell knows when they will hit the market?

I -could- wait as I have a 50" Song Grand Wega in storage currently but it's hard to contain myself and the opportunity to buy new gear.

Sdallnct

Well again, you have made up your mind. And that is great. But what bothers me is for "not have the expertise" you sure are making a lot of assumptions.

You don't need to "build a theater room" to enjoy front projections. God knows I didn't (probably the only unique thing I did for theater is install a riser and add real theater chairs. But this was purely a choice. Mainly because I had limited room). I call it a theater room because watching movies while eating popcorn is a lot what we do back there. You can make your room anything you want. I put up $3.00 theater posters. You might want to put up $3.00 sports posters or skip the posters and put up pics of the kids.

And most importantly the very things you MUST do to get the most out of your $4,500 plasma are the same things you should do for a front projector. There really isn't anything uniquely front projector (other than you have 2 pieces projector and screen rather than 1).

You don't need expertise to install a front projector or make a room or whatever. I had never put one in either. Till I did it. And I asked a lot of questions and did a lot of research. Again, nothing you shouldn't do for your plasma. I will admit and have told others it is not "plug and play". But than it is not brain surgery. Spend a weekend researching, measuring and installing and you never have to do it again. And assuming your hanging your 65" Plasma and hide the wires. And hide the wires for your surround sound, your going to have to do very much close to the same work.

And I hear you about "alone". Even on 94" screen my friends and family would be happy with DVD. But I love watching Matrix or even some of my other HD DVD in awesome HD! And of course now in bluray I really get into it. But I also enjoy watching my beloved Cowboys or Mavericks on a screen that really brings you into the event. I already have people requesting to be invited to our annual Super Bowl party. Well ok, it is probably as much as a I built a bar next to theater room. Funny, I had more trouble hanging that 26" LCD in the bar than I did installing the projector and screen. And truth be told didn't get it right....LOL

GreenMonkey

For years we've done a projector in our living room and another TV. For the past 4 years it was an Optoma HD72 at 115" or so and a 37" Olevia LCD.

Moving to a new house (a rental) with a finished basement. I don't think I can swing the projector in the rental house as I'm leery of drilling the holes I would need to mount the screen. Boy am I going to miss it. I think the wife will miss it even more than me.

It's really the best of both worlds. It's not that hard to mount a projector and a screen. Stud finder + projector mount + long cables + a little planning. I'm no carpenter. And you already have the wires run? As in, HDMI or component video already run? To me it's a no-brainer. That's half the battle.

The kids love it - "I want to watch on the big TV!" - they're 5 and 3 now.

Like sdallnct I wasn't running a high gain screen. We just used the TV in the daytime or when we wanted lights on. The rest of the time, you can use lamps and such without much of an impact on the screen. Like he says, as long as you're not shining light directly on the screen, you can get a perfectly good setup with enough light to read or do whatever.

It's also a bit less intrusive than an enormous TV stand and a enormous TV. Pull down the screen when you're using it, put it up when you're not. No wasting a ton of space.

Sdallnct

I know your mentioned plasma...but I was looking to go big and not pj (heaven forbid)....I would look at something like this...

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...x?sku=A4186750

73" DLP and less than $1,200....course I have a DLP pj so I'm partial.

JackBurton

FWIW, I recently got the 65" Panasonic S2 from Amazon ($1799) and I love it. From what I understand, they won't be producing non-3D 65 inchers in their next wave. I ultimately decided on the Panny b/c I value the extra 2 inches and $500+ savings over the net cababilities that I already have in my connected devices. Beyond that, I guess it depends on your asthetic preferences/desire for all-in-one internet functionality.

CRM114

That's sort of the dilemma. Do I settle for a TV without internet functions and 3D and possibly regret it down the line? I was never a big believer in 3D but...you never know what will come along. And you are right, I get the internet stuff via other devices so thats not extremely important either. But there are some qualitative differences between the S2 and other plasmas. I do like the price though. Seeing how the Samsungs seems to be out of stock everywhere (or MSRP), looks like I might be going back to the S2 myself.

nando820

I'm in the same boat CRM114 I been thinking about it for months now and I think the best choice is the VT25. Have u seen it in your local Bestbuy? Its beautiful. May dad and I hated the 3D gimmick until we saw it on a Panasonic Plasma TV

Many ppl say Avatar converted them to 3D (btw I hated that experience) but I say Panasonic Plasma 3D did it for me. It only took 2 minutes of the Beijing Olympics on that TV to know, that was what I been looking for

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-TC-P...=3PM7O75ELN0DN

PS: I do not represent Panasonic

Sdallnct

Meh...I think its a gimmick. However, regardless of what I think....if your looking down the line and not worried about it now (read, your not interested now), than I skip it. Save the money.

Than in 2, 3, 5 years down the road you want it, it will be a different technology, different gimmick. But if you want it, you won't have spent all that much on your TV that you couldn't upgrade. Then move this TV to the bedroom, bar, basement, whatever.

Sure if there is something you want now, than get it. But I really don't see the point in trying to guess and "future" proof. Who knows what we will have in 2,3, 5 years. Not only what it is, bu the cost and what is needed to go with it.. And besides, a good picture never goes out of style. So if you don't want the newest or latest, you will still be happy with your image.

DarthVong

I broke down and bought a new lamp for my DLP. Cost me around $90.00 and installed it myself. Re-calibrated the new bulb and now my TV looks just like it did out of the box. I got 4 years out of it originally.

That being said. If I had the cash (being unemployed sucks) I would have bought a new plasma at the beginning of this year. Now that money is going towards moving out of this shithole state I live in. LOL

CRM114

The 65" VT25 is sooo expensive. That is definitely the TV I'd buy if it were more reasonable.

CRM114

Unfortunately, in both Panasonic and Samsung's case, their superior TVs are all 3D.

Sdallnct

I'll admit to not keeping totally up on the models, however the case of Panasonic I thought they all had the same image. It was just a matter of features?

Spiky

You don't have to use the 3D. Soon they will all have it, avoiding it just to avoid it is pointless.

CRM114

But one can save a shitload of money buying the Panasonic 65" S2 over the 65" VT25. About $1500 difference.

CRM114

From what I understand, there is a significant difference between the VT25 and S2. Do I care about that image difference? Probably not. But I do have a difficult time buying anything without network connectivity in this day and age.

Superman07

Yeah, it's not like the S series versus the VT series is just 3D for $1500. You're getting the better video processing and image filters as well as the internet built in. I think it may also have one sheet of glass versus two (large sizes may be different though).