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So I just hooked up my new Panasonic 42" and it looks amazing. Thanks to everyone who recommended it, since it seems to be all the rage on 2+2 and everywhere else. I looked at a ton of TVs and spent a couple weeks reading up, and although I considered astro's advice of saving up for a 50"+, I figured that I was too impatient to wait and too poor to splurge for something like that now.
The Vizio was just a bit more washed out and I didn't want to sacrifice quality to save a couple hundred bucks. The LG and Samsungs looked almost as good as the Panasonic, but I went with the consensus choice. Anyway, it looks incredible and will look even better once I get my HD satellite receiver to watch broadcast in hi def.
I came close to buying the 50" Vizio for $1400 at Costco but then saw several pallets full of the
Panasonic TH-50PX60U 50" Plasma hiding behind a display of giant bags of trail mix. The Costco price was $1750 and I'm paying $60 to get it delivered tomorrow. For some reasons I never saw the 42" version of this model line Panasonic at Costco but they did have the 37" version for about $900.
As I think noted elsewhere in this thread this family of models got
very good reviews on CNET and other sites but apparently is being replaced by a new series of Panasonic's at a higher price. The Costco price is being more or less matched by several online sellers but I was wary of buying online for an item this large (one said they ship to the curbside and no further!).
I plan on using it mostly for DVD movies and will try to continue to slide on subscribing to cable or satellite TV. I live in line of sight to Mt. Wilson (all the LA area stations broadcast from there) and get good UHF with an indoor Terk and Phillips antennas on the 25" CRT I now moved to the bedroom. If I have luck getting the main broadcast channels HDTV (which is broadcast over UHF, check out
antennaweb.org for your local broadcasts) I'll post my experience.
Costco also had a 52" Mitsubishi 1080p DLP TV with stand for about $1350 but that was just too big for my corner and seems small for a DLP.
Great thread Astro, a pleasure compared to the eye glazing mess on the AVS forums.
~ Rick