Hello all,
My impressions have changed somewhat.
I admit, I was biased toward the Sony SXRD's up until tonight.
At CC and BB the Sonys did seem to have the best overall images, hands down.
But, they were using the Sony demonstration loop on the Sonys and not regular sources like all the other big screens were using.
The Panasonic plasmas were also at the other end of the stores from where the Sonys were, and were being fed what looked like a mediocre source.
Well, tonight I went to a huge Sears at the local mall and they had the Sony SXRD KDS-R50XBR1 and a Panasonic TH-50PX50U plasma display SIDE BY SIDE and were using Dicovery HD Theater as a source.
They actually let me tweak the pictures and play a couple of top notch dvd's that I brought with me.
My conclusions:
The Panny plasma and the Sony SXRD were EXTREMELY CLOSE!
To my eyes they were essentially equal in:
1. Black levels
2. Color intensity
3. Details
4. Motion Scenes
5. WOW factor
The Panasonic SOMETIMES actually seemed better at:
1. Image sharpness and outlines
2. Color accuracy
3. No SSE
4. Wider viewing angle
5. Color uniformity
The only areas where the SXRD MAY have been better, and only on certain scenes was:
1. The Sony was usually alittle brighter
2. No SDE at all.
3. Less screen reflections
4. Images were very slightly denser.
5. Only twice, I thought I saw some very slight video noise or an artifact or two in a very dark scene, but it was VERY SLIGHT!
Makes me wonder how good the new Panasonic TH-50PX60U will be with its 10,000:1 contast ratio and 28 billion colors, and especially the upcoming 1080p plasmas.
My big screen options are now WIDE OPEN to say the least!
My impressions have changed somewhat.
I admit, I was biased toward the Sony SXRD's up until tonight.
At CC and BB the Sonys did seem to have the best overall images, hands down.
But, they were using the Sony demonstration loop on the Sonys and not regular sources like all the other big screens were using.
The Panasonic plasmas were also at the other end of the stores from where the Sonys were, and were being fed what looked like a mediocre source.
Well, tonight I went to a huge Sears at the local mall and they had the Sony SXRD KDS-R50XBR1 and a Panasonic TH-50PX50U plasma display SIDE BY SIDE and were using Dicovery HD Theater as a source.
They actually let me tweak the pictures and play a couple of top notch dvd's that I brought with me.
My conclusions:
The Panny plasma and the Sony SXRD were EXTREMELY CLOSE!
To my eyes they were essentially equal in:
1. Black levels
2. Color intensity
3. Details
4. Motion Scenes
5. WOW factor
The Panasonic SOMETIMES actually seemed better at:
1. Image sharpness and outlines
2. Color accuracy
3. No SSE
4. Wider viewing angle
5. Color uniformity
The only areas where the SXRD MAY have been better, and only on certain scenes was:
1. The Sony was usually alittle brighter
2. No SDE at all.
3. Less screen reflections
4. Images were very slightly denser.
5. Only twice, I thought I saw some very slight video noise or an artifact or two in a very dark scene, but it was VERY SLIGHT!
Makes me wonder how good the new Panasonic TH-50PX60U will be with its 10,000:1 contast ratio and 28 billion colors, and especially the upcoming 1080p plasmas.
My big screen options are now WIDE OPEN to say the least!