Has LED caught up to Plasma?

I demo'd the 60 inch Elite Pro last week. It's very noticeably the best picture I've seen. At 6K, I searched and saw Amazon listed them at near 4,500. I called Sharps' Elite Pro registration center and they accept Amazon approved purchases. I'd use a credit card with double warranty features and the factory 2-year plan extends automatically to 4 years.

I'd confirm this just before purchasing with a rep's name and number at the Elite registration center, then, register it immediately. They haven't launched a extended warranty, yet. However, they said Sharp will soon offer it to owne's if the set is still under the 2-year warranty.

I usually don't go for extended warranties. However, this technology is newer and complex. The right credit card warranty extension is my best choice.

Technology keeps moving forward. These prices will drop and newer products are always just over the horizen. It's a great TV if the timing is right for buyer's. If my 6 year old 60 inch Sony dives, hopefully, the timing is right for me, too.

I spent some time viewing the Sharp Elite 60X5FD in a Best Buy Magnolia room which was said to have been calibrated. Using the stores 75 ohm / cable feed and a Pioneer BDP-53FD Blueray playing the familiar Master and Commander.

Indeed, this is the best LCD I've seen. In this context and uselessly compared to my out of production Pioneer Elite FD151 running the same film from a Pioneer BDP-05FD and Comcast cable there was one area that some may consider the Sharp LCD superior.

The LCD had a slightly brighter color rendition. As a long time plasma viewer I found the difference just slightly cartoonish in appearance. This is a slight difference that shouldn't be an issue to the sets new owner but to this Kuro snob it's annoyingly distracting.

For me the most important aspect of black level performance is the ability of the display to produce shadow detail as well as dark black. Dark in nature the film Master and Commander provides subtle color hues and a great deal of dark shading. All the other plasmas on display were doing a better job of shading than the Sharp.

The slight color distraction is small compared to the proverbial LCD/LED achilles, motion blur and viewing angle. When your hosting guests and you find yourself a little to far to the side and the LCD's picture begins to fade be certain that a plasma is still completely viewable at that angle. Again, the Sharp has the best control of these shortcomings I've seen so far.

Obviously, I'm horribly biased. I'm also very lucky to own a uniquely designed plasma that became too costly to produce. The Kuro's auto brightness feature greatly minimizes, one of the plasmas ongoing shortcomings, bright ambient light. Long out of production its stature is moot and has no bearing on the original posters question unless you value the lack of motion blur and a wide viewing angle, a plasma given.

The difference between LCD and plasma is not unlike the difference between tube and solid state audio amplification. Over time the performance gap has narrowed greatly but their fundamental nature of design will make ones choice a matter of taste. Lets not forget Pioneers once stunning Laser Disk technology was outdone in time.

If I had only relied on the poorly set-up 60" Elite Pro at the Magnolia Best Buy I visited, I would have NEVER purchased the set. Nobody there had the faintest idea how to properly set up the set, let alone using the different viewing modes, which can VASTLY change the picture's appearance. To be fair, they are used to selling "hamburgers" and this TV is definitely a "steak".

Fortunately I had lots of other input both online and from others upon which to base my decision. Just watched a movie called "Stealth" last nite over cable with lots of high-speed action and the TV performed flawlessly. I was impressed but not surprised after all I have heard.

I have a 6 year old 50" Pioneer plasma and a 1 year old LG LED. Also a 2 year old Sharp LCD.

The LED and LCD are OK but I would not even attempt to make a comparison to the plasma, at least in terms of natural color saturation. The plasma is worlds ahead in that aspect. Otherwise, maybe or at least I would expect the differences to evaporate over time if not quite yet.

Fplanner, That's an amazing system! Not much wiggle room for improvement there. Enjoy.