I would really look at a Panasonic 1080p plasma. Panasonic is getting out of the plasma business, but they'll honor warranties and repair the sets like normal. If that scares you off, then try Pioneer or, yes, Samsung. But definitely go with plasma if even remotely possible. Ignore 4K for now. There is no 4K source content, so the TVs just enlarge the image your TV box feeds it to fit its resolution. It'll look awful, especially since TV channels are compressed to hell now. That's another thread, though. Also, don't window shop! The picture quality you see in the store is a bigger lie than women's makeup. The sets have brightness and saturation cranked up, and are in fact set to what is called store mode or demo mode, where the staff get access to additional settings to crank the picture up to retina-searing levels. Walking through the television section at Best Buy is a bigger scam than a private used car dealership. tl;dr LED-backlit LCD: Sony KDL-47W802A Plasma: Panasonic VT60 series if you're rich, Samsung F8500 series if not
I cannot recommend Panasonic. From 6 months to 3 years out...they get these error codes. I got the 8 flashes of death, hence my participation in this thread. And it is not a one time fix, like the red rings of death. It happens over and over for various reasons. Their boards are bad. And they DO NOT stand behind their products. I had this tv for 18 months. Just out of warranty. They did NOTHING for me. Would not respond to email, would not even let me talk to a manager on the phone. And I called their special "Viera Concierge". Unless you keep a warranty with Panasonic for every year you own the tv, do not get it. There are thousands of people who got screwed like me, and a building class action lawsuit. I had to fix this tv myself, at my expense. It's working...for now. Fortunately, it's so common, that people on Ebay sell refurbished boards for varying failed sets and it worked out for me. I never experienced anything like this outside of the RROD, which Microsoft made whole at no cost to me. **** Panasonic.
I don't dispute your experience, I just want to point out that refurbed or spare parts available on eBay is not a symptom of a bad product. You can get refurbed anything on eBay.
It's a bad panel issue. I had it happen with my Samsung (sorry guys) 58" plasma. If you call and ***** and moan enough, they will probably come fix it for a minimal fee since it is a known and documented issue. There are rumors that if you have your plasma close to a wall, that the heat generated from the plasma is what causes this. I don't know if that is true or not. I tend to not believe that myself as that actively promote wall mounts with plasmas. The pink stripe will only get worse, unfortunately. For me, it was on white backgrounds, and as a hockey nut, it drove me bonkers. I broke down and bought a Samsung (see? I still love them regardless!) 65" LED. Could not be happier with it. Which is surprising because I have always has plasmas.
Not a plasma, but I'm looking into: 60in Sharp Aquos Q The link is to the stats on best buy. Yay or nay?
