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Hello. New to this site. I've read the FAQ and have searched the forums.

I need some advice on picking out a Panasonic plasma. It will be used as a broadcast monitor for an HD edit suite. Grade 1 reference monitors are $3,000+ (e.g. Flanders Scientific Inc.) I'm told that Panasonic plasmas are a good alternative until I can upgrade.
Setup: Mac Pro --> Matrox I/O controller --> HDMI --> Plasma Display
Viewing distance: 4 feet, but could set it up farther away.
Light conditions: soft controlled light during the day
Source: generally 1920x1080, Matrox MXO2 Mini outputs proper colour space and lets you choose output resolution. Also lets you calibrate from software.
Blu-ray: Will eventually be producing BD for clients
Just need an excellent display that I can use to deliver accurate, reliable colour and picture.

That's the basic set-up. I understand the basic differences between the Panasonic C, U, S, and G series. The G20 looks great with the "Infinite Black" and "THX Certified" but only starts at 50" (according to their web site) Prefer 42" but would consider 50" if it was a big difference. There are also the Panasonic Pro Plasmas from their business division — the 42" TH42PF20U looks great but not really a "tide me over" solution. (Closer in price to the reference monitors).
So at the low end is the TC42X24 -- 1024x768, with anti-glare, for < $600.
The U2 model adds 1080 but has no anti-glare.
The sweet spot seems to be the 1920x1080 42" S2 model at around $900.

Any thoughts? This is the last piece of the puzzle and looking forward to getting it in place. This is all new to me, I'm still watching SD on a CRT at home.

Keith

 

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That sounds like an amazing setup, clients must be very impressed seeing their projects on it. This plasma will eventually become a client display once I get the proper reference monitor.

 

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I talked to some very helpful sales guys today at a home theatre place (Commercial Electronics in Vancouver). They said that the Panasonic Pro Plasmas use the same panels as some of the panels in their consumer line. I'm still waiting to hear back from Panasonic Canada. Two calls in to them now with no response.

 

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Thanks for the reply Michael.
Well I have to say I'm not impressed with Panasonic's customer service. I put in two calls for help to customer service at their head office, explained very clearly what information I was looking for, and have received no response now after a few days.

So I decided to have a look at what Samsung has to offer. Their 50" C550 model seems to have a bunch of features the Panasonic lacks, for about the same price (comparing to Panasonic TCP50S2). Seems to have better ability to adjust picture details compared to the S2. Has swivel pedestal, 4 HDMI vs. 3, better networking/wireless options, and has two USB ports that let you play back movies on a USB flash drive or other USB device. I'm definitely rethinking this now.

 

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Decision made, and a Samsung PN50C550 is up and running in my edit suite (ok it's also my living room)
I'll give a proper review later but so far so good. Sure has a lot of picture controls.
I hooked up my Sony EX1R to it, and played back some HD nature footage out of the camera via HDMI (1920x1080). I nearly cried it was so durn pretty.
I don't have an HD box, just regular digital cable. Boy it's nasty looking blown up to 50". Then again that's spreading not many pixels over an awful lot of screen real estate.
I think this Samsung will do the job.