I could never understand why plasmas are cheaper than LCDs. Is it the resolution, perhaps?

The humiliation never ends...I bought an earlier version of this unit 3 years ago for $2700. The perils of early adoption (and I don't even have a VGA port!!!). FWIW the PQ is awesome.

Gee, you're dumb.

Yeah #2, I had similar situation with my Pioneer plasma. You look back and you could have gotten twice the TV for half the price.

Btw - It's also around this price at Amazon.

Is this the same as the 50x14 at sam's club. It is listed there at 15000 contrast. Also, I would really like a 52" to replace an old 52" in my wall unit. I don't care about resolution, so 720P would be fine, but I don't see any old cheap 52" around. Best I see is perhaps a Sharp 1080 LCD for about $1100 after Bing from Tiger Direct, but I heard those have banding issues.

Actually, I see this is $819 at USAppliance with free shipping. But if you were to get this, then you may as well get a higher end 1080 P model, S1, I suppose, for 1139 but you get a $200 rebate with Blue Ray DVD player purchase.

Panny Plasmas are top not, industry leaders.

#2 & #4 - welcome to the world of electronics.

#1 - I don't get it either. Lots of people say Plasmas are better than LCDs except Plasma's don't have as bright a picture as LCD. If you google or bing LCD vs. Plasma you'll more than likely come across an answer to your question.

#5 the Sam's Club TV is probably the "C" series or a similiar model, not the "X" series. The "C" series TVs have half the contrast ratio of the "S" series TVs for around $50 less, definitely not a deal.

I saw one of these TVs on ebay new for $845 with free shipping, take off the 8% Bing cashback, which may double to 16% tommorrow and that's a better deal.

#8 Thanks, I couldn't have figured it out without you.

Actually, we all understand that if you buy something today, yours will be obsolete, and the better one will be cheaper next week. That's the nature of the beast.

What gets me is that plasmas fell 50% from when I bought in August '06 to February '07. No example of anything like that in the world of computers, home audio, etc. At least none that I know of, and I rely on sites like this to find the deals.

#9, brightness is hardly the be all and end all of picture quality. I just haven't found an LCD that looks as good (aka natural) as a Plasma can deliver. Plus, the fact that by their very nature they are backlit, which means the black levels are never going to be as good as plasmas.

That said, LCD's are certainly getting better, and hardly anyone is going to make plasmas any more. LED's are the ones to watch now, but they are way too expensive at the moment.

50" is the range you want to start looking at 1080p. Plus if you want this TV. It will be cheaper yet sooner than later.

Plasmas are end of life. 1/2 the mfgs sold their business to others or closed it down. Pioneer had the top products. But the market is gone. HDDVD fell Blueray Plasma fell LCD
Peace and Blessings

Plasmas aren't going anywhere for the foreseeable future. You LCD trolls need to get up on your info. Panasonic just built a new plant for manufacturing plasma panels. Does that sound like a manufacterer exiting plasma? Name these half the manufacters, Sony and Pioneer, hardly half.

I'd look for 1080p for these as well. Got a P50G10 and it just looked a lot better than the 720p 50" screens Panasonic had at the same time.

New product line is out, I got one at Sears a few weeks ago for $599. Have to make inventory for new ones, even though nobody's broadcasting at 1080p yet...

Sorry, mine was 42". 50" was $699.

Child #15 - My post count could never approach troll. Panasonic, which happens to make some of the very best LCDs and Plasmas. However, they opened their 3rd P factory very late because of drooping demand due to cost/recession and due to 10:3.8 sales. Nothing wrong with Plasma. Glad to see the market has picked up for them due to price drops and mfg costs across suppliers.

Panasonic will now be a major supplier to other plasma mfgs.

Pioneer (they were the Best!), Visio, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Sharp, Philips. Those are some that did, but are no longer in the bus.

I picked up the 58" Panny a yr 1/2 ago and though it cost me 3500.00 at the time, I've been very happy with it. It did have a power supply issue after 2months (known issue), but the warranty took care of it. Their customer service for this instance was fast and hassle free.