Plain and simple.
You’re either a politician,or you were abused as a child….

I waited an absurd amount of time, almost 5 months to actually get that 54G10 from the box store that I will not mention. I was convinced they were never going to get it and keep lying to me so I returned the Sammy B 860 50″ and went down the street to a competitor that did have the 54G10 and for the matched price I originally ordered. I took that puppy home and was ready to be blown away because of the ratings and reviews.

What a disappointment immediately when comparing it to the B860 I just returned after having it for over 4 months. I tried every setting and made many adjustments even using tweakmytv.com and Cnet.com’s settings in which I liked niether. THX is only suitable for a very dark room so unless you are watching it in a pitch black environment, it is horrible. I was shocked at how bad the G10 was compared to the Sammy B860. Remember I had to change nothing on that B860 Plasma, it was perfect out of the box. The color, and clear perfect resolution and picture quality which is all I care about was unbelievable. The B860 crushed it in every aspect but audio. I called the store after a couple days and they said just give it time and after 30 days we will swap it for the B860 if you still think it is better than the G10, but nobody has ever complained.

I am sure they had not, I would have thought it was great too had I not just returned a B860 after watching it for months and had that fresh comparison in my mind. Even the kids and wife wanted the other back, so it was unanimous, it was going back. When a 9 yr old child tells you that this tv(G10) is not as clear as the other one(B860) when not even asked, there is obviously a big difference between the two. I did not need their opinion though, my mind was made that first 5 minutes it was turned on. I tried to convince myself after tweaking it that the G10 was better and I did make it better than that first day as it started to break in, but it was no where close to that picture of the B860.

Tomorrow I am ordering the B860 50″ and I can not wait until I get it back. I actually have to thank the store that jerked me around for so long or I never would have been given a loaner in the B860 had they actually given me the 54G10 I wanted. I will sacrifice the difference in size for a near perfect picture at 50″ in the B860. I even think it is as good as its big brother the Samsung 8500 Led Tv. After seeing that new Led TV, it looks no better than the B860 plasma side by side. Sorry for the novel.

Had I never had the loaned B860 I am sure I would be the proud owner of the 54G10 and defend it as being better as I have always been loyal to Panasonic, but after owning them both, the B860 crushes the G10 and for the same price. Yes, you will lose 4″ in panel view, but what you gain is ever so sweet.

Thank You Grampa John

I know the flicker is well documented with the 48hz setting while watching blu-ray, but I notice what seems to be a little flicker when watching HD cable showing bright backgrounds or the end-slides on commercials. Is this something that is common when going up in size or “breaking in” a new plasma screen?

I ended up buying the G10 and doing a side by side comparison to tell if it was worth the extra $300+. I am splitting an HD antenna to compare and viewing multiple over-the-air HD channels in 720p and 1080i. I noticed that the G10 appear to be not as clear and sharp as the Samsung in HD, especially apparent on text and people’s faces. I have adjusted the settings in just about every combination (including the user settings posted on multiple sites),and made sure that it was showing in 1080i.

Any clue on what I may be missing? I was expecting this TV to be at least marginally better than the Samsung, but it looks to be the opposite.