[RDavidson]

I just pulled the trigger on the 60" Samsung plasma last night. Apparently nothing on the market competes with it anywhere near its price. I was strongly considering an 8500 series, 4K, LED Samsung. Then I came across this great article (see below). In summary, 4K is pointless unless you have a massive screen (like 100"), or unless you like sitting within less than 5 feet of the TV. I can also see it being useful if you're a photographer and want to display very detailed, static images for people to look at closely. Otherwise, get the best 1080p TV you can afford until OLED becomes common, and don't let 4k be a driving factor to your purchasing decision without checking out the article first.

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-ultra-hd-4k-tvs-are-still-stupid/

[S Clark]

I can recommend the PN51F8500.  I picked it up a few weeks ago, and it is a clear improvement over my 5 year old Panasonic.

[DaveC113]

Congrats, Ryan. I was considering the same set but my 58" Panny plasma is great and hopefully will last until 4K OLEDs come down in price, which will be a while...

I think the Samsung would be better than my 3-4 y/o Panny but I don't want to spend the money.

[jonbee]

I have a 55" Panny VT-60, the last of the great pannies. The picture is stunning, and notably better than my 3 year old 50" Panny plasma which it replaced- very smooth and natural, very "film-like" compared to any LCD sets I've seen, as the photogs would say, and not a subtle difference. I'm planning to keep it until it (or I) dies.
I've been bemoaning the fact that set mfgs. have been selling price lately, not quality. The 8500 series Samsung would look like the way to go at this point for a quality picture.
Maybe the 4G will change that, but it will be for more $, for sure of that.

[RDavidson]

Congrats, Ryan. I was considering the same set but my 58" Panny plasma is great and hopefully will last until 4K OLEDs come down in price, which will be a while...

I think the Samsung would be better than my 3-4 y/o Panny but I don't want to spend the money.

Thanks Dave. I'm not a huge videophile, but I haven't bought a new TV since 2008 (46" Sony XBR4) and I paid something like $4k for it.
I did a lot of research and just couldn't let the last of the great plasma TV's pass me by (especially after reading that CNET article). It should be here on 12/11. Anything even somewhat comparable to the Samsung is like double its (promo sale) price. The choice became pretty cut and dry, really. Note, I'm not a major gamer. If I was, I may have been swayed to LED. It would've been a more difficult decision, for sure.

[TomS]

Thanks Dave. I'm not a huge videophile, but I haven't bought a new TV since 2008 (46" Sony XBR4) and I paid something like $4k for it.
I did a lot of research and just couldn't let the last of the great plasma TV's pass me by (especially after reading that CNET article). It should be here on 12/11. Anything even somewhat comparable to the Samsung is like double its (promo sale) price. The choice became pretty cut and dry, really. Note, I'm not a major gamer. If I was, I may have been swayed to LED. It would've been a more difficult decision, for sure.

Let us know how it turns out, as I think this is the right one for me too. I do have you beat though. My last TV purchase, other than projectors, was 2006, a JVC 61" D-ILA that's still going!

Is Samsung also no longer making these such that when current stock is depleted that's it? Just wondering if availability is still pretty good for another month or so.

[newzooreview]

I can recommend the PN51F8500.  I picked it up a few weeks ago, and it is a clear improvement over my 5 year old Panasonic.

Second that. I got a great deal on the 51" f8500, and I've had it for almost two weeks now. The picture is beautiful. Only two caveats for me, and neither overrides the excellent picture quality:

1) The screen will give you the plasma rainbows in some circumstances. I noticed this to a greater extent on my first plasma TV a few years ago, which I returned for other problems. The issue occurs usually with pure white on the screen (such as subtitles). When you look away from the screen you catch a rainbow flash from the pure white image. It's an oddity, and some people don't notice it. I do, but it is not an issue on most programs. I do look forward to OLEDs coming down in price in a few years, but for now I'm willing to overlook the rainbows when they appear. (I do have my picture settings well adjusted for accuracy. This is not an artifact of bad settings. I use Movie mode, all image processing stuff turned off, and have been gentle on the TV during the burn in of the phosphors).

2) Samsung spying. This TV, like a lot of Samsung TVs now, has a bunch of built-in junk like a program guide, facebook, etc. When you first turn it on, Samsung tries to get you to agree to collecting data on shows you watch, your social networks, and pretty much anything they can harvest. You cannot actually read the agreement before they ask you to consent. I said no to everything and just use the TV as a screen. There is no value in the "SMART" TV features. I have external boxes (PS4 and Oppo) for watching Netflix, Amazon Prime, or other streaming services. I don't see any need for the built-in stuff, and I certainly see no reason to allow Samsung to collect data on me. I have the TV disconnected from the Internet just in case, because Samsung could easily be gathering data regardless of my settings.

All in all it's a fantastic picture and currently a great deal.

[John151]

Dang, BB says the 60" F8500 is not available or shipping to my area (it won't let me ship to my home or any stores in the area). 

[TomS]

Dang, BB says the 60" F8500 is not available or shipping to my area (it won't let me ship to my home or any stores in the area). 

When I select "Ship to Store" showing 3-5 days during checkout, every location I click on changes to "Unavailable" and it also won't allow delivery/ship to me either. Something weird going on there. Perhaps it's already too late 

[RDavidson]

When I select "Ship to Store" showing 3-5 days during checkout, every location I click on changes to "Unavailable" and it also won't allow delivery/ship to me either. Something weird going on there. Perhaps it's already too late 

Yeah, these were on sale about a month ago on Amazon, but I wasn't really looking for a TV at the time. My XBR4 is still going strong. Last night the wife gave me the green light, which is great because it's college basketball season and I'll be able to watch games without interfering with any of her reality shows.
So last night I'm looking around, reading, researching, and all roads lead me back to the Samsung plasma. Now for the crazy part. I'm looking at prices. Best Buy and Sears had the lowest prices $1499 for the 60". Amazon's prices had gone back up to normal ($2400). They had been that way for the last 2-3 weeks. So I message Amazon customer service to see if they can price match. I send the representative the link to the Amazon item. As she's messaging me that she can't price match because Amazon has no control over 3rd party seller prices (I think she was looking at the 51", not the 60"), I refresh the page and the price of the 60" pops up as $1497 on Amazon and they only have 1 left "shipped and sold by Amazon" not 3rd party. Note: I also had the Best Buy page with the 60" Samsung open in my browser too and even had it in my cart (though shipping was going to cause me problems due to my location). So she's trying to continue to message me and help me. I'm like, "Wait. The price magically changed. I need to jump on this." She had no control over the sudden price change. I asked. Long story short, the TV is mine and at the price I wanted ($1497) and from the store I wanted it from (no tax and free shipping without shipping location issues). I know Amazon has some kind of tracking software. I know if you put things in your cart, but don't buy, the price will often come down in a few days and you'll get a reminder in your email about items in your cart and their new lower price. I was surprised that the tracking worked so well and so quickly in this case. The customer service rep told me she had no involvement in the sudden price drop. I truly got lucky if I, indeed, bought the last Samsung 60" plasma from Amazon last night. I don't like being big brothered and am actually a pretty private kind of person, but in this case, tracking software can work to the consumer's advantage. In a way, did Amazon pirate a possible sale from Best Buy? Yes. At the same time, it's really no different than the kind of sales competition between physical stores. Note : I hate Best (Worst) Buy anyway.

[John151]

After trying BB and Sears last night to no avail (both indicated my area was out of scope for this shipping), I tried Amazon this morning.  They suddenly showed the $1,499 price, but when I went to purchased, there were only used items available.  When the wife heard of my struggles, she asked how much?  I made the mistake of telling her.  She did not share my enthusiasm for getting one of the last great Plasma TVs.   Thus, I am giving up on getting a Plasma.  I can get a low end Plasma, but they don't have enough HDMI ports (1 or 2 depending on the model).   This is for a basement project at the lake house - it won't be used for 3 - 6 months, and will never get used very often.  When the time comes, I will go with a cheap LED model and give up on having a killer PQ for the time being.  Oh well. 

Thanks for all the help!  Glad some of you were able to get an f8500 series Plasma! 

[Doublej]

After trying BB and Sears last night to no avail (both indicated my area was out of scope for this shipping), I tried Amazon this morning.  They suddenly showed the $1,499 price, but when I went to purchased, there were only used items available.  When the wife heard of my struggles, she asked how much?  I made the mistake of telling her.  She did not share my enthusiasm for getting one of the last great Plasma TVs.   Thus, I am giving up on getting a Plasma.  I can get a low end Plasma, but they don't have enough HDMI ports (1 or 2 depending on the model).   This is for a basement project at the lake house - it won't be used for 3 - 6 months, and will never get used very often.  When the time comes, I will go with a cheap LED model and give up on having a killer PQ for the time being.  Oh well. 

Thanks for all the help!  Glad some of you were able to get an f8500 series Plasma!

For the basement you should be looking at a projector!

[bladesmith]

John,

It will be a fine tv, I'm sure. And an LED will use less electric. Make less heat and there will be no ghosts. You can also move it on your own, with out the help of another. My 50" plasma takes two people. I mean it is crazy heavy.

(I have a friend I work with, he has 5 TV's. One 50" led mounted over his bed, with a slight angle.  So he/wife can look at it while resting there heads on there pillows....     I aint making it up. It's true. Can't do that with a plasma. )

[John151]

Update:  I found a great deal on an LG 60PB6650 Plasma - delivered on Dec 27th.   This unit has 3 HDMI ports, is "smart", and has a great picture. The price, size and features made this model a "no brainer".  Very pleased.......

[RDavidson]

Let us know how it turns out, as I think this is the right one for me too. I do have you beat though. My last TV purchase, other than projectors, was 2006, a JVC 61" D-ILA that's still going!

Is Samsung also no longer making these such that when current stock is depleted that's it? Just wondering if availability is still pretty good for another month or so.

Well, I got my 60" Samsung PN60F8500 delivered about a week before Christmas. Fantastic picture quality, BUT......

1. The TV emits a loud directional buzz from the screen. It is loud enough to be heard even over program volume from 8-10 feet away (my seating distance). Doing some research, this is a somewhat common problem with this TV.

2. The other issue I have is with the stand. I like the look of it, but the way it assembles to the TV is stupid, to say the least. I can't really explain it without going into way more detail about it than I'd like. Let's just say the stand didn't assemble to the panel simply and cleanly, the way it should have. One caveat is that it may have been the fault of the delivery / installation guys. Anyway, the stand doesn't install correctly and I either have to install the stand in a way that it looks correct, but not all the screws can be installed, OR I can install all the screws, but the stand / TV assembly looks jacked up.

All said, the TV is going back to Amazon, which is a shame. The picture is awesome, but I can't live with the issues. The first one is annoying and I can't ignore it. The second is a potential safety issue.

Now for the good part : I lucked out and found the PN51F8500 on Rakuten for $997 with free shipping and I got $70 Rakuten bucks a couple of weeks ago. I received the TV yesterday and got it installed. Same fantastic picture (just smaller, and probably the better size for us anyway). No buzzing. The stand installed correctly and easily. I'm a happy camper.....but, I must say I was very tempted by the flat 55" LG OLED at $4k which is MUCH less expensive than a year ago. Another couple of years and maybe I'll give OLED another look. Until then, keeping my fingers crossed that my 51" Samsung holds up.

[TomS]

Thanks for feedback and it's great to hear it still worked out for you!

I'm still looking, and will wait until after the CES announcements to see if prices move a bit. Plasma is pretty much a no go now, so it's LCD or maybe OLED if the price starts to come down some.

[Rclark]

I have a Samsung plasma in my living room, was going to buy another, instead bit on a Samsung H6203 LED and it destroys my plasma. I am no longer upset that plasma's are being 86'd.

[gregfisk]

I just bought a 60" Sony LED. (I have a Samsung 50" plasma. )

I hope LED is the way to go.

Bladesmith,

Let me know what the differences are to you, I have owned a Samsung plasma for almost 10 years now and I still havn't seen much that beats it.

My Dad has a newer 50" Samsung LED that I find very nice but the 50" Sony I purchased for my beach house isn't all that great IMO.

[rklein]

I consider myself lucky...

I purchased a Panasonic 60" ZT plasma a year and a half ago.   I used the CNet settings.   I am still amazed at the picture this TV puts out. 

By the way, I have only watched one movie in 3-D (Avatar). 

Regards

Randy