A big thanks to Steve ( Bumtious) and all the guys from TPS, a very enjoyable day and very informative.
Since the Sunday crowd will now be safely locked away I guess it's ok to start the discussion of what we saw yesterday. I'll kick off, but 1st a bit of background of where I'm coming from since I'm not a regular poster on this part of the forum.
I've been the happy owner of a Pioneer KRP500M for the last 4 years, probably one of the last sets produced as I got it in May 2009. I've been extremely happy with the picture but have kept coming back to this the Plasma forum to keep track on how Panasonic & the others have been doing. As a consumer I want the Kuro to be beaten as I want choice in case of a fault developing with the KRP or I want to upgrade in size.
To start off with, all the TV's looked amazing yesterday thanks to Steve being up until 5am to get everything calibrated, even the WT led didn't look too bad with the lights on, different story with the lights off though. We were in an inside room, so no windows, so without the overhead spots on it was pretty dark, although the glow from the sheer number of TV's (about 10 sets in all) in the room meant it was never pitch black.
I was looking forward to seeing how the KRP600M v 60ZT65 v 65VT65 as I was hoping Panasonic would in a position now to beat the Pioneer's. However the blacks we saw on the KRP600M were not up to standard they can be, there was a warmth to them that stood out amongst all the other sets, I'm not sure if it was part of the red tint problem that can develop. Whatever the reason it was simply not as good as my KRP500M at home, and last night after it had got dark I gave my set at home a thorough going over see if I could detect any hint of what I saw on the 600M, since at the meetup I was sat about 1.5m from the 600M, however at home I'm sat about 3m from the 500M, so I wondered if my closeness to the much bigger set was an influence.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting Steve didn't do the best he can with it, as there not many 600M's were sold so they are extremely difficult to get hold of, and even more difficult to get hold of one without any issues. It should also be taken into account that my KRP set is uncalibrated as all I've done is set it to Pure then tweaked by eye using a combination of patterns & content.
With that all out of the way, my observations were:
1. Blacks on the ZT & VT were incredible, with any mixed content the blacks were very near to melting into the bezel, the KRP at least to me remained noticeable.
2. In a darken room, the black level of the Samsung F8500 was noticeably higher than that of the ZT or VT, without the surrounding Panasonic sets it would have probably have seemed decent and is certainly not bad by any means.
3. The Panasonic's showed more fine detail with the KRP losing fine detail due to it's smooth presentation. The picture quality on the ZT, VT & Samsung F8500 was stunning, this years sets are indeed special.
4. I saw glimpses of the better ANSI contrast on the ZT over the VT, but not enough for me to justify the extra.
5. The filter on the ZT is amazing, Steve did a demo with an extremely bright torch shone directly onto the screens, this showed the filter on the ZT was so much better than everything else in the room the way it clung onto the picture and the black. Without doubt if you're in an extremely bright room, particularly if you have a window where direct sunlight comes through then the ZT is probably worth it. Personally I'd use a a curtain and save my money, but I live on my own so no other half to moan at the curtain being closed. The KRP was again beaten by the ZT & VT here.
6. The Samsung F8500 does indeed go very bright, but it's simply not needed in most viewing environments.
7. What DFC? even with Steve pointing it out as a plasma trait in all sets I still struggled to see it. Guess my eye is not as critical as some.
8. What fan noise? Ok air conditioning in the room was loud, but for the majority of the time the audio on the sets was muted, and even right up close I couldn't make out any fan noise.
9. What IR? I saw no hint of IR on any set yesterday, although at one time someone shouted out about a square on the ZT, Steve then proceeded to prove it was an compression artifact in the content and was actually on all the sets.
So in conclusion:
The ZT is the best TV you can buy without doubt, but for me the difference would not be seen often enough in the subdued lighting environment I do most of my viewing.
For me the one to go for would be the VT, as for most of yesterday I could tell no difference between the the ZT & VT. So for my environment the extra size of the 65VT65 would make most impact, and personally the improvements of the ZT aren't enough to justify the extra cost for me.
Although I wasn't able to directly compare the sort of black I get at home with the KRP to the Panasonic's, I think I can quite happily state that I could live with the black level on either the VT or ZT. Taking everything into account then it's my opinion that overall the picture on the VT & ZT has surpassed the Kuro's, so I'm happy that I at last have an options to buy new
