Panasonic TC-54G25 or Samsung PN58C550?

Go for the Panny!!! I have an older 50" Panasonic, but researched it to death before buying. It has the THX setting, which if you aren't anal err... a "Tweak Master", is a "set it and forget it" setting because it is just a beautiful setup. No one makes a better plasma than Panny, period! The year I was buying mine, Pioneer decided that starting the following year, they were buying all there plasma screens from Panasonic. At that time, the Pioneer Kuro was the best available picture, but panny had come so close in picture quality, Pioneer could no longer compete because the cost to produce their own was too high. The Kuro cost quite a bit more, so they had to outsource. I also can't say enough about Panasonic quality, having had several of their products, and not one has let me down. I bought through Panasonic direct, as my company gets some kind of discount. Check their prices, and you do get free shipping. Consider the tax though (if your state has sales tax) on the final bill, as they DO charge it.

got it yesterday and am still playing with it. 2 initial things that irked me:

1) if you looked very closely at the blacks (like put your face next to the screen), you can see some white/gray pixels blended with the black. i'm guessing this is normal but i'm curious if this is part of the floating blacks that other people are talking about. this is my first flat screen so it's hard to have a reference - my other tv is a 26" hdtv crt, and it absolutely has no white noise in the blacks.

2) if you again put your head close to the tv, you can hear a faint buzz sound. this disappointed me because i read that some people hear it and some people don't. my tv was a june 2010 build, and i was hoping my set was one of those lucky ones that didn't have that problem. to be fair, it's not really noticeable at all from about 2-3 feet out, and we sit at least 8 feet out so it shouldn't be a problem.

other than that, we've been watching blu-ray on the ps3 and the tv is really stunning. it's amazing how big 50" is going from a 26". it's almost laughable how much more detail you notice in the blu-ray movies and concerts that we've been watching. (dark knight, ninja assassin, the beyonce experience)..

finally, don't use the standard calibration that comes on when you turn on the tv. i realized that contrast is set to 100 by default! i switched to thx mode and turned the contrast down to 50 from 60.

overally, i'm satisfied with this set. it has killer features for the price.

Keep us posted on your experience. Are you going to do a burn in of the screen?

Joe in Mobile

i just bought a 50" g25 from amazon and it's being delivered tomorrow. i also got the 3 year service plan from square trade (only $105), which i think is a better deal.

i really think the 50" is the sweet spot in terms of price/performance, and having looked at the 2009 plasmas at hhgreg last year, it was no contest between the panny plamas and the rest of the samsung panels.

I got a good luck at BB yesterday and was able to compare the g20 to the 550 and the panny s2. I have to say the g20 really looked sharper in all aspects. It was really much darker and sharper than the s2 and just seemed subjectively better than the c550. I know there would be a 4” difference between the c550 and the g20 but when I walked off the distances it was ok visually to me.
I am planning on buying the g25 from amazon, there is a 4yr service plan for $284 from them, anyone ever use it or have any opinions?

joe in mobile

I think the G25 is superior quality to the 550.

However, I do believe the additional 4" makes a noticeable difference.

Hometheatermag.com has reviewed a G25 and kept it on for over 1000 hours and has shown no loss of black levels in their controlled environment (variables are constant for higher accuracy).

However, I believe floating blacks may be more of an issue than the rising blacks in panny's.

I am looking at purchasing a Samsung C6400 plasma myself (costco)